Camping with your baby will mean that you will have to watch over your baby constantly. You should always check to see that your baby is not too hot or too cold. Another thing to look out for are the bugs. You should protect your child from insects or other pests.

Speaking of pests and animals, what you choose for your site is going to make a huge difference. If you decide to go camping in the middle of the woods, you are going to have to do a lot more work than if you were camping on grass or a more open area. It is also very convenient to have a flushing toilet and a warm shower. I know that those types of amenities spoil the excitement of the real outdoors, but your baby’s health is pretty important as well.

What should you bring for your baby? It is important to remember the necessities such as food, diapers, some toys, and appropriate clothing. A portable cot would be a huge space saver for you, and some sort of a surface to change diapers is a good suggestion as well. Some people have a bag that opens up to become a change table, but an old towel will do the trick as well. One of the best investments will be a bug net. You really do not want any mosquitoes bothering your baby!

Buzzing mosquitoes will probably result in an awake and alert baby. If you are worrying about bothering the neighbors with the sound of your baby’s cries, don’t worry, it’s only for a few days. Plus, you are already used to lack of sleep, right?

In general, when it comes to bringing a baby on a camping trip, keep doing what you are doing, but be very aware of your baby and their surroundings. Watch their every move, and make sure that he or she does not eat too much dirt!

If you are just looking for a summer fling, then by all means, spend 50 dollars on a tent that suits your needs. It is possible to find a tent that cheap that is just what you are looking for. Better yet, it may serve you even longer than your original intentions. The thing about cheaper tents is that it will most likely be of lower quality as well. Perhaps the fabric will not be as breathable, making it difficult to sleep comfortably in it, or the poles may break because they are made of a cheap material.

In any case, you could find a tent for $50, or you could find one that is very similar in looks for 10 times as much as that! They look about the same, so what’s the big difference? The difference lies in the quality of materials. You may not notice the difference until the bad weather rolls around or after your first few outings. So, what aspects of a tent should you be looking at to ensure that you have a high quality tent?

The first thing to look at is the material of the tent. The higher-denier fabric canopies and rainflies are typically the ones that you want to go for. While we are on the subject of rainflies, get a full-coverage one because it will offer better weather protection than a roof-only styled rainfly.

The floor of your tent is also very important. Pay close attention to the seams and the seam tapping as well as the material that it is made out of so that you can prevent any leaks from occurring. Another thing to look at are the poles. You should look for aluminum poles. They are stronger and more durable than fiberglass. When it comes to zippers, buy YKK zippers. These zippers break less and resist snagging more than others. In general, pay attention to the details. Look at the little add-ons that may make your life easier.

Maybe you could test out a cheap tent first to see where it fails and what your needs are!

Batteries are used in many gadgets – headlights, bike lights, GPS receivers, walkie-talkies, cameras, and more. Because of this, I have  a feeling that you will have to carry around backup batteries, so add those to the list of batteries to keep up-to-date as well. A good battery will have a long battery life, performance, reasonable cost, and environmental friendliness.

So, what type of battery should you look into? That is truly up to you, but I would go with a rechargeable battery and specifically,  Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries. NiMH batteries are great, because the good ones can be recharged anywhere from 150 to 500+ times. Their performance is also fantastic, especially in devices like cameras or GPS devices. The cons of NiMH batteries is that they have to be recharged pretty frequently. They can lose 1% or more of their charge per charge just in idle mode. Also, the more you use them, the more frequently you will have to charge them.

Using NiMH batteries are great in terms of efficiency and power; however, I like to have single-use batteries on hand as spares. This is because you do not have to worry about whether or not the batteries are charged, and they are reliable enough. There are also NiMH batteries that come pre-charged. Those are pretty cool as well. These pre-charged ones have a lower self-discharge rate than the standard rechargeable batteries. While NiMH batteries will deplete in two months, the pre-charged ones only lose 25% of their stored power. It’s a great hybrid option that will serve as a good backup.

There is no “all-for-one” battery type out there, but when it comes time for your camping trip, make sure that your batteries are charged and ready to go. You never know what kind of situation you are going to find yourself in.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to use existing campsites. Now I know that may not seem as exciting as completely out in the wild, but it is a bit safer and legal. In general, you should set up your tents on non-vegetated areas, and avoid digging trenches around the tent. Furthermore, if you are going to camp somewhere that is not an official campground, there are a couple of location factors that you should take into consideration. One general rule is that you should try to camp at least 150 feet from the water, trails, or other campsites. This is for your own general safety.

