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American at First Glastonbury: A Few Key Questions


lavendervanilla
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Hey guys! 

So me and a few friends managed to secure tickets during the general admission sale, and are now both ludicrously excited and anxious about what to expect. We've attended several festivals in the U.S. which have been described as comparable by reliable sources, but I have a few questions that I've researched and have still failed to find the answers to. 

1. I'm not sure about the culture of this forum so if this topic is a no-no just ignore it, but what is the drug culture of Glasto? At all festivals we've attended in the U.S. the standard festival drugs (MDMA, LSD, weed, shrooms, etc.) have been fairly readily available. Are drugs easily found and purchased once inside Glastonbury? Obviously there is the issue of quality when purchasing from unknown suppliers but that issue can easily be remedied with test kits. Also, is the atmosphere fairly lax about the purchasing of drugs or is there fear that you could be busted? I've read conflicting views on this topic and am curious about the experiences of Glastonbury veterans. 

 

2. As we are traveling internationally, we don't want to bring our camping gear and we also won't have a car with which to lug all of the camping gear to the campsite. For that reason, we were considering trying to get Worthy View accommodation. We've read the negatives of Worthy View (distance to action, big hill to trek, lack of "real camping" experience), but we're still thinking the plusses might outweigh the hassle and cost of having to buy all of our camping gear in England and then lugging it to the campsite without a car. Any recommendations on alternatives to Worthy View camping or experiences of other international Glasto goers and how they dealt with this issue would be greatly appreciated!

 

3. Any advice on absolute necessities that we have to have compared to things that people have found helpful or wish they would have had would be awesome. We're no strangers to festival camping, but Glastonbury is a whole new animal so just trying to be as prepared as possible.

 

4. Finally, any things within the festival that we cannot miss?

 

Thanks in advance for any helpful hints you can give us and can't wait to see everyone over there!!  

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I've never bought drugs on site (apart from when shrooms were legal to sell / buy) so can't really answer question 1. I do know that people do buy and sell drugs on site. Some people say they got good deals and others say they got sold shite. There are uniformed and under cover police on site so don't be blase and go around screaming out for a drug seller to meet your needs. Ask people who are smoking dope would be my recommendation (that's about everybody except the police!).

 

As with question 1 I have no experience of pre erected tent hire so again cannot help I'm afraid.

 

Question 3 - I would advise walking around the whole site on Wednesday and Thursday to familiarise yourself and to see what areas take your fancy. Don't just sit in front of the two main stages for 5 days whatever you do. There's a whole load of other entertainment that you'll miss out on if you do.

 

Question 4 - I can't say there's a specific thing you should not miss. Just wander around and follow your nose - you'll soon be entertained.

 

Oh, and have a read of this;

 

http://www.glastoearth.com/the-faq

 

 

One more thing - use the free lock ups to store your valuables eg excess cash, passports etc (especially over night). Proportionally the festival is very safe but some thieves do roam around the place. A lot of the thieving goes on at night even when people are in their tents. That's because a lot of people are wasted and don't hear people entering their tent etc.

 

Hopefully others will be able to give you more detailed advice than I have been able to.

 

Wishing you all the best for your first Glastonbury. 

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Like most festivals - if you search you will find gear... if it's any good or not is pure luck (thats the price of it being illegal). Be aware that theres a lot of fake MDMA floating about in Europe - mainly PMA which is a lot stronger and has killed a few people. You can smell weed all over the site but most of it is "skunk" street grade commercial weed - yeuch....

 

There is a police presence and you will get busted & thrown out of the festival if caught with drugs - but they don't have packs of sniffer dogs on the gates..

 

As your flying in you could always try the glamping - not cheap but more secure than camping, cleaner (own toilet blocks/showers) and you can just turn up with some clothes & money. Then spend Wednesday finding your way around, make sure you don't miss the opening party & fireworks and then just wander around soaking it all in...

 

Hiking boots, gaiters, decent waterproofs. Its England - it will rain!

 

use the lockups for your valuables.

 

Edited by Penrhos
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i always find that if you buy the bloke with the PEARL JAM  t shirt on a pint at the bread and roses  hell always lead you to the good stuff lol ..........

 

 

 

 

no idea who this PJfreak is tho old son

Edited by guypjfreak
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi lavendervanilla! another american here going to Glasto for the first time next year with 4 other friends :)

A question I have for the forums: Is it a ridiculous idea to stay off-site apart from being less convenient? Is the traffic to and from the festival impossible? We're planning on doing public transportation or taxi...

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Hi lavendervanilla! another american here going to Glasto for the first time next year with 4 other friends :)

A question I have for the forums: Is it a ridiculous idea to stay off-site apart from being less convenient? Is the traffic to and from the festival impossible? We're planning on doing public transportation or taxi...

