Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 5 - Lessons Learnt...

So, our Tomorrowland experience is over, but, would we do it again? Damn right we would! However, next time - should we be lucky enough to get tickets - there are a few things we'd do differently, thanks to lessons learnt in our first outing...

Get a Comfort Pass

We'd toyed with the idea of doing this this year, but then decided it wasn't worth the extra money. Then the weather happened, and now we've decided the extra money is very much worth it as an insurance against the weather, if nothing else.

Comfort Passes give you extra access to various covered/shaded areas at a few stages, and if we'd had one of those we could've avoided getting so wet on Saturday night, and maybe found a few more comfotable places to sit down during Friday's way-too-hot weather. We definitely could've stayed drier. So, even though you have to pay 0.5 Pearls more for your drinks in the Comfort Areas, we couldn't care. We're saving up and are prepared to fork out the extra to make next year a slightly more enjoyable experience, should adverse weather strike again.

Stay in a Hotel

My husband would've done this this year, if it had been left up to him, but I'd wanted to experience the whole Dreamville camping thing. And, to be fair, the camping experience wasn't all that bad. Our neighbours in the Relax Room area were, on the whole, pretty quiet and respectful, and The Montagoe Area is really impressive. But, by Sunday, because of the rain, our stuff was starting to feel a little damp. And with the shower/toilet blocks being outside, with no shelter, there was one night when I was brushing my teeth out in the rain. So, we've decided that the longer walk to the shuttle buses after the festival is a price worth paying for a good night's sleep, a private bathroom, and a much more comfortable experience, for us. We're a little older than your average festival-goer, remember!!

Don't Even Attempt To Have A Plan

It doesn't work. We tried to have a plan, but very rarely kept to it. Until you've actually been to Tomorrowland, and got to grips with the layout and the time it takes to get to each of the different stages at various times of the day, you can't possibly plan anything. Some advice we were given by a seasoned festival goer was to have one must-see artist per day, and for the rest of the time just go with the flow, and that's exactly what we're going to do next year. We know the layout now, we'll be much better prepared next time.

Invest in A Better Raincoat

Those cheap ponchos are actually OK, to be honest. They leaked way less than the slightly more expensive raincoat I had on, but, next year, I'm going to invest in a better quality rain jacket that's lightweight, but will keep me dry should the rain hit again. It's very much possible to still enjoy Tomorrowland in the rain, you just need to be wearing the right gear.

Make Time To Eat More of the Food!

Because it all looked FAB! Everything we ate was good quality and tasted really good, and there were so many things I wanted to try and never got around to eating. I'll make sure I try a lot more of the food next year.

Dance More

Being slightly older than your average festival-goer, it took me a bit of time to realise that nobody else actually cared about that, and that it wasn't wrong for me to dance/jump/fling my arms in the air and just enjoy myself in the same way everyone else was doing. Next year I'll be getting straight down to the dancing, but my husband's still banned from hardstyle!! 😏

See a Full Armin van Buuren Set

Not denying that 15 Year Tribute he did this year wasn't something else, it was the BEST moment of the entire festival for me. But, I still would've liked to have seen either his full Mainstage set or, preferably, his State of Trance set. He's one of my favourite DJs, so, next year, as long as he's playing the weekend we (hopefully) get tickets for, I'm going to try and make sure I see him play.


Live In The Moment More

I'm a worrier. I worried about the weather, about the heat, the rain, how my husband was handling it (not as well as I was); were we enjoying ourselves as much as we should've been? Was going there a mistake? All of that was going through my head at one point or another, because that's what I do. I worry and dwell on things and then end up regretting that when I get home. Next year, I'm leaving all that crap at the festival gates, and living in the moment more. We won't be able to afford this festival more than a couple of times, so I want to enjoy the times I can get there. I'll have a word with myself before next year... 😉

