The Camping Box

Over the last few years I have discovered the importance of a receptacle that I shall henceforth call ‘The Camping Box’. This is not a box that one camps in; this is a box that one should never camp without!

The Camping Box:

I’m a veteran of many camping trips both in the United Kingdom and in Europe (the longest one being 4.5 months under canvas in a Bivouac tent in Italy – another story, believe me!). This being the case, I am firmly of the mind that although it is great to attempt camping with as many home comforts as possible it isn’t so great to return home and find that one’s favourite kitchen knife was left by the sink at the last camp site in your frantic mad dash to get packed and leave on time so as not to get frowned upon by the camp’s workers or other snooty travelers.
Planning your camping pack list is quite a demanding job that involves copious list writing and gnawing thoughtfully on a pencil’s end. It can get pretty arduous, making repeated trips to the same drawer or cupboard for items entered in random placings on the aforementioned list. And still with all that work, there always seems to be the inevitable exclusion of some important item, like a corkscrew – and you were so looking forward to the first glass of the holiday in the great outdoors!

Solve all this by creating ‘The Camping Box’

‘The Camping Box’, a major figure in our family, lives mainly in the loft or the garage in the winter months and doesn’t even get thought about at Christmas, hidden away and shunned until the first soft light of Spring appears heralding the beginning of another camping season. All of a sudden, one Friday evening in April it is unexpectedly sunny and unseasonably warm!! A chance to jump in the old jalopy, grab one’s canvas living quarters and head for the hills is suddenly possible; but the thought of having to start list writing and searching for those little things that you know you will need to make a camping trip a success makes the whole thing appear as if it may be too much of a chore. But no longer…

Be Box Clever!

‘The Camping Box’ comes to the rescue. For in this, probably plastic, possibly green, rectangular container you have a complete camping trip in a box. Yes that’s right, the last job you did the previous year at the end of summer was to enter into this temporary time capsule all the items on the list, the corkscrew, the matches, the candles, the napkins, the plastic cups and the tin mugs, the spare gas canister, the torch with spare batteries, the list is endless yet complete and ready to roll without the need for a seconds thought! Think out of the box or in the box and away you go with nary a backward glance. “Box clever”, that’s what I say!

Author: Dominic Allen
Edited By: CampTrip.com

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