If you have been following my adventures on Instagram and Facebook, then you know for sure that my summer was full of music festivals.
I started in Manali, India where I danced with our Japanese family at the Dance of Shiva festival. Next on the list was Germany’s Freqs of Nature where it was time to dance to dark psychedelic tunes.
After Germany, it was time to enjoy old-school psychedelic tunes and meet our S.U.N. Festival family in Hungary. Right after this, Modem’s amazing hi-tech décor and music blew us away next to the Springs of Mreznica in Croatia.
Somewhere around the full moon, it was time to be ONE with nature (and people) at Boom Festival in Portugal. After Boom, we volunteered at Lost Theory Festival’s kitchen in Spain. Our last festival of the season was the Earthquake Festival in Germany.
Seven music festivals, six countries in just one summer – obviously a lot of things were bound to happen. If I start writing in detail, I can easily write enough material to make a book but I don’t want to bore you to death. So here are N things that happened during our summer full of music festivals
1) I got to travel for REALLY cheap (sometimes FREE)
Summer full of music festivals
Euro trips are expensive, aren’t they? Not so much of you hitchhike.
The best thing about traveling from one festival to another was I didn’t even have to make an effort to hitchhike.
From one festival to another, it was easy to find people who were happy to take me (and my partner) in their campervan to the next festival. Our best ride to remember was from Portugal to Spain in our friend’s ancient campervan.
2) I lost a lot of things… and found many others
Yes, people lose a lot of things at music festivals – so did I. But each time I lost something; I found a replacement for free.
No, I’m not talking about finding other people’s lost things, but I got these things from people who were leaving the festival and didn’t want to carry them.
3) Strange things happened with my hair
I went with 22 dreadlocks and came back with just 10. San went with 4 and came back with 5. Conclusion: dreadlocks require hard work and maintenance.
4) I realized it is possible to dance for 30 hours straight
We danced for 30 hours straight at Boom Festival 2016
Blame it on the lineup or the vibes on the dance floor but at Boom festival, San and I ended up spending two nights and one day on the dance floor without sleeping. How did we do it? We have no idea.
5) I now know how much fun it is to volunteer at a music festival
San and I working inside Lost Theory Festival’s kitchen
For the first time in our lives, San and I volunteered at a music festival. It was the Lost Theory festival in Spain where we worked in the kitchen for four hours every day. In return, our festival entry and food were absolutely free!
6) We fell in love with Acai
Acai or açaí berry is a Brazilian fruit that should be labeled as the perfect party food. We tried it for the first time at the Boom Festival in Portugal and ate it almost every day after.
It is very low in sugar but very high in vitamin C and antioxidants. It provided us with a much-needed energy boost after dancing for hours.
7) We realized that every festival has an outdoor sex spot (you just need to find it)
Modem Festival, Croatia 2016
While it may not appear so during the day, things drastically change when it gets dark. Not every area is well lit and if you try hard enough, you can find many spots that you can have to just to yourselves for a long time.
8) I met my favorite PsyTrance artist – Arjuna
Arjuna at Modem Festival, Photo by Es Web
After dancing to Arjuna’s music at every festival, I finally got a chance to meet him and hug him. Believe it or not but at every festival we decided on our sleep (and tripping) schedule based on when he was playing.
9) We met the famous Mr. Pink (and also his soul brother)
If you’re a regular at PsyTrance festivals, then you know of Mr. Pink for sure. Since the last two years, he’s in almost every PsyTrance music festival video where he is colored fully pink. Well, we have been following his adventures everywhere and at the Boom festival, we actually got to hug him. Check it out!
10) I can now use almost every kind of toilet
Compost toilet at Modem festival – the cleanest festival toilet this season
Believe it or not, dirty toilets are my biggest fear. A few months back, I would have preferred to jump off a cliff than to use a toilet that’s dirty. However, seven back to back music festivals and 100s of dirty toilets – I had no choice but to face my fear head on. Yes, now I can use every kind of toilet.
11) I now know that almost everything can be recycled… even poop
A beautiful garden at Boomland (Boom Festival 2016, Portugal) which was built using human waste
Do you know how much environmental damage a music festival can cause if not done correctly? Almost all of the festivals that we attended this summer had invested in tonnes of environmental programs to leave no trace on the land.
Almost all the waste was recycled, even poop. Most of these festivals also had compost toilets where they recycled human waste to provide for food for building elaborate gardens.
12) We became camping experts
Our camp at Modem festival 2016, Croatia
Camping is a very important part of a music festival experience. Pitching a tent is a different matter but making it super comfortable requires a little more work. After spending most of our summer in our tent, we became camping experts and can now make our tent almost as comfortable as our bedroom.
