This is the list of items that we recommend and travel with! People are always asking us “where did you get that?!” and now you know! The links to our most commonly asked about products are below:
(disclaimer: some of these are Amazon affiliate links, and we may make a commission off of a purchase)
TENT
Our hands-down recommendation for a tent is the Coleman Prairie Breeze 9 person. We have taken that beast with us everywhere, and camped in everything from extreme heat to extreme cold, torrential downpours, and even the Rocknado at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Sadly, she did not survive the 60 mph winds and hail storm, but even beaten and battered she still provided us shelter. It has enough room for two people to have an entire bedroom plus a sitting area, the ventilation is awesome, and if you’re camping with a family there is ample room for multiple cots.
BED
People are always fascinated by this, and I have to tell you that it’s one of the best camping purchases that we’ve ever made. Not only do you end up with a double-duty couch into bed, but this this is COMFY! Because the three sections inflate separately you can adjust the firmness how you like. Use the neat trick from the next link below and the entire thing is ready to use in less than ten minutes!
FLEXTAIL
This is the coolest tool we carry with us! Not only is it tiny and can clip to anything, it inflates our air mattress in record time. I just plug it in, walk away to finish setting up camp, and come back a few minutes later to switch it to a new section – no standing there holding a stupid hose listening to the air pump. As a bonus, this one also has a really bright light with three settings. We clip it inside our tent for light, bring it with us to the porta-potties, even carry it with us hooked to our backpacks on a carabiner in case we’re caught out after dark. Bonus is that you can charge it fully with a normal battery pack in less than an hour. We won’t camp without this ever again.
FAN
This is another one of those cool little gadgets that we picked up, and it ended up being an amazing addition. Sometimes when it’s hot, just moving the air can make it feel cooler, and this thing will move the air. Even in our big tent this pulls the hot air out and the cooler air in. Bonus – it’s quiet, it has a three stage light, it comes with a remote so that you don’t have to get out of bed to turn the lights or fan on or off, it charges quickly, and on a full charge on high it lasts roughly 8 hours. We even hooked this bad boy up outside with some rope under our canopy!
PHONE LEASH
If you have ever been worried about dropping your super expensive phone ( and lets face it, we all have butter fingers sometimes) this is for you! Whether you are fishing, catching crowd surfers, worried about pickpockets, or just maybe dropping it in the porta-potty at 2 am this is for you.
COFFEE
Yeah, coffee. If you know the OMG camp at all, you know we run on caffeine – especially at a festival. This little French Press is a lifesaver! Fill it with water, add your coffee grounds, boil it right on your camp stove ( our suggestion for that is next) and then just put the lid on and let it steep. Slowly depress the plunger and – voila! You’ve got some REALLY good camp coffee.
STOVE
An absolute must-have when you’re camping is a good stove. We’ve always had great luck with Coleman, and this is our current workhorse. With two independent burners and the pop-up windscreen, you can cook your bacon and your coffee at the same time! It’s simple to light (there is a push-to-light model as well) and it is super efficient with propane. We can cook two meals a day for two people for roughly five days on one small can of propane. Bonus points for being light, and coming in its own snap to lock hard case.
POWER
If you aren’t near a power source, you’re going to wonder how to keep your essentials charged – phone, battery packs, even the cool fan we have further up. This is your answer! An absolute workhorse of a battery, when it’s fully charged we can use it for days to recharge anything that needs power. We typically use it to charge our items overnight, and with normal use it will last us 4-5 days. It’s a little hefty in the weight department, but SO worth it!
WATER
Water and hydration are critical at festival or while you’re out camping, but no one wants to drink it warm – much less hot. I waited entirely too long before finally purchasing these water bottles, and I’m telling you – THESE ARE THE BOMB. We filled two of the 64 oz bottles with ice water from our house, and they held ice for 48 hours in over 90 degrees – some of that in full sun. Even when the ice was gone the water was COLD for another eight! They come in a ton of sizes, but if you want to actually have a water bottle that does what it claims to? Here you go.