Traveling to and from festivals can vary massively, throughout this post I'll talk you through my experience of traveling between the Isle of Wight Festival and then attempt to tell you the pros and cons of festival travel.
Starting off with how i got there.
On the Thursday before the festival my girlfriend and I were driven from Brighton to Portsmouth by my mum to begin the adventure towards The Isle of Wight Festival. This journey took around an hour and a half to reach the ferry port (for those who may go to this festival, or just a trip to the island, be sure to follow the correct ferry signs, they can be difficult to see some times), and this was the easy part.
We then had to walk to the ferry, which sounds fine, but while carrying all the camping equipment, cloths and food, a 5 minute walk felt like an hour, after a surprisingly short ferry trip we arrived at the Isle of Wight Ryde port, which is located at the end of a pier, the walk along the pier to make it to land was such a horrible experience, being weighed down with everything and being pounded with rain.
Finally we reached the end after around 15 minutes of dragging our possessions, gladly though, the local bus company had set up a rout directly to the festival, although costing £5 for a service that would normally cost around £1.50, it was a delight to take off our belongings and sit down for a bit.
The bus journey took 45 minutes, however this could vary depending on traffic towards the festival.
Once we arrived, rain still pouring, we made our way to the camp sites. Not ever coming to this festival before we didn't know where the best place was to camp or where there might be spaces. So after questioning a steward we heard there were a few spaces left in a site called Purple Haze, this was a LONG way away, but not realizing it we made our way towards the big purple signs. Because of the rain there were large amounts of mud to sludge through, this slowed everyone down, making my already depressed mood worsen. We finally got to a small opening within other tents and set ours up, still raining, still muddy, still depressed, however we had made it, hours later, now it was time to just enjoy the festival.
On the way back, we had less to carry due to consuming a lot of the food and drink and thankfully it wasn't raining and the sun was shining, we headed towards the bus station that had been set up for all the festival goers, getting close we noticed a queue, but this wasn't any ordinary 5 person queue, this was the entire festival all trying to pack themselves onto very few buses, we joined the back of the queue and had to wait around 45 minutes before even getting close to the buses, finally though we did get to the station and managed to get on a nice comfy coach while everyone else had to settle with old uncomfortable buses. An hour later we arrived back at the pier, walking back along the pier towards the ferry port my girlfriend and I were stunned at how quick it seemed, however this then turned to disappointment as we once again joined the back of a long queue, this time to get a ferry, this queue felt fast to me as it was such a nice day and there was less to carry, I was in good enough a mood not to mind. We boarded the ferry after around 50 minutes of cuing and were now heading back to Portsmouth, this trip once again seemed surprisingly short and arrived back on mainland UK on Monday. We had planed to be picked up later that day by my girlfriends parents, so we roamed around Portsmouth for a while until we were collected.
The upsides and downsides to this travel experience were strangely similar for me, the walking through the mud to find a camping spot not only was an experience to avoid but for me, I found it exciting, and the idea that all these people would go through this to see some of there favorite bands is a testament to how great they really are.
If you are going to a festival be sure to plan you journey carefully, your first day could easily become a terror if you have to queue for hours or if you have to pay out more then you thought.
In an ideal world, what you want to do is drive to the festival and park there, this saves a lot of changes of buses or trains and while you're parked up you can leave your heavier item in your car while you hunt around for a camping spot.
If you need any more information about traveling to and from festivals don't hesitate to contact me.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
The begining of it all
Hello, my name is Joe, and I'll be your guide to the festival world.
After going to my first music festival last year (2009) I couldn't get enough of it, and went to a few more. It wasn't long after I realized there weren't many, if not any, websites and blogs to do with all aspects of festivals.
So i have taken it upon myself to bring as much information as possible such as traveling, camping, music, food and experiences, to the internet world, to give you an insight into it all.
To begin with, soon, I will be talking about Traveling to and from festivals.
This is me and my girlfriend Kat at the Isle of Wight Festival 2010.
Apologies in advance for incorrect grammar, I do try my best but I'm sure some grammar issues could pop through... in fact, you could bet on it.
Also sorry if there is a lack of blogs for a while.
After going to my first music festival last year (2009) I couldn't get enough of it, and went to a few more. It wasn't long after I realized there weren't many, if not any, websites and blogs to do with all aspects of festivals.
So i have taken it upon myself to bring as much information as possible such as traveling, camping, music, food and experiences, to the internet world, to give you an insight into it all.
To begin with, soon, I will be talking about Traveling to and from festivals.
This is me and my girlfriend Kat at the Isle of Wight Festival 2010.
Apologies in advance for incorrect grammar, I do try my best but I'm sure some grammar issues could pop through... in fact, you could bet on it.
Also sorry if there is a lack of blogs for a while.
