If your parents raised you on car camping and backpacking, you'll grow up thinking that fighting raccoons for your food and storing the food up high away from camp because of the bears is the perfectly normal thing that everyone does.
Camping on the beach is paradise. No mosquitoes.
Sleeping directly on the sand under the stars with nothing but a sleeping bag under you is a nice thought that doesn't translate well into reality.
Sand fleas on your face make for a very effective alarm clock.
If your destination turns out to be mosquito central, you can enjoy it all to yourself, while the mosquitoes enjoy you all to themselves. You decide whether or not that's a worthy trade off.
Having a designated cup for each person with their name on it makes everything easier. Each person is in charge of keeping track of their cup and keeping it clean....if they care about those sorts of things, that is.
When hiking over compacted snow, plastic grocery bags held underneath your backside make for great impromptu sleds.
I don't care how accustomed you are to flip flops, you do not want to hike in them without a backup kind of footwear readily available. I didn't dare look down until I had arrived, and when I did there was blood everywhere....
Food tastes better when you're out in the middle of nowhere, cold, tired, hungry, and wet.
Making a second trip to bring an inflatable kayak up to a remote mountain lake is worth it.
Citronella candles work.
Take the time to enjoy yourself.
