We were introduced to the word
“glamping” by Dieter and Siegried, a German couple we met at
Bolding Mill Campground, near Gainesville, Georgia. We stopped by
their campsite one evening to ask about their rental Class “C”
camper. The RV they were setting up was splashed with the bold
advertising for RV America, and we were curious as to their
impressions of the experience. They were from Köln, Germany, not too
far from Ilse’s hometown of Bitburg, and had rented their RV in
South Carolina. They had toured the southern part of Georgia, and
were eventually heading to Nashville. They were playing their
vacation by ear, not making any reservations, simply looking at a map
and deciding where to go next. They were staying at Bolding Mill only
overnight.
We discussed many things about the
differences between camping in Germany and here, and as we were
chatting in the fading evening light, a huge fifth wheel trailer at
least 38 foot long pulled noisily into the camping loop. I asked if
there were any fifth wheel type campers in Germany, with fire places
and retractable televisions. Dieter smiled and said, “No, nothing
like that big camper. For us, that is “glamping.”
“Glamping?”
“Yes, you know, glamor camping.”
OK, now we know. A new definition
for the big fifth wheels and the incredible Class “A” motor homes
we’ve seen. Glampers.
Our friends Richard and Arlene,
who introduced us to RVing, have a theory about the size of camping
trailers and motor coaches: the older the camper, the bigger the
unit. Richard may have a point. It seems younger, less affluent
campers are tent campers or small pop-up trailer campers. As they age
and acquire wealth, they move up to bigger units, until they finally
retire and can afford the biggest units available. By then they need
room for the grand-kids, but they are also too old, or spoiled, to
crank jack handles or awning cranks. They love the power slide outs
and automatic levelers, retractable TVs and fireplaces that flicker
on an LCD screen. From campers to glampers, the progression seems to
be natural.
The Europeans have their own
version of glamping, but the massive RVs and the inversely
proportional size of their dogs appears to be an American phenomenon.
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| Camping and Glamping |
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