Buying a camping stove can be a tricky business. You want to make sure you get the right one for you. If you are hiking you need to get something that is compact and will carry easily. A trangia might be a good idea if you need something small, or if you are only cooking for yourself. A Trangia cimbines the methanol burner with all of the equipment that you need to do your cooking. If you are travelling by car then you can go fo a setup as large as you like, right up to a full kitchen set (if it takes your fancy!). Some camping stoves also come with wind protectors, which can be very useful if you’re camping outside.
camping stoves run on a variety of fuels and the type of fuel you will be using will play an important factor in your decision.
The most popular fuel is butan or propane gas or a propane/butane mix. These come in cartridges or refillable cylinder. This type of fuel is predictable and stable, lights easily and performs well, and is controllable in terms of the level of heat you require. The cartridges or cylinders attach directly to the stove. Resealable cartridges are good as they can be removed from the stove, so there is no chance of the gas being switched on accidentally. These smaller stoves are more suited to be sed with smaller pans and cookware sets and cannot comfortably accomodate larger pans.
Larger stoves often use cylinders attached with a gas hose and regulator. This aren’t carried easily so are only suitable if you are travelling by car. These stoves often include a lid and side wind shield. If you are camping in low temperatures, propane is more suitable than butane as it freezes at lower temperatures.
Pressure stoves run on pressurised petroleum. They can get very hot and are very fuel efficient. These types of cookers come in a range of sizes, from small compact burners suitable for backpackers to double burners suitable for families.
Methylated spirit stoves run on meths which, as a liquid, doesn’t need to be pressurised. It is instant lighting and there is no need for preheating. Meths produces an almost colourless flams so care needs to be taken in the daytime. meths only really gives about half the heat of the alternatives so isn’t the most efficiant. The most common types of meths burners is the trangia range which are simple to use, compact lightweight and cost efficient.
You might want to consider the price of the gas refills or methelated spirits when making your purchase. And don’t forget to take spares! There’s nothing worse than having the food to cook with no means to cook it.
If you have small children then safety may be an issue. You might want something that is stable and safe when there are footballs flying about! so you can go for something with a stand
Tags: Buying, Camping, Next, Stove, Trip
When it is time to take the family on vacation, most of us think only about getting a hotel room. Sure, we might also consider a tent campground, a RV or travel trailer, and possibly even a beach condo, but how many of us realize that we have more choices for a place to sleep while on vacation?
To be honest, I am a pretty smart guy and I have been doing the vacation thing, first with my parents and then with my wife and kids, but until a few years ago, I never knew there was such a thing as a bed and breakfast or vacation home rental. I only become aware of these alternate types of vacation accommodations when I was in my early thirties – a decade ago.
The Campground Experience
My dad knew about hotels of course, but he would never consider spending money in such a wasteful manner. Until I was twelve, we only stayed in a tent when we went on vacation. Three years in a row, we got caught out in massive downpours while we were camping. Our tent – although pretty nice – leaked when it rained. Three vacations in a row, we had to pack up and leave in the middle of the night, after we woke to find ourselves in an inch of water inside our tent.
My mother had a great deal of influence over my dad… in a weird kind of way. After three years of ruined vacations, she put her foot down. She told him that we would never spend our vacations in a tent again. She got her way, but not in the way she expected. She won her argument; we never again spent our vacation in a tent. But dad got his way too; we never did spend money on a hotel room, instead, we spent his vacation in our own house. After I was twelve, we never again took a family vacation.
Well, that is almost true. When I was sixteen, dad bought one of those pop-up campers. When I was sixteen, we took a family vacation and stayed in the pop-up camper travel trailer. But wouldn’t you know… it rained and the camper leaked too. So that was the final end of our family vacations.
The Hotel Experience
As an adult, I did not have the same kind of qualms my father had about hotels. When my wife and I went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon, we stayed at the Stratosphere hotel. From our overpriced hotel room, we were able to look out our window and see… the concrete wall at the base of the tower. It was awesome.
After our kids were born, we took two vacations to San Antonio, where we stayed with my wife’s aunt and uncle. But the drive down was pretty lengthy, so we caught hotel rooms in transit. We would catch a hotel room for one night on the way to San Antonio, and we would catch a room on the way home.