Yes staying off site is a daft idea.  It's a 24 hour a day festival, so I suppose you could decide which bits you want to miss.  But don't come to Glastonbury to see bands.  Come to Glastonbury to take part in the festival.

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Hi lavendervanilla! another american here going to Glasto for the first time next year with 4 other friends :)

A question I have for the forums: Is it a ridiculous idea to stay off-site apart from being less convenient? Is the traffic to and from the festival impossible? We're planning on doing public transportation or taxi...

As grumpyhack has stated it's a 24 hour a day festival so if you decide to stay off site then which bits are you going to decide to miss? As it stands you don't currently know which bits will entertain you more than others. I think you'd have more flexibility if staying on site. You can do an awful lot of walking in a day and it might become a real drag having to haul yourself off site at the end of each day. However, if a good nights sleep is important then staying in a B&B or hotel will do the trick. I just know that I'd regret it if I personally went down that path.

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Hi lavendervanilla! another american here going to Glasto for the first time next year with 4 other friends :)

A question I have for the forums: Is it a ridiculous idea to stay off-site apart from being less convenient? Is the traffic to and from the festival impossible? We're planning on doing public transportation or taxi...

In terms of staying in a Hotel and commuting in (which is what I think you mean), then there's quite a few issues. To be honest, traffic is the least of your problems - once people arrive on site, most don't go driving. From about Wednesday afternoon to Sunday night, the roads around the Festival site tend to be fine.

As mentioned, you'll miss stuff. A lot of stuff. I wouldn't quite go as far as saying it's 24/7 but there's definitely stuff you'll want to experience until late into the night / early morning. And you'll struggle with Public Transport to anywhere useful at those times.

Hotel availability & location will be a problem for you. The Festival isn't close to a big town with lots of big hotels, and so there's not a lot of options within the kind of distance you'd need. The best options will be booked up already, and most of what's left will be extremely overpriced.

Taxi isn't a good option at all - because it's a rural area, there's not a huge amount of them in the vicinity to start with and getting hold of one will be.. unreliable at best. They're not officially allowed to pick up / drop off at the Festival site itself - you're supposed to catch a free shuttle bus to/from an off-site "drop off" point where there's more space for vehicles to load/unload/wait. You can probably avoid this for drop offs, but getting picked up will be more problematic.

In terms of scheduled public transport to/from the Festival site once the event is underway, there's basically 3 options. The 2 nearest towns are Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet - both have a once an hour bus service running to/from the Festival site. The Glastonbury service runs 7:00am to 1:30am daily, the Shepton Mallet service runs 10:00am to 1:30am. The other option is a shuttle service to the local Railway Station, Castle Cary, from where you can get an onward train to more destinations. All of these options will add a fair chunk of time onto your day, or to be more exact take a fair chunk of time out of your Festival experience.

If you're really set on staying in a hotel, I'd strongly recommend you hire a car so that you're in control of your destiny. Another consideration - a lot of the places offering accommodation nearest the site will be smaller, family run B&B style places - they won't be happy with a group of people turning up drunk and loud at 4am when their kid has school the next day so choose carefully.

 

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In terms of staying in a Hotel and commuting in (which is what I think you mean), then there's quite a few issues. To be honest, traffic is the least of your problems - once people arrive on site, most don't go driving. From about Wednesday afternoon to Sunday night, the roads around the Festival site tend to be fine.

As mentioned, you'll miss stuff. A lot of stuff. I wouldn't quite go as far as saying it's 24/7 but there's definitely stuff you'll want to experience until late into the night / early morning. And you'll struggle with Public Transport to anywhere useful at those times.

Hotel availability & location will be a problem for you. The Festival isn't close to a big town with lots of big hotels, and so there's not a lot of options within the kind of distance you'd need. The best options will be booked up already, and most of what's left will be extremely overpriced.

Taxi isn't a good option at all - because it's a rural area, there's not a huge amount of them in the vicinity to start with and getting hold of one will be.. unreliable at best. They're not officially allowed to pick up / drop off at the Festival site itself - you're supposed to catch a free shuttle bus to/from an off-site "drop off" point where there's more space for vehicles to load/unload/wait. You can probably avoid this for drop offs, but getting picked up will be more problematic.

In terms of scheduled public transport to/from the Festival site once the event is underway, there's basically 3 options. The 2 nearest towns are Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet - both have a once an hour bus service running to/from the Festival site. The Glastonbury service runs 7:00am to 1:30am daily, the Shepton Mallet service runs 10:00am to 1:30am. The other option is a shuttle service to the local Railway Station, Castle Cary, from where you can get an onward train to more destinations. All of these options will add a fair chunk of time onto your day, or to be more exact take a fair chunk of time out of your Festival experience.

