General advice - camping abroad.

mchale

davidlizard wrote: »

Many thanks all for the suggestions!

We have an ipod which is good for keeping the kids entertained - no telly this year - will definitely investigate solar powered means of charging. Great idea!

Eton scorpion ????

davidlizard

Starting to think why we need the ipod at all now - its something else we will have to carry around and probably lose - the kids can find something else to entertain themselves.

The post about the Eton Scorpion (looks a good bit of kit) reminds me - what happens about crawling insects, snakes and other similar visitors?

I guess that mozzies aside, it is something we will have to put up with as one of the joys of camping. We will pack toiletries in a tupperware box so we can use that for storing small amounts of food later though.

BlueC

mchale wrote: »

Greece in august, in a tent, you have forgotten the most important item a: air con unit

My thoughts exactly, or at least use a cotton or polycotton tent and not a nylon/polyester one. But I guess at 14kg for the tent it isn't cotton. It will be literally unbearable inside that on a hot day.

davidlizard

I have had a look at the labels on the tent - its made from polyamide (which I think is a posh word for nylon?) with polycotton sleeping compartments inside assuming I have translated the french correctly - my wife got it from France a few years ago.

Its sort of like a dome tent, but with added sleeping compartments on either side. The front and back open up completely, and the remaining ends can be lifted for additional ventilation. We don't plan to be inside the tent much before 10pm so hopefully will escape the worst of the heat.

The 14kg includes 2 sets of pegs (including 20 heavy duty screw in type ones), the mallet and poles, numerous groundsheets and the bag - we will probably not take all of this.

Must say the heat aspect is something that is concerning us.

BlueC

davidlizard wrote: »

Must say the heat aspect is something that is concerning us.

Don't worry too much. Better being hot than cold!

Its definitely not cotton at that weight - but it does sound like it could be really well ventilated so if you can manage to stay out of it until late at night then you will avoid the worst of it. The worst bit may be in the morning once the sun comes up - I camped in Spain once and it was horrific inside the tent after 7am. We did manage to sleep under the sun-shades on the beach though

Are you camping with an electric hook up? If so, a fan or two probably wouldn't go amiss. Maybe there will be some shade where you camp too? This would make a huge difference.

Sorry can't help with the other points but I do think it sounds a great cheap way to get away - make sure you report back and let us know how you found it!

davidlizard

I packed the tent up tonight and reweighed it, with just the bits I plan to take and its about 10kg with just the heavy duty pegs.

There is usually a decent breeze that blows down the Aegean in the summer (the Meltimi) so hopefully that will keep up cooler. Of course, this summer when we would welcome a breeze there won't be any, or it will be strong enough to blow the tent away. I guess that being at the mercy of the elements is part of the "fun" of camping.

Not sure if there is electricity where we are going, so might look into a couple of battery powered fans. My wife has suggested we get a hire car with the money we save from camping, sit in that with the aircon on!

Certainly will report back.

DCFC79

Ponkle22 wrote: »

Just take pillowcases, then layf your tshirts etc into them for pillows.

On crete I did buy in a beach inflatable shop small inflatable pillow but it was too tiny for its purpose.

i bought an inflatable pillow for £2 from tesco, ok so its a bit small but it was ok for me, yes i see what you mean about the size

purplepardalis

Last year at Glastonbury we took a thermometer to see what the temperature was inside the tent. Mid afternoon it reached over 50 degrees. And that was Somerset!
Definitely take it easy - you will begin to feel overexposed after a while. And don't get drunk as you can't have a lie in - the tent will heat up far too quickly!

Does sound like fun though!

CountryGoose

Don't do it! Look for a cheap room when you get there and you'll not pay much more than a campsite fee.

The tent will be far too hot during the day and won't cool much during the night. Flying, biting insects will be a problem unless you have a good net door.

Stick to camping in the UK, or a pre-pitched unit in France or Italy for a first time. I really would not go to Greece with kids in August.

davidlizard

Not had much luck finding any cheap rooms on the internet for the islands we want to visit - have emailed around a dozen places and of those that replied they want a minimum of €110 or more a night for that time of year - and they all want cash upfront which is unusual. The campsites are around €15 and don't want bookings unless we want to hire a tent.

I am also very wary this year of the potential of industrial action either here or more likely, in Greece itself, severely disrupting our plans. By not committing ourselves to accommodation or dependencies on particular ferries, we at least will minimise our losses should our outbound flight/boat get cancelled and we lose several days off the holiday.

So the plan is take the tent and see how it goes. If we really do not get on with camping and find the heat/creepy crawlies too much, then we can always try and find a room once we are there as you recommend - we'll probably keep an eye/ear open for reasonably priced accommodation when we are out there - see what prices are being offered down at the port.