So, yeah... Our first Tomorrowland outing was an experience, no doubt about that. There were good bits, and there were bad bits, and that's OK. That's fine. Nothing's perfect, not even Tomorrowland. On the whole, it's pretty close, I mean, the sheer amount of organisiation that goes into something as HUGE as that, it's undeniably very, very good. It DOES live up to the hype, but at the same time, it also does have its problems. Not many, granted, but one of the most important ones we came across was leaving the Mainstage on Sunday night after the final end show - that almost got dangerous! With so many people all leaving at exactly the same time, and with some of those people deciding that taking it slow wasn't the way they were going to go, they'd rather force their way through the crowd and try to get out faster, it resulted in a lot of pushing, a lot of frayed tempers (my husband got accused of deliberately shoving some bloke - who kept insisting he was doing it on purpose - when he wasn't, we were literally being shoved against those in front of us by those behind us, and by those who were just trying to force their way through) and there was a point when it started to feel quite dangerous. The bottleneck of people was immense, and because some kept insisting on shoving their way through it really did feel like we were close to some kind of crush happening. And that needs to be sorted, because one day it could quite possibly happen. There were a lot of drunk people there, a lot of people who thought it was their god-given right to push through and not wait in that crowd, and all it would've taken is for one of those people to kick-off, push too hard; all it would take is for someone to start on someone else and a disaster could happen. It was the one part of the festival that just didn't seem organised at all, it felt quite scary at times, to be honest. And Tomorrowland know that, come Sunday, with the majority of people at the Mainstage, way more people than normal will all be trying to leave the same place at once, heading for one of only two exits. But something seriously needs to be sorted out, and a much more organised plan is needed, in my opinion, to get everyone out of the Mainstage area and out to the exits in a safer way, because I didn't feel safe, at times.

That was my only real niggle, however, it's quite an important one. Apart from that, everything else was pretty much there. The stages, the music, the food, the organisation... all of it seems a cut above your average festival, but then, the price of visiting Tomorrowland kind of reflects that. But at the same time, the prices of food and drink there is quite reasonable, for a festival. We spent way less than we thought we would, meaning we got quite a bit of money refunded from unspent Pearls, so, that's all gone straight back into next year's Tomorrowland fund. Because we will - if we're lucky enought to get tickets again - be back. We've learnt from our rookie mistakes, and second time around we'll try and make the experience even better...


If you want to catch up with the first 4 parts of our Tomorrowland Journey, just click the links below.

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 1

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 2

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 3

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 4

See you next year, Tomorrowland! And thank you. When people say this festival changed their life, they're actually not wrong...


Michelle x

Out Tomorrowland Journey Part 4 - The Music.

So, now it's time to talk about the artists we actually got around to seeing during our first time at Tomorrowland.

We did have some must-sees, and I'm pleased to say that we got to see almost all of those, so, who exactly did we see...?

Friday

This was the ridiculously hot day, way too hot to actually move half the time, so our plan to visit a few stages in the afternoon kind of went out the window. We stuck our heads inside L'Orangerie and saw a little bit of CID, who we'd originally wanted to see, but it was just too hot to dance, to be honest.

Same for the Q-Dance stage, where we saw the end of Zany's set. 

Our day really began around ten to 5, when we went to the Mainstage just in time for the opening show, followed by Mike Williams' set. We found a nice little shaded bit at the bottom of the hill, just to the side of the Mainstage, and sat there and watched for a while before FINALLY getting up and actually dancing! His set was a lot of fun, perfect for the Mainstage at that time of day, as was the next artist to play - Kungs. Both my husband and I really like Kungs, but we hadn't actually intended to see his Mainstage set, however, our original plans were torn up by now, I can't even remember who were supposed to have been seeing at that point, I'm just glad we hung around for Kungs, because his set was GOOD! We had a blast, stuck around and danced for the most part, but then the heat exhaustion kicked in again and we sat back down on the hill, and just chilled out watching the end of the set. Which was nice. And he did a cracking mix of Fisher's 'Losing It' which transitioned perfectly into his own hit 'This Girl'. Clever! 

Next up were my absolute must-sees for the day, all of them at The Garden of Madness - Laidback Luke, Yves V, and Timmy Trumpet. 

Laidback Luke at The Garden of Madness

None of them disappointed. Laidback Luke was on another level, he was amazing! He's just so good at what he does! Doesn't interact with the crowd much at all but that makes no difference, he engaged us all with the music. He played a really great set, in our opinion.

