I looked up the dictionary definition of "glamour," from where "glamping" is, in part, derived and I was struck by the archaic definition: enchantment; magic. The first time I think I encountered "glamping" was the book, Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires, and Tales from the Road.
Each photo showed a rather "enchanted" trailer, different themes and styles, but all magical in the transformation of the space from ordinary to extraordinary. They weren't all to my personal taste, but they all had the power to transport one to some other time/space. The use of vintage items in much retro trailer decor celebrates an imagined past, the days when life was easier, and gentler (the fog of nostalgia). I love my new Shasta Re-Issue in its brand-spanking newness (no one's ever peed in the toilet!), but I look forward to layering it with objects from the past, incorporating other people's histories into my own story.
This summer in a Grand Junction, CO thrift store, I found a set of Texasware Melmac dishes in sage green. In the box was the paperwork from 1956 when it was ordered from the distributor by a ranger in West Yellowstone. It's magic to me to be able to hold and use items that are part of what can be understood as "invisible history." The dishes never served presidents or celebrities, they don't commemorate a historic event, and yet, they were an essential part of someone's forgotten past. I feel privileged to have them in my new Shasta, Buttercup--they were the first items in.