Hitchhiker's Guide To Actuality | Part 6 | Preparation - On Camping Gear & Sleep

As we will explore in this part of the series, you may want to consider taking a tent with you as the bare minimum fallback option for sleeping. It's always a tricky thing to undertake as camping gear can take much of your luggage space away and can be rather heavy and cumbersome compared to clothes and the rest of your gear. On the other hand, if you go for several nights on long journeys you will deeply thank yourself when you lay down in your tent somewhere in the middle of nowhere, as there really is no substitute for the benefits of a good night's rest on a hitchhiking journey.

There are tents out there that are specifically designed for solo travelers, they are very lightweight and have small packing dimensions - they are pretty much made for hitchhikers. The same goes for inflatable matresses and sleeping bags - try to find something with small packing dimensions, and buy used gear if you don't want to spend a fortune on professional stuff.

Always take into consideration the distance and approximate duration you are going to travel, as well as the general season and weather in that region.

Hitchhiking the mediterranean (with summery climates and mild nights) will be much easier on your requirements than hitchhiking Northern Europe where the weather may turn nasty and the temperatures can get rather low.

You may also want to consider the color of your tent as it's rarely a good idea to use one with bright colors. Some countries can have quite a harsh stance on wild camping and using more Earthly dark colors will not draw unwanted attention to your guerilla camping spot so easily. Also remember that you want to sleep at night and be up in the early morning so there is little opportunity for people to see your tent before you are actually packing up camp to move on. If you don't have a tent with boring colors you could also try to find a spot a little away from "civilization" and you will probably be fine.

On Hammocks

Another option you may consider is taking some kind of hammock with you instead of a tent. This has several advantages:

1. Hammocks usually take up much less space in your luggage, are lightweight and do the trick wonderfully when you are traveling in regions that don't get super cold at night.
2. Modern hammocks have become quite sophisticated. There are inexpensive models that come with a roof, a mosquito net and pockets inside of your cocoon, allowing you to have all your valuables near you while you sleep.

You can make use of the garbage bags you have with you in putting your backpack into a garbage bag (protecting it from humidity and making it look like a rather uninteresting looking pile of trash from afar). This way you can have your backpack near your hammock while you sleep instead of taking all your luggage into your hammock with you.

Please remember though that hammocks can get cold at night, especially in very Northern or Southern latitudes (depending on season). Some have successfully fought against the cold by bringing an old sheep pelt with them to put between themselves and the hammock, a sort of heat insulation for the night. Others are quite satisfied with simply using a sleeping bag with good insulation in their hammock. A big advantage of using hammocks over tents is that you will always find a camping spot, even in places where there are thorny plants on the ground or where there is an uneven surface.

Another advantage is that you are off the ground meaning you will be much better "protected" against nature - ants, insects and even larger animals will not as easily be able to visit you. Naturally, if you plan on hitchhiking and camping in very rural areas you will want to check up on local wildlife before. I never had an issue traveling in Europe, but then I always used to put up my tent near the highway I was traveling on, not in the middle of some forest. If wolves and bears are an issue where you are you may want to read up on some bits of advice on how to camp safely. One bit of advice I can give is that you always want your foods inside your small plastic box we talked about, or inside a sealed garbage bag so that the scent of the food cannot draw animals your way.

Remember that your camping gear does not necessarily have to go inside your backpack, most hitchhikers have found a way to stack their tent and sleeping bag on top or at the side of their backpack using ropes or straps to secure them. You can also consider bringing some kind of extra bag that you can easily grab with all your camping gear inside. It may be clumsy, and the former option is much more convenient but in the end our aim is to not wander with all this stuff forever but instead be picked up regularly, making for a minimum duration of actual carrying.

On longer hitchhiking trips I have found the extra weight and "clumsyness" of camping gear to be totally worth the effort. After a long day on the road there is nothing quite like knowing you can set up your tent or hammock anywhere you are instead of worrying how you're gonna make it through the night and the next days.

Even a little bit of sleep will do wonders for your spirit so any journey longer than one or two days warrants bringing some type of camping gear.

During the day you could also just opt for sleeping literally anywhere, if only for an hour. As we will see in the next parts of this series, it is much better to "miss" a few hours of the day in traveling time but to be rested than to stay up forever and be someone who doesn't seem appealing to pick up. If you do lay down somewhere, always keep your stuff close by.

As for camper's cooking gear - it's tricky. If you travel with someone else bringing a camping stove, a pot and some canned food is a good idea as you can share ans spread the carry weight. If you go alone and we are talking about a "short" journey of a few days I have found bringing all this campers' cooking gear is hardly worth the effort.

Again, see my previous part on food and drink to get a better idea how to travel light on your food needs.

So that would be the basics on camping gear, if there is something essential you think I forgot here let me know in the comments and I will add it into this article.

Completing the preparation section also means that we are finally able to move on to the ineresting parts of this series in the coming days and weeks: How to actually hitchhike successfuly. The do's and the don't's, as well as some of the cosmic experiences me and a few good friends have gathered on our travels, stay tuned <3

Come read other parts of this series:The Prospect & The Challenge - Foreword
Part 1 | Preparation - Tackling Fears & Hugging The Unexpected
Part 2 | Preparation - Time, Distance & Availability
Part 3 | Preparation - Clothing & Apparel
Part 4 | Preparation - Food & Drink
Part 5 | Preparation - Signs, Maps, First Aid & Other Things

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