Of the many romantic getaway ideas that couples have in order to spend more time together, camping is one of the most popular. Camping with your girlfriend or boyfriend brings images of tranquil forests, flowing streams, glorious sunshine, and cool breezes that makes spending time with each other so glorious.
However, not all romantic camping adventures manage to be so perfect. In fact, you may find yourselves battling torrential rains, mosquitoes, ticks, and other unpleasant aspects that may turn your dream into a nightmare. While going through such miseries may make for a good story to tell your kids one day, it’s not something that you want to go through voluntarily.
The good news is that there are many ways you can make the most out of your camping adventure together if you just do a little planning, and adjust to whatever unpleasant interruptions come when you are venturing out in the wilderness together. What follows are a few tips that will help you get started on the right foot and be prepared for most of what you may face when camping together. Of course, you cannot plan for every contingency, but remember that it will still make a good story.
Planning Your Adventure
The first step is planning on where you want to go for your camping adventure. The longer the trip, the more you will need to plan to ensure that you have everything available to make the most out of your time together, and have contingencies ready in case the unexpected should occur. It’s generally best to make your first camping experience a short one, such as an overnight near where you live. If you two enjoy the experience, longer trips can be planned.
Pick a Private Location: You’ll want to spend your time together, particularly at night, without anyone else around. It is rather difficult to have a romantic getaway when surrounded by other campers, so choose a location where you can set up your tent well away from anyone else. Ideally, you should choose a location that offers the following features;
- Privacy
- Spectacular View
- Close to Activities
Ideal locations are rare simply because plenty of other couples are searching for the same places as you. With that in mind, you should choose privacy first so that you can share some quality time together. A spectacular view of a mountain, river, valley, and so forth is also possible depending on the size of the park where you are camping. Of course, you’ll also want to be as close as possible to various activities such as hiking trails, caverns or caves, and water activities so you’ll have something to do.
Bring a Schedule & Food: One issue with camping as your romantic getaway is that there will be a great deal of downtime if you do not have anything planned. So, be sure to schedule a few activities that you can do during the day. It doesn’t have to be extensive, but whatever you plan will need to occupy your time for a while.
- Hike to a Desired Location
- Engage in Water Activities
- Cook a Delicious Meal
The last activity is one that both of you can enjoy and look forward to after a day of adventuring in the wild. Good food that can be cooked over the fire represents the ending to the perfect day, so be sure to bring along something good and easy to cook.
Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst: Mother Nature is beautiful, but hardly reliable when it comes to planning the perfect romantic camping adventure. So, the best way to plan for your camping trip is to emphasize comfort. This means ample bedding, a strong, waterproof tent, plenty of bug spray, a first-aid kit, a radio, and an emergency phone just in case. It may not sound very romantic to carry these items with you, but you’ll be thankful to have them if the worst should happen.
When selecting a date for your trip, have a back-up date in mind just in case bad weather is expected in the area. Of course, this will depend on the distance you must travel and the length of your stay. An overnight camping adventure near where you live is considerably easier to change compared to a week-long stay at a national park in another state.
Tips to Impress Your Partner
Of course, no romantic camping adventure is complete without showing off your skills in the great outdoors. The good news is that most camping skills require only a little training and practice to acquire, so you can show them off at every opportunity.
Lighting a Fire: This one is easy if you can bring along some kindling. A small bag of kindling should work nice, although you may find some around your campsite. Remember, building a fire starts with small kindling materials topped by twigs, sticks, and then larger pieces of wood when the fire gets going. You may want to practice this first, but starting a fire quickly is an impressive feat.
Finding Locations Quickly: Understanding how to read a map, whether it’s on your mobile device or old-fashioned paper, is another impressive skill. A compass will be needed and perhaps a GPS, but it’s amazing how finding location fast can impress your partner.
What to Do When the Worst Happens
Sometimes the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow gently, and the mosquitoes do not stay away from your tent. Having a plan for when the worst happens may not make your romantic camping adventure one for the record books, but it can save what might otherwise be a disaster.
The most important step is that you should not panic. You should have a plan for the most obvious contingencies such as rainfall, bugs, and accidents that cause minor injuries. Little bumps and bruises along the way, especially if you are hiking are expected, but you should be prepared anyway.
Camping with your girlfriend or boyfriend is a wonderful bonding experience that brings you closer together. If you plan it right, you can share an unforgettable time with each other.
First of all, I love your description of yourself in your “about the author” more than anything.. made me laugh out loud. Thanks for writing this, I emailed it to my girlfriend so we can have the most romantic getaway ever
Glad you enjoyed it! and now I know a new source of Bow strings too! I try to write articles for the newbies mostly so they can get started right. But it’s always great when seasoned outdoors folks can add to it!