The International Contingent

[moogster]

18 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I've not looked at ferry prices for a while, but even when I did, it was more expensive than flying and of course takes about four hours compared to the flight time of about an hour.

Yes I find flying from "this close" a little ridiculous (South of the NL but doesn't matter much distance wise here 😛 ) but when I saw the ferry at 200 Euros I did have a "screw the planet" moment.

18 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

In no circumstances would I want to drive home on the Monday all the way back to Hamburg! I did it back to Colchester once and I was so tired on the way home I nearly had an accident and vowed never to drive hungover/tired after 5 days of a festival again. Luckily, I was just going down an on ramp onto the motorway and no one was around (it was like 9pm at night by then), and I just skidded into the hard shoulder, but still, never again.

 

Yes sounds familiar. Can't imagine doing it with kids in the car.

I am now having a look and booking super early means I could hopefully get a Eurostar at a bit more than 100 Euros. Probably will involve a night somewhere, and coach,  but the peace of mind is worth it. Should London coach not work, then I'm afraid it's plane and Bristol...

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

3 hours ago, moogster said:

Yes I find flying from "this close" a little ridiculous (South of the NL but doesn't matter much distance wise here 😛 ) but when I saw the ferry at 200 Euros I did have a "screw the planet" moment.

Yes sounds familiar. Can't imagine doing it with kids in the car.

I am now having a look and booking super early means I could hopefully get a Eurostar at a bit more than 100 Euros. Probably will involve a night somewhere, and coach,  but the peace of mind is worth it. Should London coach not work, then I'm afraid it's plane and Bristol...

I've looked at getting a train to Amsterdam for Eurostar. It's actually incredibly reasonable if booked in advance. 60 euro one way to London, quick sleep in Victoria and then a train to Bristol, coach to the festival. Not bad at all. 

I'll probably have to get flight back no matter what, because everything else would take far too long. 

[moogster]

I'm having a pipe dream of a couple of busses that would slowly make their way through Europe and pick up Glasto goers and drop them off at Gate A.

I am pretty sure Benelux/North of France folks would fill one. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

1 minute ago, moogster said:

I'm having a pipe dream of a couple of busses that would slowly make their way through Europe and pick up Glasto goers and drop them off at Gate A.

I am pretty sure Benelux/North of France folks would fill one. 

Are you talking a private hire or something organised by the festival itself? I wonder how much a private minibus or rental would cost between all the people of western Europe? Lol. It would be quite a fun journey, although I wouldn't want to be the one driving it home on Monday morning!

[moogster]

2 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Are you talking a private hire or something organised by the festival itself? I wonder how much a private minibus or rental would cost between all the people of western Europe? Lol. It would be quite a fun journey, although I wouldn't want to be the one driving it home on Monday morning!

Well organised by the festival would be easier but probably not happening unless they are out of challenges 🙂 .

Private hire can work but then you need to find the people organise etc, and pay the driver for the length of the fest too so that adds up quite a bit... There's a company in the NL that does this for Benelux festivals but had a disaster summer due to lack of coach drivers.

Maybe we need to point out that to GL that too many people (from Europe) fly in 😈

 

 

[Robinn]

On 9/16/2022 at 5:05 PM, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Has anyone taken the whole family to GF before from abroad?

My wife has started to be interested the closer ticket day approaches, but I can't get my head around the logistical nightmare of carting a 3 and a 1 year old there from Germany. I was going to be a solo traveller, one tent, limited gear etc, but now I'm thinking that we're going to have to upgrade our tent (or get a second), take car seats for any taxis, pay out extra for the hotel in Bristol before we take the coach/taxi to PGA, somehow get a decent buggy/trailer on the plane, all the extra clothes to carry, shoes, wellies, toys, books...

Has anyone got any experience? It sounds like a nightmare to plan now.

Sounds awesome! My girlfriend has less than zero interest in paying buckloads to stay on a muddy field for 5 days, especially with our two kids, but if by some miracle she would be interested to join, I'd definitely book a pre-erected tent and go for as much 'luxury' as possible. Especially with the kids and all the stuff they need, I'd want to make it as easy on myself as possible.

And yeah, it's quite a drive to get there, but the car does give you total freedom. You can make it easier on the kids (and yourself) by taking longer to get there, stopping frequently or just making it a 2 or 3 day road trip. Sure, the day after is hard, so we usually book a hotel in Bristol and drive back to NL (near the German border) on Tuesday after a good night of sleep. There are also lots of great hotels/B&B's closer to the festival site (and places like Wells or Glastonbury are definitely worth the trip while you're there).

So tl;dr-version: never done it, probably will never happen, but I think if you just take everything slow and make as easy for yourself as possible, it will be epic!

[gooner1990]

On 9/19/2022 at 7:28 AM, moogster said:

I'm having a pipe dream of a couple of busses that would slowly make their way through Europe and pick up Glasto goers and drop them off at Gate A.

I am pretty sure Benelux/North of France folks would fill one. 

Out of interest do you tend to see a lot of other Glastonbury goers at the airport when you are coming over for the festival?

[moogster]

44 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

Out of interest do you tend to see a lot of other Glastonbury goers at the airport when you are coming over for the festival?

I did train and coach once and then car + ferry all the other times. It's a little hard to spot the Glasto goers in the ferry on the way to and I don't believe I went "ah AH you are going to Glasto" very often in the past 10 years. Maybe more take the shuttle or the Calais boat (I take Dunkerque). On the way back maybe one other group every year (always easier to spot on the way back). 

Oh yeah last time on the parking waiting for the ferry there were two American ladies living in Germany preaching the greatness of Glasto to all waiting. 

So, not much. I am guessing airports, especially Bristol are busier. I mean it's a one hour flight for a lot of Europeans...

