Discover the thrill of automobile camping, combining the freedom of the open road with the comforts of car camping. Learn tips on packing, vehicle setups, essential gear and top destinations to make your outdoor adventures more convenient and enjoyable.
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Automobile camping, also referred to as car camping, which has experienced a loss of popularity for years all of a sudden is enjoying its heydays again. This joyous tradition of packing the car with the tents, blankets, food and snacks for a tour style camping is again on the rise, along with attracting a new generation of auto campers. What has led to the return of drive-up camping? Keep reading for an explorative view of this retro take on vacation on wheels for the modern 21st century adventurer.
The Call of the Open Road
The most associated style of car camping is when one decides on a direction, and then drives aimlessly to a certain point. While RV vacations make travel with comfort on the single location, old- fashioned auto camping makes you touch the places and spaces you are passing through. When driving on beautiful roads-of-the-world and lowering the windows and feeling fresh wind blowing through your hair is simply magical. So the main idea is to stop where the landscape calls for it for hikes, for picnicking or for the photographer photo opt is a lackadaisical meandering adventure. When it’s just you in your car with an immense empty expanses in front of you, you can forget about racing Becoming a hoon on the other hand does not necessarily require an empty road or a sports utility vehicle.
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Low Cost Adventure
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More than anything it’s refreshing to be able to loose yourself in the beauty of life, disconnect form the rat race we find ourselves in today. Imagine starting a campfire, preparing an ordinary meal on the camp stove, and eating it on the fresh air and setting up a tent for the night. Auto camping removes unessentials and concerns from the equation and it can be a profoundly revolting process. In terms of equipment, little more than ground cover, shelter and grub is needed and it is therefore also verycheap, which makes it highly attractive for those on a limited budget, such as students, singles or young families on a road trip.
Escape Pod on Wheels
Between working, being a student, caring for our children, dealing with household chores and responsibilities, not to mention the power of lure that a smartphone possess over our lives, we often feel as if our lives are far too full, as if they are filled to the brim with noise. Perhaps the easiest is car camping essentials which gives you an escape pod into the wilderness, somewhere the sensory input fades and all one can hear is birds twittering and leaves whispering. The clutter between the text and emails and everything else for a break in the alpine meadow where you can overview of the surroundings reminds you of thinking of looking up to the beautiful night sky without the draw of light pollution. Escaping the hyper connected hive to listen to the beat of nature is one of the most therapeutic things one can do for an overworked and overstressed body-mind composite or paradigm.
Promote Family Bonding
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Auto camping is the best type of family camping which will ensure that everyone including the crew drop their phones and other gadgets and enjoy each other’s company. To enjoy family time without the screens in your hands, stop going through these streaks, no more inviting the crew for watching TV shows or playing tablets, no more running after the modern electronic games, it is time to look for board games, start playing 20 Questions over and over again, searching for some exciting rocks and sticks to collect in summer, telling stories before the segmented marshmallow turns golden in the firelight. Learning practical skills such as how to erect a tent, how to read a map, to identify birds and trees and how to use a compass makes a child incredibly confident as well as provides him or her with a boost against nature deficit disorder. And spacing out in the grass and watching the clouds go by or taking a walk at night and looking at stars are some of the innocent fun activities that bring Sibling and parent-child together.
Micro-adventures Close to Home
Although a multi-week cross-country automobile camping road trip is what dreams are made of and many films, such as Almost Famous you can bring the same energy to micro adventures. To capitalise on that free-wheeling, free-from-encumbrance attitude without spending lots of time or travelling distances, consider one or two day outing to camp grounds, national and state parks, forests, lakes or any other locality that provides a natural ambiance to the visitor and makes one believe that they are out there all alone in a world full of nature. Just one or two nights of leaving those daily tasks behind provides the brain with a definite refreshing.
The Re-emergence of Automobile Camping
From the easier pace, cheap thrills, to the digital nomad boasting rights, it’s not hard to see why packing up the car to camper-travel is trending. From Millennials in search of liberty and wheel, opting not to shift into career/child gears, Gen X pragmatically pausing a gilded RV life, Baby Boomers upgrading tent camping to glamorous retirement adventures or centennials in search of connectivity, the throwback pursuit offers clean air, limited stress and nostalgic cruising. Route 66 rambler John Steinbeck wrote about such strolls: ‘A journey is like marriage’ he remarked solemnly. The certain way to be wrong is to imagine that you are the master of it. Let the windows down, the car trunk up and enjoy the ride wherever, whenever and whatever automobile camping is set to revolutionise.