Seasoned Festival goers.

[The Big Yin]

Hey Folks

I am going to my first festival this year. Download, And we are going for the 5 days.

What do you consider to be essential to take with you :)


ta

[Simaroon]

bud :D

[LongshanksS14]

Tent, beer, more beer, decent boots, baby wipes for festival washes, bogroll and most importantly immodium...
You don't want to have to use Festival bogs unless absolutely neccessary, they are the most disgusting thing you will ever experience - trust me on this one!

oh, and nothing of any real value as you will lose / break it when hammered (from experience)...

Whatever you take or don't take with you it will be an awesome time! :thumbs:

[The Big Yin]

lol no booze for me, Dont drink, Medical condition..

And I also reckon I will have an awesome time, This years line up is AWESOME

[The Big Yin]

bah no gas bottles allowed, so looks like it is going to be a hex stove then

[MisterAdam]

If your wearing wellies with shorts, make sure you've got socks long enough to go over the top of the wellie's otherwise they chaffe and rub the hair off your legs and it hurt's after a while!

[The Big Yin]

taking a pair of hiking boots :)

[StevenC]

Assuming it's donnington you're talking about...I've been LOADS of times.

I'd consider the following essential for download apart from usual tent / clothes etc lol

Hiking boots (it's a heck of a treck from campsite to stages sicne they changed the layout...maybe 2 miles)
Torch
Small padlock (the travelling style ones?) you'd be amazed how many people just try peoples zips on tents etc
Suncream
Antihistimen (if you have hayfever etc)
Paracetemol / neurofen (stuff might hurt hahaha)
Loo roll...PROTECT THIS WITH YOUR LIFE...DO NOT loan it to anyone, you won't get it back then it will be you taking a dump without a way to wipe
Plenty bottled water (they'll charge you £2 / bottle to buy some or you'll wait in a que for YEARS to get some from the taps)
Disposable tray BBQ's, some food and rolls (Burgers are £4 etc)
Small backpack to take stuff with you during the day, ideally (because of the hike back) you don't want to have to be going back and forward too much.
One of those wind up phone charger things.
As little money as possible.
A chain / lanyard / something connected to your wallet from your jeans etc.

[The Big Yin]

Yeah it is download at Donnington.

Are you going this year?

I will have loads of pain killers with me since I am on prescription for them. Might take my actual prescription just in case lol. As for padalocks we were going to take one for each section of the tent, There are 3 bedrooms and the big main area.

Limited to 500ml bottles this year pain in the ass so thats going to be a lot of water. Also going to take a collapsable water container so we can get water first thiing in the morning

[ben8000]

A double air mattress and painkillers.

[nitrodave]

vallium!

[StevenC]

I had said I was going to but looking at money situation and things, I don't think I'm goin to go this year like.

Collapsable water container - win!

[konachris18t]

Peperami's- No fridge req and meaty goodness to hold u over when needed
Hackysack(s)- Fun times for all, relatively low effort and gd for meeting your temporary neighbours
3 Man Catapult- Gd for laughter during the quiet times esp when bombarding the que's for the toilets ;)


Will be my 4th year @ Dwnld this year, defo worth the trip everytime

[The Big Yin]

Where are you travelling from Chris?

[BreadBin]

If your wearing wellies with shorts, make sure you've got socks long enough to go over the top of the wellie's otherwise they chaffe and rub the hair off your legs and it hurt's after a while!

Or just roll the top of your wellies down like a true outdoorsman ;)

I'd take a decent wide-brimmed hat, sun stroke is a bitch.

[konachris18t]

Where are you travelling from Chris?

Other end of the country m8- Dover ;)

'Bout 4 hours each way for me.

[baker_001]

Few years back now, but a few things:

Ear plugs if you end up camped next to the runway :wack: Or just don't camp next to the runway! :thumbs:

Plenty of drink as has been said, they charge an absolute fortune for it :nod:

Baby / face wipes are good, it can get really dusty.

Try not to take anything valuable at all, if you have an old phone then take that instead of a good one. We didn't have any trouble with things going missing, but that could be because we didn't have anything worth nicking :wack:

[The Big Yin]

Other end of the country m8- Dover ;)

'Bout 4 hours each way for me.

lol Oh well, I have been trying to find people to come with me, There are 2 of us traveling down in my car, Was hoping to get someone else to share costs lol.

300 miles each way for me.

Was deffo taking earplugs, sharing a tent with 7 other guys haha. And I never reakised it was slo close to an airport

[Clint]

Hey man, Download is awesome, I've been the last 5 years and I'm going again this year. Nobody has mentioned the most important piece of Download survival kit yet... sunblock! Every year we've been there's been at least one day that has been an absolute schcorcher, and with nowhere to get shelter during the day you WILL burn badly without it.

I'd also recommend bringing a towel and shower gel. I know, gay right? Trust me, when you get to Saturday and it's 20+ degrees of heat, you feel pure manky, and a 5 minute hot shower is the greatest thing in the world. Ques are generally pretty quiet in the mornings too.

The bogs at Download tend not to be as bad as Longshanks said, for the first couple of days anyway. They clean them fairly regularly up until Saturday, but steer well clear on Sunday if you value your stomach contents... it's just not worth it.

Sorry about the long post.....

[clai 'two steaks' cerrig]

Yin

Drop Dow a PM i think he goes every year for the full Wednesday through to Monday might be worth you chating with him

I am still undecided yet weather or not to get a Day Ticket for the Friday to see AC/DC ?? With Mrs Cerrig waiting for surgery my life is on hold :( and my dodgy health issues it makes for poor long term planing

[Clint]

Just realised looking back at this that StevenC already mentioned suncream. Sorry, was a bit tipsy the other night....

[dow]

Nah I don't go every year.. last year was my first... and don't ask me for advice as last year I went drinking on the thursday night, apparently arrived back at my tent at 4am in my underwear covered in mud. No shoes, no wallet, no phone... Good job I left my car keys in the tent... but was pretty miserable without shoes until I got back to the car for my spare pair. I still don't remember quite what happened, but apparently I lost my pants and shoes on a dancefloor when they became to heavy with mud to stand up... this was in the beer tent. I'd been separated from my friends and thought the beer tent was a good place to go and wait and see if they came past.

So, pretty much don't do what I did.