From Camping Trauma to Tipi Dreams: My Camping Experiences Then & Now
From wet tents and sleepless nights to tipi tents and Turkish coffee — join me on the journey from rough student camping trips to a joyful 3-week overlanding vavcation through southern Europe (Italy, France, Spain).
During our first overlanding vacation in summer 2025, I was sitting in front of our tipi tent, enjoying a relaxed brunch. Sebastian poured me a hot Turkish coffee, and the kids were happily munching on fresh peaches and crispy pieces of baguette in the sunshine. A golden oriole called out with its distinctive song, and apart from that, all you could hear was the gentle rustling of the nearby brook. I smiled. Looking back at how camping used to be for me... Whoa, what a contrast! In this article, I'll take you on my journey — from the rather traumatic camping memories of my student days to the experiences during our first long family camping trip. Let me tell you my very own, personal camping transformation story.
Camping Then ...
Let me take you back to some camping memories from my student life.
Three-Legged Stools, Cold Ravioli & and Warm Laughs: Student Camping in the 2000s
Back in the early 2000s, during my geology studies in eastern Germany, camping meant this: four people, four backpacks, camping chairs, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, and two to three tents squeezed into a tiny old car — a car that was really only made for two people with luggage. The kind of car that seemed to instinctively want to shift into reverse the moment it saw a gravel road. To this day, I still don’t know how we managed to fit all our gear into that thing, nor how we managed to reach the campsite with the car. And what applies to cars, of course, also applies to larger touring vehicles: On one excursion with a lot of students, we traveled by coach once. After a rainy night we even had to push our coach out of the mud!
After our successful arrival, the real work began: searching for a good place to pitch our tiny tents — the one with those rebellious poles that always had a mind of their own — and finally setting it up.
And that’s when things got really cozy! Not really... When it came to seating, the legendary three-legged stool was all I had — an ergonomic masterpiece offering a maximum of ten minutes of comfort before my thighs went numb. There wasn’t any space for a stove or cookware in my backpack anyway. So the ravioli went down cold and straight from the can — fine dining at its best. Still, our campfire evening with Uno and Bluff (Lügenmäxchen, as we call it in Germany) was full of laughter and connection — the perfect end to a long day.
Sanitary Block Adventures, Muddy Puddles & Sleepless Nights
Before crawling into our tents, we went through the usual bedtime routine — naturally in the campground’s charmingly practical sanitary block. Usually, the showers worked — but only with coins. And if you ran out, a “refreshing” cold-water rinse was your only option. When all the shower stalls were taken (which they often were), you had to head to the sink front: a steaming, constantly soaked stage of communal hygiene. There, half-naked mothers, grandmas, and wailing toddlers stood shoulder to shoulder — united in the ritual of group washing. Privacy? A concept from another life...
A selection of some impressions from the excursions, mapping practicals and investigations in Europe as part of my geology studies.
Sometime in the middle of the night, the rain began. The rain didn’t just land on the tent — it politely invited itself inside as well. Thanks to a giant puddle that had quietly formed on the now-muddy ground. I still remember that moment so clearly: We were somewhere in the middle of nowhere, on a campsite that sounded like an open-air festival for snoring wild boars and hyperactive guitarists. Nope, I’ve never been able to sleep well with earplugs. Travel pillows back then looked like inflatable rodents — no thanks. So, my head rested on a damp jacket, which resisted its new identity as a pillow with all its might.
Underneath me: a nasty sleeping pad that must have been made from the same material as cereal box liners — crinkly, paper-thin, and probably designed to slowly kill you. My sleeping bag? A textile joke. By the second night, it was so clammy I honestly wasn’t sure whether I was drier inside it or outside. And all I could think was:
When will this hell of a night mercifully be over?
No Sleep, No Heat, No Power — Just Geology
Luckily, one of my fellow students had duct tape with them — so I was able to do a makeshift repair on the tent on the next day. But on the next — far too early — morning, soaking-wet hiking boots awaited me — ready to carry me another 10–20 kilometres each day to various geological outcrops. It’s honestly a mystery how the blisters on my feet never got infected. My skin was probably just too frozen for bacteria to survive...
