Do you like to socialize with your fellow campers? Is a visit to a campground or RV park not complete unless you make a few friends, maybe sit around a campfire or meet up for a cocktail hour? Or do you generally prefer to keep to yourself?Â
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After having worked with the public for many years, I prefer to keep to ourselves when camping. I don’t mind a friendly wave or hello as people walk past, or meeting along a trail…but we are not going to sit and chat by the fire.
We don’t really camp, we find an area to explore. Greet the neighbors and offer any assistance we can. Often either neighbors or us leave before getting to know each other well. We have made friends during longer stays. Too much to see and learn in too many places to visit to become social butterflies.
Ford of Airdre AB
I enjoy meeting people to welcome those visiting my part of Canada to advise on interesting places to visit and camp. To hear where they are from. To be helpful when needed. It’s a western Canadian way.
We always throw a hand up to the other campers. We always say hi. Sometimes this leads to conversation, sometimes not. Sometimes it leads to a visit , a drink , a fire – all good. We just roll with it.
Ever heard of “nosy neighbors”? If not,just visit most any RV park.
I go camping to commune with both nature & my wife. I will say hello to passersby but don’t wander into my site expecting to become my new best friend.
That’s the one thing my wife and I don’t have in common, she loves company, me I can take ‘em or leave ‘em and the latter of the two is my preference.
John, I’m with you. A friendly word or two, a brief conversation – that’s all my husband and I really want. Guess we’re loner types.
I like to find out where people come from…sometimes we share in the places we’ve visited and we learn some new things. I remember one guy staying a couple of sites away from us had a HUGE German Shepherd that I fell in love with. A real gentle giant of a dog…I visited his camp site so I could pet the dog. One of the hobbies this guy had was smoking fish- which my wife loved…he gave us some samples. He was only there for a couple of days.
So did you break camp in the middle of the night and abscond with the dog?
Talking with others seems to depend on how long you are staying in the park. Overnighters ask where you are from and where you are headed. If you are in the park for a longer time and see the same folks several times a day, your conversations may become more in depth. The friendliest folks are Escapees and the SKP Park of the Sierras is the most welcoming place I have ever been in!
We always say “Hi” to our neighbors. Sometimes lengthy conversations start up, other times not. It just seems to happen if both parties are ‘conversationalists’ (big word but I’m sure we all know the meaning).
I would like to see campgrounds with more special programs. My spouse and I tend to be very shy and introverted. We have to push ourselves to get out and meet others. It would be nice to have afternoon snacks that encourage people to mingle. Like some motels do like little finger foods with small plates so you don’t grab and run. Wine samples… soft drinks for kids. Or we have went to concerts sponsored by the campground. Not the best singers, but it pulls people in. I think it was the nephew they promised the family to give a job to? People came and stayed until their eyes were watering and squinting to much.
I don’t tend to camp places that have formal meetups, but I’ll say hi to my neighbors or get into friendly conversations while walking my dogs or flying drones, and my kids always recruit other kids to play.
After 2-20 minutes, most folks continue on their walk, and I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been invited to another site’s cocktail hour or campfire per se, so I guess most folks aren’t mingling the friends/family they came with?