Can you do Glastonbury if you’re travelling from overseas? – Of course you can!

Those images you see on TV of masses of tents, and people laden with trolleys and bags shuffling their way into the festival grounds are all true, but in reality not only is it really not as stressful as it may look, it is also easier.

I had the opportunity to go to Glastonbury Festival this year, and at first, the idea of travelling from Portugal filled me with dread - but who could pass up on the chance of a lifetime?

Planning

What was key to the whole experience was planning.

Thankfully the internet is filled with information from the huge community of Glastonbury fans who are all willing to share their advice and top tips, the other brilliant fact was that the weather forecast (which I had been diligently following for weeks in the run-up) was good, meaning no need for lots of wet weather gear.

We priced up the two possible options for accommodation, the first being to camp and the second being to “glamp” – we could have gone for some local accommodation but this had sold out.

When factoring in how much it would cost to buy the tent, sleeping bags, mats and all the other camping gubbins and then the cost of putting these on a flight, it was going to be almost the same as taking the glamping option. I know, I know, I can hear you scream that this isn’t the “real” way to do Glastonbury - but we put on our practical heads for this one.

We flew out of Faro airport with two pieces of cabin luggage and one bag in the hold and took everything we thought we needed with us (clothes, toiletries, hats, footwear, ponchos etc), opting to stop at a supermarket when we got to the UK to buy up some last minute supplies.

Yes, the bags were heavy, and yes I felt like an idiot stood in the queue at Faro airport in 35 degrees of heat wearing my hiking boots, jeans, mandatory bum bag, and a big jacket, but a short amount of discomfort was well worth not paying the extra fees for extra bags – and also we needed to be realistic that we would need to be able to carry everything between just two of us on top the site.

Transport

It is a short flight between the Algarve and Bristol airport and once we landed we took a taxi to a local Airbnb to spend the night before then heading to the festival by public transport.

That night we repacked all of our bags, and on the morning of the Wednesday, we took a short walk to a local bus stop on a community bus (which only cost £2 per person) which then took us into the town of Wells to the bigger bus stop. At this bus station, we were able to pop across the road to the local supermarket and buy up some essential food and drinks to take with us.

There was a special bus that took festival goers then directly to the festival with a brief stop on the way. This bus was hot, cramped and overloaded but the atmosphere on the bus was great with everyone excited to get into the festival and set up camp.

Once at the site, there were what seemed to be hundreds of stewards all directing you the right way to get your wristband and then into the festival. There were a lot of people with trolleys but being as we were travelling “light” we just had a backpack each on our back and another each on the front, which was hot and heavy but well worth it!

Once at our glamping site, it was a quick unpack before heading off to explore the site.

Exploring

They say to expect to walk 20,000 to 30,000 steps per day, and this was pretty much spot on but you have to take into account that this is spread over hours, and while the old hiking boots were not the most comfortable, there was always opportunities to take a load off our feet and soak up some more of the atmosphere as the festival really started to gear up.

As a “newbie” to Glastonbury, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have a clue about where to go or what to see – and this was very true on the first day which consisted of us walking around in circles and getting lost a lots of the time – despite the handy app complete with map!

By Thursday we seemed to have figured out what was going on (as much as you can across such an enormous festival) and we had also met our “neighbours” at the campsite who were all willing to share top tips. To be honest, I don’t think I have met a more welcoming bunch of over 200,000 people in my life, all impressed that we had made the journey from overseas, and surprised about how easy it had all been!

We managed to explore pretty much the entire festival site on Thursday and it truly is overwhelming the sheer size of the pace but also the attention to detail in every area, the artworks, sculptures, and multimedia – every corner you look in there is something else to discover – far beyond the line-up that grabs all the headlines.

Music

We had put together our list of acts that we wanted to see using the app which also shows you clashes. They say to not try to see everything and it really would be too much to expect to see all the bands on the agenda, instead we cherry-picked a few of our favourites and focused on seeing them and then exploring the rest of the time.

The main Pyramid Stage is of course a huge attraction and some of the acts we saw included Cyndi Lauper, Shania Twain, LCD Soundsystem and Paul Heaton – yes it was crazy, yes it was busy but was it worth it? 100%.

I personally really enjoyed the atmosphere in some of the smaller venues with Woodsies being a great place to watch acts with a smaller crowd, while Avalon was an experience in itself, especially complete with the amazing Inn.

I am of an age when dancing until dawn really doesn’t do anything for my knees but we did also venture out after dark to the new look Arcadia field complete with dragonfly, fire, lasers and incredible DJs. The unbelievable Bloc9 and Shangri-La were awesome to take in during the day but were quite the trek for us and we left them to the younger and more energetic crowd at night.

Leaving

I had heard horror stories about trying to leave the festival but once again this was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. We packed up our bags – which were now considerably lighter now there was no food and drink in them – and queued up for the local bus back to Wells, which took about an hour.

Another quick stop at the local supermarket to have a bite to eat and then it was back to the airport!

We didn’t look like all of the other people heading onto the plane and we did look a little dirty but in no time we were back home in the Algarve taking a much-needed shower and putting our feet up.

So is it worth it to travel to Worthy Farm from overseas? Absolutely. Put in the time to make a list of what you really need, be willing to carry everything you could possibly need from your home destination all the way to your pitch, and remember that if you need to buy anything then you can get it at the site if it comes to it.

However in the end, it is not the travelling, the camping or the bags that I will remember from my first Glastonbury, it will be the amazing acts we saw the special appearances, and most of all the unforgettable atmosphere of 200,000 happy people having the time of their lives in a field in Somerset.

Originally from the UK, Daisy has been living and working in Portugal for more than 20 years. She has worked in PR, marketing and journalism, and has been the editor of The Portugal News since 2019. Jornalista 7920

Daisy Sampson