Somewhere along the way, I stood there again — with my fellow students and the field trip leaders — in front of yet another outcrop. As my frozen fingers tried to hold a pen with something close to control, I wondered how I was supposed to scribble anything remotely legible onto the wet pages of my field notebook. This wasn’t a vacation, after all — it was a university field excursion, which meant: work, measurements, notes, drawings. Successfully completing these fieldwork tasks and getting a good grade on the report were essential for passing the course! I was so tired, stared at my half-tattered, mud-splattered notebook as the wind cut through all my layers, and all I could think was:
Oh, how I hate camping!
A selection of some impressions from the excursions, mapping practicals and investigations in Europe as part of my geology studies.
Okay, admittedly — not every night in a tent was a disaster. And: As my studies progressed, I spent more and more nights in log cabins or even small guesthouses. Jeez, that felt like real luxury back then! But it was precisely those rougher nights that shaped me and my idea of what camping is like. I also fondly remember how we could light a campfire almost anywhere and anytime — something that's rarely allowed today due to the increasing risk of forest fires.
And just for the record: my phone and camera batteries were nearly always dead. Back then, affordable power banks just didn’t exist for broke students like us. Also, phone cameras had such terrible resolution that we still used actual cameras to take most of our photos — you know, real cameras! And you can probably guess where our only chance to charge them was — that’s right, the campground bathrooms, next to the sinks...
Camping Now ...
Sebastian and I used to go camping from time to time — first before we had children, and later with them — but never for more than a long weekend. We simply never had enough space in the car for longer trips anyway. As the kids got older, we swapped our standard family car for a 4x4, obviously for various reasons 😎 That’s when everything started.
Ready or Not: How We Plunged into Our First Long Family Camping Trip
One day, Sebastian just looked at me and said:
We’ve got the car, we’ve got the gear — well, most of it. How about trying a longer camping trip?
Sebastian knew exactly which camping trauma he was digging up... But the kids are older now, and maybe — just maybe — it was time to give it another shot. So I said yes — I must’ve been out of my mind, but hey, what's life without a little chaos and questionable decisions? We’re so often stuck in our little "bubbles". And how often do we talk about breaking free from our hamster wheel? It was high time for a new adventure!
I never thought that I would ever voluntarily embark on an outdoor adventure again. If someone had told me before that I would go on a 3-week camping vacation, I would have declared them crazy! The memories were too formative. And yet we decided to go on an overlanding vacation this year. Sebastian kindly took on the role of our vacation planner. It didn’t take long to decide: our next vacation would be a camping trip to southern Europe.
Of course, I had mixed feelings. After all, there are now four of us — we have responsibility for two children, including our younger one who lives with Down's syndrome and needs a bit of extra attention and care. Since this was going to be our first inclusive overlanding trip as a family, we spent months planning every detail — really thinking about what everyone, especially our little one, would need to feel safe and comfortable. Of course, this meant booking all the camping spots, ferry crossings, and even the hotel accommodation for the last night well ahead of time. We had a few days when we had to take down the tent, drive 4-5 hours and put it up again. This meant planning and it was fun.
Before our vacation, Sebastian dove deep into prepping our off-road camping gear. And I had a thousand thoughts running through my head:
What if one of us gets sick? What happens if a child gets lost (our little child has a very strong urge to run straight to interesting things...)? What if the car has to go to the workshop — or, oh God, what if we break down with the car somewhere in the middle of nowhere...? What if...?
But as it so often goes: the worries were louder than reality. Fortunately, none of that happened. Nobody got sick, we didn't get stranded and there were no major mishaps either. There was just one small bruise — our little one bumped the foot on a stone while playing in the river. But even that was quickly forgotten, thanks to the well-stocked first-aid kit. The car only had to go to the workshop once, but that was no problem and didn't disrupt our route. We were able to complete the trip as planned. Phew!
In total, we stayed at five different camping spots in northern Italy, southern France and northern Spain. Our 4x4 took us to stunning places we never could have reached with a regular family car. But on the last planned camping day in Spain, with a blistering 43 °C air temperature, we thought: Spontaneity is sometimes exactly what a vacation needs and decided to escape the heat — with an air-conditioned hotel room right by the sea. We treated ourselves to dinner in the hotel restaurant, the kids were able to run around on the beach and we all enjoyed being outside until late at night. It’s moments like these that become the lasting memories of a beautiful summer!
Camping 2.0: When Comfort Meets the Great Outdoors
So what’s camping like for me nowadays — compared to the old days? Or should I rather say: glamping? Because to be honest — with our equipment, it no longer had much to do with the hard ground and clammy sleeping bags of the past... And instead of a rickety little car, we now travel over rocks and shallow rivers in a comfortable 4x4 off-road vehicle. The trunk is organized with storage systems that would make Marie Kondo proud!
