One of my main motivators for this entire trip was Coachella. I had always wanted to tick the festival off my Bucket list, and what better time than the year I turned 25? My Birthday just happened to fall right in the middle of Weekend 1, it was meant to be. I saw on instagram around July 2017 that someone had just bought their Coachella ticket. Confused and in a travel frenzied haze I was purchasing tickets. Next thing I knew I was unemployed with tickets to Coachella for the next year! With a couple of Contiki trips planned with a lot more in-between I had managed to turn going to Coachella into a two month trip across America.
Going alone to Coachella was a big challenge. Mainly because everything is so incredibly overpriced and apparently being a single independent woman is EXPENSIVE!!! Camping on-site by myself was near impossible for under $1000AUD. I also missed out on getting a camping ticket. Next option was hiring a campervan. This was quickly ruled out because a. driving in the desert alone, b. driving on the wrong side of the road alone. I was bound to cross to the other side without noticing, and c. EXPENSIVE.
Next option, hotel. Ruled that out in a heartbeat. Single rooms aren't exactly a thing in the states. I would have had to book a double. I would maybe keep this option open if I was to go again but I am happy with what I chose to do. My most viable option as a single traveller on a (Coachella) budget was a campsite I found in Indio that was on it's second year. The reason I chose a campsite called Village 29, was because it had these random little self contained transportable makeshift hotel rooms they called Bobo's. Below is what they look like. Or at least were meant to...but we will get to that later.
They were hotel rooms made out of storage containers, and the best part was that they all had power. As much as camping was an option, in the end having power to charge my devices was much more important. As well as security, storage (had to take my huge suitcase with me!), showers and toilets. It was basically a strange mixture of caravan, hotel and tent camping all rolled up into one neat little storage container. I booked myself in for the queen bed room, which came to be under $800AUD. This included either breakfast or lunch for 5 days at the casino next door. I did leave booking accommodation late, but I don't think I would have got much cheaper anywhere else. Trust me I spent months looking. Airbnb was also an option but that also involved hiring a car, which meant driving on the wrong side of the road, and we already covered that.
How does one solo travel from Santa Monica to Indio you might ask? With these legends. I met these guys through a facebook page called Coachella Aussies/ Kiwis. The first time I met them was when they picked me up from Abbott Kinney Boulevard. They could have been murderers and rapists, but thats just the dice you roll when you solo travel. Luckily I managed to meet some awesome New Zealand lads that reminded me a lot of the guys from a podcast I love called Last Podcast on the Left. Morgan, Josh and Jacob, my first Coachella friends. I'm sorry my suitcase didn't fit in the boot and we had to to squish in the back. I am eternally grateful for this lift. Mainly because these guys were actually legends and we hung out multiple times the rest of the weekend.
Here's the thing. I will NEVER get over the desert. I was forever obsessed with the mountains ranges and cactuses as far as the eye could see. I could not get enough of these views. I lost it in the car when I saw snow on the top of a few of the mountains. SNOW... IN THE DESERT!!! America, you wild.
The boys dropped me to Village 29 and this is when the real shenanigans began. I arrived way too early for check in, so I just hung out in the casino for a while. The people from the campsite were going to come get me but never did so I walked back to figure out what was going on. A few rides back and forth in a golf buggy, a buffet dinner, and some slot machines later I finally had a bed to sleep in. Not in the Bobo hotel though because they people from Bobo couldn't set up that day because it was excessively windy. So for my first night in Indio I stayed in an RV. I don't have any photos of the RV because for this trip I was trying to take photos and vlog at the same time. Turns out it's a lot harder to do then you would think. Especially without a photographer boyfriend.
The sleep in the caravan was pretty awesome. I spent a lot of time pressing as many buttons as I could because apparently I am a full grown toddler, and then I passed out reading Bill Bryson's book "Made in America", which I regret buying and carrying around the entire trip. It was so painfully boring. I am surprised it made it back to Australia with me.
