Gone Glamping!

"Gone Glamping"

I need to begin this with a nod to the friend who first mentioned the word “Glamping” to me a couple of months ago. Rick H was following a thread of conversation I was having on facebook, and identified (rightly so) that I didn’t simply enjoy camping, I actually enjoyed something called “glamping”.

Glamping is the combination of the words glamorous and camping = glamping. It is for folks who love to sleep in the great outdoors, but prefer to do so on sheets and inside an RV. It is for folks who embrace the fact that there are plug-ins mounted on said RV, and do not scoff at the option to use a wee bit of power if it is available/necessary.

I know everyone is thinking, “But isn’t she a sustainability freak? Shouldn’t she prefer resting her dreadlocked hair on a bed of branches, and foraging for roots whilst wearing her hand sewn hemp skirt?”

Ummmmm…..no. You don’t have to suffer to be sustainable. You don’t have to sacrifice comfort for sustainability either. But…I digress. Let’s get back to why I prefer to “Glamp”.

Let’s go back in time shall we. I am going to begin by blaming my parents…because….well…because I can. When they get a column in the newspaper or a blog, they can blame me for something. Deal?

When I was young, we never went tenting…..ever. We had a very nice camper and after a few years, and as more little girls were added to the family, we upgraded to a beautiful fifth wheel trailer. The only reference to “camping” was the fact that some of us slept in sleeping bags….other than that, it was like home.

Flash forward a few years and I meet my husband. I tried so very hard to be ‘that girl”….the one who slept in a tent and “went” in the bushes, but alas…it was not to be. I simply did not enjoy roughing it, perhaps because I knew that it didn’t really have to be that way.

This gal agrees with me......

So combine my dislike for tenting with being a young family on a strict budget, which didn’t allow for fancy, schmancy things like campers/trailers and the result was a family that rarely went camping.

Which brings me to 2012….the year I discovered glamping. I have discovered a world that I didn’t know existed. A world where you need not suffer with bed head and dirty feet: where a shower is simply a laminated particle-board door away. A world where there are power outlets and pull thru’s and dumping stations.

Yes....we bought a trailer.

This world is magical. It is like a marriage between Martha Stewart and Professor Albus Dumbledore: A world where you can create a culinary delight in a device not much larger than an easy bake oven.

I am in heaven. I am hooked on “glamping” and like I said before, you don’t have to suffer to be sustainable. You can still:

·   Recycle – many campsites have recycling bins, if they do not, bring items to be recycled home with you

·   Conserve water

·   Conserve Power – only use it when necessary or better yet, install a solar panel kit on your RV

·   Waste removal – dispose of waste in marked containers or bring it with you to dispose of properly.

·   Do not pollute – Do not burn plastics or garbage in your fire-pit

My first year glamping has now come to an end and with that, the excuse to drink my morning coffee with Bailey’s Irish Cream. I pledge to spend the next 6 months scouring Pinterest for many, many cool glamping ideas and I can’t wait to try them out!

Happy Fall!

Judy