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This is a little bit embarrassing, but how do you get used to camping outside? I need to travel some more to get to places but I always feel like I'm not really camping right. I never really did it at home, so I'm not very used to it.

[And there's the fact that he really doesn't like forests since... well. It reminds him of that place.]

What kind of tips have you all picked up on the road? I'm kind of curious.

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Camping can be a very unique experience, but if you aren't prepared for it you're just going to make yourself miserable. Let's start with the basics.

Make sure you have the proper supplies. A well-made, sturdy tent that you can get up easily and a warm sleeping bag. Cookware designed to be used out of doors over a fire, and food designed to be preserved for several days. Remember that you'll be getting a great deal of exercise, so the food you take will need to be enough to support you through that. Don't skimp on meals.

Learn how to spot good campsites. If you set up your tent in a bad position you won't be getting any decent sleep. You're looking for flat areas with grass that's thick but not too tall. This is the sort of thing you should start looking for at least a couple hours before the sun goes down.

Don't hesitate to take breaks during the day. You're not rushing through this, and you shouldn't push yourself. You'll be straining your body enough already.

And remember, stay hydrated. Dehydration is unpleasant at the best of times, when you're trying to cover a lot of ground in a day it can be outright torture.

I think I'll have to start learning how to set up my tent properly. It should be too hard... I bet there's a store I can go to where they'll show me.

Exercise doesn't bother me, but I'm not intending to go to anywhere that's too forested or hilly. I just want to get used to traveling again, because staying in one city seems... bad.

I do know about dehydration, though. I used to be on a dance team and we had problems until we started instituting mandatory water breaks.

Thank you, though. This is very comprehensive.

I figured more information would be better, even if some of it might be things you're already familiar with. Better to be redundant than to miss something important.

Did your tent not come with instructions, though? That's a bit of an oversight.

No, it has directions, but I'm not exactly very good at outdoors... things.

We were all novices once. You'll get better at it.

How are you at building a fire? You'll usually want one when you camp, though of course it should be put out before you go to sleep, lest you risk it going out of control.

I'm not very good at it, but I do have a few Fire types I can use. ... And a Water type I can use in case it gets out of control.

Very good. Don't hesitate to have your Pokemon help you with anything, they usually tend to be pretty good at it. In fact, you might want to let them all out of their balls when you set up camp, assuming of course that you don't have a team full of troublemakers.

Most of them are fairly well behaved, except for my Kadabra and my Drowzee.

Your psychic-types, then? I'm sorry to hear that, I know what it can be like to have issues with Pokemon that can use those kind of abilities and has a rotten sense of humor.

I seem to do all right with poison and fire types, though I do have a Greninja and Lucario that are extremely well behaved when they don't get distracted by 'injustice'.

They have hero complexes? My Golurk is the same way, and believe me, an enormous ghost golem is noticeable even when it's not trying to rush to the aid of everyone it sees who might be in danger.

Nevermind that the people in question are usually just fine... Well, you shouldn't run into that problem out in the wilderness.

Something like that. And I can only imagine.

Hopefully not. I can always just put them back in their Pokeballs if they're acting up.

As long as they don't learn how to break out. Then again, from what I've heard that's mostly a ghost-type problem.

I don't have any of those, thankfully.

As much as I always advocate a fully balanced team, that might be an understandable route to continue taking. Robo's my only ghost, so I don't have that problem, but some of the stories I've heard are just downright distressing.

I have a somewhat diverse team. On hand right now I have... a dark type, a psychic type, a fighting/steel type, a water/dark type, a rock/ground type, and a dark/ice type. I realize that I have too many dark types right now, but the secondary types of two of them make for a good spread.

I'll refrain from critiquing your choices as that's not really what we're talking about. It is a little unfortunate that you don't have any fire types, though. They make getting a good campfire going much easier.

I can always switch one out for my Vulpix. Probably the dark/ice type as that one is fairly young and if I switch out my Greninja my Lucario will never let me hear the end of it.

That might do well. Just keep your focus on what abilities each of them has that might be of help to you on your trip. If you have one that's large and strong enough to ride I definitely recommend keeping it in your group, even if you don't intend to actually ride it.