Festival Guide, Part 1
Whatever you're into, there's a festival that's going to appeal to you. And whether you'll be moshing in the mud at Reading, or taking T in the Park, we'll show you how to have fun, while staying happy, safe and healthy wherever you're headed.
Be prepared!
If you're no longer a festival virgin, you'll know how amazingly busy they are. For one weekend each year Glastonbury alone is home to over 110,000 people - equivalent to the entire population of a pretty big town!
The great thing is that 99.9% of people come away having had one of the most unforgettable experiences of their lives. But with so many people, as in any city, a minority of people will leave having had a less than perfect time.
If you have to think about access to events before you get there, then check out Ouch! - "That site for disabled people," which has a practical guide to surviving festivals if you're disabled. The BBC's new Ouch! website also sent Louise Hickman (a wheelchair user) and Brad Fisher (who is visually impaired) to find out if Glastonbury could be disability friendly. Find out how they got on in their Glasto diaries.
If you're festival-bound this summer, we'll show you how to make it difficult for anything to ruin your weekend by taking very simple precautions with your money, your health and your personal safety.
Check your bearings
The first thing you'll notice: festival sites are enormous. Before you dive in and freak out, take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the site and its facilities. Work out where the toilets, first aid points and nearest bar are! But perhaps most importantly, remember where your tent is. If you have never been to a festival before, nothing will prepare you for the bewildering number of identical looking tents. It's really easy to lose yourself, even in daylight, so it's a good idea to try and make your tent stand out as much as possible. A flag or banner above the tent can help you to spot it from a distance. Be creative! Make a statement and customise your mobile home in style!
Meeting up
If you're part of a group and each of you wants to do your own thing for a while, decide on a good meeting place to exchange experiences later. Bear in mind that it's not usually a good idea to arrange to meet at somewhere vague. You'll never see each other again if you're expecting to catch up 'near the sound desk', or 'just to just to the left of the pyramid stage'. Even the official meeting points aren't always a good idea - they get too busy! So choose somewhere different, a little way from the centre of things.
And don't panic if you're not all together again after half an hour of your agreed time. It can take a long time to get from one side of a festie site to the other.
But if you've each got a mobile and the signal's strong, great - problem solved! Just remember to set it to vibrate; you're not likely to hear the Nokia tune above the Chemical Brothers!
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