Many friends consider camping a purely wilderness experience. Memories return of childhood outings when they ended up wet, and coming home early, smelling like Smithfield hams. It surely can be a route to places far from civilization, but European camping is usually something very different. It is simply a means of staying in a place you want to visit for a night or more at low cost. There are no campfires or picnic tables. Usually there is a spot to pitch your tent, a toilet-shower block, often a cooking area of hotplates and sinks, a general/grocery/liquor store, a restaurant, a bar, and often a "disco" club that opens between 10:00 and midnight. Public transport is always close at hand, with bus or rail service to various parts of the city. The use of these facilities for 24 hrs. runs from 20 to 30 euros. We'll see what this year's rates will be. Our first couple of nights will be at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. It couldn't be better located. The last time I stayed there, from the front tent flap I could toss a pebble into the Seine, and look back over my shoulder at the Eiffel tower! The average price across Europe seems to be about 15 - 20 euros a night for two folks with a car and tent. That's under $30.
We do most of our own cooking with a tiny Gaz stove. Single burner. Always have breakfast (eggs, local bread, a sausage or two, coffee, fruit), take something along or eat street or pub food for lunch, and watch the markets for something local to cook for dinner. We seem to rely heavily on sausages, pasta, and veggies. In addition to a small nest of pots and a pan, we usually have squeeze oleo to replace butter and oil, a small 6-spice shaker that Coleman makes, instant coffee (We just get used to it.), and dry creamer. Everything else we try to buy locally. One additional item we like is powdered margurita mix, like they use in the bar machines. After a long, hot day. . . a little Jose Quervo, a couple of limes, a little ice, . . .and we're hydrated and restored to full health! "Chock full'o vitamins and minerals!"
One dawn, high above Jackson Hole, I stuck my head and an arm far enough out of the sleeping bag to light the stove under the coffee pot, without waking Jody. When the pot steamed, I silently measured the coffee and powdered creamer into the cups, poured, stirred, and passed her the cup as she awakened. We were open to the east and watched as the colors changed and the sun rose over Wyoming. I hadn't been paying much attention to the coffee, when Jody broke the silence to ask, "What is this lime-flavored coffee?" The bag of creamer was still zipped. I'd used the margarita mix! Too much citrus for breakfast, but we didn't have any trouble with rickets the entire trip!
I've never bothered with icing a cooler in Europe. Ice used to be hard to find. We did carry a six-pack sized soft cooler on the bike trip to Canada. It usually leaked more than it held. We are taking a tiny 12V fridge on this trip. Holds a tall six-pack. Should be fun in the car, but it takes up precious space in the luggage. Eating like locals, and sleeping under nylon, we like to think that, outside of transportation and admissions, we spend little more on the road than we do at home. When we do eat out, we try to eat local products and make it memorably special.
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