Music, makeshift barbeques, camping and an excuse to begin drinking at 11am…festivals, oh how we love you. But as the most seasoned festival-goer knows, there can be a fine line between the time of your life and a complete festival washout. Luckily we’re on hand with 11 of the best festival hacks to help you make the most of your weekend. Read now and thank us later.
1) Take a rubbish phone
Your brand spanking new iPhone might be a technological wonder, but there’s a real risk you’ll either a) break it b) lose it or c) drop it down the toilet. Dig out an old phone - realistically you’ll only need to call or text anyway, and that’s if you can get enough signal!
If you're adamant though, that you can't live without high quality photos for Instagram, check you're insured before you go.
2) Pack light
Only pack what you really need. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re Ironman – by the time you’ve gone forward and back dragging your tents, food, drink, clothes and anything else you deemed necessary to your pitching spot, you’ll be prepared to do without clothes if it means you don’t have to carry it all back to the car again.
3) Keep spare clothes
Although we advocate keeping your packing list short, it’s still sensible to put a set of clean clothes to one side, just in case everything you own gets soaked through with rain, or beer. Both scenarios are quite likely.
4) Use a bumbag…
Whilst we personally think bumbags are making a comeback, if you feel they’re not quite trendy enough, choose any alternative that will survive a moshpit. You don’t want to lose anything important. Even if you do have signal to call the bank, you won’t have cash there and then so make sure whatever you’re carrying around will be hard to lose…or pickpocket.
5) Pick a meeting point
As we’ve already established, phone signal is going to be poor, so pick a designated meeting point within your group of friends in case anyone gets lost. Make it somewhere central and easy to find. We would however, urge you not to panic if your pal doesn’t arrive back from the bar within an hour - the queues just really are that long.
6) Take toilet roll
Don’t rely on the organisers to supply the portaloos with enough toilet roll because they never do. Bring a roll or two for the campsite and a few packs of tissues for while you're out and about (much easier to fit in your bumbag!). Bonus, you can use your clean, dry tissues as a makeshift face mask to cover your nose.
7) Don’t pitch up too near the loos
Whilst we’re on the subject of toilets…think pitching up nearby will make life easier when you need to nip for a quick wee? Wrong! You’ll still have to queue for an age and to make matters worse you’ll have to put up with an endless stream of people and the god-awful smell.
8) …or at the bottom of a hill
Likewise, don’t camp at the bottom of a hill. You might be dreading the walk up it with all of your camping gear, but trust us, you’ll be glad you did when it suddenly turns into monsoon season.
9) Make your tent easy to find
Everyone knows that festivals mean navigating a tent city. But whilst the photos look impressive, it also equals an absolute nightmare finding your tent when you’re lost, tired and probably under the influence! Luckily there’s an easier way to make your tent quick to find besides leaving a trail of pebbles all the way to the main stage; take a night glow tent. It glows in the dark, making it easy for you to find your way home at night.
10) Don’t forget your tent finder
If you’ve done the sensible thing and packed your glow tent, make sure you also remember your tent finder. When it’s complete pitch black, your controller will illuminate your glow tent at the push of a button, lighting it up like a beacon of hope.
11) Plan your exit with precision
It’s all over – you’ve survived. Now you just need to make your escape. Here you have three options; very early, very late or sometime in between. In short this means you either get up and away at the crack of dawn, take it slow and wait until the masses have left, or sit in a gridlocked car park for several hours. Your choice. Personally, we're the kind of people who refuse to leave, often carrying on the merriment until we're physically ushered out.
And that’s it! What would you add to our festival hack list? Let us know your top tips over on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.