Have you ever been “Glamping”? I’ve been camping numerous times throughout my life, but now glamping seemed more my thing. Don’t get me wrong, I still love camping, but a soft bed and a hot shower are kind of a prerequisite these days. I learned a lot when I started planning my “glamping” trip. Here are my best tips for glamping with a camper.
Having The Right Vehicle To Tow Your Camper – Tip #1
If you’re like me, you want to plan ahead for any trip. I planned for 3 months, maybe longer for this glamping trip. We had already started researching the truck we wanted to buy and making sure it had enough towing capacity was very important. You see, we were going to travel the whole summer, and we bought the big truck and had started planning on buying a camper. We wanted to rent a trailer before we bought one, and I am so glad we did.
How Much Can You Tow
There are a lot of choices in vehicles when it comes to towing a trailer. It all comes down to towing capacity, dry weight or unloaded vehicle weight (UVW) vs wet weight, the wet weight is the dry weight, plus all liquid tanks filled up. Our truck has a full towing capacity of 7200 lbs, so we wanted a dry-weight trailer of no more than 6,000 lbs. Because in the end, you don’t want your gross vehicle weight (GVW) to be more than your total towing capacity. GVW includes the holding tanks, camping gear, food items, personal belongings, people inside, and those fur babies.
Trailer VS Class C Camper
There is always the option of a Class C Trailer, where you don’t need a truck or SUV, it’s all in one. The only bad thing about that is that you wouldn’t have a vehicle to drive around unless you tow one.
There are some trailers that can be towed by SUVs, Minivans, and even some cars. The best things to check are how big of a trailer you need, and much your vehicle can tow. If you don’t want to tow more than your vehicle can handle, you could do some serious damage to your engine and transmission.
Related – Road Trip Safety When Traveling
Picking The Right Camper – Tip #2
This is the most important part of your trip, besides making sure you have the right vehicle. We had done a lot of research already on different types of camper trailers. Size, amenities, and best places to rent from. How many beds do you need, how much square footage will you be comfortable in, and how big is the shower, that one is important. We had a queen size bed in a separate room along with a slide-out couch area that allowed us more room in the main area. That was great for entertaining our friends, as their trailer did not have a slide-out or a separate bedroom area, yes, we learned a lot.
Renting The Camper Before You Buy – Tip #3
Our friends rented from a place called Outdoorsy, and we opted to rent from a national company American Dreams Vacation. The difference is that Outdoorsy is a website where individuals rent out their personal RVs and trailers, the logistics on that didn’t impress me. I liked the idea of renting from a national RV rental place. They had a lot of choices of trailers with great options like prepaid cleaning and prepaid dumping. I highly recommend both of these options, along with the equalizer hitch, that one is for peace of mind. I appreciated the time they spent teaching us everything about the trailer and fixing a few things we noticed during our walkthrough. They helped hitch the trailer to the truck, and we were on our way
Picking The Right Campsite – Tip # 4
This is one of the really fun things to do. We knew we wanted to be in the Fredericksburg, TX area. We planned to go wine and beer tasting one of the days we were there. Both my husband and our friend are Veterans, so we were given a nice discount at the RV park we went to. We wanted a pull-through site for the camper as our friend wasn’t comfortable backing his trailer up, this is an important thing that you should think about if you have never pulled a trailer. Apparently, that is how the trailer we rented was damaged by the previous renter. They hit a tree limb backing in and pulled the awning right off the trailer.
Another couple of important things on the list do you want a lot of trees at your campsite, do you want a fire pit, is there a picnic area? The area we stayed at was very clean and very nice with a lot of amenities, but there weren’t a lot of trees, one per campsite to be exact, and nowhere for a fire pit. It would have been nice to have a fire going in the evening while we enjoyed our wine and beer.
Asking The Right Questions When Picking Up The Camper – Tip #5
Boy was there a lot to learn on this one. Luckily they had a guy that showed us around the camper. He gave us tips, showed us how to use everything, and let me video everything from opening the front door to hooking the trailer up to the truck. Here is a quick video of the amazing RV expert showing us around.
Packing Essentials – Tip #6
Did I go overboard on this one, I may have. But I am of the world that too much is not too much. I would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared, I learned this while growing up in Michigan, and got a refresher of it during our “snowpocalypse” in 2021. List after list, I wrote down everything I thought we would need. We met with our friends a couple of times before the trip, and yes, I overpacked. But I will say, that is the great thing about glamping instead of camping. You have a whole camper to pack everything in. Here is my list of must-haves
- Coffee maker and coffee pods or ground coffee
- Food – I’ll leave this up to you, but have some easy-to-create items for the days that you are going to do some exploring. Also have the essentials, bread, butter, milk, water, eggs, and bacon
- A Lot of drinks
- Games
- Cleaning supplies – disinfectant wipes, paper towels, cleaning spray, dish soap, dish sponge or rag, broom, and dustpan
- Paper plates, plastic silverware, and plastic cups, I also brought disposable coffee cups
- Cooking supplies – pot, frying pan, spatula, mixing bowls, baking dish, mixing spoons, and hot pads
- Bedding and bath towels- the campers do not come with linens
- Toilet paper – the camper place gave this to us, it has to be a certain kind so make sure you have RV Toilet Paper
- Plastic throw-away gloves – you will want a few pairs of these
- Level, tools, wrench, sockets, etc.
