5 Ways British and American Camping is Very Different

This past Labor Day weekend, I decided to get away from it all and do what many Americans do at this time of year: pitch a tent at a camp site. While this was largely intended as a mini vacation and not the set-up for a video, I did none-the-less have a lot of thoughts about the ways in which camping differs between Britain and the United States. Here are five of them.

[kathyharmon]

I’m more afraid of ticks ( with the prevalence of Lyme disease) than the large predators!

[drunkenobservations]

Wild animals may rarely interact with campers, but it's still hard to fall asleep while listening to a mountain lion scream

[karenmartin]

I've sat around a few campfires, but never heard anyone burst into song. There's usually just a lot of talking, plus people moving their chairs, while stating "smoke follows beauty."

[arikwolf]

The last time I when camping, My brother and I were sitting around the campfire chat. It was very peaceful. I noted that I was loving this and wonder why I stopped camping (for 30 years) after leaving the Boy Scouts.

Then it start to rain.

"Oh, right. Now I remember why."

[rhiahlMT]

Half asleep at 2am yesterday. In my bedroom. An elk bugled under my window and I sat straight up. Who needs camping, I don't need no stinking camping. 😁

[donnahealey]

Camped with my four youngest grandkids in the back yard last week. Between the barred owls at night, and the rooster across the street, I got about an hour of sleep. The kids, and Ernie the cat, (who also lives across the street) all slept soundly🙄

[elliebellie]

Did he mention the 10, 000 mosquitos who suddenly become your best friends when you go "glamping"?

[gotramen]

“The males just die” is the most emotion I have ever heard Lawrence have in his voice

[hollycaron]

Was camping at Fort DeSoto State Park in Fl. once. We left the windows open on the car during the day. Went for a bike ride around the park. When we got back to the campsite there was a racoon sitting in the drivers seat of the car. I think if we didn't come back it would've stolen the vehicle. 😂🤣😂🦝🦝🚗🚗

[surferdog]

When I was kid, my parents and I drove up into the mountains until our truck literally couldn't drive any further. With help from passersby, we got the vehicle up off the giant boulder it was stuck on, saw how late it was, and decided it would be best to find a camping spot. We trekked into the woods for a half a mile or so, found a spot flat enough, and set up camp. We made sure to keep food up off the ground, swinging high enough from a tree to fend off bears. We were wrong. Since my parents had the gun in their tent, I demanded to have the dog in my tent. Late that night, a bear came trudging into our campsite. It started sniffing at my tent, which is what woke up my dog and I. I could see its snout pushing into my thin tent fabric. My dog's barking finally scared it off. My parents slept through the while thing. When we woke up, our bread, hang up in bags in the tree, was crushed but the bear couldn't really get to it. There were prints all around my tent. The whole thing was pretty scary. After breakfast, we packed up and found a spot at lower elevation, and far from that bears territory, for the 2nd night. I've had quite a few encounters with wildlife in the mountains, but that was definitely one of the most intense.

[carolynhotchkiss]

In some places here in Southern California, you don't even have to go camping for the whole Bear Experience. The bears are quite happy to come to your back yard. Especially if you have a pool. And meatballs.

[scottiesrockmaggie]

True camping story in the US: my daughter and one of her friends went camping in a local state park about 20 years ago. They had their closed cooler on the picnic table provided, but had failed to put their grocery bag of non perishable snacks in it. They woke up to chattering and the rustle of their bag. They looked out of the tent and two raccoons were checking out their snacks. They yelled at them, and the raccoons took off--with a giant bag of cheese curls. Later they woke up to tiny little hands poking under the tent, pulling on the bottoms of their sleeping bags, this time when they yelled the raccoons chittered back and eventually retreated.

[r.awilliams]

When I was young, I sneered at people in RV's, buncha softies that can't handle sleeping rough. I hiked way back into the wilderness, real wilderness like Paysayten with a backpack, tent and a foam pad. Now...I want to buy an RV. My 60+ year old spine just doesn't want to hear about no air mattress bullflop any more.😒

[ryanblack]

I finally encountered a wild mountain lion in Pennsylvania about 4 years ago. I wasnt camping, but driving, and it ran across the highway right in front of me! They are quite rare and it took 30 years to see one in the wild. Im glad my Mom was with me and seen it too or no one would believe it lol. It was so cool! 🐱🦁🦁🐱

[davidterry]

Midwest rainstorms / thunderstorms can be conducive to shear terror if you didn’t plan accordingly

[mariannplum]

Sounds like you might have forgotten a few things to make in the camp fire here in West Virginia. Fried potatoes in the cast iron skillet, roasting ears in the husks ( that’s corn on the cob roasted in the husks under hot coals. Soak those in water first) and Mountain pies Never forget the mountain pies. So many varieties of mountain pies. Yum 😋

[elkins]

When listing the ambient sounds of British camping, Laurence fails to mention the sheep, which if you are sleeping outdoors nearly anywhere in the UK in mid-summer, will ensure that you are up at 3am with the sun. Our children's books featuring the 'baaaas' of those charming wooly critters somehow failed to get across just how LOUD the little monsters can be.

[deborahdanhauer]

Love to camp. I remember stepping out of my tent in the middle of the night, right into a giant bear track that wasn’t there when I went to bed. This was in the Rockies.🤗🐝❤️

[brentiers]

"This isn't the actual wild." That can be very dangerous mistake.

[maidenminnesota]

"So it's a good idea to secure it (the cooler) with a bungee cord and affix the cooler to a tree and put the tree inside a safety deposit box and blast the whole thing off into space."

Give raccoons time, and they'll discover space travel just to get at all those space coolers. 😂😂😂