Going Basic

Having been rather busy this year and using my annual holiday for tent shows, we have had to make fine use of my weekends off. Now, we are used to taking our trailer, a complete set-up and everything to ensure maximum space and comfort, but in order to cut down on the packing and to ensure we get away as early as possible on Fridays we have been going basic with our packing. i.e. if it does not fit in the boot or on the car then it stays at home.

We have been using a Karsten 350 Pod with a direct to tent Rain Awning. This coupled with the Karsten carpet, Human-Comfort self inflating sleeping mats with memory foam toppers and down sleeping bags, ensure we are not only warm and comfortable, but are also completely set up with 20 minutes of arrival on site.

A couple of chairs, fold out pic-nic table, side table for our alochol beverages and a portaloo to save the night time trips of the children complete the set up and I must admit it works fantastically for us. We also manage to fit all our clothes into one bag!

We have one crate of cooking equipment inc. torches etc. and dinner is usually alread prepared in the pressure cooker ready to place on the single ring as soon as we arrive. With a young family, we still try and stick to a regimented dinner time.

Breakfast is usually cereal & fruit with a basic lunch and dinner out on Saturday night or a frozen meal taken from the home freezer and left to defrost in the cool bag to reheat in the pressure coorker. This means no gas BBQ or Cobb.

Not only does this really seem to work well for us, but packing away takes no more that 30 minutes, including strapping the childrens bikes and scooters etc... to the roof of the car.

It means that the weekend away really is a weekend away!

Note: Any more than a long weekend and it's the trailer!