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I've done almost exclusively car camping, but did a TON of it in my youth. Hotels were for rich people. Packing is important there too, but less so, because you can take almost everything. Last time we went camping, we took an old tent with a broken zipper to use as a "shed" to hold all our junk like chairs, cook stoves, fire wood, etc. so we wouldn't have to keep moving it around from sleeping tent to car trunk. When not in use, throw the stuff into the broken tent where it will stay dry. Nice.
I've only been backpack camping on maybe three or four occasions, and there you just fill the backpack up with the food, water, clothes, tent, sleeping bags, and maybe equipment if it will fit after all the other stuff.
Best camping memory I ever had was when we parked our VW camper on the dirt road and hiked a mile into the woods to a campsite on a lake in Northern Maine. Because it was such a short hike, we carried the beds from the camper with us. Very comfortable night way out in the middle of nowhere. Didn't even set up the tent as it was a clear night and there were no bugs. First time I saw the Northern Lights. Amazing. Then in the morning walked back to the camper for a hot breakfast.
They really know how to do it in New Zealand. I hiked the Milford Track, which is like 4 days long, but there are huts each night where they feed you and give you hot showers and a bunk bed. Breakfast the next morning and a packed lunch and snack. All you need to carry is clothes, a camera, and that day's lunch. Oh, and they have heated drying rooms where you can hang your wet clothes up for the night if it's been raining.
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