How I did it: Set up my tent in our backyard early in the afternoon. I had been planning on doing this for a couple of weeks before I actually did it - the day I did I realised that I needed to put my tent up early, while it was still light outside. Whether you're camping in the wilderness or at home it's not really fun to feel rushed in setting up your tent thanks to the rapidly waning light.

Lessons & tips: Um..... Make sure you're warm enough? :)

Also maybe be smarter than me and check the weather forecast beforehand. I erected only the inside tent and not the fly because I thought the weather would stay dry and I wanted to see through the mesh to see the night sky. Well, one it was cloudy and two, it was cloudy translated into waking up at 2am to some drizzle and a brief internal debate over whether it warranted getting up to put the fly on. (Yes, I did.)

The other lesson was that.. um, yes, it might be harder to recreate the joys of real camping in your backyard if you live close to a busy road. Before this night in the tent I never appreciated how much sound these house walls filter out.

Nov 03, 2010, 07:15AM PDT | 0 comments