We got on well with hotels in our travels, up until we stayed at the Best Western one night. Everything went well, until we went to check out. Imagine our shock and anger, when we realized that the hotel had supplied a PlayStation in our room, and our four- and six-year-old children got up in the middle of the night to play video games. Our $45 hotel room ended up costing us $120!! OMG I was pissed!
The Vacation Rental Experience
I have to say that when I finally discovered vacation home rentals, I was pleased to no end. If I am going to spend $120 per night, you simply cannot beat the vacation rental experience.
Especially when you are doing several nights at your vacation destination, the vacation rental makes a whole lot of sense. If you are yet aware of it, the vacation home rental is exactly what it sounds like. It is a home that you can rent, in the same way that you rent a hotel room, with a major exception. That exception is that the rental has seperate bedrooms for the guests, a full kitchen, a fenced backyard for the kids to play in, sometimes a swimming pool to swim in, and a comfortable living area, frequently with a big screen HDTV in it.
Think about the homes of your friends, and then think about the nicest home that you have been to. A vacation rental is generally even nicer than the homes of all of my friends and family.
Vacation home rental prices vary considerably, depending on location, size and features. But I have managed to rent a number of vacation rentals for as little as $125 per night. What was exceptional about that is that the vacation home rentals had a full kitchen in the house, with a complete set of dishes for cooking and eating. Although we were in some far off destination, we did not have to take every meal at a restaurant. That one advantage more than compensated for the additional cost of renting the vacation home. In the end, we found that our vacation home ended up saving us so much money on food, that we made a profit against what we would have spent on the hotel and restaurant food.
The Bed And Breakfast Experience
The bed and breakfasts (B&B) are an ideal solution for living the good life, but they are not always suited to bringing the kids along on your vacation.
A friend of my wife had told us about a bed and breakfast establishment that she had visited with her husband. She spoke of the experience of having someone cook for you and pamper you to no end. My wife’s friend enjoys the B&B experience so much that her and her husband visit one as often as possible, even if it is just across town.
My wife’s friend had talked up the experience so highly that my wife insisted that we must find a babysitter for our kids for the weekend, so that we could indulge ourselves in the Bed And Breakfast experience. We did, and it was truly enjoyable, relaxing, and memorable.
We checked into the B&B on Friday night and spent the weekend there. Friday night, we slipped into the hot tub for an evening of refreshing bubbles. Along with the hot tub bubbles, we enjoyed champagne bubbles in our drinks.
Saturday morning, we arose early to go horseback riding. Unlike the first time I rode a horse, it was an enjoyable outing. The first time I had rode a horse, the horse would just stop along the beach and snack on grass, ignoring me when I told him to go. After the horse guy came back and got my horse moving on two separate occasions, he finally broke down and switched horses with me. The change of horses did not fix the problem. Somehow, both horses had known that I had never been on a horse before, and they took advantage of me. 
But when my wife and I did the B&B weekend, we rode horses on Saturday morning, and my horse cooperated and did what he was supposed to do… Thank God.
For lunch, we were treated to a special meal – one of the best I have eaten in my life. Then we took a dip in the pool during the afternoon, and then took a short nap. At dinner, we were treated to a candlelight dinner in our room. We returned to the hot tub on Saturday night, then to our room for a night we will never forget.
We spent a leisurely Sunday morning in bed, before checking out in the afternoon. After leaving the B&B, we took a relaxed and slow drive home, and then picked up the children from the babysitters’ house.
It was a nice change from the ordinary.
The Overall Vacation Experience
I have learned a few very important lessons in the last ten years:
* I have learned that we don’t have to do the tent or camper experience and experience the frustration that my parents experienced on a family vacation.
* I have learned that hotels really are not all that they are cracked up to be and can provide many ugly surprises.
* After having taken the chance on a vacation home rental, I learned that if I was going to spend more than a night away from home with the kids, then a vacation rental would make our vacation time much more pleasant and enjoyable.
* After having taken the chance on renting a Bed and Breakfast suite for the weekend, I learned that if my wife and I get a chance to get away from the kids for a weekend, we would be fools to pass on the opportunity to spend our weekend at the B&B of our choice.
