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How to Find the Perfect Campground for Your Next Adventure · Inspired Travels With Patti

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Stop asking what is the best campground for me?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's the wrong question.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I get this question all the time, and my answer is always it depends.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so today on Inspire Travels with Patty, I'm going to give you some questions that I always ask people to figure out what the best campground is for them.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to Inspire Travels with Patty, then I created this channel to inspire you to live life more fully.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, that's through adventure, new experiences, finding new places to visit, and meeting incredible people.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, finding the right campground takes just a couple questions that I ask people to answer so they can figure out what the right campground would be for them.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: The right campground for me may be very different than for you.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am now traveling solo and I sometimes meet up with a group of people.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'm camping solo.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the kinds of campgrounds I am looking for may be very different if you are traveling as a couple or as a family.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So here are the questions.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read some of these so I don't miss anything.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, talk about, think about who is going camping.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So are you solo like me?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going with a group of people?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going with the family?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a couples trip?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Who is going to be on this trip with you?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, what do you want to do when you're on this trip?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're finding this campground, what kinds of things are you looking to do?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want a lot of experiences?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want it to just be quiet and relaxing?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to adventure like outside of the campground?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to find things to do?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you're looking for a campground that has those activities.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And again, are you going with a group?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Question three: What are you looking for in a campground?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want full hookups?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you that are new, full hookups are water, sewer, and electricity.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on the campsite you get, it will depend on how much electricity.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: So there's 20, 30, and 50 amp.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you get all three of them.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: In a campground, do you need activities?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want there to be things for the kids?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want there to be activities for the adults?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of amenities are you looking for?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is really hot in this campground right now.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if I were staying in this area, I would definitely want a swimming pool or a lake to swim in.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere where I can swim would be something I would definitely be looking for.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want the campground to be a quiet space or very active space?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that before you book your stay in the campground.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Question number four: not to be negative, but you might want to think about what might ruin your camping experience.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if it would ruin your camping experience if you didn't have good Wi-Fi, then you want to know that by looking at the things you don't want, the things that might ruin your experience, you can figure out what you do want.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Wi-Fi is one of those things that people often look for.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is that going to ruin your trip?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is it going to ruin your trip if you don't have kids and you have a lot of kids around that are noisy, that are doing the activities?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing against kids.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love kids.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have three kids of my own.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have five grandkids.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love having kids around, but there are times when I'm going solo or when traveling as a couple.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, obviously looking at the location, and I think a lot of people think of this like where do you want to camp?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: But also think about the place you're going to be camping.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you want to do those activities outside, if you want to be able to get to a store, or if you really want to be off the beaten path, if you want an area that's quiet, if you're not looking to go to a store or do the adventure type things, that's something to really consider as you decide on the campground that's right for you.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I've actually stayed in probably over the last five years, I'm gonna say 100 campgrounds.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've stayed in state parks, I've stayed in resorts, I've stayed in private campgrounds, I've stayed in public campground campgrounds, I've stayed in campgrounds that were part of a membership system.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've done the overnights real quick.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I've stayed in a lot of different campgrounds, and there are times I want different things, just like any of us.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just stayed for four nights in a campground that just had peace and quiet.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't a ton to do in right in the area, but I just wanted to sit by the Hudson River and just relax.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that was what I was looking for for that camping experience.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now that particular place, it was actually called Glen Hudson, and it is in Warrensburg, New York, and it was great because while it was a quiet, serene place with no real amenities and activities except nature and beauty and quiet and the most wonderful people.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was only 20 minutes to Lake George, and I did do a video on Lake George and a podcast episode, so check that out.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Lake George is incredible.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So number six is types of campgrounds, and I'm not going to go into every single type of campground.