The Glasto Handy Tips Guide

[r0cky]

I'm quite surprised no-one has mentioned how important it is to take your own Toilet Rolls!

[joethehose]

Best things I had last year were a Poncho ( Great in the wet, can also have your own 1 man bivvy for skinnin up)

and a decent wide brimmed hat, ( I had an Aussie style 1) good if it rains , bit of shade if its scorchhhio!!!

[Kejoxen]

I'm quite surprised no-one has mentioned how important it is to take your own Toilet Rolls!

[stevie rayvon]

Excellent thread.

Take tea bags, coffee & sugar in separate lil bags tied up for easy usage.

Buy a proper caping back back. When walking from the car to the site it frees up both of your hands so you can carry more rather than having a sports bag that u have to carry with your arms. You can pick one up for £20 easily.

Have football socks so u can wear under ur wellies & to sleep in at night to keep ur tootsies warm.

[its42]

My advice, however hot the weather, don't rely on sandals . In crowds, yiou may get your underprotected feet stood on, and you can still wear stout hiking boopts with shorts.

[its42]

OK, some of my tips that I can think of right now:-

* Avoid guy-ropes unless your tent requires them to stay up, or it's v.windy (dome tents are generally self-supporting and don't need them, once your bags inside there should be enough weight to keep it down). People trip over guy-ropes and could damage your tent and/or hurt themselves. If guy ropes are necessary for your tent them keep them short.

[r0cky]

good idea but if the weather turns bad remember to connect up the guide ropes it keeps the outer skin of your tent off the inner lining if it's wet and the two are touching the inside of your tent will get wet.

[niknak7g]

if your planning to go to the front of gigs and it is muddy then buy some water proof trousers

otherwise you can end up with wet trosuers all weekend and if its windy thats horrible ,

there cheap and can be bought onsite bad quality ones will rip !

[Moon Monkey]

If you think that someone has stolen yr tent then find out that it was all a joke as some bearded bloke with a dodgy hand, dressed in police uniform points you to the camara. Then poke him in the eye and tell him he's an imposter

[Spuddy]

take a tent with a porch so you have somewhere to store your bone china and trouser press

[davidd]

If you think that someone has stolen yr tent then find out that it was all a joke as some bearded bloke with a dodgy hand, dressed in police uniform points you to the camara. Then poke him in the eye and tell him he's an imposter

[DDB]

unless you're gonna be wading through a foot water all day, which lets be honest is unlikely, then wellies are NOT necessary. a decent pair of hiking boots, thick socks and some waterproof trousers are much better and more comfortable.

[midnight_toker]

A few basic 'rules' for setting up camp (these are general camping 'rules' but they all apply at Glasto / other fests):

- don't camp at the bottom of a hill. If it rains, all the water ends up there

- try not to camp on the slope of a hill. You don't want to slide out of your tent in the night!

- don't camp near the loos. You might think it would be handy to be near them but you will regret it!

- don't camp next to a fence or hedge. This is where blokes go for a p1ss if they can't be arsed to go to the loos

- don't camp next to the pathways. You will either get your tent trampled by people walking past or will get annoyed by the noise of the metal path-protectors

- keep a bin liner in your porch and use it! Don't leave your rubbish lying around. (remember a tidy tent is a happy tent!!)

- if you use the guy ropes on your tent, adjust them to their shortest length. You really don't need 6 foot long guy ropes stretched out from every side of the tent

- make friends with your neighbours as soon as you get there. You can all then keep an eye out for each other's tents (and each other!) (and you get new friends!)

- make sure that the inner tent does not touch the outer tent. If it is wet (either through rain or dew), anywhere that the 2 parts of your tent meet will leak, even if you have a really good tent. Make sure that nothing is pushed against the inside of your tent so that it makes the 2 parts of your tent touch.

- don't put a padlock on your tent. That just advertises that you have something worth nicking. If possible, keep your valuables on you.

- if you're gonna use a BBQ or light a fire, remember that a bit of wind can catch it and blow flames towards your tent (or someone else's). Have a few big bottles of water on standby in case you need them.

- if you're gonna carry any flammable liquids in bottles, make sure it's labelled clearly! (I nearly caused a disaster one year by almost throwing some oil I'd brought with me to put in some oil burners over a BBQ! )

[Guinness2702]

For your fire, bring a few fire logs - they light up easy and burn for atleast 4hrs, kicking out mega heat.