In the constant struggle to find holiday accommodations, many people see the best and worst of what can happen while on a family vacation. My parents struggled for years trying to create a memorable family vacation, and they were successful in all the wrong ways.
Unfortunately, vacations more often create abnormally high stress levels, when one is supposed to be trying to relax. As a result, many families frequently prefer to stay home when vacation time comes. But the good news is that there are better options available to anyone looking to experience a family vacation to remember – a vacation that is memorable for all of the right reasons.
It is my hope that you were able to laugh with me as I shared some of my personal vacation experiences. It is also my hope that I have opened your eyes to alternate vacation ideas that you can use to lower the stress and increase the enjoyment of your next family vacation, in the same way that I have been able to do for myself and my family.
Tags: Between, Breakfast, Difference, Homes, Hotels, Vacation
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Tags: Breaksfast, Cheap, Hotels, Ramsgate
If you’re looking for a really unique way to filter small amount of water in a quick amount of time (16 oz in 48 second and 1 quart in 90 seconds), then the SteriPEN is definitely for you! This product allows water to be sterilized by UV rays that are produced from batteries with in the pen. The Pen uses wavelength UV waves, which destroys the DNA of microbes in seconds. Without functional DNA, microbes simply can’t reproduce or make you sick. The pen itself only weighs 3.6oz with the batteries in the device. This is something that is not only convenient but also light weight, so you can carry it with you just about anywhere. This product comes in a few different models, and all the models hold different amounts of water, which allows the water to be sterilized in certain increments of time.
This is a really nice product to have if you are traveling to “at risk” countries where you may not know if you can trust the water filtration system or not. It is also a particularly good idea to take this product other places as well, such as camping, restaurants or even on cruise ships. This product can also be taken on an airplane for when you go on vacation. I know this has been a huge worry for some people with many other products, but rest assured! The SteriPEN is very easy to work as well, so there’s no confusing processes to figure out or tons of buttons to configure. One of the models even comes with an LCD screen so the different functions are easy to read as well. As of now there are three models of the SteriPEN which are Classic, Adventurer and SteriPEN Journey LCD. The only difference between the Adventurer and Traveler model however, are the colors of the pen.
This product has been tested in such places as A&L Laboratory, University of Main, University of Arizona, Oregon Health Sciences and Ryerson University (located in Toronto, Canada), and the reports from these test studies are available for download on Hydro-Photon if you would like to take a look at those! If you buy a this product, guides are also available for download if you ever need them. For more information on the SteriPEN please visit Amazon, Travel Essentials or visit one of your favorite search engines online.
You can also check these purifiers and filtration systems out that aren’t SteriPens brand:
- Lotus Water Treatment System LWT 100 $169
The lotus Water Treatment System uses a proprietary 2-stage process to purify and filter drinking water: Lotus protects your family from the bacteria and toxins that can sometimes seep into your tap, lake or well water. Features: Countertop system purifies tap water with a proprietary two-stage process. Enjoy great-tasting water that is safer and healthier for your family. Save a fortune compared to bottled water.
- Travel Berkey 1.5 Gal Water Purifier with Two Super Sterasyl Elements $250
This unit holds more than a gallon of filtered water at a time and produces clean drinking water very efficiently. The lower storage tank capacity is 1.5 gallons. The Travel Berkey comes with the new Black Berkey purifying elements and functions at a rate of efficiency of 2-3/4 gallons per hour.
This filters water fast.
- Katadyn Drip TRK Ceradyn Water Filtration System $199
The Katadyn TRK Drip Ceradyn free-standing gravity filter features a 10 liter water container for large quantities of water. It’s ideal for the water supply for camps, cabins and homes without running water. This Ceradyn version comes with three ceramic filter elements.
- MSR Miox Water Purifier $140
Part of MSR’s pump-fee water treatment series of products, the Miox Purifier represents a revolution in water treatment. It’s ultralight, compact, and easy to use with no pumping, maintenance, or iodine required. Ideal for extended trips and large volumes of water, this reliable purifier will inactivate viruses, bacteria, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium.
Good luck! I hope you find these product as interesting and exciting as I have!
Tags: Filter, Ingenious, Water
