Slow travel: the camping option
Written by Jacinta Lodge
As modern tourists we tend to travel fast. We fly in, grab a hotel room (or hostel bed), see all the tourist sights, try a local meal or two and zip back home again. We stay within cities, we are surrounded by other tourists and we do it all in a hurry before our days or cash run out. We don’t soak in ambience, we dive bomb into it and think that the few drops clinging to our hair are equivalent to the pruney-skin permeation of a long and leisurely exposure.
Personally I’m an exponent of slow travel, a term I thought was particularly nifty until I googled it when writing this article and discovered that I didn’t coin the phrase. My version of slow travel is camping. Travelling leisurely through the back country, off the highways and into smaller towns. Getting to meet the locals in an environment (the communal lifestyle of a campsite) which encourages interactions (unlike the private sterility of a hotel room).
Camping lets you soak in the atmosphere
Of course camping isn’t always feasible. If you go with your own car, caravan or mobile home you are limited by how far you can drive in the allotted holiday travel time. Driving three days across Europe only to have four days there and a three day return journey is not anyone’s idea of fun. Some ways around that are to look at carrying your car on the train – something which saves time, stress and petrol. You can also carry the minimum camping gear with you on a flight and locally hire a car or just rely on public transport to get you around. Or you can rent the entire get up once you arrive.
But the prices do start paying out, especially if you are travelling for a longer period. The average European campsite costs 15€-20€ per night, including electricity, with each person costing around 2€ extra. Showers may or may not be an additional cost (usually 0.50 – 1€). This is similar to a bed in a dorm room of an inner city hostel for one person, but in a group becomes extremely cheap and is far more appropriate for travelling with a family. Finding campsites is easy – decent maps of the country will have many marked and usually your home automobile club will have lists of international campsites, ones which they have even checked out and rated.
You aren’t necessarily limited to remote campsites on the outskirts of town either. If you are travelling in a self-contained motor home there are many sites which allow for short stops, overnight stays and replenishing water/emptying waste. The E6 on the coast of northern Norway is dotted with them, in Germany they are called Stellplätze, in France Aires De Service, and many are free of charge.
The varying sizes of mobile homes
I’m not really encouraging the use of the large mobile homes. These white ships are gas-guzzlers, can be dangerous on narrow roads (especially when driven by people unused to the size) and cannot be driven into European city centres because of their size. Smaller vans, such as VW camping buses, can be and tenting means you have a car available for local trips without having to pack up your campsite every time.
Of course camping doesn’t work for everyone, nor does it work for every situation. It requires a certain amount of preparation and investment in gear, the availability of a little more time and a roughing-it mentality. While northern France’s freezing autumn rains may send even myself into the shelter of a local chateau, as a budget summer travel option it is a relaxed, slow travel affair.
Love the dog photo!
You don’t have to take/rent a car to camp. Another alternative is to take minimal camping equipment and fly your bike over (British Airways will do this for free from the States if your bike’s in a box or bag) and bike from campsite to campsite, which isn’t hard to do in Ireland. And if you get tired, you can hop on a bus and put your bike in the luggage compartment.
Thanks for the green and healthy alternative Marilyn but a lot more effort and less comfort.
Great points! You might find it interesting to note that since I posted a series on the ‘cool camping’ craze last year when I check my feedburner site stats I notice that almost every day I’m getting hits from at least two or three people who have done a search for ‘cool+camping’ – nearly all of them are coming from the UK. Fascinating.
I think it was the Italians who invented the idea of ‘slow travel’ as an extension of their ‘slow food’ movement – it’s been around for quite a while – I have a post waiting to go up on that – we have a theory formulated during our three months in Italy that the Italians just use both concepts as an excuse to provide slow service! Or maybe I’m just a bit too cynical…
We’ve just arrived in Victoria, Australia to start another book, where the temperatures are hovering between 0 and 10 degrees, a shock after 45 degrees in Dubai and high 30s in Europe. Unlike in Europe, however, the Australians aren’t prepared for this, no oil heaters in their buildings. Like you, as much as I love camping, I’m sticking to this cosy homestead (rather than a chateau!) with fireplaces for now.
