Even seasoned festival-goers make errors. Not knowing where you’ll be camping, not packing the essential items, and so forth. I’ve been going to festivals for over a decade, and I can honestly state that I’ve made many mistakes along the way, but what matter is that I learned from them! In this article I will be sharing my Festival Mistakes, so you don’t make them.
Picking a bad camping location
Picking the correct camping location may make or break your festival experience, and after some trial and error, I’ve figured out which locations are superior to others. Getting a good camping location is a mix of luck, common sense, and expertise – so why not improve your chances by influencing a few of them?
Here’s a quick ‘find a good camping location’ checklist:
✓ Keep a reasonable distance from the toilets and water faucets.
✓ Keep your tent’s placement at least 50 feet from paths to prevent people tripping over it at night and mucky ground near your tent.
✓ Make sure you’re not on a hill (and if you must be, keep your legs downhill when resting).
✓ Try to keep the walking distance to your pick-up and drop-off location relatively short.
✓ Near to a landmark or something recognized to help you find your tent.
Over Packing
It’s tempting to believe that having more clothes to pick from is a good idea “just in case.” Or that having more clothing choices makes you more versatile at the festival.What exactly is it that we think we’re capable of? We aren’t Beyoncé, changing costumes every song at a concert on tour. Before the festival, prepare a week’s worth of clothing and store it in separate packing cubes in your luggage. You won’t have to rummage around for anything to wear.
Taking too many pieces of clothing, on the other hand, is a pain to carry and we’ve all made this mistake at some time or another! Your friends will be happily searching for a camping spot with their little (average-sized) backpack and tent. However, you will be crammed like a pack mule, weighed down with luggage! You’ll be dripping wet and straining as the day wears on!
Trust me, I know what it’s like to be overloaded. Carrying your alcohol, food, tent, camping gear, and any other necessities will be heavy enough, Then throw in all of your clothing and you’ll soon be groaning as well!
Failing to bring adequate clothing
I’ve previously complained about overpacking, but bringing insufficient items can also be a problem. Depending on the time of year and the location, you cant expect all festivals to be summer vibes and Coachella like sunshine. Even if you get fortunate during the day, temperatures may plummet at night (do some googling on the location before packing). We’ve been to festivals where we had to buy coats from a booth because we became chilly at night. We had dressed for the desert and been bombarded by a chilly and minor rain storm!
Essentially, pack a raincoat, a pair of leggings/jeans, and a jumper in the event that the weather isn’t on your side! In this situation, being slightly over prepared is preferable to spending a lot of money because you weren’t.
Not Staying Hydrated
I’m terrible at keeping track of how much water I drink on a daily basis, but throw in a festival, and things can go horribly wrong. Make a point of being more ecologically friendly at your next festival by carrying a reusable water bottle with you to fill up with water. I’ve been to a lot of festivals, and the majority/all of them have had outdoor drinking faucets where you can fill up a reusable bottle. I also suggest a insulated bottle to keep you from waking up or returning to hot water if you leave it in your tent all day.
Not getting enough rest
I understand how difficult it is to wait months for tickets to festivals (particularly if you’re new to the scene, or it is your first fest Post-Covid), and you want to see as much of them as possible. However, festivals are not a race. I’ve gone back to my tent in the early hours of the morning for two-day festivals, or just fallen asleep when the sunlight was coming up. However, with some festivals lasting three to five days or even seven days, you must ensure that you get enough rest in order to enjoy yourself from start to finish, whether it’s day one or day five.
Not thoroughly researching the Festival schedule
When deciding whether to attend a music festival, most people are familiar with at least a few of the headliners, and it’s likely that they had an impact on your decision to go. However, every festival will feature some lesser-known but nonetheless fantastic artists who are just starting out in the music industry and need assistance from the public to get their names out. I wish I had thought of it previously for the various festivals I’ve attended. Festivals are always full of great lesser acts that everyone says are “epic” and “must see,” but I didn’t find out about them until after the event!
Take a look at the names lower down the list as well! Listen to them online before you go and then, when you get to the festival, you’ll be able to see a lot of different performers that you might have overlooked! Festivals start before 9 p.m. and there are more artists than the ones on the main stage. I’ve seen some of the most amazing bands and artists at festivals that (at the time) I had never heard of.
At all times, I should have had my paper ticket/confirmation/ID with me
So, this was one of my biggest blunders, but if you leave the site to go to your car for food or drink, some festivals will demand that you show a paper ticket when you return. You’ll also need to show identification at a bar in order for you to purchase alcoholic beverages. I have definitely made this mistake. I forgot my paper ticket when I went out to my automobile to get something. I discovered this before leaving the site, but it meant that I had to trek all the way back to my tent (45 min walk or more) before returning again to to my car!
Not having a large tent
This was a blunder I committed at my first overnight event. So we went camping with a two-man tent, thinking that it would be plenty of room for the two of us and that a smaller tent would be more convenient to set up, carry, and use. Many of these are valid points, but our friend (who arrived to the festival a day before us) kindly set up the tent for us, allowing us to see how big of a mistake we had made. We had not seen the tent before this point and The tent was tiny, like a kids’ beach tent, and it barely fit one person – we couldn’t even lie down next to each other or get changed. Since then, I’ve always used a tent that I can stand up in for more individuals than were staying in it. With this method, I have plenty of room to sleep, store my belongings, and change without playing a muddy, intoxicated version of Twister with my tent pals.
That concludes my list of the most common festival mistakes! I hope you learned something from this and that it helps you plan for future festivals!
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