As for what you should bring; bring only what you can carry. Be prepared to carry your trash with you, and also do the right thing – pick up any trash that you find along the way. To avoid too much trash, think about packing lightly. Use bags instead of Tupperware. It will take up less room, and it will be a lighter load on you. Speaking of food, camp stoves are actually better for the environment than campfires. This is because camp stoves leave less of an impact on the land. Make sure that you abide by all fire regulations and safety measures when using fire. One of the most important steps for you to take is to put out the fire effectively. You do not want to be held responsible for starting a forest fire, do you?

If you do not have any access to toilets, there are some options for you. A lot of people just “go,” and they assume that the waste will be disposed of properly; however, that is not actually how it works. The best way to dispose of human waste is to dig a hole that is about six to eight inches deep, and far away from water sources, campsites, and trails. Once finished, cover the hole with natural materials.

Make sure to camp as “naturally” as possible by leaving no footprints.

In my opinion, bikes are one of the best things to bring along on a camping trip. Whether the land is flat or hilly, there is always room for a bike ride. Who knows, maybe there is a really cute city right outside of your campground that you never knew about! Bikes are a great way to get around a campground and for grocery runs. Not only are you saving gas and not using your car, but you are getting the chance to exercise as well. If you are around a place with trails and mountains, go for it! Mountain biking is a great way to explore the area. Hiking is great too, but biking will let you cover more ground.

Another idea is roller blades/skates.  You can skate around to exercise, but you can also just do so to have fun. Skates/blades don’t take up much room, so this would be a great change from walking.

How about scooters? Scooters fold up to be compact and fun to ride around on. My family still has the scooters that we got before the Razors came out!

Some other boards to consider are skateboards or longboards. All of these activities are fun; they get you out of your tent, and you can probably meet people on to hang out with. Who knows, maybe you can score some free S’mores!

I’ll leave the starting of the fire to those with boy-scout experiences, but I’ll take the chance to write about simple ways to cook over a fire. Not only is it a way of getting your food cooked, but it’s also a great outdoor experience. Plus, your food can get that wonderful smokey flavor.

There are a few ways that you can cook your food. A low budget way to do this is to place food on sticks, then hold it over the fire. All you have to do is soak the sticks in water beforehand in order to prevent them from burning. It is great for individual servings. It’s pretty easy to drop food or burn it, so not too many things can be cooked this way, however, pigs on a blanket could work, bread, hotdogs, and of course, marshmallows.

Another very low budget way to cook is to just throw your food on the coals. I would not really suggest doing this, as your food tends to burn, and there is not too much you can cook this way. Things you could cook on coals are potatoes or eggs, because they are coated.

Another option is to wrap your food in foil, then put it on the coals. You can cook just about anything in this manner. If your budget is a step higher, then you can balance a grill on your fire and use that to cook food on. Even fancier, you can get a pot. Pots are great for cooking in great quantities.

Now-a-days most people have their own gas grills, but I still think it is fun to go with the classic old way of cooking. There are so many options out there for things to cook directly over the fire. You can even have your kids help out! One of my favorite things to do is to bake bread on a stick. To make it more of a dessert, add some butter in the hole, and pour in some sugar. Delicious! Also, you can never go wrong with S’mores, but you knew that already.

During the day, the campground was close to empty, and there was plenty of space to walk around through the tents. Oh, and yes, the plots are nicely mowed grass lots; however, when we would come back from our evening balloon ride, the whole place was packed! There was no inch to spare. We were even surprised to see a camper parked in between our circle of four tents!

The other thing that I was surprised about was the amount of mini tents we saw. The big fad now is to have these Instant Tents by Quechua. These tents can be set up in less than 5 seconds, by simply tossing them on the floor. Super easy and handy, but transporting them around is apparently a little tiresome. This is because even though it has a very thin flattened shape, the disc is pretty big, and it would not fit in a backpack really easily. There is one slip in the design, but overall, they are pretty cool. Imagine having to pick up a tent, throw it on the ground, and poof!

It’s a very simple experience if you ask me. Almost too simple. Camping gear keeps getting more user friendly, and less natural. I probably need to take a camping trip back in the US to see how it is now, but I really think that the campgrounds around the Benelux area are really missing out on the all natural feeling. Oddly enough, I think I’m actually asking for there to be 17 spiders in my shower that is also less than luke warm.

