Camping with TENTRR

I have traveled a lot in life…I have been to more than 20 countries and I have lived lots of different experiences and adventures. Surprisely, none of these adventures included camping before!  But this changed this year. Full disclosure: I once slept in the car and went to youth “camps”,  with people from church in Brazil. And as a kid my brother and I drove my mom crazy using her table as a tent in the rain.  But I don’t believe this  counts, right?!

My true first experience camping was with TENTRR. But what is it? Well, if you ever heard about Airbnb it will be easier to get the idea. The difference is that airbnb offers houses, rooms and apartments. Tentrr offers… tents!  It works in a very similar way: visit the website, pick a landscape, chat to the owner and pay from the website using your credit card. Simple!

My hubby had already tried tentrr last year and truly enjoyed the experience. He really wanted to introduce me to camping life. So I accepted the invitation 😉

The website tentrr.com offers sites  in several US locations. It is a relatively new service, most of the sites are in the northeast, however the service looks to be  growing, the website cites places all over the country.

We chose a location that was not far from home. The style of tentrr  setup does not change much, they are tents with one or two beds (in our case, a bunk with two queen size mattresses). The tents are already pre-assembled , that is, when you arrive everything is set up for you: the tents are located in an ideal place on the property, there is an insect screen underneath it, there is a table with benches, chairs, a  small stove ,  a fire extinguisher. The difference from site to site is that for some properties the owners can offer you some extras, like shower or an extra bathroom outside the tent. Some places offer extra services like towels and blankets. But it is possible to check the information on the website or chating directly with the property.

In our case, we took everything: sleeping bags, pillows, an ice box, food and drinks for two days, medicines and insect repellents. In addition to our clothes and swim suits, of course!

Speaking specifically about  where we stayed, it was Lava Rock . This property is in the small town of Tuftonboro, NH, in the Canaan Valley. It’s close to Lake Winnipesaukee, one of the most famous here in NH. The other little town nearby is Wolfeboro, and that’s where we ended up going for a walk, to see the lake, to have dinner and to have ice cream.  We also went to visit Castle in The Clouds, a house from the begining of the 20th century, with beautiful gardens and views of Lake Winnipesaukee, but I will talk about it in another post.

The property in which we camped has a beautiful and clean pond, awesome for swiming. Our hosts were very accommodating and we had everthing we needed and also all the privacy we wanted.  The dog, Oreo, happily came bringing her ball to play with us. The sunset is beautiful over there. We made a fire and grilled some hot dogs and marshmallows. Of course  we had smores!

We chated with the property and checked their suggestions of what to take there. This is the final list of items we took there:

• Summer sleeping bags;
• Pillows ;
• Towels;
• Medicines (the ones you are used to);
• Bathing suits;
• Long pants and a light coat;
• Summer clothes;
• Citronella candle and insect repellents;
• Hiking shoes;
• Icebox (we bought at target for $ 99.00 and it kept the ice there without melting for 3 days!);
• Simple food – bagles, water (there was  a gallon of drinkable water at the site too), hot dogs, marshmellows, instant coffee;
• Marshmallow sitcks (sticks to roast the marshmallows, of course!);
• Toilet paper and alcohol gel (but the camp toilet was very well equiped too);
• Portable chargers for cell phones  (cell phone service  may be limited).

We were very close to the city. So even if you forget  something or don’t have everything you need there, it is possible to  drive to the nearest shop.

Tentrr is a form of glamping – camping with a touch of glamour, I know… But it was super fun and I think it’s worth it. Hint: At night you should store the food in the car, away from the tent, you need to protect everything from wildlife. No one wants to wake up with a bear rummaging through things. Put out your fire pit with water when you leave and don’t leave the trash can open! Camping is good, camping responsibly is wonderful!

I close this post with a list of ups and downsides… so you are the judge of that 😉

TENTRR positives:

•  You have no other campers around – it is only you and mother nature;
• Your tent is already set up for you and there are matresses too;
• You can make a camp fire (not all Parks allow it);
• You can leave the trash in the litter bins (some places require you to take the trash back with you);
• You have to carry fewer things;
• You can try extra items (for an extra fee)  with the owners, and chat to them directly;
• Some places offer items such as bikes, kayaks, horse riding, boats (ours had boating and buoys!);
• It is a possibility of camping while traveling abroad, as you do not have to carry the tent and the mattresses!

TENTRR NEGATIVES:

• More expensive;
• There is not always a shower;
• It doesn’t have the little shop and restrooms that many camping sites offer;
• Air matresses can be very noisy -so maybe you would not like the bunk beds;
• Check in and check out times (some places don’t, especially if it’s in the the woods).

 

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