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Topic: How the other half camps

Doug
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 44

posted 20 August 2007 04:24 AM

quote:
When 6-year-old Ethan Bondick told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly-fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped.
"We looked at each other and said, 'Oh, god, now what?' " said Gigi Bondick, 37, a "reformed" attorney whose husband works as a private-equity partner in Massachusetts.
"We're just not the camping kind of people. We don't pitch tents. We don't cook outdoors. We don't share a bathroom. It's just not going to happen. This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons."....The Bondicks, who live in a sprawling home on the edge of a state park outside Boston and hire a personal chef at home, shelled out $595 a night -- plus an additional $110 per person per day for food.
It's a hefty price to sleep in a tent, but the perks include a camp butler to build their fire, a maid to crank up the heated down comforter at nightfall and a cook to whip up bison rib-eye for dinner and French toast topped with huckleberries for breakfast.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-glamping19aug19,0,1779817.story

Must...avoid...hurling!

From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged

jrose
babble intern
Babbler # 13401

posted 20 August 2007 05:16 AM

This reminds me of an article I read about a month ago, in the Globe and Mail. It talks about a new generation of campers, who can't leave the city for a relaxing weekend away without their laptop. It amuses me.

From: Ottawa | Registered: Oct 2006 | IP: Logged

Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 20 August 2007 05:27 AM

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Seriously though - I hate camping, personally. I don't mind if there's a cabin or a cottage involved - in fact, I quite like that - but camping in a tent sucks for me. I hate the sleeping discomfort, I hate the bugs. You don't have to be rich to hate camping. My idea of a perfect vacation is a hotel. Not that I ever get to do that.

That said, I sure wouldn't do the "camping" in the opening post. What I don't get is why they don't just sign their kid up for some kind of flyfishing summer camp. There are lots of them around, and some are quite high-end income-wise. Why don't they just do that instead? Makes more sense to me.

From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

Doug
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 44

posted 20 August 2007 12:36 PM

Maybe they're also "helicopter parents" that have to do absolutely everything for and with their child. Which would just make them all the more annoying.

From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged

arborman
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4372

posted 20 August 2007 04:24 PM

I'm sure you mean the other 5%, because no way do half of us camp like that.

From: I'm a solipsist - isn't everyone? | Registered: Aug 2003 | IP: Logged

M.Gregus
babble intern
Babbler # 13402

posted 20 August 2007 06:38 PM

Yeah, really -- it defeats the whole purpose of camping, or camping as most people would know it.

From: capital region | Registered: Oct 2006 | IP: Logged

Frustrated Mess
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8312

posted 20 August 2007 06:45 PM

Yes, well ...

quote:
The natural gas campfire ... it won’t ... pop, explode or kick out sparks. Natural Gas campfires are available in a variety of styles.

I assume we are just a short while away from the artificial kids who won't talk back, always eat their dinner, and never make a mess.

From: doom without the gloom | Registered: Feb 2005 | IP: Logged

RosaL
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 13921

posted 20 August 2007 07:20 PM

I always hated camping when I was a kid so I've avoided it like the plague as an adult. But it's possible it wasn't the camping I hated but the utter chaos of camping with my parents

From: the underclass | Registered: Mar 2007 | IP: Logged

jester
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11798

posted 20 August 2007 07:30 PM

We rustics cultivate a certain superiority,secure in the knowledge that if the power plug is ever pulled on the Big Smoke, all urbanites will succumb from fear and stress long before they expire from lack of sustinance.

"Camping" nowadays refers to negotiating one's travel trailer with three extensions and room for an ATV into a full service "campground".

Ahh...for the simple life. Throw some bacon,beans and flour (and some kibbles for the furkid) into a sack,saddle up old shithead and head for some decent elbow room. Thats camping. No sissy- tent.Just a piece of tarp to keep the dew off.

From: Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain | Registered: Jan 2006 | IP: Logged

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