V FESTIVAL

So, last weekend I camped at V festival in Chelmsford from Friday to Monday with a group of friends. What can I say, to sum it up in a few words, amazing, fun filled, great experience, great music. The weather was lovely too, which was a bonus, but to be honest it is one of those events, which you would have a good time at regardless of the weather.
There are many things you could do though that will make your weekend go more smoothly, so I thought I would write a blog with some good tips and a list of essential items you should take if you are camping for the weekend.

Firstly, I highly recommend that if you are thinking about camping at next year’s V Festival you should defiantly buy your tickets now, this will save you a lot of money. We only booked our tickets 5 months or so before and we ended up paying almost double. If you buy them now than they are about £155, - Go to www.vfestival.com/tickets.
Secondly don’t pay too much for your tent and equipment, you are hardly in your tent, and most people end up leaving them there anyway, plus the campsites are quite crowded so it is tents on top of tents. Also try and get there early Friday morning to try and get a good pitch- and do not pitch near any of the toilets, honestly, just don’t do it- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Thirdly, the programme; Make sure you get one of these ASAP, you need to plan which acts you want to see. V festival in Chelmsford is in Hylands park which is huge, just walking from one stage to another could take up to 20 minutes. There are 3 main stages so this does mean that you may have to miss the beginning or the end of a set if you want to watch certain acts that are on different stages. So I suggest in advance that you plan your day by the times and acts you want to see; because on the day you get caught up in the atmosphere and end up missing a few of the acts, especially if you are slightly intoxicated, as we were.

Finally I have put together a list of essential items that you should try and take with you if you are camping, they may seem minor, but believe me they are essential- trust me!

1. FLAG- As the camp sites are very crowded, with tents on top of tents, with a majority of the tents looking very similar, you will get lost trying to find your tent. A distinctive flag on top of your tent will come in very useful.

2. WELLIES- especially girls. As mentioned the event is over a vast area so there is a lot of walking involved, and the ground is covered in a lot of rubbish. So even if the weather is nice as it was for us, my wellie’s were essential wear.

3. TORCH/BATTERIES- It gets very dark at night on the campsite in addition to walking back from the main stage area to the campsites. There are these wind up torches you can get which are good as our batteries kept running out.

4. LANTERN- Just emphasising the above. When you are at your tents, a lantern is ideal especially if there are a group of you that want to sit around and carry on the partying.

5. BUCKET- Yes you may laugh, as we did. But after experiencing and smelling the stench of the toilets after the first night, the first thing we brought in the morning was a bucket. Obviously our bucket was only used for number 1’s, mostly at night. But it was like a heaven send, honestly.

6. WARM CLOTHES- Even though the weather was really nice during the day. It was freezing at night. So you need to wrap up warm inside your sleeping bag, otherwise you will not get a good night’s sleep.

7. INFLATABLE BEDS- On our first night, the girls and I were not only freezing, but we were also really uncomfortable. The ground was really hard and uneven. So at the same time as buying our bucket we also brought an inflatable bed. Believe me; this made a lot of difference, in addition to also making it warmer at night.

8. FOLD UP CHAIRS- Not essential but useful.

9. HAND SANITISER- very useful.

10. BABY WIPES-very, very ,very essential. Especially for girls.

11. DRY SHAMPOO- again especially for girls, the queue for the ladies showers can take up to 3 hours.