The International Contingent

[kalifire]

56 minutes ago, Calvin Klein said:

What's everybody's journey looks like when going to the festival?

Do you plan your whole vacation around glastonbury or do you just go for the week and come back?

I basically plan it around Glastonbury, yeah. Typical trip for me is to leave on the Thursday before, arriving Friday. Spend the weekend in London then head to Frome for a few days with the ‘rents before the taxi to the drop off point early Wednesday morning. 

Monday after the festival, back to Frome then Tuesday/Wednesday do a quick tour of friends in the UK, leaving the UK at some point over the following weekend and back to Melbourne Sunday/Monday. It’s quite a dense trip and I arrive back tired but happy.

I always feel a bit guilty that my parents think I’m only seeing them for Glastonbury, but it’s just a win win. I get the festival but get to see them too. 

[Ollie7490]

7 hours ago, Mark H said:

We did it!!!!! Well, technically my cousin in the UK did, we couldn’t even get close from NZ.

Phase One of our journey complete, now to discuss travel and childcare possibilities with our parents ?

Congratulations to those who were successful and commiserations to those who missed out. 

Same story as me. I've never succeeded from NZ but luckily just like other years someone else has come up trumps. Now to plan the rest of the trip back.

[iloveglasto2020]

Me in NZ  and 3 in Aussie.... no tickets ? to say I’m devestated is an understatement...it makes making travel plans hard but we’ll still try for April

[iloveglasto2020]

If anyone who got tickets this time around wants to help us out in April I’d be extremely grateful!! Drinks on me for sure.... Even through the extreme feeling of devestation I still feel like we’re going

[SwedgeAntilles]

9 hours ago, Calvin Klein said:

What's everybody's journey looks like when going to the festival?

Last time (2017) we spent the day before and the day after in Glastonbury town, which I would recommend 100%. Second time we were there. 
This year we got coach tickets which makes that option a bit more difficult.

Do you plan your whole vacation around glastonbury or do you just go for the week and come back?

Glastonbury only visit for me. Fly to Bristol via Amsterdam on Wednesday morning (due into Bristol around 1pm), then flying the same route back at around 1pm on the Monday. At my age I want to make sure I'm back in my own bed on Monday night 

[Quark]

9 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Glastonbury only visit for me. Fly to Bristol via Amsterdam on Wednesday morning (due into Bristol around 1pm), then flying the same route back at around 1pm on the Monday. At my age I want to make sure I'm back in my own bed on Monday night 

Very much this.  Applicable to festivals, city breaks, weekends away, stag dos (shudder)...

Friend: you drinking tonight?

Me: no pal, got to get back home

Friend: you could kip on my sofa

Me: fuck that.

[Doug85]

10 hours ago, MetaKate said:

I still think I should have about 10 days to play around before Glasto, possible south of France or northern Italy? We will see!

Italian lakes are amazing, Como in particular. Been a few times along with a stop in Milan. I absolutely love Italy and wish I could get the leave to get away there more often, a stop there before Glasto would be unreal. 

[Robinn]

I'm from the Netherlands and I started going to Glasto in 2011. I remember watching the 2009 edition on BBC with my mom and really enjoyed the sets from Madness and Tom Jones (must have seen a lot more, but those are the first that come to mind). Then in 2010, I stayed up to watch the Muse set in my (then) girlfriends house and during that encore I decided I had to go there.

I managed to get tickets for 2011, 2013, 1014 and 2016. I failed in 2017, but I couldn't miss Barry Gibb, so I decided to work that year and it was great. Missed 2019 as well, but I'm back in 2020!

My musical interests are all over the place. Some of my favourite acts are Bee Gees, Madness, Manic Street Preachers, Motörhead and Radiohead. I mostly consider myself a rockfan/metal-head (gutted that I had to miss Gojira at Shangri-La), but lately I've also started to enjoy the Scandinavian jazz-acts that are currently coming up.

As for the festivals I visit back home, I started with Pinkpop more than 10 years ago, but nowadays I tend to go the smaller festivals with bands that usually play Glasto as well (Best Kept Secret, Down The Rabbit Hole, Valkhof Festival). And some local rock/metal festivals of course, like Sonic Whip, Soulcrusher, Fortarock and Dynamo.

