We wandered thruogh miles upon miles of camping store looking for the perfect tent, the perfect mattress...for a reasonable price. As our search went on we grew weary- would we ever find what we were looking for? Discussions were had over the merits of this tent or that, but somehow we reached agreement. It soon became clear, however that, when it came to the issue of what to sleep on, we were on different wavelengths. "Look at this", I said, profferring yet another thin, self inflatable (some may say Thermarest), style camping bed, "we can get two of these, feel how light they are." In truth, I knew it was useless, my lover's eyes lit up as he surveyed the array of inflatable airbeds on offer, assessing which one would be the comfiest once inflated. "We're going to two festivals", he said, "not trekking through the himalayas." I grudgingly relented, "Well, you can carry it then."
What remained now was to find the best option (my main concern- weight. His- price). Various airbeds were assessed and discarded, until, I saw it, sitting nonchalantly on a shelf- the Outwell Classic Flock Double Airbed with buit in pump! I picked it up, it didn't feel any hevaier than some of the others we had looked at, and they had all required that we blow them up using only our lung capacity, or that we bring along a pump, which would take up valuable backpack space and add additional (albeit minimal) weight to our packs. I presented my offering to my companion, "and (at 20 pounds) it's cheaper than the others!" He surveyed the box, noting the dimensions (191 x 140 x 23). It would fit easily inside our tent, it was just about long enough to support my lover's height, and, while it was 10cm narrower than others we'd looked at we decided we were sufficiently in love to be able to stand lying just that little bit closer together in our sleep!
The purchase made, we arrived home, eager to try out our new airbed. We pulled it from the box, noting the velvety smoothness of the sleeping service (I think this must be what the flock in the name refers to), and remarking how much nicer that was to the touch than plastic. I then continued to peruse the box, in search of inflation instructions. There were none to be found.
No matter, I thought, how hard can it be? So, i laid the mattress out on the floor, located the pump and started pumping, and kept on pumping and pumping...and pumping. When I grew tired my boyfriend took over. He pumped and pumped...and pumped. Approximately 3 hours later he triumphantly declared he'd fully inflated the mattress! Meanwhile, I'd searched the internet for advice and emailed the company to find out if they could explain how to use the pump. You see, it came a screw on cap for the pump, and a stopper, as well as another cap for the other valve. Maybe we're not that bright but neither of us was sure whether we were supposed to put the cap and/or stopper on while we pumped. Many discussions were had- he favouring the option of leaving the pump open, while I suspected this would allow too much air to escape.
By this time, we were tired and ready for bed, so we laid our sleeping bags on teh mattress and promptly fell asleep. A good night's sleep was had by both of us, the only downside being a tendency to roll toward the middle of the mattress, but we suspected this may reduced by perhaps inflating the mattress a little more.
It was nearly a week later before I received a reply from the manufacturer. It turns out my boyfriend was right (hmmph)- the cap and stopper should both be left off while inflating. The email noted, however, that inflation will take some time, as the pump included is very small. Visions of spending hours inside a tent, waiting for our mattress to be ready swam before my eyes. Everyone else will be off enjoying the festival while we tire ourselves out getting our bed ready.
Well, there's only one way to find out if my premonitions would prove right- we would have to try it out under real conditions. Off we went to our first festival with our new camping equipment. We arrived happily at our allotted camping space, quickly and easily erected our tent, and went to visit a friend in a tent next door. As it turned out , said friend also had a blow up mattress, with built in pump, but his had something ours lacked- instructions....with photos! Well, it turns out that the hole underneath the pump needs to be on top when you are inflating the mattress! My ever hopeful partner tried this method- SUCCESS. Wthin 15 minutes our bed was ready and there was nothing more to do but go and fill our heads with music.
Later that night we we returned to our temporary home. The mattress was still full inflated. We fell delightedly on to it, and slept blissfully through the night. On waking it seemed that the mattress may have lost a little bit of air, so we topped it up. This procedure turned out to be necessary every day, but only took a couple of minutes.
However, I'm not sure we ever got it just right, as we both noticed that if either of us moved the other would feel it- sometimes it would feel as though you were lying directly on the ground. We were very grateful we had each other as sleeping on this mattress on your own also seems to result in such displacement of air that you end up lying nearly on the ground. The lovely "flock" covering avoided getting stuck to plastic in the night.
So, the story ends well- a good, nay 3 good nights' sleep were had by all, and I can thoroughly recommend you give this airbed a try. Just make sure you've got someone nice around to help with the carrying and the inflating!
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