I’m a big fan of slow food, so the idea of slow travel also sounds appealing. :) To me, the mad frantic vacations where I’m dashing around town just didn’t leave nearly the same kind of lasting memories as the ones where you got to meet and bond with the locals. For some reason, I don’t think to camp abroad (aside from mountaineering trips), but it’s a great idea to consider in the future for sure. :) Camping usually meant to me local trip to nearby national park. :)
@ Lara – so camping is increasingly considered cool in the UK (apart from wet)? I think you’re wise to stick with homesteads rather than camping in a chilly Oz.
BTW it’s been nothing like 30 degrees in north east England more lucky to reach 20 and plenty of rain.
If you have to wait ages for your food to arrive at the table it will be difficult to savour it slowly if you’re starving by the time you dig in.
@ Poko – I’m not a camping fan, perhaps too many soggy, midgy bitten experiences as a youngster camping in Scotland.
The town in which I live, Berwick upon Tweed has recently become a Cittaslow:
http://www.europealacarte.co.uk/blog/2007/05/25/berwick-upon-tweed-becomes-cittalslow/
So you’re telling me that people there aren’t really pitching polka dotted tents and bunking down on zebra-patterned sleeping bags? Are their searches for designer camping gear and accessories just reflecting aspirations, then? Just curious… from all the hits and seeing what people are searching for, I’m imagining camping grounds full of all these outrageous-coloured tents and people wearing all this extravagant looking camping gear!
Oh, and also, I wrote about those gypsy caravans a while back after deconstructing a story I’d read in the Guardian, so I contacted the gypsy caravan people to find out how sales were doing, whether the surge in popularity for these things was just a media beat-up or for real – they claim it’s for real!!! So tell me, how often do you see one of those things being pulled along a country lane by a monstrous looking horse? Or do they just park them and go bunk down in them on weekends? It all sounds fascinating if it’s true!
Lara, this reminds me of a neighbour who decided to take up cycling, purchasing an expensive bike and fancy lycra gear to give up after a couple of outings.
I can image someone buying a tent and matching gear have a fun outdoor, get back to nature, lower carbon, home shores experience in the UK this Summer, trying to pitch the tent in a downpour and getting so hacked off that they throw the tent back in the 4×4, drive straight home and book their holiday to the Maldives.
Wow, I’m glad this post has brought up such interest and, as the camping fan that I am, I’m thrilled to hear it’s taking off again. Actually the keyboardist from the band Rammstein here in Berlin has just opened a business renting out 1970′s VW buses – fully kitted with the original camping gear in fantastic green and yellow plaids. Now if that isn’t cool, then I’m going to have to hand in my bell bottoms.
Dare I admit though that we put our little Nespresso machine in our bus when we go away, our does that make me sound a bit too much like a yuppie camper?
@lara Victoria is my home state, and the winters can get biting even though the temperature isn’t that low. The houses really aren’t made for cold weather at all. I hope you hang around long enough for it to warm up and become a more , umm, becoming place.
@Pokin camping abroad is great fun. We spent six weeks going around the Baltic Sea – 9 countries in total and all the way to the Nordkapp – and I can tell you that Latvian campsites can be far more interesting (and slightly bizarre) than the equivalent hotels!
@Karen Your cycling story reminded me of a poem by the Aussie poet Banjo Patterson http://www.wallisandmatilda.com.au/mulga-bills-bicycle.shtml
Jacinta, love the poem. Yes an Expresso machine does seem a bit yuppie camper but why not have as many comforts as possible when travelling, why drink instant when enjoying the lake side view when you can have the real thing as long as you are travelling by camper van and not having to carry the machine in your backpack.
Hi Jacinta, we’ve no choice to stick it out – we’re back in Australia to work on the Rough Guide to Australia (covering three states and two halves). You’re right, the houses aren’t made for this cold – we usually spend some time each winter in Europe, which is far colder, and yet you don’t notice it there because every house has oil heaters. Here, nobody is prepared so it’s been a shock to the system. Like Dubai really – everything is air-conditioned so you don’t notice the heat, but in Italy recently it was uncomfortably hot.
Nice post. Sorry I never noticed it earlier. I recently did a post on camping in Europe and found a place (in Germany, I think) that rents a “camping kit”. The kit includes a tent and all the necessary camping essentials. A great alternative for people traveling overseas to Europe who don’t want to pack all the gear!
As for the Espresso machine, I always take my french press when I go camping. I recently found one that is practically made for outdoor use with extra break-resistant glass and silicone exterior (by Bodum).