It’s fun. Getting away from it all and spending some quality time with nature. Hiking yourself into exhaustion. Sitting peacefully by the fire and watching it crackle.

Have low expectations and try to roll with whatever situations happen, things won’t be ideal or perfect. There might be rain, there might be mosquitos, it might get chilly at night, the ground might be hard where you sleep. The best thing to do is be prepared and try to keep a good attitude. There is a kind of fun to be had in persevering through any unideal situations that happen.

There are a lot of useful skills for camping that can , and a good way to spend the time on the first trip is to start learning these. Like if you’ve never made a campfire before, ask your friend to teach you how to gather kindling and build the fire.