Glamping is not about the WiFi....
At Leafy Fields Glamping we do offer guest WiFi on our glamping field. However a lot of glamping sites don't offer WiFi, so this is just a few notes to help with coping without the WiFi.
The first thing to remember is that you are booking a glamping holiday in a rural area. If you are doing this to enjoy nature, relax, reconnect with family or friends, enjoy conversation and get the kids to enjoy some fresh air, while playing outside together, off the screens, then WiFi is not going to help you.
Glamping sites like ours are usually in rural locations, in such locations the internet is often not too clever and would not support guest WiFi, even if it was desirable. Most glamping sites offer holidays that are about families getting closer to nature, away from the worries of modern life. A chance to slow down and reconnect, so WiFi is not needed.
But if you really can’t cope without the internet during your holiday, or your worried about a child not coping without a favorite game and music or streaming films then these are our tips:
The first thing to do is establish if the site has a good 4G mobile signal and which networks work best there. The owner should be able to help you with this information. We find O2 and EE work pretty well on our site. If you can get a 4G signal then contact your mobile phone provider and boost all your data packages as much as possible for the month. If you need more, then look at getting an unlimited data, phone contact, on the best network for the site, that you can cancel after the holiday if you choose to (check what you’re committing to before signing any contracts). The phones can be used as ‘hot spots’ for other devices like a child’s tablet if needed.
If you just want to check emails or do some office type work on a laptop of an evening, then a mobile router might suit you. They can be bought on a rolling contact or a fixed term contact (check what commitment you are signing up to if you only want it for a short time). They do not have enough data for streaming films or gaming usually. We have used an EE one and found it useful for emailing word documents from a laptop.
If the site has no 4G, then you could consider downloading games and music or films onto devices. You may be able to boost the memory capacity of tablets like a kindle fire kids, with an appropriate SD card. Portable DVD players are also handy, don’t forget the headphones.
Even in rural areas you could visit cafes, restaurants and pubs during the day, where you will often find free WiFi. It is a good idea to use a VPN on your device when using a public WiFi, to protect your personal information. Scheduling visits to such places during your stay may prevent anxiety about lack of WiFi the rest of the time, if you all know you are going to have a set place and time to check in on the internet.
These are some tips from one of our regular guests:
‘When you are a special needs family, you get good at thinking outside the box.
When at home, our son is completely dependent on our WiFi. He is playing on his xbox, watching TV, using his phone, everything needs WiFi.
We love glamping, being away from everything, the quiet. But, to be able to enjoy our holiday, we must accept that our son requires internet access.
Here's how we manage:
1. I upgrade all of our mobile plans so that we have plenty of data.
2. Our son downloads a large number of episodes of his favourite show.
3. He has Spotify so that he always has access to his music.
4. When his data runs out, we tether his phone to one of ours enabling him to use our data.
This works really well for us and then, when we return home, I simply change our mobile tariffs back to the normal ones.
Happy glamping’
Above all remember why you are booking the holiday.
Take the time to reconnect, relax and spend time together… make memories, take lots of photos. Enjoy sharing your photos and memories to make all your online friend jealous, once you get home……. Don’t forget to tag us in, we love to see your happy times.
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