How To Prepare Yourself For Glastonbury 2019!

The month of June has finally arrived and that can only mean one thing – Glastonbury Festival 2019 is nearly upon us! We only have to wait very patiently until June 26th before the festivities begin and we’re sure that you’re all as excited as we are about the impending fun just waiting to be had.

But it’s essential that you’re fully prepared for five days of frolicking in fields so that you have nothing to worry about and you can just busy yourselves having the time of your life.

First of all, how do you intend on getting to the Worthy Farm? We recently blogged about the environmental impact that music festivals have in the UK so you could start doing your bit by organising arranging luxury minibus hire to Glastonbury so that you and a large group of you can car share, thus reducing your carbon emissions for transportation.

You might not think that this is hugely necessary but when you consider stats from thinktank Powerful Thinking revealing that five million litres of fuel is used by the festival industry every year, with 0.6 litres of diesel per person per day used at such events, you can start to see why carpooling might be the way forward in the future.

If you’ve never been to Glastonbury before, you’re sure to be nothing but impressed by the sheer size of the site. There are different socio-geographic regions on the Festival site so make sure you’re familiar with each one to at least get a vague idea of what you want to see and do.

The organisers themselves say it’s best not to come to the festival with an idea of what to expect and a full itinerary of what you want to see since hurrying between different stages to see as much as you can is apparently not the best way to enjoy Glastonbury.

Instead, they advise you to simply move on if you can’t see an act, or you’re not enjoying it, since there’s sure to be something else in one field along that captures your imagination. As they say, “often, your best memories of the Festival will be of new things that have startled you with their brilliance”.

In terms of what to take with you, of course you can bring your own food and supplies, but don’t forget that there are Markets available where you’ll be able to source plenty of victuals for you and your camping crew. There will be more than 400 food traders on site offering a vast array of delicious treats, from Vietnamese, Indian and Italian to Turkish, Caribbean and a whole lot more.

And 75 per cent of the traders on site have signed up to Glastonbury’s Food For A Fiver scheme, allowing you to sample delicious world cuisine without having to worry about the purse strings. Your £5 options could include homemade ravioli, vegetarian salads, roast potatoes and gravy, cakes for two, a ploughman’s lunch… you could be very surprised by what you can source for yourself.

What to pack

The organisers at Glastonbury are always very keen for you to minimise the impact you have on Worthy Farm and they recommend that you only bring what you really need. It’s also worth remembering that you’ve got a fair trek to make from the car park to where you’re going to be camping, so travelling light will make the walk a lot easier for all.

Extra searches are going to be carried out at this year’s festival for security reasons so you’ll find it takes longer to get through the entrance into the site. If you have less stuff, you’ll make it through a lot more efficiently.

But what to take with you? Your festival ticket is necessary (obviously!), as well as reusable water bottles, tents, sleeping bags, roll mats, toilet roil, wellies or walking boots, warm jumpers, sun cream (which you’ll hopefully get to use), waterproof clothing, toiletries, changes of clothes in case you get wet, any medication you might need, ID, torches, a hat, and bags for rubbish and dirty clothes.

What not to pack

The organisers ask that you don’t bring so much stuff with you that you’re unable to take it home again. Don’t take a gazebo with you as these apparently take up too much tent space in campsites and they’re often left behind after the event.

You’re also asked not to bring anything made of glass (including mirrors or perfume) and any non-biodegradable body glitter. To help reduce your impact, you’re also asked to try and not use disposable wipes since even those that are biodegradable are problematic environmental pollutants. Plant fibre-based wipes rot, which releases methane into the atmosphere, so Glastonbury is now asking you to try and find some alternatives to these.

No portable laser equipment or pens are allowed (and anything confiscated won’t be returned). No animals apart from guide dogs are allowed, while generators, sound systems, kites and sky lanterns, wax flares or unauthorised fireworks are also prohibited. If you’re caught using fireworks, you’ll be evicted from the site.

Getting to Glastonbury

There’s a 24-hour drop and collect service being run by the organisers, with a bus service that runs to and from the Festival Gate A continuously, which could prove useful. Bear in mind that if you’re dropped off on a local road, you’ll have a long (and potentially dangerous) walk to the car parks and then an even longer one to reach the gates.

If travelling by train, the best station to reach the festival site is Castle Carey. There’s a free shuttle bus being put on for ticket holders that runs from the train station to the Festival Bus Station throughout Glastonbury, with the bus station next to Pedestrian Gate A.

Note that it won’t be possible to park at the train station during the festival and there aren’t any left luggage facilities on site.

If driving, your satnav will only take you as far as the start of the festival signage and from there you’ll have to follow Glastonbury signs as soon as you see them. Make sure you approach the site on the site you want to park, using main roads well away from the site as much as you can since using local roads to reach the opposite side of Worthy Farm will cause delays.

Hot tip: the people who parked on the east side of the site in 2018 had the shortest queues at the pedestrian gates and also the shortest queues to get out of the site once the festival came to an end. The worst times to leave by car on the Monday are between 08:00 and 17:00, and you could face delays of up to nine hours so make sure you have everything you need to keep you amused and well fed and watered while you wait.

Once you park, note down the route colour and car park number – as you may well struggle to find your vehicle again if you need to get back to it at some point.