With the festival camping season approaching, we’re exploring how to elevate your festival and camping experience. Last time, RoadtripMojo offered up some personal items in our Top 11 Festival Survival Tips. This time, we’ll poke around the campsite. Again, some of this you may say, “Thanks, Capt. Obvious!” But we suspect some tips or uses might be new to you.
Like we said before, we all have this habit of letting excitement overcome reason when the indescribable buzz of entering the festival grounds kicks in. That said…
1. Plan Your Agenda – Multiple acts will be playing on numerous stages – often at the time. Don’t get confused. Use the festival’s schedule, a screenshot of it, or better still, the festival app to plan out which acts you would like to see beforehand. Do this before arrival; if the venue has lousy cell service and you can’t download the app, you’re left to use paper. Most festival apps can even be shared with your friends.
2. Choose Your Camping Spot Wisely – Consider being king of the hill. Rain runoff and other things have to go somewhere. And that somewhere will be downhill. Also, avoid pitching camp beside a walkway. Whether people looking for a shortcut or drunk folk looking for something to steady themselves, avoid being in or beside walkways. Better still, join festival social media groups and ask peeps familiar with the layout for advice.
3. Storage bins – Bins are the bomb in creating a comfortable and organized campsite. Tidy away your rubbish, use them as seats, stash mud covered shoes or gear. Storage bins are just all-around awesome.
4. Take A Chair – Spending time at the campsite means sitting a spell. You won’t want to sit in your tent or camper, and if outdoors, you don’t want your butt on a muddy floor. A collapsible camp chair is essential for hanging at the campsite – and taking to the venue. Just make sure chairs are allowed.
5. Snacks and Water – Snacks prices are steep at any venue. So pack in your own. Chips, biscuits, cereal bars, trail mix, and high-protein bars are invaluable when you’re deep in the GA mix and hunger pangs are drowning out the music. As for water, dehydration is no fun – and downright dangerous. Most festivals allow (empty) flasks and Camelbacks you can fill and refill once in the venue. A few have even been known to sell beer on site, too, if that’s your fancy.
6. Leave the Valuables Behind – If it’s not needed and you’d miss it if lost or stolen, spare yourself the pain. This includes jewelry, excess cash or credit cards, and certainly your phone. If you simply cannot part with your phone, make it the one valuable to keep your eye on, because someone else may be eyeing it, too. If you leave your phone behind, most friend will share theirs in case of emergency. Wanna shoot pix? Leave that pricey Nikon SLR at home if you have an older digital camera.
7. Take a Portable Charger – If you take your iPhone or digital camera, battery life is pathetic. Remember the charger. (This is where you say, “Like, Duh!, Capt. Obvious!”, but how many of you have forgotten your charger in the past and had to mooch a charge off a mate?)
8. Arrange a Meeting Spot – Phone service is generally bad at festivals and have we told you battery life can be lousy? Arrange a meeting point just in case you get separated. Or just head back to the campsite.
9. Take Spares – Socks, underwear, pants, even shoes. The weather can be unpredictable. If your stuff gets soaked, spares will help ease any discomfort and inconvenience. Besides, if you brought those bins, stashing spares and keeping them dry is easy.
Like what you read here? Share with your friends. Have more to share? Leave a comment. Let’s learn some insider festival tips together so we all can enjoy that indescribable buzz of entering the festival grounds without fear of wondering what we left behind…