- Bathroom essentials – shampoo/conditioner, towels, soap, and hygiene items
- Jackets, hats, and extra clothes
- Bug Spray
- First Aid Kit
- Grill, we learned online that nobody wants a grilled smell or bacon smell lingering throughout their camper for the whole trip.
- Electronics, it rains and you want to have things to do.
Traveling With Pets – Tip #7
My girls go everywhere with us. When you are renting a trailer, make sure they are ok with you having your pups inside the trailer. The girls loved the trailer experience. They were jumping from the bed to the floor to the couch, and they couldn’t get enough of our friends that came with us. They loved exploring the grounds of the campsite, and always keep your pets on a leash when walking around. And the girls loved exploring the town of Fredericksburg. They got a lot of love from all the people walking around too.
One tip I will give you is to check ahead of time that there is a local vet in case something happens. Miss Riley had an accident at one of the wineries we went to, and we had to head to the local store to get gauze and Neosporin. I always have their first aid kit with us but forgot that I took it out at home to repack it with supplies and forgot it. I took her to the vet the next day and luckily nothing was broken, but it was a pretty scary incident.
Never Ever Leave Your Furry Friends In The Trailer When You Are Traveling…
Related – Pet Friendly Road Tripping Tip
How To Set Up The Campsite – Tip #8
After you have the camper where you want it, it’s best to unhook the truck, in case you need to head into town. You don’t want to be unhooking it in the dark if there is an emergency or something. Then the icky part, I mean the fun part, haha. Thankfully the guys took care of this part, but I did watch so I knew what to do.
When you park the trailer, you want to make sure it is lined up with the electric and sewer hookups. You also want to level it out before you unhook the truck, this is where that level comes in handy. Luckily between our friends and our toolboxes, we had the tools we needed to accomplish all of this. I HIGHLY recommend you check with the rental place to find out what tools you will need to set the camper up. And make sure they gave you the correct hose for the sewer and water lines
Cooking In The Camper – Tip #9
Food is pretty important when camping or glamping. I am a foodie, and I wanted to make sure we ate well and that I stuck to my gluten-free diet. This took some planning, and luckily the people we went with were all in for sharing the task of cooking. First off was coffee, that’s right, if you know me, you know coffee is the most important thing when it comes to menu prep.
The Essentials
I brought both my Keurig machine and my Nespresso machine. Having options for coffee is important. I love lattes and the husband loves black coffee and our friends like both.
What To Cook
Next was dinner, we knew one day of our trip we were going to spend the day in town drinking wine and eating way to much, but we still had 2 dinners, 2 lunches, and 3 breakfast choices to come up with. For the dinners, I was going to make one, and my friend was creating a dish too. I created my Italian mac and cheese, and boy was it good. (recipe at the bottom) My friend created enchilada lasagna, it was so good and really easy to make.
Lunch was easy, I am all about charcuterie, so we did that one day and sandwiches the other day.
Breakfast was pretty easy too. Breakfast tacos one day, bacon and eggs one day, and I made waffles on the day we were heading out.
Always make sure you pack a lot of drinks, it’s surprising how much water, soda, and alcohol you want when you are glamping.
Bring Things To Do – Tip #10
Both of our campers were equipped with TVs, which was great on a rainy day, and also to check the weather. I also brought my computer to get some work done. Most campsites have free wifi but definitely check ahead.
We also packed board games, cards, and this really cool Glamping Outside The Box that I received to promote on my TV segments. It was a lot of fun going through the box and eating the yummies that were in it.
The girls loved the walk around the campsite area, we saw all the amenities and the little pond.
On the last day before we headed home, we headed into the local town to explore. I highly recommend this, get out and explore your surroundings, we had a great time.
We tasted wines, ate some amazing food, and the girls had a great time greeting everyone in town.
What To Do When The Trip Is Over – Tip #11
Relax, because you paid that extra $25 for them to clean everything out. Ha Ha, just kidding, tearing down the campsite and camper is just as hard as setting it up. The sewer lines need to be completely cleaned out (though I did pay for the place to do this, we wanted to practice in case we bought one). You need to make sure your items are secure for the trip home, just like you did for the trip to the campsite. Again, I paid extra for the rental place to clean everything, but in making sure I got everything out, I cleaned as I went.
Italian Mac & Cheese
Items Needed
- Gluten-Free Macaroni Noodles
- 16 oz Half & Half
- 6 Eggs
- 2 Cups or More of Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- 1 – 2 Cups of Chopped Ham
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan
- Salt & Pepper To Taste
Directions
- Boil the noodles al dante.
- Spray the cooking dish, I used a glass baking dish.
- Layer the noodles, then cheese, then ham.
- Repeat step 3 until all of the ingredients are used.
- Mix the eggs and half & half and add salt and pepper.
- Pour the mixture over the noodle mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until done, cooked all the way through.
The Most Important Thing About Camping Or Glamping
I hope all of these tips help you have an amazing camping or glamping trip. But as I always say, the most important thing about any trip you take is to have a great time. You are going on this trip to have fun, and if you are stressed out, STOP IT. Life is short, be happy, have fun, and enjoy life.