The next morning was day one. I made friend with these two gorgeous Alaskan twinnie babes Arie & Aaliyah. I went into the festival with them and a huge group of their friends. There was a lot of discussion on where to go first and I really wanted to get my bearings of the festival so I left them early on in the day to go solo adventuring. We made plans to meet up later but it was pretty impossible considering the size of the place and our lack of knowledge of where anything was.
I was happy to be by myself for a bit though. Coachella was a lot to take in and I didn't want to be hardcore socialising and trying to adapt to this intense environment at the same time straight away. Sometimes when I travel my introvert side can definitely take over. Don't get me wrong. I love to meet new people and make new friends. But I can get overwhelmed quite easily and sometimes just need some me time to reconnect and recharge.
People watching was incredible at Coachella. First up lets get this out of the way. I did not see any celebrities and I am not exactly surprised. Unless I had a VIP ticket or stood right up the front near the VIP sections there wasn't much chance of seeing any. Except for those fleeting moments where they would be dashing from the VIP stage areas to the VIP rose garden. If you stood in front of the Ferris Wheel for an entire day you were bound to see someone. This was the best place hands down to watch people trying to flew their insta muscle and get the shot! It was a massive turn off and made me not want to take any photos. It was all just so pretentious. So many people would spend ages trying to get the perfect Coachella shot and then go straight back to the Rose Garden. It was all just a huge reminder that a lot of these influencers just considered this a work event rather than a place to have fun and meet people. It was really disheartening.
I miss alcoholic kombucha so so much! It isn't a thing in Australia as far as I know. No idea why. It's the best! You can get drunk while also looking after your gut health. It's a win win!
Missed on trying Sweetfin in Los Angeles, but luckily had a chance to dig in to their delish poke bowls. The tuna one I had was incredible. I did wait a good 20 minutes for it, but it was totally worth it. The New Zealand boys met me while I was eating and I hung out with them for the rest of the day.
Windsor Smith reposted one of my photos wearing my beloved Helsinki boots. Forshadowing, I left these babies in a hotel in San Diego and they met me a month later in New York. There was no way I was leaving them in the states! Hands down my absolute favourite shoes I have. This day I was also wearing a dress from Factorie, earrings by Sportsgirl, sunglasses from Quay and a couple of vintage bandanas. I was wearing the one around my wrist to try and protect my new tattoo but I eventually took it off because I was scared the heat would affect it. I had put some holographic foam in my hair from Urban Outfitters. It didn't exactly do a whole lot. I think it would only really work if you had white blonde hair.
Yes I know, I am guilty of taking photos in front of the Ferris Wheel too, sue me. I mean did you really go to Coachella if you didn't take photos in front of the Ferris Wheel? That's what I thought.
One huge regret I have was not walking through this bad boy art installation. The line always seemed so long and it just never seemed like the right time. I regret not making time to do this. It would have been a pretty amazing few from above. It was my favourite installation from this Coachella.
Taken before the night got really fun and I got really messy in an awesome mosh for Justin Martin. I am going to tell you this straight up, I am not a music person. I know that sounds ridiculous, 'but everyone likes music?' I like music but I avoid listening to it because I get too into and want to bust out in public places where it is just not appropriate. To avoid this I got into podcasts and audiobooks and I haven't kept up with music for the past few years, except for the artists I am friends with. For this reason Coachella was a lot more about learning new artists and falling in love with their music through positive experiences, which is how I prefer anyway. Justin Martin was one of these artists, as well as Kygo and SZA. I knew a few of their songs but not that well.
One place we spent a lot of time, especially on the first day was at the bar between the Coachella stage and the Outdoor Theatre where they served delicious watermelon margaritas. I spent far too much money on those damn margaritas. Also met Shaq.
At some point Jacob and I went completely crazy at the Boutique merch store. I bought a blanket, a fannypack (pictured), and a jumper from the normal merch desk. I have still not found an event to use my fanny pack but it will most definitely be joining me on my next festival adventure. These purchases did mean that I had to spend the night carrying out a blanket, which I would then have to ship home. It was completely worth it. It is currently on my bed as a decoration right next to my Tati Compton blanket.
