i don't know what to tell you. My family camped when i was young and i hated it. I always say that's why god invented hotels......so people like me would not have to camp.
If we camp, we rent the rest from REI. It costs about $100 to rent a full set of good-quality gear for a weekend.
Have your husband set up the tent, cook the food, do all the cleaning, packing, setting up the airbed, etc. while you relax with a good book?
Okay, I admit, that's not very nice or helpful.
But seriously, maybe you can treat yourself to a little luxury item that you could use at camp. Luxury sheet set for the air mattress, high end toiletries, a nice jacket or swimsuit? At least you'll look forward to using these little niceties instead of thinking about how uncomfortable you are.
OP I could have written your post. I also hate camping. Having said that I go for a long weekend once a year. We get together with a big group of friends that I love, but they all live about 6 hours away from us. This is what helped me:
1. Large tent with 2 separate areas. There's a sleeping area and a living area. We can stand up in it.
2. DH and I each have our own cots and air mattresses.
3. We invested in a really nice (small) propane grill and coleman camp stove.
4. We always stay at a campsite that has bathrooms and showers.
5. We have an easy-up screen house. It makes sitting out at night pretty comfortable.
6. I usually have a couple of glasses of adult beverage in the evening and take a benadryl before I go to bed.
Good luck to you.
Ack, I loathe tent camping too. I mean, I like the part in the evening when you can see the stars and sit around the fire, but everything else stinks. My family used to camp every summer (dead of summer...in Texas) on an island at the lake. No bathrooms, no electricity, nada. I am positively terrified of bugs (I put a hole in the tent when I was 9 b/c I was trying to kill a spider with an ax). I hatehatehatehatehate the heat. Seriously, how does anyone sleep without A/C. It's insanity. At the lake it was always so hot, even the water was like bathtub water.
And I DO NOT use the bathroom outdoors. Not anymore, not gonna happen (when I was a kid, I made myself sick every time holding it in). And since as an adult I always have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, even if there is a nearby bathroom center, I'm not getting dressed, grabbing a flashlight and hauling myself alone all the way to some spooky Camp Crystal Lake scenario. Seriously, even those really nice campsite bathrooms always have some awful spider/scorpion/centipede lurking in the corner. BLAH! I also sleep lightly, so no matter how glam the camp, I will be up all night. So on the flip side, most campgrounds are so overrun nowadays, and people so clueless about camping etiquette, that you might as well be camping in a parking lot for all the peace, quiet and nature you get.
The only way I might go camping now is if it's not actual camping, like with a good RV or a nicely maintained cabin with a frequent relationship with an Exterminator. Though my idea of the latter is something like the Wilderness Lodge. That's about as close to roughing it as I like to get.
Don't go.
I had no idea you could rent camping gear. (Although we don't have an REI to rent it from anyway.)
Thank you all for the advice. I will have to look at what is available. I think I could do a camper. The tent was horrible. We do have the camp stove/grill and the lanterns and stuff. When a hurricane hits it is like camping in your own house.
I hate camping. My parents used to take us camping as kids. Sometimes in a cabin. Sometimes an RV. Sometimes in a tent. I hated it. Still hate it. I read it here once and it sums it up perfectly: The value resorts is as close to camping as I get.
My husband likes camping. Specifically tent camping. We tried once. It rained the whole time. Miserable experience. I want to go to some caverns here in Florida and they have a campground. I was thinking of asking DH if he would like to camp for the weekend. I am not sure though.
If I decide to bring this up, how do I make it bearable for me? And before anyone asks, I pretty much dislike the whole experience. I don't like sleeping in a tent, cooking on a fire, etc. This place does have showers and a bathroom though.