Music festival season in spring is one of the best seasons to set up a tent outside and make the most of nature while you enjoy your bands playing your favourite tunes.
Camping at a festival is a part of the fun, but you will want to know all the right do’s and don’ts about how to make the most of the festival camping experience, and here’s a guide to do exactly that:
1) Before you go, here’s what you need to know
Do your research about where the campsite is, how far the parking is from the campsite. This means you can figure out logistics like if you will have to carry loaded coolers and camping furniture to your camping spot.
2) Get a bigger tent
Camping tents are generally more snug. If you are going with someone, don’t choose a two man tent, but instead go for a larger tent where you can move around. Always choose a best tent for one more person than specified.
3) Practice pitching the tent beforehand
Before you go to the music festival, try pitching the tent in your backyard. Get familiar with how to set up your tent and make a checklist of everything you need to do so, so that you can carry it around. Take a pop-up tent if you do not want to put in alot of work when you reach the campsite.
4) Check the rules of the music festival before you go
Many music festivals have a list of items that you can and cannot bring to the site, so always check beforehand to ensure you are not getting things to the campsite that you will have to discard later.
4) Mark the spot at the campsite
Think carefully before you pitch your tent. Make sure you keep in mind points like proximity to the toilet, and if you want to avoid pitching too close to the footpath to avoid the noise of the footfalls at night. Arrive at the campsite a bit earlier so you can get the spot you got. Mark your spot where you are going to pitch your tent and secure it. Mark your tent with a flag, balloon or even battery-powered lights to help distinguish it from the others.
5) Clean the ground before you pitch your tent
Once you have picked your spot, clean the area of all sharp objects, stones and if there’s any garbage on the spot so you have a comfortable spot to sleep on.
6) Think about the space
If you are travelling with friends, then make sure you pitch your tent together so that someone else can’t pitch it between yours, but not that close that you have to squeeze your tent.
7) Put your comfort first
Bring along your comfort items like sleeping pads, blankets, and pillows so that you can sleep well after a long day on your feet. Take an appropriate sleeping bag which won’t get too hot. Don’t forget little but definite must haves like earplugs on your trip.
8) Don’t forget to pack fun essentials
Since it is music festival season, don’t forget to pack essentials like ladder ball, hula-hoops, travel games and other fun things to make sure you and the people camping with you are having fun.
9) Food and drink
If you want to make sure you have good meals, you will want to bring along a 2-burner camp stove so that you can boil noodles, while warming pasta sauce. You’ll also want to take along a camping cooler, camping cookware if you want to eat proper meals.
If you are not so keen on cooking every meal, you can always opt to eat and drink from food vendors around you. If you won’t be cooking at all, then all you need is a little hot water, a compact backpacking stove to prepare your morning cup of coffee.
10) Coolers are essential
If you do plan to carry along food, you will need to bring a cooler or coolers that are adequate to keep your food fresh.
Pricier coolers will offer lots of insulation to make sure you fet through the weekend without having to buy ice, a wheeled cooler will be helpful to transport food to and fro from the campsite.
If you are planning on bringing lots of food, buy more than one cooler so that you don’t run short. You can even bring food in one cooler, and drinks in the other cooler. For the best cooler performance, prepare your cooler by keeping it overnight with a bag of ice, and keeping the food you are going to bring cool in the fridge too.
Conclusion: For festival camping, make sure you have a checklist where you make sure you are bringing all the items that ensure that you can make the best of the music festival and make the best of the camping experience as well. After all, the combination of the great outdoors and good music spells fun, doesn’t it?