In the last #Travel post we wrote about accommodation, how do we organize it during our journey. But we realized we haven't even mentioned the tent, which is quite an important part of the game. Not because we use it that often, hardly more than a few nights per trip, but because it gives us a kind of security, the plan B – at the end, if we don't manage to find a place to sleep, especially while hitchhiking or walking, we can always pitch a tent.
Only once we decided the tent wouldn't come along for a journey – during our tour through Balkans, Turkey and Caucasus. It was winter time, we thought it would be anyway too cold to sleep outside, so we decided carrying the weight of the tent for no reason wasn't smart. It was a mistake we never repeated. The tent gives a lot of flexibility. Even using workaway or couchsurfing from time to time we would simply put a tent in somebody's garden.
As for campings, we use them quite rarely, we usually camp wild, close to a river or a lake if possible, to be able to wash ourselves and sometimes our clothes. We look for fairly isolated places, to avoid being seen and to disturb others.
For a lot of people this is one of the most scary parts – pitching the tent wherever – and indeed, I (Anna) have to say that the older I am, the less I'm easy about that. Imagination is working in the background – I see in my mind all the wild animals, and, even more, wild people who can come to threaten us. Yet, nothing has happened so far, even if few times I almost had a heart attack hearing steps or barking around the tent.
I choose to face my fear and one of the ways is to actually do things you are afraid of. And that's what we do, both in case of a tent and hitchhiking, about which we will write more in some other post.
The last thing I want to mention is that our tent is just a simple one bought in Decathlon, big enough to fit two people and the bags. It's quite heavy (2,5 kg), but lighter tents are expensive. We also carry two sleeping bags and two yoga mats, which are useful also indoors. It adds some extra weight, as we mentioned, but it comes along with freedom.
What about your tent thoughts and experience?