To past plane+coach visitors - how do you do it?

[assorted]

Me and 5 friends were lucky enough to get coach+festival tickets.

No one is UK local, we will all be arriving by plane then train to our coach pickup city on Tuesday (Bath).

I’ve camped before in life, but I’ve never tried to camp without a car.

I’m wondering about the experiences of people who have done this before. How did you do it? What advice would you give? Worthy View? Tipis? The $$$ private glamping stuff? If you Camp inside the festival like we are planning, do you bring a tent? How big? Do you check bags at the airport? One or two? Do you buy anything on site or in town before? Like what do you buy there vs bring? As many details as what works for you that you’d like to share and welcome any and all advice! I've already read all the Glastonbury website stuff as well as glastoearth FAQ and many forum threads. I'm just looking for individual experiences, opinions and tips from those who have done this.

Should note we are all in our 40’s, 5 men one woman (no couples), one of us attended Glastonbury a lot in the 90’s, rest of us this is our first time.

This will likely be our only Glastonbury for all of us.

We’re all leaning against Worthy View for different reasons. For me it’s because the tent is not the heaviest or bulkiest part of my camping setup at all - it’s my sleeping bag and air bed, and those aren’t things worthy view provides, correct? So not sure why I’m paying like $500 to replace my $100 tent and i still have to worry about sleeping bag, pillow, air bed, etc...

Also since for most of us this is our only Glastonbury i think maybe we should do it inside the fence even if we are a little less comfortable.

Tipis are a consideration as it’s inside the fence but not sure we all want to sleep together like that. And we’d still have to figure out what to sleep on.

Since we’ll have to make our Worthy View/tipi decision soon, I wanted to hear opinions from others who have done Glasto like we are (arriving by plane+bus no car) and advice as well.

Thanks! We are all very excited about attending! Me especially who has been lurking here for many years!

[poppyh24]

Worthy view won't have air beds and sleeping bags but other pre erected offer these as tag ons... Check out tangerine fields.. Currently sold out but give them a buzz and get on the list and you will get a tent as they get cancellations all the time.  There are a couple of camping stalls on site too for essentials .... There's also a millets camping shop in central bath not far from Bath spa railway station so you could always click and collect your camping gear from there? 

[assorted]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, our current plan is to try to pack as much as we can and buy online and pickup whatever we can't at Millets Bath.

Since it's our only time we are leaning towards staying inside the fence and making it work with whatever we can get on planes and/or buy at Millets Bath over those glamping places. I was just wondering if anyone out there had done this before, or would advise us to definitely do Worthy Views or Tipis or those glamping things over what we are trying since we'll have to decide if we are doing Worthy View or going for Tipis in the next week or so.

[GoonerRob]

100% stay inside the fence if you can, you then get the full festival experience... having to trudge in and out of gates in the middle of the night (potentially, up the hill of death, potentially inebriated ) doesn't make much sense to me. 

You can pick up everything you need (camping wise) in Bath, or even Glastonbury town before it starts - There's an Argos in Shepton Mallet. 

 I'd personally just bring clothes if I was coming on a plane and pick up all the rest locally. 

 

[assorted]

Thank you for the reply, it’s reassuring. I think the only thing that would tempt me would be the tents they announced for Glastonbury-by-sea. It’s a shame camplight stopped it would have been perfect for my group.... I guess if they are offering tipis early as well as worthy view to us coach people (they have not said that i am saying if they do) i would bring that up to my group but again very $$$ for just a shelter... 

[squirrelarmy]

Are you all staying in your own tent? Doubling up will make it easier to share the loads although two people in a two man tent is a very tight squeeze. You'll always need to go one bigger to make room for baggage.  

The heaviest item I carried other than beer was my airbed, if you can manage without one you'll save a huge amount of weight. Ideally you want both hands free and just take what you can on your back. Go for as big of a rucksack as you can manage. Spreading weight over your back is a lot easier than carrying things in your hands especially when you walk for long distances over rough ground.

I can fit a 3 man tent plus a weeks clothes in my bag. It's 85L so pretty sizable. 

You probably wont have space for lots of cans. Bottles of spirits (in plastic) are the most weight efficient way of carrying alcohol but the alternative is bringing plenty of money to buy all drink and food on site. 

[swelsbyuk]

There appears to be Amazon collection lockers in many cities nowadays, I'm sure Bath will have one.