If you're really set on staying in a hotel, I'd strongly recommend you hire a car so that you're in control of your destiny. Another consideration - a lot of the places offering accommodation nearest the site will be smaller, family run B&B style places - they won't be happy with a group of people turning up drunk and loud at 4am when their kid has school the next day so choose carefully.

 

Fair play incident. You went for the full explanation rather than just steer someone in the right direction without giving them that full knowledge (not that I had it myself).

@alexzandra - I also think that you'll miss out on a communal living element at the festival itself. If you go down the hotel route you'll be disassociated with this. Glastonbury is only a festival at the end of the day but for me, at least, it's kind of a major leap in the direction that you'd like life to be like. For a brief moment in time you are set free from all the shitiness of the outside world. So, if you are going to jump in then jump in at the deep end is what I'm saying.

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if you stay off site you WILL miss things also its part of being at the festi .youll make friends youll get the rumors that go the rounds its all part of it old son .....i camp in disabled camping but thats cos ive got to sleep on a bed [ ive got an OLD camper and a bad back ] but i also have a tent up with my family and friends cos i wouldnt feel right lol

youll def have a better fuller festival

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I would guess that travelling from the States, Worthy View or Camplight would be good options so you don't need to go to the hassle of buying a tent you propbably won't be taking home with you again.

Camplight is in the middle of the festival so well placed but given it's in Pennards, one of the more rowdy campsites, sleep me ba an issue.

Worthy View probably offers a little more in the way of facilities but you have to tackle a pretty steep hill to get there. I believe you no longer have to go through ticket gates any more as you get a special wristband so it is sort of on site. I wouldn't even entertain staying anywhere further afield than that, it would just be too much trouble trying to get back and forth.

To me the best option though is to get yourselves a tent, get in amongst it and experience the whole thing. When you leave, pack your tent up and (if you aren't taking it home) drop it off at a charity shop.

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Hi lavendervanilla! another american here going to Glasto for the first time next year with 4 other friends :)

A question I have for the forums: Is it a ridiculous idea to stay off-site apart from being less convenient? Is the traffic to and from the festival impossible? We're planning on doing public transportation or taxi...

Seen as there's five of you I would be tempted to get a tipi,it's in a good location if you can afford it.

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Don't even consider staying offsite as an option unless it is due to a medical necessity or some other major reason. That may be an option for Coachella, but I wouldn't even consider it for Glasto, bonnaroo, or burning man. It has been pretty well mentioned above, but you would miss out on so much of the festival. There is no valid reason to spend $3000 and miss out on 25-40% of the time you have there. You wouldn't want to leave anyways unless you just can't stand sleeping in a tent.

I brought my tent with me from Texas last time I went (2010) and may do the same this year. Most camping things can be purchased at the festival, but just be prepared for the weather in any scenario. I prefer knowing my tent will be fine in the rain than just assuming one I buy there will be, and it is good to have an air mattress or cot in case the ground gets soaked. I weatherpoofed my tent with extra sealant and had it ready for anything nature could throw at me.

Just be sure and try and pack out what you pack in. It should be mandatory, but so many people don't and the festival will be entirely trashed on monday.

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  • 5 months later...
On 12 October 2015 at 7:56 PM, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I've never bought drugs on site (apart from when shrooms were legal to sell / buy) so can't really answer question 1. I do know that people do buy and sell drugs on site. Some people say they got good deals and others say they got sold shite. There are uniformed and under cover police on site so don't be blase and go around screaming out for a drug seller to meet your needs. Ask people who are smoking dope would be my recommendation (that's about everybody except the police!).

 

As with question 1 I have no experience of pre erected tent hire so again cannot help I'm afraid.

 

Question 3 - I would advise walking around the whole site on Wednesday and Thursday to familiarise yourself and to see what areas take your fancy. Don't just sit in front of the two main stages for 5 days whatever you do. There's a whole load of other entertainment that you'll miss out on if you do.

 

Question 4 - I can't say there's a specific thing you should not miss. Just wander around and follow your nose - you'll soon be entertained.

 

Oh, and have a read of this;

 

http://www.glastoearth.com/the-faq

 

 

One more thing - use the free lock ups to store your valuables eg excess cash, passports etc (especially over night). Proportionally the festival is very safe but some thieves do roam around the place. A lot of the thieving goes on at night even when people are in their tents. That's because a lot of people are wasted and don't hear people entering their tent etc.

 

Hopefully others will be able to give you more detailed advice than I have been able to.

 

Wishing you all the best for your first Glastonbury. 