Yves V was next up, and I LOVE Yves V! He's been a favourite of mine for a while now, I just love his sets! And it was great to be able to get closer to the stage than I would've been able to at the Mainstage. The atmosphere was incredible at The Garden of Madness that night for V Sessions vs Freakshow, it was packed! But not so packed that I couldn't have a dance, I mean, I was throwing myself around like no-one was watching, having so much fun at Yves Vs' set. Loved it!

Yves V at The Garden of Madness

Towards the end of Yves Vs' set, though, it started to get really busy, because Timmy Trumpet was on next. And his set was an absolute blast! I mean, it was crazy good! The atmosphere shot up ten fold once he started playing.

However, I'm not sure The Garden of Madness is built for the level of craziness Timmy Trumpet brings. This stage is, basically, a floating stage erected over a lake. And at one point, people were jumping up and down so hard water started to seep through the flooring, both mine and my husband's feet got soaked, so we stepped to the side fearing the whole floor could cave in! Thankfully, it didn't. But there was another point, during 'crowd control' when, again, people were jumping so hard that the roof over the stage was vibrating so much even the Tomorrowland Crew standing next to us were raising their eyebrows! It was insane! The guy ended his set by smashing a bottle of vodka over his head! We couldn't have asked for a better way to end our time at The Garden of Madness, a stage I've always associated with more laid back, chilled out music. Not that night. It lived up to its name, quite literally, that Friday.

We ended the night at The Lotus Stage - mainly because my husband needed the loo and those were the closest ones! But we stayed for a beer and the end of Martin Solveig Live, which I really enjoyed, to be honest. He was good. And it was a nice way to end the night after all the craziness over at The Garden of Madness.

Saturday

Rain put paid to our planned early start, but we finally got to the Q-Dance stage around 3-ish for the end of MANDY's set, followed by most of Keltek's set. And they were both good. I've already said I'm not a huge fan of hardstyle, but my husband is so I wanted him see a couple of sets, and he wanted me to experience some hardstyle live, and to be honest, I actually had a great time dancing around and just letting go, the energy at that stage was wild! However, when my husband also decided to jump around and 'just let go', he sprained his ankle - hardstyle dancing! He got it strapped up by First Aid, though, (who were very, very helpful), and it was only a slight sprain, he could still walk on it, but I've banned him from hardstyle dancing from now on!

We also saw most of Coone's set at the Q-Dance stage, and a little bit of Ferry Corsten at the Kara Savi stage as we made our way back toward the Mainstage, which was packed despite the rain. But Ferry sounded GOOD, so that wasn't really a surprise.

First on the Mainstage for us on Saturday was Salvatore Gannaci, who I wasn't expecting to enjoy all that much, we'd just got there early because Fisher was on straight after him. But I actually loved his set! I mean, the man is a certified nutjob, but he really knows how to play the crowd, and he was so funny! But his set was also really good. One of the surprises of Tomorrowland for me.

After him, it was Fisher. Someone we'd wanted to see, and he was also very, very good, but at this point the rain had started again, and it kind of distracted a little bit from the music, but not too much. I thought this was one of the best sets of the weekend, in my opinion, and of course he ended with 'Losing It'. Which, despite the rain, got everyone up on their feet. Including me.

Next, Vini Vici. Another great set, although it was plagued by a couple of technical problems which saw the music stop a couple of times, which we initially thought might be something to do with the weather, but as no-one else seemed to have had any problems (either before or after them) it possibly wasn't that.Maybe their equipment...? I don't know. Anyway, they got back on track, and again, despite the rain, I was up and dancing.

After Vini Vici, it was David Guetta. By this point my raincoat had been discarded because I was just as wet with it on as I was without it, so I just let myself go, danced in the rain, and tried to enjoy it but, if I'm being honest, David Guetta was one of the sets I'd been looking forward to the most, but probably enjoyed the least, and that was because of the weather. Which was a pity, but that's the weather for you. You can't control it. At least I can watch the set back on YouTube, but I DO remember thinking it was a way better set than last year's, one of the best I've ssen him play. And I did dance a lot! 😃

Sunday

Another slightly later than planned start due to waiting for the rain to FINALLY stop, which meant we only caught the last few songs of Ben Nicky on the Mainstage. After that it was off the the Freedom Stage for Andrew Rayel's State of Trance set. Which was everything I'd hoped it would be, just pure, unadulterated trance. And for some reason, he always makes me smile, because he's always smiling! So glad I got to see him play.

