Walkabout Travel Gear History
The real travel business, RV experience, and early internet roots behind Glampabout.
The real travel business, RV experience, and early internet roots behind Glampabout.
Glampabout did not start as a theory or a lifestyle word pasted onto a campsite. It grew out of decades of real travel gear, road work, packing, shipping, RV use, and the daily problem of making travel comfortable without making it stupidly complicated.
Walkabout Travel Gear began when online retail was still new and travel gear was hard to find in one practical place.
RVs are comfortable, but the costs, size, upkeep, and site limits are not imaginary.
Modern tents, power stations, fridges, beds, and camp systems make a different kind of travel possible.
Walkabout Field Notes
For over twenty years, Walkabout Travel Gear was our real working travel business, not a branding exercise. Glampabout comes from that same practical streak: find what works, use it hard, keep the useful parts, and do not pretend the expensive machine is the only way to be comfortable.
Walkabout Travel Gear began in 1995, after a trip to Malta made the problem obvious: travelers needed practical gear, adapters, and information before the internet made everything easy to find. Walkabout became one of the first internet businesses, built around useful travel gear rather than retail theater.
The business focused on products that solved real travel problems: plug adapters, electrical information, packing tools, and gear that could survive actual use. That practical approach still drives Glampabout.
During the Walkabout years, we used an RV extensively as both transportation and a mobile base of operations. It worked. It gave us space, power, storage, and a rolling office. It also came with the full RV bill: maintenance, storage, fuel, insurance, campsite restrictions, and the constant reality of driving and parking a large vehicle.
That experience matters because Glampabout is not anti-comfort. It is anti-unnecessary-burden. RVs can be great, but they are not the only way to sleep well, eat real food, keep things powered, stay cool, and have a livable camp.
The lesson was simple: the useful parts of RV travel are comfort, organization, power, sleep, food storage, and shelter. The expensive part is often the giant machine wrapped around them.
After the Walkabout years and the RV years, the better question became obvious: how much of the useful RV experience can be rebuilt with portable gear and a normal vehicle? The answer is more than most people expect.
Glampabout uses modern inflatable tents, raised camping beds, portable power stations, powered fridges, fans, rugs, chairs, lighting, sanitation gear, and camp organization to create a comfortable campsite without buying an RV.
The Walkabout approach was never about chasing novelty for its own sake. It was about practical travel gear, clear information, and products that made travel less annoying. Glampabout carries that forward into comfortable camping.
Walkabout Travel Gear still exists as a travel information and affiliate resource. Glampabout is part of that same long travel thread, focused specifically on comfortable tent camping, portable gear, and avoiding the cost and restrictions of RV ownership.
You can visit Walkabout Travel Gear here: Walkabout Travel Gear.
How did Walkabout Travel Gear lead to Glampabout?
Glampabout grew out of decades of Walkabout Travel Gear experience with travel gear, road travel, RV use, portable equipment, and the practical problems of camping comfortably without overcommitting to a large vehicle.
Was Walkabout Travel Gear an early internet business?
Yes. Walkabout Travel Gear began in 1995, when online retail was still new, and became one of the first internet businesses focused on practical travel gear.
Why does RV experience matter to Glampabout?
RV travel showed both the comfort and the burden of large-vehicle travel: storage, fuel, maintenance, insurance, site limitations, and the daily reality of operating a big machine.
Is Glampabout the same as Walkabout Travel Gear?
Glampabout is connected to the Walkabout Travel Gear history and approach, but focuses specifically on comfortable tent camping, portable power, camp furniture, sleep systems, and camping without buying an RV.