Ditto

 

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@lavendervanilla 

1) I haven't bought drugs at the festival, but we did camp next to a drug dealing tent in our first year. A fellow camper bought a tab of acid off them and ended up sleeping in a broken wheelbarrow for two days. I guess it's up to you if you want to risk it :) 

2) I noticed in your post you mentioned about having to lug your stuff to a campsite. You may already be aware of this, but at Glastonbury you can't drive anywhere within the festival so if you choose to camp within the festival (not at Worthy View), you would need to walk to wherever you chose to camp. The good news is that you'll be among thousands of people doing the same, and the atmosphere and pure excitement of being at Glastonbury overrides the walk to camp (which I really don't think is that bad and don't forget you can choose which field to camp in so the walk is dependent on where you want to be!). You can buy everything you need to camp at the festival but it will be more expensive than buying it elsewhere. I do think this option is potentially cheaper than Worthy View by quite a noticeable amount. 

There are some very light tents on the market so if you do have the opportunity I would recommend doing a quick shop before coming to the festival.

3) Some essentials for me are Pringles and cereal bars (perfect for peckish moments when you don't want to buy food), a warm blanket for the evenings to go inside your sleeping bag, plasters, anti-bac hand gel, baby wipes and a portable phone charger.

4) Don't worry about missing things - you've got 5 days to explore. Don't make it all about the current line up, go and explore the areas such as circus, theatre and cabaret, Green Futures, Greenpeace and the late night 'naughty corner' (Shangri La etc). 

Have an amazing festival - you'll want to return every year!

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On ‎30‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 2:05 PM, stardustjunkie said:

2) I noticed in your post you mentioned about having to lug your stuff to a campsite. You may already be aware of this, but at Glastonbury you can't drive anywhere within the festival so if you choose to camp within the festival (not at Worthy View), you would need to walk to wherever you chose to camp. The good news is that you'll be among thousands of people doing the same, and the atmosphere and pure excitement of being at Glastonbury overrides the walk to camp (which I really don't think is that bad and don't forget you can choose which field to camp in so the walk is dependent on where you want to be!). You can buy everything you need to camp at the festival but it will be more expensive than buying it elsewhere. I do think this option is potentially cheaper than Worthy View by quite a noticeable amount. 

I think that's largely true, but every year you do see some folks who've over extended themselves; have tent, sleeping bags, a duvet, several cases of beer and trying to carry it all half way across the site.

In that respect I think it would depend on the affordability of the glamping options for lavendervanilla as compared to how happy you are to walk a bit with your stuff (which you can obviously split into multiple trips if you prefer).

I'm an old git and I stay in the campervan fields, as I'd rather carry less stuff at the start of the festival.  This means I tend to take everything for each day and night with me (drink, layers of clothes etc), whereas when I was camping you could just take your day stuff and then pop back to the camp as required.  That also has a big hill but it's ok if you do a bit of walking before the festival :) 

 

Edited by clarkete
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On 12/10/2015 at 8:41 PM, Penrhos said:

Like most festivals - if you search you will find gear... if it's any good or not is pure luck (thats the price of it being illegal). Be aware that theres a lot of fake MDMA floating about in Europe - mainly PMA which is a lot stronger and has killed a few people. You can smell weed all over the site but most of it is "skunk" street grade commercial weed - yeuch....

 

There is a police presence and you will get busted & thrown out of the festival if caught with drugs - but they don't have packs of sniffer dogs on the gates..

 

As your flying in you could always try the glamping - not cheap but more secure than camping, cleaner (own toilet blocks/showers) and you can just turn up with some clothes & money. Then spend Wednesday finding your way around, make sure you don't miss the opening party & fireworks and then just wander around soaking it all in...

 

Hiking boots, gaiters, decent waterproofs. Its England - it will rain!

 

use the lockups for your valuables.

 

it will not R glasto festi week old son have faith ..............please

lavendervanilla

  i would recommend making sure you have a good lot of batterys and sd cards for your camera as itll be a shame to run out of space as youll be clicking away here there and everywhere because there is SO much to see ......and as above use lockups also a good tip is to mark your camera and phone ..may sound strange but if you lose them glasto is amazing at returning lost stuff .....unless it gets robbed so never leave anything in tent and sleep with everything valuble either on you or in sleeping bag in a bag never just in tent .........im going on one soz have a great festi and safe travels if you get time come say hi to me iv got a flag pole with a canadian flag a pearl jam flag and a guysrockinclocks flag lol......just ask for Guy if im there well have drink and something lol

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I would say that if you're expending all that time and money to come from America then you may as well get the full, authentic Glastonbury experience. You can buy a shitty 2-man tent and a sleeping bag each for pittance compared with the money you're most likely already spending. 

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