Ask Lemmy

I've gotten into camping solo with my motorbike at an absurd pace this year and it's basically become my main way to disconnect, reset and chill. I think 3 months ago was my first trip and time camping? With a popup tent that sets up in 1 second, chair and self inflating mattress, sleeping bag and pillow, stored in a big bag on the passenger seat of my bike. Since then I've gone camping whenever the weather permits. Last week I did a 5 day tour, travelling from campsite to campsite. I have 4 tents now, 3 different chairs, 3 types of tables, a cot, 3 inflatable mattresses, the self inflating mattress, a foldable fire pit, ground sheets for every tent, fire sheet, food prep utensils, 3 power banks, a portable fan (MVP in Japan's humid weather), 2 sleeping bags (one for winter), a tarp, 2 side bags to haul more stuff on my bike and a firewood stove. I don't really regret any purchase because I can make use of everything by mixing and matching depending on my mood and wants since everything I take multiple off usually has trade-off between convenience or space e.g. if I feel lazy I put the popup tent on my back (it folds into a neat circle and has back straps), meaning all my space can go to an instant setup chair, large table and self-inflsting mattress.

My 4 tents:

• 1 second setup pop-up tent
• Smol 1 person tent with fly sheet
• 3 meter tall teepee style tent (hey, I wanted to be able to stand) that almost maxes out my bag space on its own.
• A really versatile but semi large 1 person tent for the winter with an inner tent, a chimney chute for the stove and lots of options for how to use it, don't really need an extra tarp with it.
• Honorable mention: a hammock tent that I haven't had the chance to use yet.

Haven't even used the stove and the tent with the chimney chute yet, literally just got them in anticipation of winter camping and vibrating with excitement at just the thought of finally using it. Same with the tarp, I didn't realize that's what those roof structures I saw others use were called (I'm ESL I thought tarp was just used for something you sit on) and I'm excited to use it next time to shield from rain.

It's so relaxing. Nothing feels better to me than sitting on my chair, chucking Soju while the fire rages on for hours, then cooking on the coals (just sausages and potatoes wrapped in foil), eating, drinking more, burning more light firewood trying to get the biggest flames on the site that my fire pit allows for, then once I've burned through it all, retreating into the tent, turning on the fan and sleeping like a brick. Oh and during setup and pack down being able to listen to an audiobook.

God just writing this makes me giddy. I prepped my setup for my next trip, just need a break from autumn rain and catch a sunny site not too far away one of these weekends.