Two weeks on the road, a wedding, white limestone cliffs on Danish Møn, salty baths on the West Coast, and a storm at Kullaberg. The Backa family from Östersund managed a lot on their first roof tent trip. But it didn't go at all as they first imagined.
The Backa family was one of a total of three winners who got to borrow a roof tent from Taktältarna during the summer of 2022. Want to see even more of their trip? Here are all the Insta Stories from their trip collected! The roof tent they borrowed is an Åreskutan four-person.
Camping with children in a roof tent is often wonderful – but as all parents surely understand, it also involves a logistical and patience-testing challenge.
Before David and Camilla set off on their first roof tent trip with their children Carla 4.5 years, and Alba 10 months, many in their circle of acquaintances thought they were crazy to embark on such a long camping trip with small children. But that did not discourage David and Camilla; rather, it made them more motivated – to show that it actually works.
– Since our family and several friends live far from us, it was natural to visit them during our holidays, so we planned our route based on such stops while also taking the opportunity to be spontaneous for small detours along the way. And it was precisely that spontaneity that characterized our route especially this time when we had the roof tent – because we actually changed our route several times and went to places where the nice weather seemed to be. It became a successful recipe! In total, it was 3.5 weeks on the road, of which 16 nights were spent in the roof tent.
– The original plan was to travel from Östersund and take a trip in Norway on the way down to Denmark where Camilla's family lives. But the forecast in Norway looked anything but promising, with a lot of rain and cold weather. With two small children and a first test with a roof tent, it was a risk we were not willing to take. So instead, we went directly down to the West Coast which offered nice weather, before we continued towards Denmark. We stayed there for over a week before heading towards Edsbyn and David's family with overnight stays on the way. And then we ended the holiday with a few days in Stockholm before turning back towards Östersund again!
– There was a lot of time on the beach and in the sea as we generally had good weather! But otherwise walks/hiking with the children, activities with family and friends.
Resö on the West Coast! Mainly because it was completely spontaneous, we had not been there before and we ended up at a fantastically beautiful nature camping. Then we were lucky with the weather and got that "West Coast feeling" we had longed for.
– We had a really stormy night at Kullaberg and got cold feet when we chose a slightly too exposed spot to stand on. When the wind increased around 9 pm and the children were asleep, we had no other option than to wake the children, pack up the tent quickly and slowly move to a more sheltered spot. BUT, the children slept through practically the whole ordeal so it went better than expected. One of the advantages of a roof tent! However, we experienced a somewhat sleepless night as it blew hard all night.
Both our children enjoyed it and thought it was a wonderful adventure (or well, we assume the 10-month-old baby thought so)! The first nights were surreal as our youngest baby fell asleep immediately and slept through the nights until 7 am. Overall, both children slept incredibly well in the tent throughout our holiday, and that was 16 nights in the roof tent. Bedtimes were the easiest, but there were some early mornings as the baby woke up. Our 4.5-year-old thought it was exciting most of the time and loved that we had the bedroom on the car roof!
– Keep it simple – a couple of times we chose camping instead of wild camping as we needed facilities and activities that made it easier. We were attentive to what we thought the children needed and had no prestige that it had to be a certain way. Food needs to be planned and we always had canned food and pasta/rice to have food to cook on a camping stove wherever we were. But sometimes it had to be a restaurant visit so the day didn’t turn out as planned! We also had natural stops with family and friends after a couple of days in the roof tent which made for a nice break from camping.
Another tip is to be organized and have a system – all things must have a place, and try to keep it that way even when you are away. We divided all our things that we brought so that we could take them out when we needed them and it worked great. But, naturally, it still gets a bit messy when you are on a car trip with children!
Talk a lot about what awaits before you travel with the children. Then they get expectations and are a bit more prepared for what applies when you are away. And try setting up the tent before you leave!
– Good, it was never a problem but here we had to compromise. We planned to wild camp and find places to stay along the way, but with two children in the car there wasn’t really time to drive around and look. We used some app, but mostly it was safe bets where others stayed or campgrounds.
– That we slept so well in the roof tent and could bring blankets/pillows. We felt so comfortable that we also slept in the roof tent when we visited family and friends who didn’t really have space inside. Then it was perfect that we had our bedroom that could stand outside the house on the driveway!
That we didn’t really have a solution to keep the cooler running without having the car running. Therefore, we couldn’t store refrigerated goods properly for several days.
Actually nothing.. we traveled in the middle of high summer and had such nice weather that we lived in shorts and shirts most of the time. We feel that we had what we needed to manage camping life as we planned it!
Blankets and pillows instead of sleeping bags and makeshift pillows!
– Dare! You solve most things along the way. Pack smart, and reduce unnecessary things.
Be in sync so that you have the same expectations.
– We are very satisfied and were positively surprised by the whole thing, even though we had high expectations from the start! It was smooth to set up and pack down the tent and more comfortable than we thought. And an adventure to be away! The challenging part was really camping life itself, cooking on a camping stove and always being outdoors. But even that worked well!
Do you who are reading this also feel like trying a roof tent?
We at Taktältarna sell high-quality roof tents. Developed and tested in Åre – by roof tent users, for roof tent users. You can also rent one of our roof tents at several locations in the country.