I know that I will regret saying that…

While there are some things that are guaranteed to take up room, such as the tent, there are other ways to minimize the amount of space that you need in your trunk. Some of the solutions are more expensive than you may want, such as getting a microfiber sleeping bag instead of a normal one, but there are other things to consider.

For example, towels take up a decent amount of space, and when they are wet, they can take a while to dry. One tip would be to bring smaller-sized towels. You probably do not need a towel the size of your current one to dry your body. Next time, dry yourself off with a washcloth—see how far you can get with a towel as small as that. One solution for this would be to invest in some microfiber towels. Ridiculously thin and small (they could fit in the pockets of cargo pants), these towels dry almost instantly, and you can buy them in all different sizes.

Other items that take up a lot of space while camping are the supplies that go along with cooking. Back in 2009, I had written an article about some Jetboil products that making cooking a lot easier in the wilderness.  Now I have something to compliment this compact cooking tool — compact plastic.

They call it Orikaso, with ori translating to “to fold” and kaso translating to “plastic.” So, it literally means the art of folding plastic. At this point, Orikaso offers plates, bowls, and mugs. The products weigh a few grams and are about a millimeter thick when unfolded. Seriously, you can fold a flat piece of plastic into a usable cup that will hold liquids! Well, if you throw it in the microwave it might start to unfold, but other than that, the product is heat and cold resistant (over 100C and down to –40C). They are very durable; the products come with 10 year guarantees. They are also easy to clean and simple to put together.

Now the next step is to find a tent that can a bread box!

I then decided that I should look into camping.

True, August is going to be the worst time to go camping in those two countries in terms of the humidity and the heat, but if it can save me an extra 10 euros a night, I am more than willing to take several cold showers a day to withstand the heat.

Whether I go camping or not is actually going to depend on if I can find a tent at a low price or if I can borrow one. Buying a suitable tent is going to cost a lot of money. It is typically more than the cost of paying for air-conditioned hostels the whole time.

Price is one factor that you should look into when buying a tent. Define your price range, and try to stick with it. Secondly, think about how much space you need. How many people are you traveling with? Most backpacker friendly tents hold no more than two people. Next, consider weight. A good weight for a tent is 3 to 5 pounds—yes,  they do exist. If you want to go even lighter, try to find a tent that will allow you to use your hiking poles as the support for the tent. Finding a tent that is the perfect combination of these three factors can be hard to do.

Another consideration is the weather conditions your tent will have to withstand. I know that I’ll need one that allows for ventilation. For financial reasons, I would suggest looking into a 3 or 4 season tent. Buying a “summer” tent may not be the most efficient option.

The best thing to do would be to walk into a store and see the tents for yourself. Check out how big they are, as well as how easy they are to set up.

I’ll keep you posted with what I decide to do!

The original tent design looks something like a teepee or a pyramid. With one pole in the center and typically no floor, it is a very basic design that is commonly used by backpackers. This is because it is an ultra-light design where even the pole can double as a hiking stick – how efficient! The main problem with this design is that it can typically only function in good weather conditions.

If you are looking for something that will survive the rainy or winter months, then you are going to want to look for something more than a teepee tent. What you want is a dome or modified dome shaped tent. Domes are typically easy to set up, and they allow for efficient floor space. The shape of a dome tent can be hexagonal, square, quadrangle, rectangular, or maybe even something different. Most three season tents are dome shaped.

For an all-season tent, you are going to want to look at a modified dome shape. Unlike dome-tents that can come in all sorts of floor-shapes, a modified dome shape tent typically has a square floor. It also has extra poles for stability, and it usually has a tapered end that is lower than the the other side to protect the tent from the wind. Taking it one step further, if you add even more pole intersections in the tent, you’ll be left with a geodesic dome tent. This is the type of tent that is typically put up by mountain climbers or those setting up camp on the side of the mountain (with or without snow).

However, considering that the average Joe doesn’t usually need the sturdiest of tents for his once a year summer camping trip, picking a tent will probably come down to what you like the best. Many people opt for a dome shape, but there are other tent variations out there. Some allow you to move the front door to create a “porch” or a bigger living room while others allow you to build rooms. If you want an intricate tent, you’ll be able to find one!