The Freedom Stage - Sunday

Next on the Freedom Stage were Cosmic Gate, who we hadn't planned on seeing, but we hung around the Freedom Stage anyway, grabbed something to eat and a beer and sat down and listened to them while we waited for NWYR. Who were good, we'd wanted to see them, even though we'd already seen them as W&W at The Gathering. But their NWYR sets are quite different, and I, personally, prefer them as NWYR.

Despite Armin van Buuren being on next, we left the Freedom Stage after NWYR to grab more food before heading over to the Mainstage, because no way was I missing out on a decent view for Lost Frequencies, who was the only artist we had no intention of missing. After something to eat we got ourselves a beer and found a place up on the hill at the back (so hubby could sit down, because of his ankle) to watch the end of Solomun's set. And here was another surprise for us. We aren't really Solomun fans, but his Mainstage set was actually really good! It was quite nice, just chilling out, drinking beer, and listening to his music. 

Solomun - Mainstage Sunday Night.

But the one we'd really been waiting for was on next - Lost Frequencies.

And this guy, he was just out of this world! He is so unique, so different, he just blew me away. I couldn't believe I was actually standing there, watching him play, singing along with his songs, he's just something very special.

Lost Frequencies - Mainstage Sunday Night.

And his set was incredible! At the end, when the fireworks started going off, and the music was playing, I remember looking up and just feeling nothing but calm. A beautiful moment of happiness. I really hope I get to see him play again, more than once, and hopefully next year at Tomorrowland.

So, after Lost Frequencies, it was someone else I'd been looking forward to seeing, after missing both his Mainstage and Freedom Stage sets - Armin van Buuren with his 15 year Tomorrowland Tribute, which was just AMAZONG!! I absolutely LOVED it, in fact, it was probably one of my favourite parts of the whole Tomorrowland experience, it was just magical! The music he mixed, the fact he looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, and people all around us dancing and singing, it was an incredible moment. One I'll never forget, I was just completely lost in the music. 30 minutes of trance classics mixed by an absolute EDM god! 

Mainstage - Sunday Night

And the last set of the night, which should've been Swedish House Mafia but I don't think anyone's talking about them anymore now after thier last-minute cancellation, was 3 Are Legend, which is Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike and Steve Aoki. I wouldn't have chosen to watch them, to be honest, because I'm not a fan of Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, and Steve Aoki is just OK, in my opinion. But, they were the final set, and I wanted to stick around for the end show, and in reality they did what they do best - whip the crowd up into a frenzy and create a good party atmosphere. I still danced and sang and I enjoyed myself, but I - and a lot of other people - think Armin should have closed the festival. An hour and a half of those trance classics would have been such a fitting end to the 15 year celebration...

And talking of the end show, how emotional was that? The music, the words being spoken by The Book of Wisdom itself; people throwing themselves into the final few moments of Tomorrowland 2019, it was just incredible to be a part of that. I can't really describe it, it just felt really, really emotional. Especially when the Book of Wisdom closed its pages for the very last time, I swear, I had tears in my eyes! 

Mainstage - Sunday Night

It was the most beautiful end to a bit of a mixed Tomorrowland for us. But I'll remember it for all the right reasons. I saw so many DJs I really wanted to see, a few I hadn't planned on seeing but loved that they surprised me, and I missed some I would've liked to have seen. But, you know, there's always next year...

Next time, in my final post in Our Tomorrowland Journey, I'm going to talk about my thoughts in general on the festival and how, next year, we'll learn from our rookie mistakes.

And if you want to catch up with the first 3 parts of my Tomorrowland-themed posts, you can do so by clicking the links below.

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 1

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 2

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 3

Michelle x

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 3 - The Festival, The Food, and The Weather...

