Relaxing for a bit - taking off the wellies and drinking some cask wine at Glastonbury Festival
I thought it might be a good idea to get my thoughts and theories out for the Glastonbury Festival as before I went I looked online for information surrounding what to take, what to do, how to do it etc.
I am a New Zealander who has been to heaps of music festivals - working at them, but also partaking. I'm a bizarre kind of person who enjoys concerts but also dislikes them. I like the lead up but often whilst I'm watching I get distracted and start thinking of other things to do.
The beauty of Glastonbury is that there is so much to think about in the lead up, and then during - if I'm bored or distracted during the festival then there will be another band to watch on another stage.
1. Tent - take a tent that is one bigger (or more!) than what is staying in it - 2 people, get a 3 + tent. If it rains then you'll need some where to put all your gear! Also team up with other people before you go and arrange to meet up somewhere to find a possie. Say hi to your neighbours to create a friendly and relaxed environment (resenting neighbours when they are loud and you don't know them sucks!).
2. Before you leave make sure you work out your Top Two stages that you want to view bands on. This will give you an indication of the area in which you should camp in. I was totally geeky and worked out the percentage of bands that I wanted to see per stage and this gave us an indication of where we should camp so we didn't have to walk as far if we wanted breaks during the day
Points system: 1 = Have to see, .5 = maybe see, 0 = don't want to see.... For example mine was: We want to see 62.5% of the Pyramid Stage, We want to see 55.3% of the Other Stage, We want to see 47.6% of the John Peel stage, We want to see 37.5% of the The Park Stage.
We chose the area to the bottom right of Paines Ground (between The Park Stage, and The Other Stage), but once we arrived we ended up to the bottom left of Paines Ground. You need to think about where you arrive (what gate) and how long it will take to walk to your chosen area - we were carrying a shit load and we ended up choosing a different area because we couldn't walk any further!
3. As a vegan going to the festival there was heaps of food available to eat! But if you want to save money, which we did, I'd recommend taking snack type/picnic food and buying it prior to arriving as you won't have time at night to cook mean meals! I'd also say that you should take a chilly bin/bag so that you can buy a bag of ice and chuck that in the bag along with humus and beers.
4. I only took one pair of long socks to wear with my Hunters. Thankfully it only rained overnight which meant that I didn't need more but seriously - take more long socks incase!
5. Clothes - I took way more than needed. You only need 3 x dresses (easy to take on and off, plus look great with wellies/gumboots), 1 x jeans, 1 x jacket/duffle coat and a couple of tee's. What you need depends on the weather, but as long as you have some thermal tops and pants I think you should be fine.
6. Fun stuff - take fun stuff. I regret not getting glow sticks although you will find A LOT on the ground. If you go with a big group take a flag - next year I am going to make one and take - it's going to have a bunny rabbit on it. And tote bags are your best friend!
7. Wet wipes - Take them as they are your second best friend. They are your "shower" for 6 days so take enough to feel clean.
8. I feel guilty looking through the bands that we saw and realising that we didn't see as many as we should've. I saw 28 bands over the 3 days, and if on average they played 1 hour sets then we had 8 hours of missing action. What was I doing? Don't be one of those dumb cnts and just party all the time. The reason why you are there is for the music, not for the hangover (note: there was not one day that I was hungover, just tired from walking so much).
9. Which brings me to the last one about being tired. Jandals - they aren't good for walking around in as there is lots of gravel, but they are great to chuck on to go to the toilet at night time. Gumboots - you can buy gumboots there but it depends if you want to be 'fashionable'. Definitely don't just take gumboots for the whole weekend! It's way too hot to wear them all the time. Sneakers - in hindsight I would have taken by Nike Free Run 3's over my trusty Vans. As I was constantly walking my Vans got a-workin' and they ended up giving me blisters on the sole of my foot - this happened on the Sunday night thankfully and not the Friday. So - take gumboots, jandals, and sneakers.
10. Buy tickets for next year!
Shoes - Vans worked well for me as they matched my dresses/outfits, but also comfortable for all day wear
I loved my time at Glastonbury but as said in previous posts it feels really sad afterwards. I wish I had known about the come down afterwards. For the whole week I have been crying when I listened to Glastonbury bands. I have been thinking about it for so long (you buy the ticket a year before) and looking forward to it for so long. I would suggest that maybe you should organise a trip a little bit after Glastonbury so you have something to look forward to? I have just sorted out a wee holiday in Stockholm in August and that has already lifted my spirits!
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