I recommend this over an airbed as it's self-inflating so no need to lug a pump with you: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deeplee-Inflatable-Sleeping-Ultralight-Backpacking/dp/B07SSTBH2B

[Crazyfool01]

if possible try to not buy single use items like tents and take everything away with you .... Love the farm Leave no Trace  

[assorted]

@squirrelarmy thanks for the advice! yes among the 6 we so far count 3 of us with tents, one of us with a large 4/5 man, 2 of us (myself included) with smaller 2/3 mans.  my self-inflating airpad is certainly the bulkiest item - which i could not bring and buy/pickup a new one in bath but would still have to get on the coach and walk in. i'm was already thinking close to what you have in terms of rucksacks was thinking about this one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HA3EM9A/?coliid=IQRE84NCG4LI0&colid=1HNUALQQ1V1DG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it  --- i assume we will be sacrificing trying to carry in drinks for extra camping comfort but one of my group has already been looking at soft cooler bags so not sure we all agree on that.... 

@swelsbyuk thank you i hadn't thought about amazon and yes there are a ton of collection points! this is great because millets is not that cheap; i mean they have some great deals right now but i am assuming those deals won't exist when i'm ordering at the height of camping season in june. amazon is a great alternative i hadn't thought of thank you!

@crazyfool1 thank you for the suggestion and yes, please be assured we have no intent of leaving anything. as we are all older, and not from wealth, the idea of just leaving a bunch of camping equipment on a farm like garbage is a strange idea and not one we were planning on doing. anything we buy i will be figuring out how to get back to our home countries and re-use - the first step for us though is just figuring out the what and how of getting in, but we will certainly also plan on how to get it out. :-) 

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, assorted said:

@squirrelarmy thanks for the advice! yes among the 6 we so far count 3 of us with tents, one of us with a large 4/5 man, 2 of us (myself included) with smaller 2/3 mans.  my self-inflating airpad is certainly the bulkiest item - which i could not bring and buy/pickup a new one in bath but would still have to get on the coach and walk in. i'm was already thinking close to what you have in terms of rucksacks was thinking about this one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HA3EM9A/?coliid=IQRE84NCG4LI0&colid=1HNUALQQ1V1DG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it  --- i assume we will be sacrificing trying to carry in drinks for extra camping comfort but one of my group has already been looking at soft cooler bags so not sure we all agree on that.... 

@swelsbyuk thank you i hadn't thought about amazon and yes there are a ton of collection points! this is great because millets is not that cheap; i mean they have some great deals right now but i am assuming those deals won't exist when i'm ordering at the height of camping season in june. amazon is a great alternative i hadn't thought of thank you!

@crazyfool1 thank you for the suggestion and yes, please be assured we have no intent of leaving anything. as we are all older, and not from wealth, the idea of just leaving a bunch of camping equipment on a farm like garbage is a strange idea and not one we were planning on doing. anything we buy i will be figuring out how to get back to our home countries and re-use - the first step for us though is just figuring out the what and how of getting in, but we will certainly also plan on how to get it out. ?

fantastic ... great to hear  

[Ragingbunion93]

On 10/22/2019 at 2:41 PM, assorted said:

Me and 5 friends were lucky enough to get coach+festival tickets.

No one is UK local, we will all be arriving by plane then train to our coach pickup city on Tuesday (Bath).

I’ve camped before in life, but I’ve never tried to camp without a car.

I’m wondering about the experiences of people who have done this before. How did you do it? What advice would you give? Worthy View? Tipis? The $$$ private glamping stuff? If you Camp inside the festival like we are planning, do you bring a tent? How big? Do you check bags at the airport? One or two? Do you buy anything on site or in town before? Like what do you buy there vs bring? As many details as what works for you that you’d like to share and welcome any and all advice! I've already read all the Glastonbury website stuff as well as glastoearth FAQ and many forum threads. I'm just looking for individual experiences, opinions and tips from those who have done this.

Should note we are all in our 40’s, 5 men one woman (no couples), one of us attended Glastonbury a lot in the 90’s, rest of us this is our first time.

This will likely be our only Glastonbury for all of us.

We’re all leaning against Worthy View for different reasons. For me it’s because the tent is not the heaviest or bulkiest part of my camping setup at all - it’s my sleeping bag and air bed, and those aren’t things worthy view provides, correct? So not sure why I’m paying like $500 to replace my $100 tent and i still have to worry about sleeping bag, pillow, air bed, etc...