So, in part one of our Tomorrowland Journey I talked about getting tickets, Global Journey, and Dreamville. You can check that post out HERE. And part pwo was all about The Gathering, which you can find HERE. But today, I'm going to talk about the festival itself - the food, the stages, and the weather...


The Festival

From The Montagoe Area it's just a 5/10 minute walk - depending on the amount of people - to the actual festival gates, which was nice. And the good thing about Tomorrowland is that the walkway is boarded, which makes it much easier.

Anyway, once at the gates you have to pass through a security check which involves emptying your pockets, having your bag searched, if you have one, and then walking through an airport-style scanner. During weekend 1 there were a few reports of security being a little lax, ie: not checking bags, just waving everyone through, but I can honestly say that during weekend 2 that wasn't happening. Everyone in front of us had their bags checked, we saw people being patted down, asked questions, security seemed a little tighter to me. Which I'm fine with. 

So, once through security, it was just one simple swipe of our bracelets and we were in... Yes. Bracelets. You're sent a bracelet a month or so before the festival starts, which has a small chip inside it, and you're then required to activate this bracelet - via your Tomorrowland account - with the unique code that comes with it, meaning that that bracelet is then asigned to you and you only, giving you access to the festival. If someone tries to enter with a bracelet that isn't registered to them, it can (but shouldn't) be done, but should that someone then lose that bracelet, and they aren't the person it was originally registered to, then it will not be replaced. And that person would more than likely be removed from the festival. It's a security thing. Your bracelet gives you access to your camping area, as well as the festival, so, for example, people who were camping at Magnificent Greens couldn't enter The Montagoe Area, their bracelets wouldn't allow it. But those bracelets give everyone access to the festival itself. 

Tomorrowland is also a cash-free festival. You load your bracelet with Pearls - the currency of Tomorrowland - and this is what you use to buy food and drink in both Dreamville and the festival itself. This basically means you transfer money onto your bracelet, again via your Tomorrowland account, it's incredibly simple and makes life so much easier once inside. Every time you buy food or drink you just quickly scan your bracelet - pretty much like you'd scan a credit card - and the pearls come off your bracelet! It really does make the queues go down faster, and it tells you on the scanning machine how many pearls you have left every time you buy something. 

Oh, and if you have unspent Pearls left once the festival is over, Tomorrowland will refund them straight back into your account! It took just a couple of days before they refunded ours, and I think this is such a great idea, because we deliberately overloaded our bracelets rathre than running out and having to top-up on site, which is actuallt really easy to do, there are booths all around the festival where you can do this. But, if you top-up your bracelet at the festival itself, then you have to fill out a form to get your unspent Pearls refunded, as opposed to that refund automatically coming back into your account if you topped up before you arrived at the festival.

Anyway, the festival itself - what is it like? Pretty much mind-blowing, to be honest. We'd looked at spoilers before we came out so we knew what the stages looked like, including the Mainstage. The Book of Wisdom - The Return was the theme this year, celebrating 15 years of Tomorrowland, and even though we knew what to expect, when you enter the festival from the Dreamville entrance, the Mainstage is the first thing you see. It slowly starts to appear over the brim of a hill, and despite knowing what it looked like, seeing it for real is something else!

The Mainstage

It is absolutely HUGE! It's imposing, beautiful, intricate, and even now, back home, I'm looking at it and seeing things I didn't realise were there. It truly is stunning.

Getting around the festival site is also something pretty well organised by Tomorrowland, in that they have a one-way system, a bit like Ikea!! You have to follow certain routes to the stages, and this can take a bit of getting used to when it's your first time because, sometimes, if you miss the entrance to a stage you want to visit it can mean you have to go round again to get there, but it does actually work. It's still an incredibly busy festival, don't get me wrong, but organising the routes in the way that they do, it does help to keep the traffic moving in a more orderly way.

So, what about the other stages? Well, first of all, there was a slight disappointment when we got to the festival, finding out that The Freedom Stage roof had collapsed a couple of days ago. The Freedom Stage was one of the stages we'd really wanted to visit - it's like a massive indoor nightclub with lights and lasers, it looked amazing when we watched old sets back. 

The Freedom Stage, Outdoors!

