It doesn’t have to cost a lot to get your adventures started. Below, I have listed my top 10 tips to get you on the road to a budget busting adventure.
1. Buy, beg, borrow your equipment. Search on Ebay, Facebook marketplace, Pre-loved, secondhand shops or simply ask your friends and family if you can borrow equipment. You can get some good budget bargains on these sites which means you can afford to build it up over time.
2. Use internet sites such as Pitch up, Search for sites and join Facebook groups where you can get recommendations.
3. Get a little notebook and make a note of any campsites you fancy trying. Coming back to my planning obsession, I have a little notebook which is marked out into counties in the UK. Everytime I read about a cheap recommended site, I note it down under the county for a later date.
4. Research, research, research. Always look for what else there is in the area. It’s no good finding a 'cheap as chips' campsite if it's a million miles away from everywhere else, unless a campsite in the wilderness is what you were after in the first place.
5. Travel light; you don't need everything but the kitchen sink, only take the essentials. Take small bottles of washing up liquid and oil etc and only take the pots, pans and utensils you really need.
6. Plan your meals before you go. This helps with knowing what to take for tip number 5. If you know you are going to be cooking meals that you can make in one pan, only take one pan!
7. Try it out on your garden or go somewhere local. When we first bought our caravan, we were so excited we towed it all the way home picked up what we needed and went and camped five miles down the road in a field on the same day.
8. Organise your equipment into plastic boxes so it's easy to pack and put away. When we go on our adventures, everything is organised into boxes that we can just lift out of the van and into the awning. This makes it so much easier to unpack, and it is especially useful for when it rains and you're packing down camp. Plastic boxes are easily lifted back into the car or van again and away you go.
9. Go with like minded friends or family at least on your first outing. It’s always easier if there is somebody else that can show you the ropes until you get used to camping yourself.
10. My final tip is to have fun, if things go wrong don’t sweat it! At worst it will give you experience for the next time you camp and at best will give you funny stories to reminisce about in years to come.
Laugh hard, smile big, camp often.
I loved this short and sweet list of camping tips for newbies. I am planning to do it for a while now and I think it's time!