Also since for most of us this is our only Glastonbury i think maybe we should do it inside the fence even if we are a little less comfortable.

Tipis are a consideration as it’s inside the fence but not sure we all want to sleep together like that. And we’d still have to figure out what to sleep on.

Since we’ll have to make our Worthy View/tipi decision soon, I wanted to hear opinions from others who have done Glasto like we are (arriving by plane+bus no car) and advice as well.

Thanks! We are all very excited about attending! Me especially who has been lurking here for many years!

I'm planning on flying in from the States also, and am a UK Native. I also plan on taking my own camping gear with me, however my circumstances are different, so I will explain what I am doing to give you a little perspective.

I plan on flying into Heathrow with my gear (rucksack, tent, thermarest, sleeping bag etc) stored inside my suitcase for extra protection. TSA will not allow tent stakes or poles to be taken on the plane, so the tent will go in checked baggage. All of my gear is lightweight, small, and designed for backpacking, so it will be very easy to transport all of my stuff this way, as my total packing list for the festival will be able to fit into one rucksack, bar a duffel bag which I will fill to the brim with booze. 

I will be taking a national express coach, which allows 2 checked bags and a bag that can fit under the seat in front of you, A.K.A my day pack with essential supples. My friend that is coming with me will be taking his own small tent, and we plan on setting up next to each other shortly after the gates open on Wednesday. I did consider worthy view, as it would save the hassle of bringing my own gear with me, but the site itself is quite far removed from the festival, requiring a long uphill hike to get to and from the campsite. I feel like this would get old after one or two times, and I really want to be in the center of the action, and socialize with all of the other peeps in one of the more central campsites.

Because I'm used to backpacking, and I have complete control over my gear selection, I made a decision to bring my stuff with me in order to camp somewhere like Pennards. To me it's worth the extra planning and faffing about in order to have that experience. It's worth noting that the popular campsites fill up very quickly, and you will need to arrive very early on the Wednesday to secure a pitch. Car camping in the US is a completely different beast, and a lot of the heavy camping gear will be very difficult to transport, especially across the campsite once you arrive at the pedestrian entrance. If you have friends that aren't all that experienced with camping, and forget something essential like a sleeping mat, you'll be spending a bunch of time and money at the festival helping them get the right gear in order for them to be able to get settled in. If your coach arrives late on Wednesday, you may be finding a pitch, as well as setting up in the dark, and if you arrive on Thursday you may have a very long walk until you find a pitch altogether. By opting for worthy view you would alleviate these potential issues. The price of checking in a bag for all of you would probably be equal to the cost of a large tent at WV, so that's also something to consider

 

To sum things up I would advise this. WV would be far less complicated, and probably wouldn't cost any more than regular camping if you all forego a checked bag on the plane. You also wouldn't have to worry about forgetting any camping gear, or messing about trying to find a camping spot in the dark in a foreign country. You will have to hike uphill for a while every time you want to return from the campsite, and the atmosphere will probably be less intense, but you may see this as an advantage also. If you opt to camp in the regular spots, your group will need to be very organized in terms of what they will need, as well as the weight and volume of their pack. You can only bring so much stuff with you on the plane and coach, and once you get there, you will have to lug it several miles to your desired pitch. If you or a friend forgets something, it could be a costly mistake too. Be aware of TSA regulations also, as some of the stuff you bring with you may not be permitted on the flight.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited October 24, 2019 by Ragingbunion93
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[assorted]

@Ragingbunion93 yes very helpful, thank you. and the worthy view vs checked bags cost is especially interesting. 

if someone in our group forgets something essential, they are almost as screwed at worthy view as they are in general camping, i think? as worthy view is providing only a tent? i've read people on here stating however that there are places that sell or rent camping equipment at worthy view - maybe? it's not been very clear. but that stuff is also sold on the festival site, i believe - though yes agreed it will be harder to find at the entire festival site vs worthy view. 

in our groups' favor we have me, who is posting on an internet forum fretting about this 8 months in advance. and another member of our group started a google sheet listing camping equipment needed with names the day after we got tickets, and 4 of the 6 of us filled it out, so it feels like most of us will take prep seriously, and i can probably nag the ones that can't be bothered once it's closer to make sure they are aware of what they will need.

since we are all older we won't be going for pennards - more like either an area near the john peel or the back of paines or one of the fields with lots of room right near gate a if we are too bogged down with stuff (figure we'll decide when closer). and the bath coach from what i've read leaves either early morning or mid-afternoon so we won't be arriving at night thankfully.

your checked bag point makes me wonder if we should try for a tipi or one of the glasto-on-the-sea spots though. i realize they are both almost literally one in a million to get, but it wouldn't hurt to try and would put us inside the fence at a good location and fix some newbie camping issues... 

yes, my sleeping pad and sleeping bag were both bought with car camping in mind, and i will likely have to replace for this trip with backpacking gear which sucks but ah well. i'm gonna buy a rucksack first and see if there is a way i can make them work before deciding to get new stuff. 

thanks again for sharing what you are doing it's very helpful! 

