You don’t have to travel around the world to feel a thousand miles away from home. If you have your own back yard, you can camp out under the stars and pretend that you are anywhere in the world. Planning on utilising your backyard for a creative camping trip during the lockdown? Here are our top tips.
Comfort is key
There’s no excuse to forfeit comfort if you’re in your own garden. You don’t have to worry about how much you are carrying if you can easily nip inside the house for home comforts. Set up a large tent (unless you fancy sleeping under the stars) and blow up an inflatable mattress to ensure a good night’s sleep. Bring your duvet and pillows outside, light a fire in a fire pit and take advantage of any outdoor furniture you have.
Leave technology indoors
This is the perfect excuse to ignore the news for a couple of days, so leave all your tech indoors including phones and laptops. Simply switch off and enjoy being surrounded by nature. Enjoy each other’s company, read books, play games and cook all your meals outdoors. If you get bored, you could do some gardening or take a short walk.
Count the stars
When the sky darkens, turn off all lights and lay on the ground admiring the night sky. If you’re lucky enough to live in a rural area you could pretend you’re anywhere on earth while you watch for shooting stars. Even if light pollution is an issue, you should still be able to spot the main constellations on a clear night.
Cook outdoors
Bring back memories of past travel adventures by cooking on the fire or an open stove outdoors. If this isn’t an option, cook in your kitchen as usual but take your meal outside to enjoy a picnic in the garden, surrounded by nature. Try cooking meals inspired by past trips or your favourite cuisines from around the world to help invoke travel memories.
Tell travel stories
When you’re sat around the campfire at night, reminisce about your favourite travel memories together. Read from a travel journal or just muse over your favourite experiences from past trips, sharing funny, interesting or poignant memories to distract yourselves from the current situation.
Set a theme based on a past trip
Did you once wild camp in the forest or sleep in the back of your van in the desert? Recreate these memories as accurately as possible by listening to a soundtrack of songs that remind you of that trip, eating the meals you remember cooking and playing around with props. Pile blankets into the back of your van, bring any cactuses from indoors out onto the drive and pretend you’re back in the desert.
Emma Lavelle is a UK based writer and photographer and has her own blog Field and Nest.
