Life: Glastonbury 2016

In this post I am basically going to go through my whole Galstonbury preparation process step by step, for no other reason than I am just so excited and need to tell the world everything. I hope everyone is jealous when reading this. Also click here to view my festival essentials, I talk about what I take in more detail.

Step 1: Ticket

The most important part of preparing for Glastonbury festival and the hardest part too, bagging yourself a ticket. In the initial sale in October I didn't really have anyone to go with so I didn't try to get tickets. But when the first lineup was released and the idea of going was proposed to me again, I thought I just have to try. Everyone has to go to Glastonbury at least once in their life and I want my time to be now. In the days running up to getting the tickets I looked at endless photos and watched sets from previous years only building up my excitement for something I may not even go to. So with 3 laptops and 2 phones we were pretty determined to try get a pair of tickets in the coach package resale when the day came. Living in Newcastle we had to decide whether to get the bus from home all the way there which would take around 12 hours, or get the train to London and get the bus from there, after some thought we decided on the latter. Being in different locations made it slightly more difficult to get tickets however we were constantly texting each other worried messages about the fact that we couldn't get into the website. For a short time I wasn't receiving any replies and I still had no luck getting on and I was starting to lose hope, but then I got a text with a picture of a confirmation screen and I got a wave of both releif and excitement which was a very strange combination. But we had our Glastonbury tickets, we're going! 

Step 2: Travel

With our coach package and somewhere to stay in London, we then had to book a train down the country and organise transport to the bus pickup point at the o2 Arena. This would have been a lot easier if our bus wasn't at 5am and the tube was on, but that's the time we got given. Days after getting our tickets we booked the trains to try get the best deals, and only days before going we booked a travellodge in Greenwich. 

Step 3: Camping Equitptment

Already owning camping chairs, roll mats and backpacks, a tent and sleeping bag was all we needed and that was easily resolved with a quick trip to Great Outdoors. We decided on a 3 man tent, space for two of us plus space for our bags. I own a 2 man pop up tent and at Leeds last year it was only just enough space for me and my all my shit. We made sure we got a tent with an outer and inner tent, I would highly recommend this over single layer tents because with two layers that don't touch, when in the tent you can touch the sides without any water coming through and water in the tent is the last thing you want. We also got a double sleeping bag which is very thick so we will no doubt wake up sweating every morning as the sun cooks us in our tent but its always cold at night so it's the price you have to pay.

Step 4: Festival Clothes

From being at Leeds Festival the past two years and looking at hundreds of Glastonbury photos I know what the dress code will be for girls. Shorts, wellies, dresses, rain macs, sunnies and a lot of glitter and uv paint. I already had wellies from previous years so that was sorted, and I bought a cheap plain black rain mac from Primark because realistically, I'm hardly going to wear it so its not worth spending a lot of money on. I have owned Ray-Bans for a few years now but I'm gradually getting more blind so I've had prescription lenses put in them for festivals and holidays so I can still have my vision while protecting my eyes from the sun. The only things I have actually bought for the festival are some patterned trousers (again from Primark because I'm expecting my clothes to get damaged in crowds and from the mud and rain) and shorts which I will pair with some tops I already own. Glitter and uv paint is easily ordered from the internet.

Step 5: Lineup
A full lineup and schedule is released a few weeks before the festival with times and stages for all the acts performing. I downloaded the Glastonbury app which has all this information and an interactive map. One of the features of the app is that you can create your own lineup by going through the schedule and selecting the acts you want to see, it then puts your chosen acts onto a timeline with the times and locations of them. This means you don't have to keep checking the schedule and can simply check the app for when and where the next act you want to see is on. I selected all the acts I want to see and luckily there are only two clashes and I have seen some of the artists before so I'm not too fussed about it.

Step 5: Pack Your Bag
I have made a separate post with my packing essentials here. This is when the real excitement kicks in. I always pack the night before I go somewhere, so on Tuesday evening I gathered all my camping gear, clothes, travel tickets, makeup, baby wipes, cameras etc. and put it all into my backpack ready to get the train the next day. 

Step 6: Go!
Get on your bus/train/in the car and head to the Glastonbury site, find a good camping spot and have fun.