Essentials; hand sanitizer, water, sun cream, camera, baby wipes.
Going to a festival was part of a ‘things to do before you’re thirty’ list that me and my partner made a couple for years back, so this was one we wanted to do before we got too old to take the pace! As well as a review I thought I would impart some pearls of wisdom of things we learned and would not do again if we went back.
Booking the tickets was the easy part, waiting for them was the hardest bit, as tickets don’t come cheap and you want to know that you have the proof of purchase, so prepare for a wait. Set off stupidly early, queues start early from those only travelling a short distance, bite the bullet and set off to miss the rush hour.
Make sure that you arrange your parking ticket too as this will ensure that you don’t have any hassle at the door on the day.
Parking up again is easy, but prepare for a long walk to your camp. Pack light food, crisps, nuts etc. and make sure that you take a trolley to transport heavier stuff like booze. You can get one that is ideal at Ikea for £9.00. There is usually a ban on glass bottles to so make sure that your drinks are all in cans or plastic bottles. Wear good footwear for the walk too as it’s along muddy roads.
Once we got to camp, we headed straight for the quiet zone, which was surrounded by high fences to separate you from the more hard core festival goers. You do not have pre book for this, but get there in good time. Pitch your tent as soon as you get there, to mark your spot and because you will not be in the right mind to once you start drinking or come back to your camp late at night.
Take all of your belongings with you, your phone, money etc. and don’t leave anything that you won’t miss in the tents as the will be taken. We took small bags that we could hold against our bodies to avoid pick pockets. We assigned a separate tent for all of the food so that we had the room in the tents to move and sleep.
The site itself is very spaced out, so make sure your take appropriate footwear for this, wellies are great even if it’s not raining as the ground is already churned up form everyone walking over it.
There is not a moment to be bored once you arrive, if you don’t like a band there are comedy acts, if you don’t fancy that there are rides, or shopping in the stalls; the festival caters for all.
The food is expectedly extortionate so it is a good idea to take your own (put it his way we got 2 pizzas and it cost £30!). Make sure that you take a drink round with your everywhere, if it’s hot there is very little to protect you from the elements. Bring sun cream too, this is something we forgot and regretted!
Booze is just as expensive; you are looking at around £4.00 for a bottle of Wicked, which mounts up if like me you’re a heavy drinker on a session. Try to drink before you enter the areas or when you get back to your tent as you could end up spending way more than you budgeted for!
On a night if there are no bands playing there is usually a dj to play all of your favourite tunes and dance the night way in the outdoors with your fellow festival goers.
All in all we saw, Rihanna, The Arctic Monkeys, Scouting for Girls, Bruno Mars, The Saturdays, The Script to name a few, so not many compared to the large number of bands on offer, with a dose of Pendulum to finish. Not one act was a disappointment, great sounds and visuals for if you were at the back. The walk put us off seeing everyone we wanted to given that if you lost your map, it was hard to navigate around the grounds.
Sleeping was not really an option unless you take a ground mat to cushion yourself a bit from the hard soil beneath. Even if is hot in the daytime take plenty to wrap up warm with on the night as it gets really cool, which you will then be tearing off in the morning sunshine as the tent heats up!
Overall, the festival is an experience, probably one that everyone should have in a lifetime, but not for me second time around. One big relief was that the toilets were not as bad as the horror stories made out! For those who are not camping savvy, this is a bit of a culture shock, from the not washing for two days to the meagre washing of hands with sanitizer to the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. That said this was something I will never forget and the pictures will leave me with memories for years to come. We had beautiful weather the whole weekend except for one brief downpour during Bruno Mars, which admittedly was appreciated to wash away the dirt that had accumulated on our bodies! We did leave early to miss the morning traffic back but were all grateful of a shower and our beds when we got home! A great way to get away with your mates and slum it for a couple of days while charming your ears with the sounds of some great bands!
Tagged in V Festival