I got back from a trip to Spain with my flatmates and a couple of other friends about a week ago. We had gone to the festival in the first week and Barcelona for the second week (more on that in a later post). The festival itself was in Valencia, so after arriving at Barcelona airport we took the three hour bus to the town of Benicàssim. The bus was freezing as the air-con was on way too low - or high? But as soon as we finally arrived we had to trek our suitcases through the heat and what seemed like miles of bumpy dirt paths, so I'd have been grateful for any cool air!
Just a warning that this is going to be a really photo-heavy post, as usual...
Playsuit: Missguided
Shoes: Superga
Bag: Primark
Anklet: from a stall in Benicassim town. I haven't taken it off since I bought it, so it's survived a lot of swimming in the sea and wandering around Spain!
Landing at Barcelona airport - the sunset looked amazing. I always love flying while the sun goes down, the colours are unreal.
Issy's bag: New Look
Stopping off at a service station for a snack and a break while on the way to Benicassim from the airport.
Our faces got progressively glittery as the week went on. We also didn't get Wi-Fi by the tent so I made my own Snapchat filter. So clever.
Right at the beginning of the week, on the bus en route to the beach.
Enjoying watermelon from the fruit stand! Grabbing some fruit and freshly-squeezed orange juice in a morning was so refreshing after waking up in a boiling tent.
Headband: Claire's Accessories - I don't usually shop here, but I'd gone in with a friend once as she looked for something and thought this would actually be really cool for festivals!
The inside of the Toastie Shack was really cute, with bright bunting and metallic signs. It even had a disco ball. Amazing.
Some of the pretty streets we found in the town. There were quite a few colourful buildings too, it's such a nice place! We spent most of our days sunbathing / sleeping on the beach and going in the sea to cool down, then wandering around the town looking for nice places to eat.
Vegetable and smoked cheese bruschetta, with aubergine, courgette, tomato and leek.
Salmon carbonara - this was actually really nice but I ate the tiniest bit as I was so full after my bruschetta starter! I think our stomachs were shocked whenever we tried to eat a full meal, as we lived off baguettes and crisps whenever we weren't by a restaurant.
Playsuit: Missguided (as seen before)
I actually look tanned on here - I somehow ended up being the only one of us that didn't burn! My face doesn't tan well though, so it always looks really pale in comparison to the rest of me when I go away.
Necklaces: New Look
Dress: ASOS
Shoes: Topshop
Bralette: Calvin Klein
Tattoo: from a strange shop in the town
After looking back on this post, I've realised I haven't put photos of the acts themselves - I mainly took videos or all my images were on Snapchat, which weren't saved to my phone. Oops. We saw some amazing people though, some of my favourites were Mac Demarco, Biffy Clyro, The Chemical Brothers, Muse, Hannah Wants, Skepta, The Vaccines, Disclosure and Bloc Party. I did miss a few acts I wanted to see, like Massive Attack, as everything is on until about six in the morning due to there being no acts on in the day. I'd really recommend the festival on the whole though; I just didn't sleep great and I am always tired anyway - I struggle to stay awake past 10PM at the moment. It was lovely being able to camp at a festival without getting caked in wet mud though, as there was obviously very little chance of rain. I'm used to English festivals, where it pours for about a week and everything gets ruined due to basically camping in a swamp. Overall, the festival was a great experience for my first time at Beni - but here are some tips for next time...
Tips
- Make sure to get enough sleep, even if it is on the beach during the day. Just don't fall asleep in the sun!
- Take some old trainers you don't mind getting ruined. My white Supergas were brown by the end of the festival, but I had to wear them while in the arena to avoid my feet getting trampled while in sandals. The dust and stones also get into sandals really easily, so trainers were often more practical.
- Buy a couple of disposable cameras to use while you're there.
- Learn a bit of Spanish before you go. It goes a long way when you're trying to communicate, I know I struggled sometimes.
- Buy the Benicassim bus card at the beginning of the festival. It's only 15 Euros and makes getting on and off the bus so much quicker, you even skip the queues sometimes.
- Take tons of baby wipes and antibacterial stuff - 'Wet Ones' wipes are really handy for keeping hands clean and bacteria-free. You and everything you own will either get covered in dust from the ground, or sand from the beach.
- Be prepared with all the medications and creams you need. I was our camp's go-to pharmacist as I had loads of different creams with me, from antihistamines and calamine lotion for bites to aqueous cream and Elizabeth Arden's 8-hour stuff to use as extra-strong aftersun.
- Drink a lot of water and wear a hat. Being dehydrated and getting ill from sun stroke is absolutely not fun.
- Buy a cooler box and make sure to get ice from the supermarket every day to keep drinks and aftersun cool. Drinking warm Desperados is never fun.
- Take a good portable charger for your phone. I lasted the week without my phone dying once, as I had bought a RavPower charger for about £20 - it charged my phone a full six times! This also stops you going to the charger tent and spending 10 Euros on a charger that will only charge your phone once, if that, before it breaks; this happened to a friend.
Indy ♥
Awesome pics, thanks for sharing. www.irctc.co.in tatkal booking
ReplyDelete