I use them at home for my fire, best buy is called "crackle heat". I get mine from sainsbury's but prob get them loads of places. They are the best, cost around a fiver (cheaper ones usually s*ck in comparison).

No need to worry about scrounging fire wood! x

[fur_q]

Immobilise.com

use the site to register the serial number of your phone/camera/mp3 player here so if it gets lost or stolen you stand a better chance getting it back

[windy_miller]

Also, take less clothes than you think you'll need, except socks - take loads!

[William of Walworth]

Hi guys, great thread.

Top tip - we all like our wee camp fire. Bring a little stove for tea/coffee, heats up in minutes.

For your fire, bring a few fire logs - they light up easy and burn for atleast 4hrs, kicking out mega heat.

I use them at home for my fire, best buy is called "crackle heat". I get mine from sainsbury's but prob get them loads of places. They are the best, cost around a fiver (cheaper ones usually s*ck in comparison).

No need to worry about scrounging fire wood! x

[William of Walworth]

Can't believe no one mentioned ear plugs, I maybe in the minority but why I decide to go to sleep at about 04:00-04:30, I like to stay asleep until I want to wake up and not be awoken by pill monkeys talking codshit at 7am.

[William of Walworth]

take some choccy bars/flapjacks

good for a sugar hit when you are feeling a bit knackered

[William of Walworth]

I'm quite surprised no-one has mentioned how important it is to take your own Toilet Rolls!

Also those little disposable BBQ's are brill, we normally take a small cool bag with some bacon and rolls and it's just what you need when you wake up the next morning, especially when they charge at least £3 each from the burger vans - have a few butties in the morning and fill up for the day so less spending on food at least for the first day!

Another essential is hand sanitisier, you can buy it from Boots or Asda in small bottles and it means that whenever you want to eat you know your hands are clean so no nasty stomach bugs (the last thing anyone would want especially at a festival!)

Another little tip is to take a small transparent plastic bag to put your phone in if the rain gets really bad - at least then it stays dry and you can still take it out of your pocket and read messages etc. We ended up putting the loo roll in one last year so it didn't get damp.

Also, when picking a place to camp try not to go too near to the toilets cos if they start to flood it could get messy and if it is a scorcher then they will smell even worse! Always try to camp on a slope rather than at the bottom of a hill so that if the rain is bad then it flows past your tent rather than flooding it! I'm sure it will be gorgeous weather this year but who knows...

Edited April 21, 2008 by William of Walworth

[sashabella]

If you have any doctor/nurse friends ask them to pick u a few surgical masks for you. They are a lifesaver when it comes to going to the toilet. Add a little perfume to them and hey presto, pleasant smelling toilets!

x

[mandb]

Having been the victim of a car break in and our tent being turned over this is a couple of my tips:-

1. Remove the back parcel shelf of your car and open the glove compartments to show that there is nothing worth stealing in your car

2. As the owner of a largish family tent with a front compartment and back sleeping area we found that zipping up the front door made the tent look more attractive to theft and therefore we dont leave anything in the front and leave the door open.

Couple of other tips

Big bag of mixed nuts for nibbling

Lots of black plastic bags - numerous uses but last year we wrapped up all our luggage bags before trudging back in the rain and everything stayed dry.

[Fairies for Change]

My top tip for girls is to think skirts rather than trousers - much better when it comes to peeing, especially once it rains as you can pull the skirt up rather than dropping trousers down in the mud!

For everyone put clean, dry clothes in the boot of your car for the return journey - you'll be very pleased you did! And also stash in the car a big bottle of water and some snacks. We got stuck in the car park for 8 hours

one year and were sooooooo thirsty!

Take many more black bin bags than you think you'll need as they are an absolutely fairy come the mud. Likewise always pack 2 more toilet rolls than you think you'll need - and some immodium for emergencies

[Fairies for Change]

Also if you are going round in a pair of sandles remember your feet are not used of getting sun and as happened to me a few years ago my feet got rosted and were very uncomfortable to walk around on in boots or anything else

[superdry]

I always take those tennis sweatband things. They are good for keeping your hands warm (I'm not sure of the actual science/biology of it, I think its to do with your wrists being one of your temples)

Plus good for wiping off the sweat when its hot.. or the rain when its raining!