5 lessons learned after our first night in the woods

You can’t buy happiness but you can buy a rooftop tent, so we did 🙂

Before taking a leap into the great unknown abroad, we tested all our gear in the woods of Zoersel, Belgium.

What did we expect?

A romantic night under the stars with all the comfort you can imagine.

What really happened?

1. First of all: we ordered 2 camping chairs online which we shoved in Suzy’s (our Land Cruiser) trunk, still packed. We unpacked them and…they only delivered one. So we alternated: where you sit depends on where you stand. Lesson learned: always check your delivered package before going into the woods!

2. Apparently, our trekking shoes aren’t water proof. As soon as the sun set, the wet grass soaked our feet. Lesson learned: buy a pair of rain boots!

3. Also, we bought the wrong gas container. So no hot ravioli for dinner. And I was so proud I remembered to bring along the cheese 🙁 Luckily Dimitri was able to start a fire! Lessons learned: smoky ravioli tastes so much better. Oh, you can throw away your cooking pot afterwards unless you like the black vintage look 😉 In addition, don’t put your head above the fire to steer in the pot: the smoke stings your eyes pretty bad.

4. The night was cold, our sheets (oh yes, no sleeping bags for us ;)) moist and freezing. Lessons learned: Keep your clothes in a separate bag so they aren’t humid and cold in the morning. Buy a warm PJ and leave a window open so fresh air gets in and condense out.

5. Last but not least: no coffee in the morning 🙁 … Fire went all dead after the night rain. Lesson learned: In the ‘Gamma’ they serve free coffee with your purchase. Woohoow! Happy wife, happy life 😀

To sum up:

Our first try-out brought us a cold night, soaked feet, a warm fire, smoked ravioli and a 1000 bright stars.
Small surprises but big lessons learned.

4 Comment

  1. Adrien says: Reply

    Ready for a full year of camping? 🙂

    1. Dimitri says: Reply

      Damn right baby! 😉

  2. Antonella says: Reply

    Hahahahah, fantastisch relaas van de feiten en eerlijk!!! Ik kijk uit naar jullie belevenissen en geniet graag mee via deze toffe blog! You go guys! Xxx

  3. Bart says: Reply

    Stop maar met koken op gas. Ga koken op benzine. Gas is bijna niet te krijgen in ZA (Echt heel schaars!). Wij hebben een 424 en een whisperlite.

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