While people may love the outdoors (think pine trees, gurgling brooks etc.), many admit the tenting digs fall short of the Four Seasons’ plush eiderdowns. Some have been scarred by the film The Lord of the Flies (ok, I admit it… I have). The innocent English school boys weren’t planning on camping, but when their plane crashed, necessity prevailed. Instead of smores, they ate Piggy, the emotionally needy, chubby boy.
The social butterfly prefers the genteel décor and silk throws, no matter what the elements are.
“I love camping, but eating food roasted over a fire is definitely not my thing,” says one not-so-enthusiastic camper.
- ”I’ve tried camping once… and my back was so sore because I didn’t have padded bedding… call me spoilt.”
“Glamping” or “glamorous camping” may rescue your inner princess. It’s essentially camping for the comfort inclined. The term first appeared in the British press in 2005 and since then it has gradually made its way across the pond. While camping puts an emphasis on nature, glamping puts the emphasis on comfort and style.
Why stay in a plastic tent when you could stay in a cloth construction that looks like it came straight from the set of “Out of Africa,” complete with bear-skin rugs, four poster beds, electricity, running water and cherry picked artwork?
You can find glamping resorts in areas like Montana, North Carolina and British Columbia, but Abercrombie & Kent (www.abercrombiekent.com) offers glamping trips in locations like Antarctica and South Africa. Most of the resorts offer a butler to serve your every need as well as a gourmet chef and masseuse.
Naturally, you are expected to leave your luxurious accommodations and venture on a hike or rafting trip. However, it’s nice to know that you can return to face a fully garnished salmon dinner —and you didn’t have to fish for the salmon!
The price of these retreats isn’t exactly cheap (three nights average $4,500 per person in most places) but bookings at the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in British Columbia (www.wildretreat.com) have doubled each year since 2000. Another resort not unsimilar to Clayoquot is Perfect Earth Tours (www.perfectearthtours.com) that Butterflydiary reviewed earlier.
But no trip is too glamorous for the miracle that is chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers. Piggy would have liked that.