That's it, I guess!

[BlackZeppelin]

9 hours ago, kalifire said:

I basically plan it around Glastonbury, yeah. Typical trip for me is to leave on the Thursday before, arriving Friday. Spend the weekend in London then head to Frome for a few days with the ‘rents before the taxi to the drop off point early Wednesday morning. 

Monday after the festival, back to Frome then Tuesday/Wednesday do a quick tour of friends in the UK, leaving the UK at some point over the following weekend and back to Melbourne Sunday/Monday. It’s quite a dense trip and I arrive back tired but happy.

I always feel a bit guilty that my parents think I’m only seeing them for Glastonbury, but it’s just a win win. I get the festival but get to see them too. 

Very similar, we go to Glastonbury town the night or two before, go up the Tor for  bit of a pilgrimage, then go to the festival.

Usually bus back to Glasto, or Wells or Bath after the festival to sleep in a decent bed and have a huge bath.

Then we go somewhere for a week (Lisbon this year), then home. (26 bloody hours), week of jetlag, which is worsening, and back to work to pay off the debts.

 

[CJTM]

On 10/7/2019 at 12:20 AM, Calvin Klein said:

We still have to get to Ireland. 
We've been around most of Great Britain, but never crossed to Ireland. 

I was fortunate enough to get an amazing day both times I've been to the Tor. 

 

Achill, Mayo, Ireland!

[beefykoala]

We're thinking of saying screw it to pre-erected camping and having our UK contingent bring all the additional bits in for us (we'd bring the tent, so we could grab our space asap). What are yall doing for camping?

[sirjonnyp]

Greetings all, I am about to join your contingent! My partner is aussie and her visa runs out on Thursday, so tomorrow we are moving to Melbourne. I got through and got tickets for my group, so at the moment it looks like I will be going to the farm. I'm not 100 per cent as I won't be able to work for a while due to the visa, so funds may not allow it. Hopefully by February we should have a better idea and I can start looking at flights.

My grand plan at the moment is to get for the weekend before Glastonbury, see friends and family, go to the first day of the West Indies test at Lords on the Thursday then go straight down to Glastonbury from there. It will mean that I miss the Wednesday and most of Thursday, but as it will be my first time back I really want to maximise the time I can spend with friends and family. 

While my partner knows and understands how important the festival has been to me (we used my Glastonbury postcards to her as evidence in our visa application), she said a while ago that it's easier in the long run not to go home within the first year when you move abroad. I've never done anything like this before, so was planning on following her advice... but then I got tickets. We shall see!

If there are any plans for an antipodean efests meet I'm game!

[beefykoala]

13 minutes ago, sirjonnyp said:

Greetings all, I am about to join your contingent! My partner is aussie and her visa runs out on Thursday, so tomorrow we are moving to Melbourne. I got through and got tickets for my group, so at the moment it looks like I will be going to the farm. I'm not 100 per cent as I won't be able to work for a while due to the visa, so funds may not allow it. Hopefully by February we should have a better idea and I can start looking at flights.

My grand plan at the moment is to get for the weekend before Glastonbury, see friends and family, go to the first day of the West Indies test at Lords on the Thursday then go straight down to Glastonbury from there. It will mean that I miss the Wednesday and most of Thursday, but as it will be my first time back I really want to maximise the time I can spend with friends and family. 

While my partner knows and understands how important the festival has been to me (we used my Glastonbury postcards to her as evidence in our visa application), she said a while ago that it's easier in the long run not to go home within the first year when you move abroad. I've never done anything like this before, so was planning on following her advice... but then I got tickets. We shall see!

If there are any plans for an antipodean efests meet I'm game!

I had a troublesome first marriage to an American, so I absolutely sympathize with the pain of visa shit. The good news is it's worth it, in the end. 

Hope you can make it back to Glasto!

[Bryanrebe]

Another new Zealander here! Am going to a wedding in Italy in May and decided to book return flights for a couple of days after Glasto in the vain hope we'd get tickets. A bunch of my friends went for the first time this year and said it was the best week of their lives, which solidified the deal.

