So last weekend I did something COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone and camped at my very first festival. Don't get me wrong, I love festivals, I love the atmosphere, the music, the fashion, but the thought of camping got me really worked up! As some of you know I have/had quite an intense phobia of people being sick - I've now finished treatment (CBT) for it and feel much better about it now but all I imagined when camping at a festival was people being sick all over the place 24/7.
I have ALWAYS wanted to go camping - I do see myself as a little adventurer & explorer and so I sucked my worries up and said yes to this opportunity and... I loved it!
Sure invited Andrew and myself along for the weekend - they had their own arena there which boasted some incredible acts, and also challenged me to try out their new deodorant - they've created Motionsense freshness technology, which is in fact the world's first antiperspirant that is activated directly by movement, so basically, the more you move, the more it protects. They armed with me a fitbit to track how much I moved and off I went!
The first challenge was setting up the tent. Andrew's parents bought me it for my birthday (they're possibly the most active family I've ever met and love camping so it was very apt). They advised us to practise setting the tent up BEFORE we got to the campsite and also gave us words of wisdom saying 'a couple who can set up a tent together without arguing, are destined to be together for life'. Luckily, Andrew and I are pretty much soul-mates and great team players and we set up the tent in 20 minutes, without one bicker, despite not practising beforehand.
The festival itself was so much fun - it really felt like a mini holiday. We lapped up the sun (it was 30 degrees on Saturday), we danced the nights away to music (Tom Jones, Nero, Pendulum, Marina & The Diamonds and Calvin Harris were all big highlights), we met up with my friends (Lily & Dal), ate the festival food (which was, in all honesty, quite vile!) and I loved every minute of it, even the camping - I'm glad to let you know that there was no 'vomming' and I saw no one being sick.
I also wanted to give a low down of the products I could not have lived without:
Tangle Teezer: My hair was as matted as dreadlocks within 4 hours of being there and this really saved the days!
Antibac: Again, lifesaver - I used this SO much.
Simple Micellar Water Wipes: Being without water for 3 days was tough but these made removing makeup really easy & left me feeling really fresh. I also took a pack of babywipes for other areas which also worked a treat.
Earplugs: Festival campsites really are really noisy. Enough said.
COlab Dry Shampoo: Couldn't live without this stuff.
Sure Deod: I am super impressed with this deodorant. I used it on the morning we arrived and didn't really think about it for the rest of the day until I realised I had walked 25,000 steps in 30 degree heat and still felt as fresh as a daisy. If that's not saying something, I don't know what will. I would really recommend this to people who are very active and need something to protect keep them fresh all day.
All in all, according to my FitBit I walked almost 45,000 steps (WOW) and didn't sweat an inch.
BIG THUMBS UP from me.
I absolutely loved my first camping experience (at the age of 27) and now I absolutely can't wait to do it again. I also want to say thank you to V Festival - the security in our campsite was just perfect and made me feel really at ease. All members of staff were lovely and it's a weekend I'll remember forever!
Have you ever camped at a festival? Tell me your stories!
xx