We sleep in a palace of a tipi-tent — one where you can stand, dance or even host a family yoga retreat if needed. A tent that one person can pitch alone if necessary. Instead of nightly gravel massages, my body now enjoys the luxury of a warm, self-inflating air mattress, wrapped in a soft, cozy wool sleeping bag. My head rests gently on an inflatable, comfortable pillow. Moisture stays where it belongs — outside — even after a thunderstorm! That also means our sometimes damp shoes dry overnight in the tent.
Speaking of thunderstorms. While the thunderstorm drums outside and I lie awake in my tent, I imagine us escaping by lifeboat. The children? Deep and sound asleep — as if the thunderstorm was just a cozy lullaby! Sometimes I wish I had that childlike superpower: falling asleep anywhere, anytime, without a single worry in the world. Even now — with all the comfort — I still often don't sleep well in the tent. My “bat ears” hear every flutter and rustle long before my husband even notices a thing (yes, even bats!). Especially the scops owl with its sonar-like call — a true master at stealing my sleep. And then there are the mosquitoes — clearly starving, and determined to find every bit of uncovered skin. Since I dislike wearing earplugs, I suppose I’m destined to serve as an involuntary nighttime wildlife scanner. And besides — some of the best memories don’t need a full night’s sleep...
We have a huge camping table. And there’s even storage space under the table —thanks to a net you can attach underneath. Our camping chairs have backrests and armrests, making them so comfortable you can sit back and relax without worrying about tipping over into the dirt. If you want, you can shower under a warm solar shower or take a dip in the river — purely voluntarily this time! We even have a super practical portable toilet for camping. Our older child loves sitting on it, watching the crawling beetles, ants, and flies — making “pooping in nature” feel like a real wildlife safari. All of this right in the heart of nature, with views of mountains, forests, rivers, or the sea — depending on wherever the car has taken us.
Our DIY Kitchen Box is a real space saver and includes, among other things, a gas stove, a cutting board, cookware and lots of cutting knifes. If allowed, we like to use the fire pit. We’ve even grilled fish on it before — yum! We even have a big fridge in the trunk. Breakfast is warm, evening salad delightfully cool. And thanks to a solar panel and large battery, not only does the fridge run reliably, but all our other tech stays powered, too — no more empty phone batteries when you want to capture those magical moments with the kids or when the moonlight glows just right on the moth-covered hood of the car.
Regaining Balance: How Nature Rewired My Brain
Still, I often catch myself daydreaming about the days before Telegram and WhatsApp. Nowadays, being out of mobile range is actually a blessing for our nervous system. It’s amazing how refreshing it feels to disconnect from all the noise and just enjoy the simplicity of nature — no constant notifications, no screen time, just the sound of the breeze and the laughter of the kids. Sometimes I even have to remind myself to switch my phone to airplane mode and soak it all in.
And honestly? As much as I cursed, froze, and patched up blisters back then — I’m deeply grateful for those experiences during my studies and I wouldn't want to miss them. Now I know what you're capable of when sleep is short, food is cold, and feet are wet. What you can do when your body gives up, your mind rebels — and you still keep going. It strengthens our resilience.
And maybe that’s exactly why I enjoy this new version of camping so much more — less drama, more comfort. We’re still out in nature as a family, but without feeling like we’ve been cast into a survival reality show. This overlanding trip really left its mark. It brought us even closer together, and something in me shifted. Since we returned, my nervous system feels like it's been upgraded: Even weeks later, I’m handling the usual noise and chaos like a pro instead of a ticking time bomb. Who knew a bit of offline time in nature could turn out to be such a superpower?
As we eased back into daily life, Sebastian asked me if I’d do another overlanding trip. Oh boy... I never thought I’d say this — but:
I’m already looking forward to the next time I unzip that tent!
What about you?
Have you ever had a camping experience that surprised you — either in a good or a challenging way? Maybe you’ve discovered your own version of “glamping,” or faced wild adventures under the stars. I’d love to hear your stories, tips, or even camping fails! Drop a comment below and let’s keep the conversation going. After all, every great adventure is better when shared.
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Sebastian Weiss
Sebastian Weiss
Sebastian Weiss
Photo credits:
The photos used in this article are partly taken by my, and partly from Pixabay and are licensed under the Pixabay license.