The summer is finally with us and now is the time to start planning your vacation. Of course, you have to check the local government guidelines for health and COVID, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a plan to get out there and enjoy the world for a little while. You’ve been locked down and locked up for a whole year; a vacation is well deserved. However, if you’re worried about COVID, you should consider camping instead of a long-haul vacation. This way, you’re far less at risk for things being canceled at the last second!

If you haven’t considered camping before, now is the time. So many people out there love to camp, and it’s not just something that they enjoy as individuals, but something that they enjoy as a family. It can be cold, it can be wet, but if you’re traveling through the summer months you’re far less likely to be at risk of cold and wet nights under the stars. The summer nights are likely to  be drier, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t encounter nosy camping neighbors or a grass snake or two! You could talk yourself right out of buying in that heavy duty canopy, but for all the negatives of camping, there are a gazillion positives to consider. Below, we’ve put together some of those positives so you can feel good about choosing camping for your break away this summer. Let’s take a look!

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1. You will feel so healthy when you do it. Seriously, you can’t begin to imagine how many health benefits there are with camping! Not only are you hauling yourself and your equipment through mud and bush to get to the good ground, you’re going to be working harder than usual to regulate your body temperature. You’re going to be breathing in the fresh air, filled with dewy nature and greenery. It’s something amazing to enjoy because you’re going to get so much from the natural world physically. 
2. Your mental health will improve. Along with the physical benefits and movement of hiking and camping, the mental health benefits of being in nature are 100% worth the trip. You’re going to take your brain away from the overstimulation of screens and working hours, and that in itself is priceless. The effects can be much more efficient if you understand how you can relax your body and that of your peers. This will require an additional item like CBD that will release your stress and anxiety. To understand the legal and required procedure of getting this information, you need to get the necessary Medical Cannabis Certificate to help you guide your peers and get the best out of cannabis products. However, it would help if you always were keen to balance your camping and these laxatives lest they have negative results.You get to watch people. A wonderful way to pass the time when you’re not immersing yourself in technology is watching people. You can see people interact and play games, watch them build fires and make tents appear from canopy and sticks. It’s like the ultimate survival show right in front of you and you’re going to love it. Sure, be discreet, but you may find that people watching leads to a little socializing – and you need that.
3. You can go on an adventure. Camping is a huge adventure and everyone in the family can get involved with it. It’s an adventure to sleep in a tent, to hike up the hills and off the beaten track. You’re going to embark on an adventure you never had before, and you’re going to love every second of it.
4. Relax a little and have fun. Camping is going to give you a chance to relax and have fun, and you might not have done that for a while. You can fish in the local lakes, you can climb some trees, you can even sit around a fire and melt marshmallows into ‘smores. You get to regress a little and be childlike in your activities. You may not get to do that very often, and if that’s the case, you can let loose and have fun for a change.
5. Working as a team. Whether you are camping with family, with friends or with work colleagues on a bizarre team-building program, you get to work together as a team. Pitching a tent, for example, is considered a team sport when you’re camping. You can have fun, you can build a fire and you can enjoy working together as a team to make this camping trip as fun as possible!
6. Spending time together. Family time is so difficult to come by. Parents work around the clock and kids are in school, studying and working part time on the weekends. You may not get much of a chance to just chill out and enjoy each other’s company when you are backed up with work and school, but a few days in the wild together is time you can build memories from. You can play silly games and splash in the water, and you can sing campfire songs and just talk together. It’s going to change your lives – all of you.

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8. A little more space. When you are living in a town or a city, you don’t get to see much in the way of wide open spaces anymore. There is a huge sense of freedom that comes with going camping as you get into nature and you allow yourself to be in the trees and bushes. You can switch your scenery for a change, and the wilder you go, the less of a risk you will find of COVID or anything else!
9. Appreciating those little things. Camping gives you a chance to appreciate the little things in life that you may take for granted. The things like the taste of simple food that you cook over a campfire, or wearing wellies over your pajamas as you dance in the twilight sky. Silly things like that – even the smells of the fire crackling in the warm air – it all gives you a chance to appreciate the little things in life that you don’t usually get a chance to pause and enjoy.
10. Eating delicious food. Oh, goodness, the food you can eat while you camp! Spearing fat sausages on clean sticks and listening to them spit and crackle in the fire, and rotating your own chicken over a fire. You can make some of these delicious campfire recipes, too, and they will be etched in your memories for many years. You could go fully wild and kill, cook and eat an animal, but not many people are into spearing fish or snaring rabbits these days!
11. A chance to learn something new. Did you ever go to cub scouts as a child? Or join in with the Girl Scouts? The skills you learn, from fishing to tying knots in rope are all skills you can use while you camp. You might even get the chance to gut a fish or whittle sticks. You can learn something new if you join up with a larger camping group, or you can put some long-learned skills to the test.
12. Seeing the sunrise. If you choose a camping spot that has an ocean view, you will be able to wake up during the nautical twilight hours and watch the sunrise over the ocean. You can just unzip the tent and watch as the sun comes up and that’s a memory you won’t forget. You can even rest yourself on the other side and see the sun setting. All you have to do is make sure that you have a good view!
13. You get to disconnect. The one common thing that most people have is we are glued to technology these days. Our smartphones and tablets, computers at work and games consoles beckon us. Most people have forgotten how to have fun without the addition of a screen in front of their faces, and the chance to disconnect while camping offers a huge pull to most people who want to camp.
14. The chance to look at the stars. When was the last time you lay down and looked at the stars? Most people never get the chance to just lie in the grass and see the constellations, or spot a shooting star while you’re laying there looking at the sky. When you camp, you can take your sleeping bag outside and just lay there and see the sky open above you, looking endless and infinite.
15. It’s all about making memories. No matter what trip you take this year, you are going to make memories that you can never get back. The memories that you make with your whole family are going to be the stuff of family legend and you can remember it every time you go camping or you plan another vacation.

Camping is very much a love it or hate it activity and it’s something you can discuss with the whole family before you go. If you enjoy camping and you’ve been before, it’s likely you’re going to have all of the skills you need, which means that you only have to enjoy yourself for a change! Taking the time to prepare and plan for this trip is half the fun, so why don’t you put everything together and start looking for locations for your next camping trip now? You can travel the summer if you have the time to take – go and chase those sunsets for a change!