Two weeks on the road, a wedding, white limestone cliffs on Danish Møn, salty baths on the West Coast and a storm on Kullaberg. The Backa family from Östersund managed a lot on their first roof tent trip. But it didn't turn out 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. Do you 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 tent .
Rooftop camping with children is often wonderful - but as anyone who is a parent themselves surely understands, 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, there were many in the circle of acquaintances who thought they were crazy to go on such a long camping trip with small children. But that didn't deter David and Camilla, but rather made them more determined – to show that they actually go.
- Since our family and several friends live far from us, it is natural to visit them during our vacations, so we planned our itinerary based on such stops while taking the opportunity to be spontaneous for small detours along the way. And it was precisely the spontaneity that marked our itinerary especially this time when we had the roof tent - because we actually changed our route several times and went to places where the good weather seemed to be. It was a recipe for success! 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 go 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 fine weather, before we moved on to Denmark. We stayed there for over a week before going to Edsbyn and David's family with overnight stays on the way. And so we ended the holiday with a few days in Stockholm before we returned to Östersund again!
- There was a lot of time on the beach and in the sea as we generally had good weather! But otherwise walking/hiking with the children, activities with family and friends.
Travel on the West Coast! Precisely because it was completely spontaneous, we had not been there before and we ended up at a fantastically nice nature campsite. Then we were lucky with the weather and got that "west coast feeling" that we longed for.
- We had a really stormy night at Kullaberg and got cold feet when we chose a place that was a little too exposed to stand on. When the wind picked up towards 9pm in the evening and the children were sleeping, we had no other option but to pick up the children, pack up the tent quickly and roll slowly towards a place a little more protected from the wind. BUT, the children slept through basically the entire spectacle so it went beyond expectations. One of the advantages of a roof tent! However, we experienced a somewhat sleepless night as it was blowing hard all night.
Both our kids enjoyed it and thought it was a great adventure (or well, the 10 month old I guess we thought so)! The first nights were surreal as our smallest baby fell asleep at once and slept through the whole night until 7 in the morning. Overall, both children slept incredibly well in the tent throughout our holiday, making 16 nights in the roof tent. The beds were the easiest, but there were some early mornings when the baby woke up. Our But our 4.5-year-old found it exciting most of the time and loved that we had the bedroom on the roof of the car!
- Keep it simple - a couple of times we chose camping instead of freecamping as we needed facilities and activities that made it easier. We were sensitive to what we think the children needed and saw no prestige in the fact that it had to be one way. The food needs to be planned and we always had canned goods and pasta/rice to have food to cook in a storm kitchen wherever we were. But sometimes it had to be a restaurant visit because the day didn't turn out as we planned! We also had natural stops with family friends after a couple of days in the roof tent, which made it a nice break in the camping.
Another tip is to be organized and have a system – everything has to have a place, and try to keep it that way even when you're away. We divided up all our things that were included so we could pull them out when we needed them and it worked out great. But, of course, it still gets a bit messy when you're out on a car holiday with children!
Talk a lot about what lies ahead before you leave with the children. Then they get expectations and are a little more prepared for what applies when you are away. And try setting up the tent before you go!
- Good, it never became a problem, but here we had to compromise. We had plans to freecamp and find places to park after the road, but with two children in the car there wasn't really time to drive around and look. WE used some app, but usually it was safe cards that others stood by or campsites.
- That we slept so well in the roof tent and could bring blankets/pillows. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we even slept in the roof tent when we visited family and friends who didn't really have room inside. Then it was absolutely perfect that we had our bedroom with us which could stand outside the house on the driveway!
That we didn't really have a solution to have the cooler running without having the car running. Therefore, we could not store refrigerated goods in any good way for several days.
Nothing really.. we went in the middle of summer and had such nice weather that we lived in shorts and sweaters most of the time. We feel we had what we needed to cope with camping life the way 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 coordinated so that you have the same expectations.
- We are very pleased and were pleasantly surprised by the whole thing, even though we had high expectations from the beginning! It was easy to unpack and unpack the tent and more comfortable than we thought. And an adventure to be away! The challenging part was actually the camping life itself, cooking in a storm kitchen and always being outdoors. But even that worked well!
Are you, who are reading this, also interested in trying a roof tent?
We at Taktältarna sell high-quality roof tents . developed and tested in Åre - by roof tenters, for roof tenters. You can also rent one of our roof tents at several locations in the country. 
