I love camping, but I'm very into camping chilly. There are only a couple of occasions where I'd rather camp overnight than just pick an empty spot away from people and pitch a tent there.
A year and a half ago, I stayed at a campsite in Karelia for a symbolic 600 rubles: now you can hardly find at least some kind of accommodation for that kind of money, but then it was still possible. The conditions are typical for camping: a small moderately well-groomed territory, several showers and toilets. Near each tent there is a small table and a place for a barbecue so that you can cook your own food.
The orange tent familiar to regular PlanetTravel readers
What more could you want from a campsite? It's clean, the territory is fenced, so you don't have to worry that the local punks will pull the radio tape recorder out of your car. Again, you can leave not too valuable things like a sleeping bag and foam in the tent, go for a walk around the neighborhood, and then come back and find your things in their original places – this is also worth a lot.
But you pay for security with the beauty of spending the night in a tent. After all, traveling with a tent is good because you can stop anywhere, wake up with a view of the sea or mountains, and most importantly, there will not be a soul around.
In camping, the situation is a little different…
Unity with nature behind a two-meter fence is definitely not worth looking for. At best, your neighbors will behave quietly and go to bed at ten in the evening in their tent. At worst, they will sit by the fire until three in the morning, drinking drinks and singing songs. And then there are two options: either join them, or suffer and convulsively roll over from side to side in the hope that they are about to go to sleep.
Camping I prefer “wild” setting up a tent only in two cases. The first is the insecurity of the area. Recently I was in Uzbekistan on the border with Afghanistan. So there is a camping site not far from the border crossing to Afghanistan on the Uzbek side. If I had to spend the night there, then I would definitely go to a campsite and not tempt fate by setting up a tent in an open field. Well, that is, in the pure steppe and semi-desert.
The second option is the need to wash and charge gadgets. In theory, of course, you can rinse yourself in the river, but still you don’t always want to return to the Stone Age, although sometimes such a desire does arise. So when you want to stand under a hot shower, camping is what you need. Better yet, a nice hotel room: I love contrasts when traveling…
How do you feel about wild and cultured camping ? Which one do you prefer?