The highlight of my entire festival was this night. I met these two San Diego babes who requested that I join them for some girl time because I had been hanging with boys all day. I spent the rest of the night with them and it breaks my heart I didn't get to see them again after this night, but I will never forget it. It was my birthday at midnight and these gorgeous angels had a huge crowd around me singing Happy Birthday, including some drag queens. I was close to tears. It was such an amazing night, the Weeknd was incredible. He was the one artist that I was dying to see over everyone else. Spoiler alert, I am not a Beyonce fan. Everything was over the moon incredible, and then it wasn't.
Getting out of the festival was a complete nightmare. I had left after the Weeknd's set. I should have left a bit earlier to avoid the crowd but I wasn't thinking straight. I was far too caught up in being over the moon happy. I parted with the girls and tried to make my way out of the festival to where my shuttle would be collecting me at 13A. I had gotten stuck in a mosh on the way out that basically dragged me out of the festival. I couldn't move the other way if I tried. I ended up getting pushed all the way out to Uber/ Taxi 1C area. I considered getting an UBER but the wait was over 3 hours!!
Most of the steps above were AFTER I left the festival. This was the worst night but I am so grateful to Village 29 for saving me. I had missed the last shuttle but one of the Campsite workers came and got me in their car. It still took over 2 hours with traffic and trying to work out a place to meet, a lot of tears were shed sitting in a gutter on the side of the road. But eventually, I was in a nice cosy car with seat warmers. I will never forget that amazing soul that picked me up that night, or those seat warmers.
If that wasn't bad enough I was then told my my parents in Australia that there were crazy bushfires extremely close to my house and that my dad was currently in lock down and was not allowed to go anywhere. I live on Moreton Road. Luckily the fire didn't burn down any houses, but it did burn throughout that entire weekend. I basically spent the weekend at Coachella and my Birthday pretty terrified that something bad would happen to my dad or my dogs.
The only solace that came that night was finding out that I had been upgraded to a Safari tent because the Bobo hotels had cancelled and would not be arriving that weekend. I wasn't phased. I was just eternally grateful for this excessively comfortable bed. I wish I had taken photos of this set up in the daylight. They set it up so cute! Trust me it did not stay this clean and pretty very long. These tents were powered but because it was so last minute mine was not for a couple of days. I loved these tents. The only suggestion would be to have a little fan to plug in during the day. That was the only issue being in a tent during the day trying to get ready, it was boiling hot!
Found one of these on the ground at Coachella. Didn't locate lost and found so it ended up coming home with me and being forgotten about. If you went to Coachella and lost one of these bad boys hit me up. Yes I have had a peek through the pics so I will know if you lying.
Trying to be healthy at a buffet breakfast be like..
The best part of the weekend other then the whole of Friday was seeing these two honeys. Sara and Eliza were travelling around in a campervan and just happened to be nearby that weekend. Managed to wrangle them a free RV parking spot for the rest of the weekend. I think the team at Village 29 were trying to make it up to me for the fuckery with Bobo. They really went above and beyond that whole weekend.
Once the girls were settled in we went to the casino to celebrate my birthday with $5 all day happy hour drinks. Lost some money on the pokies, met some weird old men at the bar, Sara was a very bad influence, just your standard day at the cas really. We left the casino a trio of very drunk white girls running through sprinklers and falling around all over the shop. At one point Eliza picked up Sara and then proceeded to drop her on her head by accident, I won't lie, it was excessively funny.
The girls didn't have tickets to Coachella. I managed to get them both in both days, and we didn't even need to jump any fences!
Day two outfit: My USA jacket, dress is from Factorie and not pictured are my other pair of Windsor Smith boots.
Look, day 2 was a bit of a drunk blur. All that happened were a lot of crowds, heat exhaustion during Post Malone, tactical voms in front of a lot of people and leaving Beyonce because I just did not enjoy it or her stomping. Each to their own but I am not a Beyonce fan. I missed Destiny's Child but I could hear them from far away. I was so over it by that point I didn't even care. I just wanted to go home.
The lowest part of my weekend. The desert is freezing at night. When you are in the crowd it is fine but if you do go to Coachella I highly recommend wrapping some sort of jacket around your waist during the day. You'll thank me later.