Was successful in getting tickets, I actually had a panic attack during the process though! Got through to the registration input page on my phone (also had two laptops going) and it would load for a while then crash. I was rolling around on the ground with my eyes covered trying to control my breathing. Then I got through to the next page, and when I went to choose my tickets it said the tickets were all exhausted! I decided to just keep F5ing it (or the phone equivalent), and someone must have dropped out because I got through to the payment page. I entered my details and when I pressed confirm the bastard told me that mt time had run out. It had taken me 11 SECONDS.  At that point I thought I had well and truly lost out.

Anyway, it had thrown me back to the registration page, so I tried to get to the next screen again. When I did, it came up saying "this registration has already bought tickets" or something of the sort. I didn't actually believe it until I saw the payment had come off my credit card, and then was still sceptical until I got the confirmation email half an hour later. I din't get to sleep until 2.00am because my nerves were so shot!

I guess it just goes to show that you shouldn't give up when you see "allocation exhausted."

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk.

[MetaKate]

8 hours ago, beefykoala said:

We're thinking of saying screw it to pre-erected camping and having our UK contingent bring all the additional bits in for us (we'd bring the tent, so we could grab our space asap). What are yall doing for camping?

It's a bit of a puzzle for me this year also. I have a 4 person pop up tent in London at my friends place... but seeing as though they didnt get tickets and I dont want to lug a 4 man pop up on my own, I'm looking at other options. I'll try to find something light enough that I can fly back and forth with it in the future I think? 

Preerected camping looks tempting as well but being on my own it's a bit expensive. Many decisions to make. 

[Reckoner]

Will be travelling again from Singapore again this year.

Due to rubbish annual leave provisions, it's a real in and out mission for me. Fly out Friday night, London Weekend, Wells Tuesday, Glasto Wednesday to Monday morning, Fly out Monday Night. Feel wrecked by the end, but it's worth it!

 

 

 

[Bryanrebe]

Just now, Gregfc15 said:

Will be travelling again from Singapore again this year.

Due to rubbish annual leave provisions, it's a real in and out mission for me. Fly out Friday night, London Weekend, Wells Tuesday, Glasto Wednesday to Monday morning, Fly out Monday Night. Feel wrecked by the end, but it's worth it!

 

 

 

Oof I thought it was bad I was flying back to New Zealand on the Tuesday!

[Calvin Klein]

We have always camped onsite, brought everything (tent, sleeping bags, etc) back home as well. Might not be the most comfy option, but it's completely doable.

I have no idea what we'll be doing next year. I got tickets and that's all I know.
Living in South America means you can't plan too much ahead. Who knows if I'll be able to afford it in a few months. 

[Mark H]

On 10/7/2019 at 9:11 AM, Mark H said:

We did it!!!!! Well, technically my cousin in the UK did, we couldn’t even get close from NZ.

Phase One of our journey complete, now to discuss travel and childcare possibilities with our parents ?

Congratulations to those who were successful and commiserations to those who missed out. 

Hey friends!

Update: looks Iike we did the thing! Our parents are on board and accomodation is booked in Bath for them to look after our child while we are at Glasto (they were due a holiday anyway...) We’re literally dragging three generations over form NZ for this and I feel there is no other corner of the internet that would understand why, so I had to share!

Working out flight details and post festival holiday options currently. Also hoping we can nab a 2 man scout tent at Worthy View to limit what we bring over.

So. Very. Excited! And a bit terrified about long haul travel with a 2 year old. But mostly excited.

[Reckoner]

I'm lucky i could stash my tent under the staircase of one of my group in London, so i don't have to worry about travelling with it. Compact Sleeping bag and sleeping mat fits in the back pack. Don't need that many clothes for such a short trip!

[BlackZeppelin]

14 hours ago, sirjonnyp said:

Greetings all, I am about to join your contingent! My partner is aussie and her visa runs out on Thursday, so tomorrow we are moving to Melbourne. I got through and got tickets for my group, so at the moment it looks like I will be going to the farm. I'm not 100 per cent as I won't be able to work for a while due to the visa, so funds may not allow it. Hopefully by February we should have a better idea and I can start looking at flights.

