Glamping: camping goes high-end
September 17, 2008 – 8:50 am
The New York Times travel section offers a new upscale twist to an old outdoor standard.
IF the eco-friendly idea of falling asleep under the stars and roasting marshmallows around a campfire appeals to you, but the reality of pitching a tent and sleeping on bumpy ground does not, glamping, the new term being used for upscale — or glamorous — camping, could be your ideal green vacation.
Though dismissed by hard-core leave-no-trace campers (who don’t so much as move a rock for fear of affecting the area), glamping can still be an environmentally sound outdoor experience, even if it does include creature comforts (like not having too many creatures inside your tent). And though it is a relatively new trend in the United States and Europe, with its origins harking back to Africa and even Thailand, glamping sites are starting to pop up everywhere, with prepitched tents, tepees and yurts rising out of the landscape like sailboats on an ocean.
This exact topic came up recently while mapping out the keywords Symbiosis uses to describe its offerings. Specifically, Chris and I were talking about Hanuman Tents. The term “camping,” with its bugs-and-mozzies connotation, just didn’t seem right; although at its core, that is essentially what Hanuman Tents offers, sleeping in a tent out in the jungle of Angkor Wat-era temples.
Still, camping this is not. Travel is by 4×4 off-road vehicle. On location, luxury tents with equally luxurious beds and furniture are available, as are solar-powered hot water heaters for warm showers. Camping, no, but glamping? That sounds about perfect.