You may also like – The Ultimate Packing List for Music Festivals
13) I met a lot of “Festival Children”
Modem baby by GemeosVB Fotografia
Music festivals have areas that are specifically designed for children. We think that parents who bring their children to festivals end up fueling their creativity.
Being in a creative zone for 4-5 days continuously is very good to open up their minds’ creative window. We couldn’t help but notice how talented most of these children were.
14) I now know that hand fans make the perfect festival accessory
Even if the temperature is low, things are bound to get sweaty after dancing for a few hours.
A hand fan is the perfect dance accessory because you can fan your face while dancing.
15) I learnt that tutus aren’t only for girls
Why did I ever think that tutus looked good only on girls? They look amazing on women and men alike!
16) I had to take a “forced vacation” from blogging
Dance of Shiva Festival in Old Manali, 2016
You must be thinking – wait, isn’t travel blogging a permanent vacation? Wrong. It’s a lot of work and it requires good Internet connectivity.
Of course I was fooling myself when I thought I was going to be able to continue blogging from my phone but in reality, I was too wasted to ever charge my phone.
17) I lost a lot of weight
What else did you imagine would happen after dancing for many hours and eating a lot of Acai?
18) I embraced “Free Body Culture” / FKK
Free body culture at Lost Theory festival 2016
Free body culture.. or as Germans call it Freikörperkultur (FKK) is awesome. There is nothing sexual about it but it’s just an expression of being free and natural.
Naked body is not a source of shame but in almost all the civilizations, it is a social taboo. Festival naturism is real. And it’s not just limited to Woodstock.
19) My skin became better because of natural soap
At most of the festivals, we were given free bars of natural soap so that we could use them to bathe in rivers (Modem), waterfalls (Lost Theory) or lakes (Boom).
These soaps that are usually made with olive oil, coconut and honey, are 100% biodegradable because they don’t contain chemical detergents that most of other soaps do. Obviously these are good for the environment they are very good for hair and skin too!
20) I fell in love with life a little more..
Falling in love with life a little more at Boom Festival 2016 Portugal
At music festivals, people celebrate life and happiness. It is difficult not being happy when the collective energy of everyone’s happiness influences you. It works a little like laughter Yoga that is based on the principle of collective energy. These festivals gave us a massive dose of happiness, hope and love. They changed us for life.
21) I sold little things to make money
San and I selling earrings and bindi at Lost Theiry festival, Spain
Here’s a picture of our little “pirate shop” where we’re selling small dreamcatcher earrings from Nepal and bindis from India. In all honestly, we opened our shop for just one day and made less than 10 euros so gave up.
22) My Wardrobe became “fashionably” torn
Torn clothes but fashionably so
A little rip in my tights? No worries, I can make them evenly ripped. While I’m at it, why don’t I do the same with my tunic?
23) I got a little more creative
I spent hours drawing, making new things with our hands and San now makes jewelry!
Getting creative at Earthquake festival in Germany (2016)
24) I made at least 150 new friends
Some of our festival friends
At the first festival we had just 20 friends. By the time it was our 7th festival, we realized we had made at least 150 new friends from all over the world. Why not, coconut?
Summer of 2016 was the best summer of our lives. We met many amazing people, discovered many new things about ourselves and fell in love with life a little more than before. For us, traveling for music festivals was definitely cheaper than just backpacking around because move from one place to another for free and sleep for free. These festivals changed us for life and things will never be the same again.
Do you also love music festivals as much as we do? If so, share this post with your friends!
Hey, if you want to see more pictures from our music festival madness, search #PsytranceDrifterPlanet on Instagram. 🙂
You may also like reading:
17 Psychedelic Festivals You Should Attend in 2017
What Kind of Music Festivals Do We Like?
9 Reasons Why We Love Music Festivals
The Ultimate Packing Guide for Music Festivals
16 Psytrance Music Festivals We Want to Attend in 2016
Why Holi is the most AWESOME Festival EVER
Hi Sonal,
Good deal on that forced blogging vacay. Ditto here for a road trip we are taking this weekend.
Ryan
Have fun Ryan 🙂
fantastic article Sonal and straight from the heart 🙂
Helps a great deal when one is trying to figure what it would be like to attend a fest outside of India for the first time!!
Love,
Prachi
Thanks Prachi. 🙂 Which festival are you heading out for? I’d love to know.
Loved reading this so much! i love music festivals. Meeting new people and making friends from all over the world is the best part and of course the dancing, what a great experience would love to do something like this one day.
Lisa, good to know you enjoyed reading it. 🙂 It was our dream to leave everything for a few months and travel around from one festival to another. We were hardly ever online for almost 3 months last year. Our blog suffered but we had a LOT of fun. 🙂
hi!! one question.. did it ever rained?? im thinking about this, would you say its easy to hitchhike from festival to festival for a girl alone? thanks a lot!! i liked your review