A lot of campers get their first taste of camping when they go a music festival such as Glastonbury. Thousands go to these events every year, taking basic camping gear with them. Lots of camping outlets now produce and sell specialised camping packs for music festivals which consist of a two-person tent, two sleeping bags, two camping mats with a lantern and stove chucked in.
You often have this vision that camping at a festival means roughing it without washing. In part this is true; a staggering fact is that many of people who camp at a music festival actually abandon all their camping gear in the mud when it is time to go home. This is due I believe in the sudden rush of when it is over, folk just wish to leave as quickly as possible.
Another big issue at music festivals is crime, predominantly theft. Many a time I have friends tell me that after seeing their favourite act they have gone back to their tent and it has either been hijacked by some unscrupulous person or the contents have been removed in their entirety. What has become very popular now is Day-Glo paint to personalise your tent to make it stand out from the hundreds even thousands of other tents. There are even tent suppliers in the UK that offer a tent package where you can paint your own tent, it may seem a novel idea but it does have a serious use.
You do have to take precautions when camping at festivals; it can either give you the camping bug or turn you off for life. Never leave anything of value in your tent, if there is a large group of you going and you all have different tastes in music then try and arrange a rota. So if half you want to go and see one act the half stay at the tent till they return and vice-versa.
There are other options than camping at the festival, you can stay in a local bed and breakfast if camping is not your scene, but camping at the festival is certainly the cheapest way to stay at one of these music events and for me it only adds to the overall experience. Glastonbury and the other large festivals have experienced high crime rate within the last ten years. Due to their increased popularity, police presence has also increased, so I do believe that they are a safer environment now. For example one of my friends takes his young children to Glastonbury every year and he swears by it saying that it is a great place to take your family. A bit different from all of the horror stories that used to turn up in the tabloids about drugs and persistent thefts.
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