My grand plan at the moment is to get for the weekend before Glastonbury, see friends and family, go to the first day of the West Indies test at Lords on the Thursday then go straight down to Glastonbury from there. It will mean that I miss the Wednesday and most of Thursday, but as it will be my first time back I really want to maximise the time I can spend with friends and family. 

While my partner knows and understands how important the festival has been to me (we used my Glastonbury postcards to her as evidence in our visa application), she said a while ago that it's easier in the long run not to go home within the first year when you move abroad. I've never done anything like this before, so was planning on following her advice... but then I got tickets. We shall see!

If there are any plans for an antipodean efests meet I'm game!

Fuck that, if you've got tickets, just go.

Pay off your debt when you get settled.

There will never be a 50th Glastonbury ever again...you have the Willie Wonka  golden ticket.

You're going!

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by BlackZeppelin

[assorted]

Hello there!

My group is part of the international contingent. 5 first timers 1 who went a bunch in the 90’s. 4 coming from America, 2 from Europe (neither UK).

My recent past festivals have been 2 All Tomorrow’s Parties in the USA, Fun Fun Fun Fest and SXSW in Austin. Only camping with lots of people I’ve done is Rainbow Gatherings a long time ago never a music fest.

I’ve been interested in doing Glastonbury for a while and 3 of us tried for tickets for 2019 and failed. This time it was 7 of us trying and we succeeded. Successful person was based in San Francisco so for us it feels like success was based in luck and number of people trying more than proximity.

Travel plans: Flying on a Monday overnight staying in Bath Tuesday night then in Glastonbury the Monday after. Likely flying out Tuesday unless my partner’s work and my work co-operates in which case she may come out and meet me for some sorta UK vacation after. 

Camping: That’s a topic of conversation currently. We all really want to stay inside the fence so the only pre-setup we would consider would be tipis or the tents they announced for Glasto-by-the-sea. Regardless I may have to buy more portable camping gear or buy/pickup stuff in Bath the day before. 

Lovely to meet you all! Been lurking on this forum a long time excited to finally be going!

[Mash2]

Hello,

I'm leading a group of 5 US attendees.  We're coming from NC, OH, IN and CA.  We will be coming on different days but most intend to spend a few days before the festival in London.  We have Weds coach package tickets from London, worst case, we will be syncing up at the coach departure point.  Thinking US return flights will be Tues from London.

We are camping in one of the offsite pre-erected camping sites (ZigguCamping), so we'll just be hauling in incidentals.

We've been to many different festivals in the US (Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Firefly and many smaller ones) and a few international ones (Primavera, Montreaux).  Glastonbury was/is a bucket list festival for me.  We are all Glastonbury fist timers, so everyone is pumped that we got tickets to the 50th.

[Calvin Klein]

1 hour ago, Mash2 said:

Hello,

I'm leading a group of 5 US attendees.  We're coming from NC, OH, IN and CA.  We will be coming on different days but most intend to spend a few days before the festival in London.  We have Weds coach package tickets from London, worst case, we will be syncing up at the coach departure point.  Thinking US return flights will be Tues from London.

We are camping in one of the offsite pre-erected camping sites (ZigguCamping), so we'll just be hauling in incidentals.

We've been to many different festivals in the US (Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Firefly and many smaller ones) and a few international ones (Primavera, Montreaux).  Glastonbury was/is a bucket list festival for me.  We are all Glastonbury fist timers, so everyone is pumped that we got tickets to the 50th.

Be assured this festival is a whole other kind of experience. It pretty much ruined other festivals for me. 

[Mash2]

2 hours ago, Calvin Klein said:

Be assured this festival is a whole other kind of experience. It pretty much ruined other festivals for me. 

My only concern is that its been so hyped up that if I don't immediately ascend into nirvana after entering the gates I'm going to feel let down.  Seriously, really looking forward to it.  Usually, I'm hyper focused on the music at a festival.  For this one, I plan on spending a lot more time exploring around without pre-set destinations.