In the aftermath of my 3 days and 2 nights at Yosemite National Park camping with  a group of friends, here are my thoughts

• Camping is fun mostly when you are in a large group unless you are a lone crusader on a ‘finding myself’ kinda trip in which case that is fine as well
• Road trips can be challenging if there are multiple vehicles involved. It might be wise to think about investing in walkie talkies and giving one in each car. Just make sure they are not tuned to the police frequency
• Check in advance if the camp you are going to has electricity and/or internet (the latter being more important). If not, consider changing the venue of the camp site. If this is not possible, then try backing out claiming an un-diagnosable disease. If none of these are possible, well, god be with you!
• If your fellow campers try to convince you as to how liberating lack of technology can be, start a glorious speech on how our forefathers fought for our right to freedom and our right to Internet (it didn’t find its way to the UN Human rights for no reason!). If all else fail, claim being disconnected from the world is a disservice to your country and is unpatriotic. In the almost certain likelihood that this doesn’t work try elements from the previous point
• If you are not travelling with hardcore campers consider the possibility of using non-traditional camping facilities like air conditioned / heater tents with god knows what all amenities. If you ARE travelling with hardcore campers, go into your tent early and pretend to sleep, then wake in the middle of the night and head to your secretly reserved alternate accommodations (This may / may not work depending on how close/far the alternate accommodations are)
• If you ever have kids, send them to boy scout/ girl scout camps. The sooner you can send them off to one of these camps, the better. It is not the greatest feeling when you are the one standing around doing nothing not because you don’t want to pitch in and help but solely because you have no clue how!
• Hot dogs done on a built fire at camp are about 33 times better than those done in any other form or place. You can and should never get tired of hot dogs as they are a camper’s best friend
• If you are tenting with any one besides yourself make sure you are not someone who snores. If you are, be prepared for anything from ridicule to random things being thrown at you in the middle of your sleep. If a fellow campers snores only because they are falling sick, they should get a pass and should be exempt from the flinging (Thank you!)
• If anyone in the camping group is unable to complete a day long trek or hike, they should be punished by sending them to a restaurant / bar where they will remain seated until someone returns for them (the punished person should be picked up before sunset)

Disclaimer: The content above is meant to be purely for laughs and does not reflect the true emotions of the author in the aftermath of the camping trip

Truth be told, for someone who has never gone to a proper camping trip before, I loved it. Its not that I’m now an outdoor person or that I now want to somehow live in a tent for a large period of time (although if its a scaled up tent with air con then why not!) but more to the point, when the next camping trip opportunity comes up I won’t be quick to dismiss it as I would have before. And therefore from the bottom of my heart, a big shout out of “Thank You” to those that made it all happen. Yeah you know who you are