What do you consider “camping”? If you’re parked at a luxury RV resort with pools and tennis courts and spacious lots between you and your neighbor, is that camping? Or is camping only when you’re at state park campgrounds, among tenters, and just staying for a night so you can fish in the nearby lake? Is that even camping?
Has the definition of “camping” changed so much with our fancy RVs and parks that we’ve forgotten how to define it? Well, you tell us!
After you vote in the poll below, please leave a comment and tell us what “camping” means to you, and if you think, or don’t think, that staying in a luxury resort is camping. We appreciate your time for writing down your thoughts!
That is staying in a resort just in your own “hotel room”. Camping is being out in nature.
I’ve always made a distinction between “RVing” and “camping.” Camping brings to mind tents and sleeping bags; rustic accommodations. “RVing” is traveling with all (or most of) the comforts of home. So “camping” is different than “RVing.” And “campgrounds” are different than “RV parks/resorts.” RVing is like bringing your own motel room with you, I guess!
Residing with a Luxury RV in a full hookup RV Resort as pictured above as I would define it
as an ESCAPE from REALITY .
I have never considered doing anything in a RV as “camping”, we’re RVing. Camping is more about “roughing” it.
While technically you could say that is camping, and the people doing it may tell themselves and their friends they are camping, they most certainly are not. A lot of these folks barely move their RV’s, if they do it’s from one resort to another.
They are missing out on the true sense of camping which involves at least a little bit of roughing it from time to time and enjoying nature, not the inside of their very expensive home on wheels. To each his own!
RVing .. Not camping in any sense .. Don’t even enjoy camp fires usually … This describes our friends.
We don’t have a “luxury” RV so when traveling in our cabover camper we “camp”.
Full timer here. I’m rarely camping. My home just has wheels. It’s like job relocation of a different type. Because we work full time still, so I’m at the computer most of the day. But I can still see stuff I never would in stuck-n-bricks in Dallas. Yes. “Stuck-n-bricks” just made that up. ™ heh.
I started tent camping when my family slept in a tent my Mother made in 1950. I tent camped with my 3 children until they were teenagers in 1979. I converted a van for my wife and myself, still called it camping because of the very limited fixtures in the van 1981. First 5th wheel RV 2004. Now we call it RVing because of the conveniences. Cooking outside on a grill not a campfire any longer. Retired now and am able to stay in one location for a longer amount of time, sleeping inside, no longer using sleeping bags on the ground. We loved the tenting lifestyle when we did it. Now we love the RV lifestyle when we do it. Enjoy the outdoors any way you can.
According to Wikipedia this is the definition of camping:
Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent or a recreational vehicle.
For me, camping is being outside enjoying nature without the frills, RVing is camping with equipment that makes the experience enjoyable or possible. At my age, I need the comforts afforded by our travel trailer. Those comforts/needs make the experience more enjoyable, but my younger backpacking self would have laughed at it. Circumstances change as do ours needs. I personally have seen sites in upscale RV parks that resemble high end hotels like the one I stayed at in Hawaii. They are not for me as I would feel separated from the wilderness I came to enjoy. All I would say is: Enjoy your travels in whatever way you feel comfortable, call it whatever you want and have fun
We don’t stay in resorts, but we do have a 43′ DP with heated floors, dishwasher, washer and dryer, central vac, etc., so I say that we “travel,” not “camp.” Where we stay doesn’t change our “camper,” so we’re “traveling” and “staying” at different places, never “camping.” Similarly, I’d say that regardless of the “camper,” those who stay at a luxury RV resort are “staying,” not “camping.”
I think of camping as being in nature, opening my door to beaches, lakes, mountains or trees. Usually National, state or county parks or boondocking. Private parks if necessary. Traveling from place to place, staying a few days or weeks in places like Moab or Sedona, (where hiking is phenomenal) meeting like-minded travelers and outdoor enthusiasts. Living in an RV resort is a different focus. It’s about neighbors , amenities, community, and often long stays. It could be a condo, but it’s an RV instead. 🤔
No, you are RV ing…..usually a world of difference. I love my mattress, bathroom, electricity, running water and comfy furniture.
Per the dictionary: camping is the mooring of a vessel for the apparent purpose of overnight occupancy.
So I must be camping when I moor my 43 ft Class A in a fancy resort.
We are not camping even when boondocking. We are traveling around the country 8 months out of the year living in our RV, not staying in a motel or renting a condo.
We are enjoying our RV in a full service environment. Camping is when there are lots of trees, needles, dirt and smoky fires. We travel in our RV and we usually stay at private parks. Some are closer to camping than others. When we are “home” we are parked on an RV lot with full hookups, friends and neighbors and community activities.
I stay in a luxury campground, it’s just that I expect all the luxury stuff you would get with a luxury hotel, nothing less, sorry but I can’t call that camping, I boondock a lot, that is camping along with the campfire and good friends.
At 68 years old, I no longer have a desire to sleep anywhere where there is not a thermostat on the wall
Camping is whatever one wants it to be, and others’ opinions matter not one bit. You do you.
Absolutely!
Agree!
I don’t think that’s camping but that they’re enjoying what they’re doing is what counts.
Your glamping
It doesn’t matter what you call it, camping, RV’ing, Glamping, etc… They all have one thing in common, its people enjoying the FREEDOM to move around in the style or manner they choose. The choices they make are often dictated by health, age, monetary cost, geographical location of home base, lack of home base… The thing is we all face the same problem at the end of the day, where are we going to spend the night? Your personal finances and preferences will dictate that. No one is wrong or right over anyone else, individual choice and freedom is what matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HAPPY TRAILS!!
Well said Gordy. You could even call it “parking” if you want. As long as you enjoy what you are doing and are polite and considerate to those around you, call it want you want.
Good answer!
Staying in a resort with your mega sized rv is no different than staying in a condo somewhere. It is NOT camping. Moving about, taking in the sights of this beautiful country, stopping for a few nights in a small town or boondocking in a forest service park w/o hookups is what “camping is all about.