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Newbie's Many Questions


Guest Colombo
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1. Flying into London Luton...Wondering where would be a good place to get supplies...aka folding chair, wellies, rain poncho, etc (even the name of a store I am from canada so not sure of the chain stores and such)

2. Arriving at Luton Airport 1:40 in afternoon. Think I will be in the fest by night fall...making stop for beer, supplies and taking the train.

3. Are the lockups lockers? Can you go and get your bag anytime? Are there Q's?

4. Biggest mistake newbies make?

5. Going to have a backpack with all my stuff from traveling two weeks leading up to fest. Should this stuff be safe in lockup or should I consider keeping it at the rail station lockers?

Any answers or advice even not related to the question are more than welcome.

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1. Stores you might want to try are Milletts (camping shop, one in most high streets and two at the festival), or you can pre-order camping stuff from Joe Bananas and pick it up at the festival. For beer and food, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda are the biggest (and usually cheapest) supermarkets and will all have deals on beers etc.

2. From Luton I assume you're getting a train to Castle Cary and then the shuttle bus? You should make it by early evening no problem.

3. Lockups aren't lockers, no, they're big marquees with shelving in them. You hand your item(s) over to the staff and they give you a ticket. You can go back any time, 24 hours a day, and there's rarely a queue except on Sunday night when loads of people are packing up to leave. They're free, although a donation is apprciated for the charity running the lockup.

4. Being afraid of getting lost. Spending too much time at the main stages. Eating crap food from the burger vans when there is so much variety.

5. It'll be dead safe in the lockups, and they're free. You'll have to pay at the station.

There's a whole heap of 'newbie' threads on this board - have a look round and see what people are saying - but most importantly, have an BRILLIANT festival!

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1. From Luton, you're going to get the train into London (St Pancras), and the tube round to Paddington (and catch the train to Castle Cary from there.) This gives you loads of opportunities to get out in London and find a supermarket. The main ones to look for are Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, the Co-op, Somerfield, Kwik Save, Lidl and Aldi. Any of these will do cheap alcohol and camping gear. Your best bet is to get out at St Pancras and ask the station staff where the nearest supermarket is on your route round London. If you can find a large Tesco, you can probably get everything you need there.

2. This is a very good site for working out transport in the UK. According to that website, it should be possible to get from Luton Aiport to Castle Cary in 3 hrs. From there, you take the Glasto shuttle-bus. I don't know too much about that, but I think it's only a half-hour trip.

3. Lockups are manned. You go up to a friendly person and they will get your stuff out for you. They work very well. There are queues at certain peak times, but when I've walked past, they usually seem fairly quiet.

4. Impossible to answer - people get all sorts of things wrong at festivals. So long as you've got access to cash, you wont go too far wrong. My personal tip is to remember that you're in a festival the size of a large town. It's impossible to see and do everything. So as soon as you find something you like, and people you like, stick with it - don't go trekking round the site listening to the paranoid voice at the back of your mind telling you "you're missing something." My most enjoyable festival experiences have been with a few good people sitting round having a laugh, miles away from the main attractions. Apart from that, read these forums.

5. Use the festival lockups - they don't have lockers in UK railway stations. This is a hangover from the days of the IRA bombing campaigns, when it was too easy to leave bombs in railway lockers.

Edit: Alternatively, just do what Pie and a pint said. Damn my slow typing.

Edited by Mark E. Spliff
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1. From Luton, you're going to get the train into London (St Pancras), and the tube round to Paddington (and catch the train to Castle Cary from there.) This gives you loads of opportunities to get out in London and find a supermarket. The main ones to look for are Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, the Co-op, Somerfield, Kwik Save, Lidl and Aldi. Any of these will do cheap alcohol and camping gear. Your best bet is to get out at St Pancras and ask the station staff where the nearest supermarket is on your route round London. If you can find a large Tesco, you can probably get everything you need there.
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If you dont want to lug a whole of stuff through London etc, as mentioned above, you can buy stuff for pick up at the Joe Banana's stall on site. Here is the website just to help you further. B)

Biggest mistakes for noobs: chasing bands around all the main stages. Go and enjoy Babylon but there is so so much more to see and do elsewhere. Dont go mad running around, enjoy and partake in some hardcore 'bimbling' <<< the description of the activity of stumbling around afterdark in whatever state of messiness you have managed to achieve each day and discovering so many wonderful things by accident! :angry:

And if you dont see everything (and you wont) just keep coming back for the rest of your life like the rest of us. This is my 10th in 14 years and I still have a list of things to see and do I still havent achieved yet! B)

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Oooh question...noticed you talked about getting the train. Have you booked your seat (and return journey) in advance cos you may get a nasty shock if you just rock up hoping for a seat from Paddington on the Wednesday....the possible lack of any seats and the cost being the biggest shock!

Check out Megabus.co.uk or the Trainline.com (cant put up linkys for some reason today sorry)

The Megatrain/Bus company still have ridiculously cheap seats to Bristol (£6 instead of the likely £70+ you may get charged for any train going out of Paddington). You just need to get to Victoria Coach station in southish London. There are plenty of shuttle buses that then go from Bristol to the festy site.

Good luck with your searching. The best bet though really would prob be to get on a Megabus/train to head to Bristol rather than fanny around central London. There will be many people all in Brizzle for one purpose only (to get to Glasto) and so heading to a supermarket there may be more sensible.

Hope this helps.

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1. Flying into London Luton...Wondering where would be a good place to get supplies...aka folding chair, wellies, rain poncho, etc (even the name of a store I am from canada so not sure of the chain stores and such)

2. Arriving at Luton Airport 1:40 in afternoon. Think I will be in the fest by night fall...making stop for beer, supplies and taking the train.

3. Are the lockups lockers? Can you go and get your bag anytime? Are there Q's?

4. Biggest mistake newbies make?

5. Going to have a backpack with all my stuff from traveling two weeks leading up to fest. Should this stuff be safe in lockup or should I consider keeping it at the rail station lockers?

Any answers or advice even not related to the question are more than welcome.

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Wow thanks. The responses are great....thanks for the tip about seat reservations I will book right away....I am stuck with train because I have a rail pass but I don't like the idea of having a set time asI don't exact know where I am going and anything could happen to delay me....I am traveling on thursday will this change anything bout the reservations????

Again thanks for the time and effort

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Sadly there are no decent supermarkets or camping shops around Kings Cross. Best bet might be to head one stop on the Underground to Islington (which is less than a mile). There's a Blacks on Upper Street and a camping/army surplus shop on Chapel St. Just around the corner on Liverpool Rd is a Sainsburys to stock up on beer. :O

Handy map.

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Sadly there are no decent supermarkets or camping shops around Kings Cross. Best bet might be to head one stop on the Underground to Islington (which is less than a mile). There's a Blacks on Upper Street and a camping/army surplus shop on Chapel St. Just around the corner on Liverpool Rd is a Sainsburys to stock up on beer. :P

Handy map.

Edited by manxairlines
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