The Festival Learning Curve!!

Hello Again!

I've been so excited for Glastonbury today, I thought I'd do a little post about my own personal festival survival guide. There's a few about, I look through them all and take tips from them as well as using my own personal experiences both positive and negative! I'll avoid the obvious toilet roll, baby wipes. Those are a given. This is little things I discovered and have learned myself.

My very first festival was V2000. I just went on a day ticket though, which is good fun, but still not the full experience. I went to Creamfields in 2005 and to be honest I had no clue what to expect, I remember being so stressed about what to wear!! Again, this wasn't camping, but good fun. Faithless were absolutely fantastic. After that was V2009 with camping! Great weather again. Lucky lucky. After that, I have been to around 2-3 festivals a year. Ranging from Glastonbury to Solfest. (Local festivals are amazing for a real sense of intimacy and warmth) Each festival I come away with a new must have to add to my survival list. It is as follows.......


1) Air beds are not as brilliant as you would hope. They're too hard, uncomfortable, pumping them up is such a chore and they deflate all the bleedin time!! I have since invested in a self inflating camping mat, discovered them last year. BEST THING EVER!

2) Break in your wellies! Wore my Mum's to V2009, it hurt :( My new best friend? Memory foam insoles. Get some. Life changing. You can pick them up for around 99p and its like walking on wee cushions!

3) Buy silly socks beforehand on eBay. Festival prices are ridiculous!! The same goes for hats.

4) LAYERS! I always wear dresses, so my festival packing includes lots of dresses that I can layer up if the weathers not great and remove a layer or two  if its sunny. Plus, it keeps you warm at night. I used to dress purely for fashion at festivals but have since learned being warm and dry is top priority! You can still look good doing this 

5) Hayfever tablets are a must for any of you sufferers out there!

6) Tiny £10 Asda tents are NOT ideal for 5 days camping (I learned this the hard way at Glastonbury 2010. Maybe I'm just a prima donna, but sleeping, changing and living in a postage stamp sized tent is NOT fun!


7) Big cheap tents are no fun! In contrast to above I went all diva like for Solfest 2011 and decided I just HAD to have a 6 man tent for me and Ray. I needed the second bedroom for my "stuff". Having found one in a well known cheap as chips store for £30 I was chuffed. Until it leaked like a sieve and finally blew down on the Saturday night.....

Yes, that is my tent.The shiny grey pancake.....

However, I have been told we didn't put it up right. So, onto my next tip....

8) ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS do a tent dummy run. It really is the most sensible thing to do and will save a lot of confusion and hassle when you arrive on camp, leaving more time for frolics and fun. We always buy Gelert tents now. They are sturdy, reasonably priced and usually fairly easy to put up. 

9) Suncream may seem optimistic, but always live in hope and pack it! Factor 30 is your best friend, sunburn is never good. Bad for your health and also your look!

10) Drink lots of water, I always feel a bit dehydrated sleeping in tents. Yuk. 

11) Socks - Pack lots and lots of socks. Wet feet are the pits!

12) Binbags -  Binbags are perhaps the most useful item ever at a festival. Wrap all your clothes in them whilst in tent in case of leaks....... Sit on them........ Fashion a poncho from them......Put them on your car seats on your way home so they don't get muddy......Honest, binbags are your best pal!

13) Pack Snacks - Chocolate Brioche has become our festival staple. Perfect in the morning for a quick sugar fix and to be honest, sometimes the bacon butties and greasy breakfast just really get too much. 

14) Get a Nokia! - Remember your old school Nokia 3310?? Too young maybe?? Anyway, the battery on these lasts forever! If you can live without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc (which you should! C'mon leave reality behind!) get one of these trusty old phones just in case you lose your friends or something. Who wants to spend pennies and time on phone charging?! 

15) Get a watch - For when your phone dies, should you have decided you can't live without your iPhone.

16) Dry shampoo & Kirby Grips - Girls best pals. Also take various hair bands, hair pieces. 

A few of my old festival photos.....

For V I wore a wellies and dress combo. The dress is New Look, I still own it today, I love how neon the flowers are!! I loved my hair this colour too, but so much work!

Glasto 2010, still rocking the florals. You can't really go wrong!

Crazy ladybug at Kelburn Psychedelic Forest Disco 2012

Knee Deep in mud at T 2012

Cockrock 2012

Kendal Calling 2013 

  T in the Park again :)

My little Alfie, starting him young. He attended his first one when he was 3 :)

Hope you enjoyed reading and perhaps found this useful, or at the very least entertaining. Its 11pm now and I'm just waiting to go and get the coach at 1am to Glastonbury. SOOOOO nervous and excited!! Bye bed, bye shower!!

Back soon

Nancy

xoxo

Welcome to my blog!

Hello there!

Having been an avid reader of many blogs for sometime now, I have decided to give blogging a go myself. I feel very inspired, there are many amazing blogs out there!

It will mostly be a lifestyle and fashion blog, but will likely be a little bit eclectic, as am I! Festivals will feature heavily over the summer as it is my boyfriend and I's favourite thing to do. 

I would also like to write about little projects that I embark on from time to time. I have recently purchased a sewing machine and I am hoping to become quite the seamstress! Big hopes! 

Anyway, here's a little about me and perhaps a hint of what to expect........

I am currently at uni, however, I finished in April for a massive 5 month summer break! I'm already driving my boyfriend (Ray) a bit mad, as I'm starting to get a bit mental with nothing to occupy my time.

I LOVE SHOPPING. My absolute favourite thing to do is getting a bargain and for this I scour charity shops and eBay. I'm quite the eBay sniper. I absolutely LOVE the whole eBay process. Typing in random search terms, my most used is DRESS. But I love pairing it with cat, fox, bird, bow, paisley......all the prints you could possibly imagine! Then watching items, going back through the watch list a few times, weeding out the impulse watches, waiting till the last few seconds, sniping.....then the best bit of all....PACKAGES. Getting packages through the post is the best thing in the world. Every day is a birthday!! :) 

I am 31, my boyfriend is 23. This age gap seems to complement aspects of both of our personalities well. I have 2 children. My daughter is 14 and my son is 6. 

I am ridiculously mad about CATS. I think they are the funniest, cutest creatures ever and one day me and Ray will own a house in the country and I shall have a million cats. The current number of cats in our house is 5. 3 of these are kittens though and 2 will be off to new homes soon. Sniff (I WANT TO KEEP ALL MY FUR BABIES)

I am a part time social being. That meaning, I am pretty much a recluse Monday-Friday. I like to be in my own little bubble at home, wearing pyjamas and watching sky plussed rubbish or some other such task.

I own one pair of trousers. They are my gym trousers. I am always at my most comfortable in a dress. I own a ridiculous amount. Its actually shocking. 

Anyway, I am off to Glastonbury on Tuesday so I will do a Glasto post on my return. Hopefully a good mixture of music, fashion and fun. In the meantime, here are some photos so you can get an idea of who I am etc :)

Me & Ray at my friends wedding last year

Me & Joey! He was only 3 weeks here, so tiny. I love him lots. He's the one of the litter of kittens that is staying.

My little man Alfie. What a star. 

Anyway, that's a little something to give you an idea of what to expect! 

Back soon!

Love
Nancy xox