But, due to the extreme heat Belgium had had (apparently, although my husband still blames Eric Prydz's Holosphere) part of the roof had collapsed, thankfully when no-one was inside, and they had no time to repair it. So, instead, Tomorrowland turned The Freedom Stage into an open-air stage, and with just a few days notice to do this, I think they did a pretty bang-on job, personally. And, to be honest, the atmosphere when we were there for A State of Trance was so good! It was like a big party! And because there are lots of food stands outside The Freedom Stage, and a big seating area, it meant you could eat, drink, and sit down while still listening to the music. We actually liked it that way, although, if we go back next year I would like to see the original Freedom Stage back! I still want to experience that!!

The Rose Garden

OK. Other stages. Well, I definitely wanted to see The Rose Garden, or the 'Dragon Stage' as we called it! 😀

And it was just as impressive in real-life! I actually found myself watching the dragon more than the artists because there are so many tiny little movements it does, all the time, it's quite mesmerising! My only regret is that i didn't get to see this stage at night. It looks incredible in the dark, all lit up, so, yeah. Next Year.

The Rose Garden has been a fixture at Tomorrowland for a few years now, but this year also saw a few new stages replace old ones. One of those being The Lotus Stage, which replaced The Organ of Harmony. Although, to be fair, The Lotus Stage isn't exactly new, it was used as the Mainstage for Tomorrowland Winter back in March and was adapted slightly for Tomorrowland Belgium. 

The Lotus Stage

It's a really impressive stage, to be honest. The photos don't do it justice, and when we went there one night, for a final beer before heading back to Dreamville, it looked even better in the dark! We caught the back end of Martin Solveig Live, and stayed til the end of his set to finish our beers, it was a nice stage to end the night at. And they've made some alterations to the grounds in front of it, too, making it quite a pleasant space. There just weren't a lot of artists we wanted to see playing that stage, unfortunately. But, again, maybe next year...

Another new stage was the Q-Dance stage. I'm not a massive fan of hardstyle, but my husband is, so we went there a few times, and this is the first year, I think, that Q-Dance have been given their own desingated stage. 

The Q-Dance Stage

It was always busy when we we there, so it's certainly a popular genre, and I have to admit, people always seemed to be having so much fun there! 

Youphoria - or 'the mushroom stage' as we've nicknamed it, was still the same as it has been for a while now, and again, this was another stage we didn't spend too much time at because there was no-one playing there that we were desperate to see, but we did hang around it a couple of times to grab some photos and listen to a little bit of whoever was playing there at the time. It's one of those stages that has a little bit of cover available, too, which was quite welcome on the Friday when the heat was almost unbearable! 

Youphoria Stage

One of my favourite stages, and another new one, was L'orangerie, another stage that was used at Tomorrowland Winter and brought over for Tomorrowland Belgium. It's basically a huge greenhouse, but a very beautiful one. We only popped inside a couple of times, but this is another stage I'd like to spend more time in next year. 

L'Orangerie

So, that's just some of the stages we visited. We spent a lot of time at The Garden of Madness, which for some reason I forgot to take a picture of! And the Mainstage. Most of Saturday was Q-Dance and Mainstage, Sunday was Freedom Stage and Mainstage. We'd spent most of Friday sheltering from the heat, but did spend some time that day at The Freedom Stage (there was shade there!!), and the Mainstage. We also popped our heads in at The Core Stage, but we didn't really like that stage much at all. And my biggest regret is not spending ANY time in the Atmosphere Stage. This is a massive tent-like structure with the most incredible light shows inside, and I think we didn't really go in there because it was very much techno-themed on our weekend, and techno isn't a genre either me or my husband are really into. But, I wish I'd just stayed for one set, to experience the light show. I guess this is another one for next year! 

However, ALL of the stages are super-impressive, beautifully built, and all very, very different. And I don't, personally, think there is anywhere near enough time to visit them all in a single weekend. That's why we need to go again next year! 😉

A closer look at The Mainstage

Oh, and another, quite important thing, about the festival. The toilets. There are a lot of them dotted around the festival grounds, and every single one I went into was always clean, always had toilet paper, and very, very short queues. 

