June Update: No Camping, New Dogs, Sticker Madness & Surviving the Concrete Jungle 🏕️😂🐶

Well... June has been a bit weird.

For the first time in what feels like forever, the TentTokers calendar has been unusually quiet. No campsites, no frantic packing the night before, no arguing over whether we've remembered the electric hook-up cable (we haven't), and no waking up at 3am wondering if that flapping noise means the tent is about to end up in Scotland.

The simple truth is that camping costs money.

Unfortunately, our employers still insist that we turn up to our full-time Civil Service jobs and do actual work in exchange for our wages, which means holiday allowance is precious and every trip has to be planned carefully.

We've also got plans coming up later in the year, so the sensible adult part of our brains (which only occasionally appears) has been telling us to save some money.

So, no trips booked in June.

Our next adventure is Golden Square Holiday Park from Tuesday 14th July. We've been there before and really enjoyed it, so it'll be nice returning somewhere familiar.

So What Have I Been Doing?

Honestly?

The camping community has completely lost its mind.

And I absolutely love it.

Sticker Swap Mania

Now, I'm not saying I was the first person to start sending out free camping stickers...

But I genuinely think I was one of the first idiots to think:

"You know what? I'll spend my own money posting stickers to complete strangers from TikTok."

What started as a bit of fun has exploded.

Absolutely exploded.

Every day I'm seeing people designing logos, creating camping brands, making flags, ordering stickers and posting envelopes all over the country.

The thing that amazes me most isn't the stickers themselves.

It's the friendships.

People who have never met are helping each other, promoting each other's pages, swapping ideas, sharing campsite recommendations and supporting one another.

In a world where social media can often be a complete bin fire, watching this little camping community grow into something genuinely positive has been bloody brilliant.

It's actually exactly why I started TentTokers in the first place.

Not for views.

Not for followers.

Not to be "TikTok famous."

Just to build a community of like-minded campers who enjoy helping each other out.

Watching it happen from the sidelines is honestly one of my favourite things.

She's Flying High 🎌😂

One thing that did arrive this month was a proper flag pole.

And when I say flag pole, I don't mean one of those little things that barely pokes above your tent.

No.

I've gone completely overboard.

A full 5 metre flag pole.

The TentTokers flag will now be flying proudly above the campsite and, realistically, visible from the International Space Station.

You won't need What3Words to find us anymore.

Just look for the giant flag wobbling aggressively in the Yorkshire wind.

That said, I'm not quite sure how this anti-social social diva is going to cope with being quite so visible.

For someone who spends half their life talking to thousands of people online, I'm surprisingly awkward when actual humans appear in front of me.

But honestly, if you spot me at a campsite, please do come and say hello.

I'll probably stand there looking slightly panicked while my anxiety shoots through the roof, but you'll receive a free sticker, we'll have a chat, and hopefully you'll leave thinking, "She's not quite as weird as she looks on TikTok."

No promises though.

So if you see the giant TentTokers flag flying somewhere in the distance, wander over and say hello. Worst case scenario, you'll get a free sticker and watch me visibly malfunction for a few minutes.

Seems like a fair trade to me. 😂🏕️❤️

You Can't Miss Us Now

As if a giant flag wasn't enough, we've also added some massive TentTokers stickers to the trailer.

Now when we're driving to campsites people can spot us from approximately three counties away.

It genuinely makes me laugh when I look in the mirror and realise we've accidentally turned the trailer into a rolling billboard.

Not that I'm complaining.

I love it.

Little Extras

I've also been making some little TentTokers keyrings.

Nothing fancy.

Just a little something extra to send out with the sticker packs.

It's amazing how excited grown adults get over stickers and keyrings.

Actually, who am I kidding?

I'm one of them.

Tent Repairs... Yay...

Remember our last trip?

The one where everything seemed to go suspiciously well?

Yeah.

Turns out the camping gods were just waiting.

One of the inner tubes on our air tent developed a hole.

Just a tiny one.

But enough to create that horrible sinking feeling every camper knows.

So before our next trip we've got the exciting task of replacing it.

I say exciting.

I mean deeply annoying.

I'm sure it'll all go smoothly and definitely won't involve swearing, confusion or watching YouTube tutorials while questioning my life choices.

Honestly known us my hubby will fix everything and ill video it and post it on Tiktok hahaha the one social media than man refuses to have, probably a good thing....

Oscar, Aria and Moving Forward

Now this bit is harder to write.

Most of you know that in March we lost our soul dog, Oscar.

Even now, months later, I still don't think I've fully processed it.

Fourteen years.

Fourteen years of loyalty, companionship and unconditional love.

Then suddenly he became very unwell.

He couldn't walk.

He couldn't support himself.

Everything happened so quickly.

Within seventy-two hours we were faced with the decision every dog owner dreads.

We sat with him.

Held his paw.

My husband held him close.

And we said goodbye.

Even writing this now, sat on a night shift, I've got tears running down my face.

Oscar wasn't just a dog.

He was family.

A tiny little Jack Russell with enough character, attitude and love to fill a stadium.

I miss him every single day.

Then came the guilt.

The silence in the house.

The empty space where a dog should be.

We started helping friends by looking after their dogs while they went away.

One of those dogs was Aria.

A beautiful Labrador-Golden Retriever mix with the softest nature imaginable.

Eventually her owners asked if we'd consider giving her a permanent home.

This wasn't a quick decision.

We talked about it for weeks.

Because the truth is, nobody replaces Oscar.

Nobody ever could.

But eventually we realised this wasn't about replacing him.

It was about giving another dog a loving home.

So Aria joined the family.

There's still guilt sometimes.

I think that's normal.

But she's slowly stolen our hearts.

And in just a few days we'll be taking our first camping trip together.

It'll be just me and Aria - Rose at first while the husband works, before he joins us later in the week with the kids.

Her very first camping adventure.

What could possibly go wrong?

Don't answer that.

Please Cool Down Britain 🌡️🥵

At the time of writing, the UK seems determined to cosplay as Spain.

Temperatures are hovering around the 30-degree mark and, as much as I love sunshine, camping in that sort of heat creates a whole new set of challenges.

Especially with a furry four-legged tent mate.

So if the weather gods are listening, could we perhaps have a nice sensible 22 degrees?

Warm enough for camping.

Not hot enough to slowly melt into a camping chair.

Thanks.

The Website

Outside of camping I've spent a lot of time working on the website and trying to figure out where I want TentTokers to go.

The honest answer?

I haven't got a clue.

I know what I don't want.

I don't want it to become a money-making machine.

I don't want to spend every minute chasing numbers.

I don't care about being the biggest camping page.

Every penny I've ever made through TentTokers has gone straight back into stickers, stamps, keyrings and things for the community.

I've looked into getting a proper domain.

I might do it.

I might not.

At the moment I'm perfectly happy with how things are.

Maybe that'll change.

Maybe it won't.

Who knows?

For now I'm just enjoying the journey.

Until Next Time...

So that's June.

No camping.

No adventures.

No campsite reviews.

Just stickers, tent repairs, dog cuddles, website tinkering and trying to survive another night shift in the concrete jungle.

As always, thank you to every single one of you who follows, comments, shares, swaps stickers and supports what we're building.

You're all slightly bonkers.

And that's exactly why I like you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got several more hours of night shift to survive before I can go home and convince myself that replacing an air tent tube will only take five minutes.

It won't.

See you all at Golden Square.

Charlie – TentTokers 🏕️❤️🐶