sunday story - camping at a festival

First time camping at a festival.....

So last year I went to sundown festival with Han and our other friend for uni Laura. We decided to camp, which at the beginning we all thought was a great idea because you get more of an experience.

A week before we was due to go, I stocked up on my food, alcohol, lots an lots of alcohol and a sleeping bag (of course), however surprisingly my bag grew bigger and bigger towards the day to actually go. on the actual day I was surprised by how much I actually packed (I am a girl, I need my make-up and things;)). Anyway we got there and I was by far the person with the most stuff, so the journey from the car to checking in was a lot harder then we expected. You had to take all your alcohol in at the first journey from the car so here we are three girls carrying heaps of bags of alcohol! It was not pleasant.. it was actually horrible it took us like 15 minutes to get to the check in place then after a long que. We got to the security guards where we found out that most of our alcohol was not allowed in because they was in glass bottles! So we had the majority of our drinks taken off us, our backs killing and we still had the gruelling walk to the camp-site to actually set up our tent.

When we got to the camp site, we realised we were slightly late... all of the spaces seemed to be taken, so we left han with the bags. Then me and Laura went to look for a place to set up. We finally found a place but it was right beside the walk way which isn't an ideal place, but hey we are at a festival who cares lets just have fun right?.....

The tent was up, all our our HUGE bags was in our tiny two man tent and we started to get ready to actually hit the first night of the festival. within the first 10 minutes of sitting in our a tent a guy came up to us asking to buy some drugs, which I guess is standard for a festival but we was like HELL NO! 

After getting slightly tipsy, we headed out to the main event. The first night was mainly like a nightclub that just had DJ set playing.  We mainly went for a look around and a little dance, it was very packed, fully of drunk people.. thats all I can remember thinking. Then we thought right lets get some food go back to the tent and get some sleep. I think it was about 12.00 am when we got back to the tent which was very early I know! but we was so tired from travelling and the situation with the extremely heavy bags. We thought if we have an early night then we will have more energy for the main event for the next two days.

Then came the worst night I have experienced....  The noise was horrible, literally we felt like we was trying to fall asleep in a night club which , I even brought ear plugs and they didn't block out the sound. At first I thought its okay, it must die down eventually it is still early.... then came 5am ad I was like okay this is never going to end!. The tent was so small! we was spooning each other and our legs couldn't stretch out due the amount of bags at the bottom of the tent. and due to the tent being so small we couldn't fit out air beds in so we  had to sleep on the sleeping bags which as you can imagine was not comfy. The condensation was so wet and because the top of my head was involuntary touching the tent I woke up with wet hair. I just felt dirty, tired and grumpy. 7am came around and we was wide awake,with no sleep and I felt so claustrophobic I just had to get out of the tent so me and Laura went for a coffee.

I couldn't imagine sleeping another night in that tent. Laura had to go to the doctor on site because she saw a rash appearing. Laura was advised to not go near the grass as she seemed to be allergic which turned out for the better because, han asked her sister if we could stay at hers, who lived like 10 minutes away. she agreed and we was finally free from the awful tent! 

I finally started to enjoy the festival experience...after a refreshing shower, and something to eat I started to feel excited to hit the festival again and actually see some good acts but knowing I will be in a comfy, warm, noise free bed at the end of it. Me and Laura naughtily got drunk before we went to the festival, but then at least we wouldn't have to pay for drinks when we was there. The festival itself was really fun, we let out hair down, had a laugh, a dance and enjoyed the acts. Tine Tempah was my favourite he really engaged with the audience,, the experience was unreal I literally didn't stop singing until he left the stage!

The last day was a lot more chilled, we had an amazing cooked breakfast in the morning then headed down. I didn't drink as much on the last day I was still recovering from the day before. 

What I would say for people that are going to a festival this year, especially if it is your first time then think about what kind of person you are when deciding where you are going to sleep. If you are a party animal then definitely go for the camping experience. But if you like your sleep, showers, food and not a cramped tent then go for the hotel option or glamping! I now know I am not a camping person. However I did have a really good time once the camping experience ended! It is a great place to just have fun and not care about anything else.

See you soon, Em x