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to show pictures of every single type of campground.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you a basic overview, and then this is something you could easily explore online.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So different types of campgrounds, you have your RV resorts.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I will say very clearly that the word resort being used in camping and RVing is kind of an arbitrary term, meaning that what some people call a resort, others wouldn't call a resort.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: When I think of a resort, and the kind of definition of it means that it has a lot of amenities.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's higher end, um, you know, the nicer pool, it often will have restaurants and bars and all kinds of things in a store, things to do.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: They really in some resorts will go out of the way with their service.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Some RV resorts will, you know, set up the fire pit for you, some will help you park your RV.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's all different types of things that can be offered.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: An RV resort being the high end of the RV.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: The next type I want to talk about, you can do state parks, and it's just that most states have state parks, some of them have hookups, some of them don't.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do the research on each state park.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Most of them are more uh rustic, more scenic, more in the woods kind of parks, and you have national campgrounds in your national parks.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're all over, and you have some parks that are very rustic, they have nothing, no amenities at all.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, you know, there's nothing there, it's just that it's very rustic.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at parks, regardless of what they're called, you it would be a good idea to decide do you want to be in an area where there's gravel or just dirt sites, or you're looking more for those cement, evenly set up sites, easy to pull in and out of, um, maybe pull-through sites or back-in sites that are nice and easy.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So finding those campgrounds that you know, like I said, have the cement uh pads, and you have a beautiful picnic table and fire pit and all that, or if you are more up for being in nature, a little more rustic, and guys, there's everything in between, so every combination.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was in an RV park that had one side with all the cement pads, nice, evenly, you know, measured out, just nice and clean, perfectly groomed, and then another part of that same park had the rustic in the woods kind of sites.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, really check out which kind of site, which yeah, which kind of site in the campgrounds you're looking for, because that's important.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have an idea of what you're looking for.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've written this all down, you've discussed it with the people you're going to travel with, trying to get on the same page with each other.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you're basically looking for the same types of things, um, and now you're looking for campgrounds, and reading the reviews is obviously something you're going to do.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Going onto the campground website, looking at things on reviews when people are giving it one or two or three-star reviews, really read as to why.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen some reviews of people making comments or giving a low review for things that didn't matter to me, things that weren't important.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And as we all know, it is easy to put a review out there, especially if we have something negative that just doesn't matter, didn't matter to us.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So really look at the reviews, but take into consideration what they're saying and whether that's a match for you.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: The last thing is there's no one RV park that is right for all of us, and not only that, but there's not one RV park that is right for me all the time.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, as I said, there may be a time I just want to sit and relax and be in nature, and then there's another time I want to be with people and have the activities.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: In September, I'll be going to the largest, America's largest RV show, which is known as the Hershey RV show.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be there in September.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm staying in a cabin, and that is a place that has a lot of amenities, a lot of activities, and there will be a lot of people there that I know and I will connect with and get together with, and that's a whole nother side of camping.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that I forgot to mention is even if you don't have the RV, there are ways to enjoy an RV park, there are ways to go camping.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you could tent, which is not something for me, but a lot of these campgrounds will allow tenting.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure before you reserve that they do allow tenting.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can rent an RV.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: There are RV companies that you can rent an RV to check out if that would be something you'd enjoy doing.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: There are RV companies that will rent the RV, um, all different types of RVs, but some of them will even set it up at a campground for you.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't drive it, you could still have the RV experience.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the other thing, which is something I've been doing a lot of, is the cabins.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I've stayed in a yurt, I stayed in a very rustic cabin.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say rustic, there was no bathroom.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: That is not something I want to do again.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is a no-go for me.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I need, if I'm in a cabin, I want a decent bed, a nice mattress, I want a bathroom, shower, running water.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is a plus because some of the cabins I've stayed in have full kitchens.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the last cabin I was in, full kitchen, so I could get groceries, I could do some cooking and have barbecue grill outside.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: My point is there are also cabins of all different types.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are looking to get into a campground, check out lodging, cabins, your clamping tents.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: They have all safari tents, they have all different ways that you could camp without just having an RV.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that this episode of Inspire Travels with Patty was helpful.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: If it was, please subscribe, hit the the like button, the follow button, whichever button there is, it really is helpful to the podcast and YouTube channel.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this inspired you in some way.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great summer.