I do hear Dutch or French spoken about once or twice a fest. 

[John the Moth]

For the Aus and NZ team 🙂

 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

On 9/19/2022 at 8:38 AM, moogster said:

Well organised by the festival would be easier but probably not happening unless they are out of challenges 🙂 .

Private hire can work but then you need to find the people organise etc, and pay the driver for the length of the fest too so that adds up quite a bit... There's a company in the NL that does this for Benelux festivals but had a disaster summer due to lack of coach drivers.

Maybe we need to point out that to GL that too many people (from Europe) fly in 😈

 

 

Maybe if GF just organised a private jet for us to land on the old railway line. That'd save a lot of CO2 right there 😉

[moogster]

8 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Maybe if GF just organised a private jet for us to land on the old railway line. That'd save a lot of CO2 right there 😉

According to Google maps it would take 34 hours cycling for me (ferry in between of course). With an electric bike I am sure I can make it in 3 or 4 days 😃

 

[EamerRed]

11 hours ago, John the Moth said:

For the Aus and NZ team 🙂

 

Thanks very much. Hadn't noticed this, been trying hard to get Fontaines DC tickets here, and here they're playing a 15 min drive away. Result!

[Neil]

bad news for the Ireland contingent.

 

Bristol to Cork Flights Discontinued

[Wooderson]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

bad news for the IrelandCork contingent.

 

Bristol to Cork Flights Discontinued

Good news for Glastonbury. 😉

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

On 9/19/2022 at 8:05 PM, Robinn said:

Sounds awesome! My girlfriend has less than zero interest in paying buckloads to stay on a muddy field for 5 days, especially with our two kids, but if by some miracle she would be interested to join, I'd definitely book a pre-erected tent and go for as much 'luxury' as possible. Especially with the kids and all the stuff they need, I'd want to make it as easy on myself as possible.

And yeah, it's quite a drive to get there, but the car does give you total freedom. You can make it easier on the kids (and yourself) by taking longer to get there, stopping frequently or just making it a 2 or 3 day road trip. Sure, the day after is hard, so we usually book a hotel in Bristol and drive back to NL (near the German border) on Tuesday after a good night of sleep. There are also lots of great hotels/B&B's closer to the festival site (and places like Wells or Glastonbury are definitely worth the trip while you're there).

So tl;dr-version: never done it, probably will never happen, but I think if you just take everything slow and make as easy for yourself as possible, it will be epic!

I suppose it's the cost factor has suddenly skyrocketed. Could make it into a bigger holiday though and give us some breathing room around arriving/leaving.

Trouble is, there's only a couple of weeks until ticket day and I've still not thought of the best plan for getting round it all!

[EamerRed]

Good thread to be in at the moment. The way the pound is going, some people will be paying about $2.50 for their Glasto tickets 👀

[moogster]

5 hours ago, EamerRed said:

Good thread to be in at the moment. The way the pound is going, some people will be paying about $2.50 for their Glasto tickets 👀

Depends on the currency. Not like the Euro is doing that great either.... Looks like we may have happy Americans though.

[Watergirl]

I take the ferry from Ireland. Sail & Rail is a reasonable price. If I was flying I'd have to pay for additional pieces of luggage, whereas as a foot passenger on the ferry you may bring as much as you can carry. I don't drive.

Always make a point of wearing a Glasto T-shirt and usually get talking to some other Glastonbury-goers.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

3 hours ago, Watergirl said:

I take the ferry from Ireland. Sail & Rail is a reasonable price. If I was flying I'd have to pay for additional pieces of luggage, whereas as a foot passenger on the ferry you may bring as much as you can carry. I don't drive.

Always make a point of wearing a Glasto T-shirt and usually get talking to some other Glastonbury-goers.

Always useful setting up a flag for others to clock. I should really buy one of the festival t-shirts one day

[doogie]

6 hours ago, moogster said:

Depends on the currency. Not like the Euro is doing that great either.... Looks like we may have happy Americans though.

Unless they forget their clocks go back on ticket day 😁

[moogster]

Of note regarding the "where's my ticket" disaster, the detailed ticket info contradicts itself saying in one paragraph that tickets will be sent, in another one box office, but a much clearer third paragraph explains that tickets will be sent to the EU, box office for others. Let's not wonder if they'd count Switzerland and Norway as possible mail countries, but overall, a win for the quite large amount of Euro folks coming by car/campervan.

Personally decided to go for coach first but nice to know we wouldn't have to spend a couple of hours getting the tickets should it be a GA one after all.

[Watergirl]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:01 PM, moogster said:

Personally decided to go for coach first but nice to know we wouldn't have to spend a couple of hours getting the tickets should it be a GA one after all.

Coach would be perfect. If going for general will see if I can use a friend in the UK for postal address, because this year's box office scenario sounded far from ideal.

[kalifire]

Well, I've made the difficult decision to abandon plans to go back home this Christmas 😔. The cost of flights is just too damn high - pure exploitation of the holiday traffic (costs are about half, a month either side of Christmas). Spoke to my parents last night to let them know. Not a happy conversation, but they understood.

[Crazyfool01]

10 minutes ago, kalifire said:

Well, I've made the difficult decision to abandon plans to go back home this Christmas 😔. The cost of flights is just too damn high - pure exploitation of the holiday traffic (costs are about half, a month either side of Christmas). Spoke to my parents last night to let them know. Not a happy conversation, but they understood.

Aw that’s a shame and there goes my attempted catch up for a pint when you return … Will hopefully hunt you down in June instead 

[kalifire]

43 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Aw that’s a shame and there goes my attempted catch up for a pint when you return … Will hopefully hunt you down in June instead 

Gutted, CF. I was looking forward to that. 100% in for June, should we both be lucky.