[H.M.V]

If I had a bunch of pals willing to share I'd go for the tipi option. It's in prime real estate and also has showers. Those two are worth the money for me but couldn't afford it with just me and the hubs. Obviously it's nigh on impossible to get them now anyway. 

We go down the caravan route now. Being outside the fence wasn't as big a pain as I thought it would be but the queues were a bit shite on the Sunday which impacts on your plans. 

I'd agree with above though, the money for camping vs baggage fees is something to investigate. I used to travel from Ireland and get the coach. It's bloody hard work carrying everything you need in one go but doable if you're organised. Means you can nip back to the tent to get changed etc in the evening when the temperature drops. Although do use the lock ups for anything valuable. I found using them for bags for the evening was a faff by gate C as the time it took was the same as nipping back to the caravan for a change and some cold drinks from the fridge. 

[assorted]

jinx! i just decided yesterday to convince my group to try for a tipi for those reasons plus (and please anyone correct these if i am wrong) -

TIPIS PROS

--great placement but without the overcrowding/youth/partying of the other well placed fields

--a fence so less likely for someone to to, say, go to the bathroom in front of your tent or rob it (though i understand using lockups for valuables is still important)

--no one has to bring tents

--large enough to hang out in as a group

--showers but also close to lost horizons who have zero wait showers

--reserved placement so no need to worry about what time coach we are on

--proven mostly storm/rain proof unlike our tents and proven ground that doesn't flood unlike wherever we will pick camping

--REFUNDABLE UNTIL APRIL 1ST - so we can change our minds anyways

TIPIS CONS

--harder to get than a ticket

--$$$$

--possibly less festival "atmosphere", more snobby/standoffish (though i generally have read tipi people aren't so bad? maybe?)

--we still have to figure out airbed/sleeping bag/pillow etc 

---we have to all sleep together and i snore louder than a lawnmower

i'm hoping us coach people also get early access to tipis in addition to worthy view, though they have pretty clearly not said that so i realize it's likely we do not. 

 

 

 

 

[Ragingbunion93]

6 minutes ago, assorted said:

jinx! i just decided yesterday to convince my group to try for a tipi for those reasons plus (and please anyone correct these if i am wrong) -

TIPIS PROS

--great placement but without the overcrowding/youth/partying of the other well placed fields

--a fence so less likely for someone to to, say, go to the bathroom in front of your tent or rob it (though i understand using lockups for valuables is still important)

--no one has to bring tents

--large enough to hang out in as a group

--showers but also close to lost horizons who have zero wait showers

--reserved placement so no need to worry about what time coach we are on

--proven mostly storm/rain proof unlike our tents and proven ground that doesn't flood unlike wherever we will pick camping

--REFUNDABLE UNTIL APRIL 1ST - so we can change our minds anyways

TIPIS CONS

--harder to get than a ticket

--$$$$

--possibly less festival "atmosphere", more snobby/standoffish (though i generally have read tipi people aren't so bad? maybe?)

--we still have to figure out airbed/sleeping bag/pillow etc 

---we have to all sleep together and i snore louder than a lawnmower

i'm hoping us coach people also get early access to tipis in addition to worthy view, though they have pretty clearly not said that so i realize it's likely we do not. 

 

 

 

 

Honestly the tipis sound like a plan. a sleeping mat and bag shouldn't cost the earth (25 quid for both) if you bought it from Tesco, and you could always donate it afterwards if you wanted to pack super light on the plane.

As for the atmosphere in the tipis, I think that's something you would have to discern for yourself. Only you can make the call wether you think the people are snobs, or people splashing out on a really cool experience. Either way you won't be spending a great deal of time there besides sleeping and getting changed, so who cares if the atmosphere is a bit flat, or someone thinks they are holier than thou because they can afford a fancy tent at a music festival?

You will be staying in a tipi also, which is pretty awesome...