#peopleofcoachella
Jacob kept me company while I waited for my shuttle. By this point I was so mad with the world and everyone in it I just shut off completely and napped. Despite leaving the festival early I still ended up getting back at 3am thanks to the traffic..
Day three was a bit of a reset. We went to hang with Sara's friends for pres. I think this was one of my favourite outfits.
This was my favourite outfit I think. It was very last minute. I bought the dress from Forever 21 a couple of days before leaving LA. Jewellery is ASOS and Sportgirl and the boots are Windsor Smith.
Waiting for it to spill all over my white dress haha.
What you missed at pres, a clothing swap, a pierced ear and a whole lot of banter.
I still can't believe I managed to get these two into Coachella two days in a row. Thank you to the people who helped us do this. I don't remember that guys name from day one but he was a legend.
Summary of day three: MISSED CARDI B. Don't even @ me I am still so angry about this. Note to self, never attempt going to a festival with a huge group of boys, you will get no where very fast. It wasn't all bad haha. I saw half Miguel and half Odesza, wish we had stayed for the whole Odesza set. Migos did a no show so that was a complete waste of time. We ended up just going back to the beer garden on the left of the main stage and spending the rest of the day sinking ciders there until Eminem played.
The Coachella Boutique has new and unique items each day of the festival. Make sure if you are looking for merch you check in here every day. I had spent enough on merch already but I love that windbreaker and the trackpants are dope.
I have never had much of an affinity for Eminem but I watched him perform and enjoyed myself as much as I could because I knew how excited the girls were to see him. I won't lie, I got a little bored and ended up just wandering around and trying to see as much as I could on the last night. I was really physically and emotionally exhausted. The whole festival was just overwhelming and I was honestly just satisfied with my experience and ready to go back. I saw the New Zealand boys before we left and said my goodbyes.
We ended up kicking on that night and ended our Coachella experience off with a bang. We almost ended up walking the whole way back to the boys Airbnb! We walked a fair way and were cutting across this block of residences when a car came up asking if we wanted a lift. He wasn't an official cab driver but he just drove to the desert for the weekend to see if he could make some extra money. He packed a fair few of us in and took us back. Looking back it probably wasn't the best decision but let's be real at the time it sure beat walking another 40 minutes to get back.
To update you on the whole fire situation. I got home Monday to find out that the fires had been stopped thanks to amazing work of the Rural Fire Service. Thanks for saving my dad, dogs and house! Monday was rough for all of us. We slept most of the morning and then the girls and I drove to my Airbnb in Hollywood.
All in all, what were my thoughts on Coachella?
I had a very up and down weekend. This is one of those RARE experiences that if I could go back in time I WOULD do a few things differently. This is something I am not going to dwell on though because even if some of the weekend was awful, a lot of it was great. I got to spend time with Sara and Eliza as well as meet a lot of new awesome friends. The long and short of it? Would I go again? No.
Coachella was an expensive 'bucket list' that you only really need to do once, if that. It is so expensive for what it is. You spend the majority of your time WAITING in a line for an expensive drink, trying to get from one stage to another, sweating, freezing, WALKING and everything in between. It is probably great for VIP's who don't need to battle the elements/ walk everywhere. The festival is huge. There are so many people. An overwhelming amount of people! For an introvert, it was difficult going to a festival of this size without the comfort blanket of familiarity amongst friends, but it was an experience I am grateful for.
Meeting new people and being in a new environment is VERY overwhelming. I spent a lot of my time needing to distance myself from the people I had just met, not because of anything about them but rather I just needed to be alone. I needed a lot of time by myself to adjust to my environment and recharge my social energy. Yet despite all this I still do like going to festivals and events by myself. Until I find a friend that vibes with me on my level I would rather go things alone then compromise my wants and needs to fit in with what others want to do. I like being alone because I don't owe an explanation to anyone for where I am going. I don't need to ask to do something or make someone wait for me. I can just follow what I want to do. It's a really good way to figure out who you actually are and what you actually like to do when you aren't being influenced by everyone around you. You do you and the rest will come.
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