I remember when hubby and I first went camping. We went with some friends who had all the possible camping equipment one could need, while the two of us had a tent. A child size type of a tent. One my Dad won in some game. We didn’t close it the first night, because it was so small and hubby too tall, so his legs were dangling out. We were woken up at around 4 am by an invasion of ants, crawling all over us and by 5 we finally gave up all hope of sleeping and spent two hours walking around and enjoying the sunrise.

I think that first trip of ours made us want all the fancy camping gear, because we just wanted to fit in I guess. So, we started buying things, like mattresses and sleeping bags, and chairs and tables and … We thought we had everything we needed. And then for a few years all of our praised possessions stayed in the basement while I was pregnant and we had babies and well, conditions were never perfect or we just complicated everything too much. Last year we gave it a try again, because we just couldn’t wait any longer. We bought a new tent, because there were suddenly four of us and having a tiny apartment we crave space. Then we realized we needed some extra things as well.

So, when this summer we went shopping, we almost got carried away and we suddenly wanted to buy things like a refrigerator, a stove, kitchen set. Somebody might have thought we were renovating our home, not buying camping gear. Luckily, hubby was sane enough, to just say enough, we don’t need as much. And when you go buying your camping gear my advice would be to bring somebody like that along. Someone has to keep a cool head or you’ll end up with half the store.

I have made a list of our essentials, because talking to my friends I’ve discovered a lot of us have the same addiction towards camping gear. But camping should really be about the basics, reconnecting with nature and a simpler way of life, otherwise why not stay in an apartment, or a hotel?

Finally, here is my list of the best camping gear:

As you can see, it’s not about what kind of gear you have but about having the things you really need and enjoying your vacation. Of course we end up dragging way more stuff as well, but we are working on it.