The Food

Couldn't fault it. There is so much choice, and for a festival the quality is top-notch! The Belgian fries were, of course, REALLY good! As were the HUGE Korean pulled pork or chicken sandwiches, the lasagne I had at the Freedom Stage, and the pizza was SO good! Oh, and the burgers - not the premium burgers, just the standard ones - they were FAB! Loaded with salad, cheese, gherkins and a lovely spicy relish, we only wished we could've had more of those. 

There's everything from grilled chicken, to kebabs; fish and chips, hot dogs, Indian food, pasta, waffles, ice cream, meatballs, beef stew, Thai food... there really is so much choice, and it's really good value for money, too. The portions are big - for festival food - and the average cost of a burger or a plate of pasta was about 7/8 Pearls - which is about 10 euros. Possibly a bit less, but worth it. I can't wait to go back and try more of the stuff I didn't get a chance to try this year.

The Weather

It wasn't good. The Thursday and Friday was the tail end of a Belgian heatwave and, quite honestly, it was just too damn hot to do anything. We spent most of Friday trying to get out of the sun, constantly having to sit down because the heat was just too much. It, thankfully, started to cool down a little by early evening, and by late Friday night/early Saturday morning it had actually started to rain. The things was, though, it didn't stop raining until about lunchtime Sunday! And yes, unfortunately, this did impact on our enjoyment of the festival. We stayed at Dreamville way longer than we'd wanted to, waiting to see if the rain would stop, and when it didn't we just put on our raincoats/ponchos and braved it, and while you try to make the best of it - as a LOT of people were doing - I think we'd all rather have had some dry weather. I wouldn't say it ruined it for me, but it did spoil the whole experience a little bit.

Saturday's not-particularly-attractive festival attire!

Sunday afternoon was dry, thankfully, and a perfect temperature, really. If it had been like that all weekend it would've been amazing! But, you know, you can't blame Tomorrowland for the weather. We still had a good time. 😊 And it did dry up for our afternoon at The Freedom Stage, which I was so grateful for, and the final acts on the Mainstage. So, it all ended on a dry note. But we really did have extremes of weather for our first Tomorrowland experience - record-breaking heat followed by below average temperatures and rain! But, what I would say is, don't let the weather spoil it for you. Embrace it. In the end I flung off my (wet) raincoat and danced in the rain (it was light rain, to be honest) to David Guetta on the Saturday night, by that time I didn't care anymore!! 😁 Just go with it. Enjoy it. Make different memories to the ones you thought you might make, I know we'll laugh about the weather situation in a few months' time!! 

Before I end this post, though, I should mention that mud isn't too much of an issude when it rains at Tomorrowland. The majority of walkways are either concrete or are boarded over, so no need for wellies! And any mud that appeared anyway was quickly dealt with by Tomorrowland staff, come Sunday we could sit on the grass at the Mainstage no problem. And even on the Saturday night - when the rain wa at its worst - the grass still wasn't muddy. There was just one really bad bit to the right of the Mainstage, and that had been sanded over by Sunday, and fixed! They're pretty much on top of everything, I have to say. And that's a big thumbs up from me for that.

Anyway, that's the festival, food and weather covered. Next time, the music...

Michelle x

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 2 - The Gathering.

In the first part of our Tomorrowland Journey I talked about tickets, the Global Journey experience, and The Montagoe Area - our section of the Dreamville camping village. And you can check that post out HERE.

Today, though, in this second post, I'm going to talk about the pre-festival party that is The Gathering...

The Gathering

This is, as I just said before, a pre-festival party held on the Thursday night at the Marketplace in Dreamville. You can only attend The Gathering if you have Full Madness/Comfort Passes to the festival + Dreamville accomodation. If you're staying in a hostel/hotel or only coming on a day pass then you can't attend.

At The Gathering

And, I have to say, I was quite impressed with The Gathering. It really did feel like a mini-festival in itself, although, I have to admit, with that day's stupid heat it took us about an hour to walk there from The Montagoe because we had to keep stopping to sit down and find some shade and summon up the energy to walk a little further. The first thing we did once we got there was find somewhere to sit down, buy water, then food (the pizza in Dreamville was AMAZING!), and then the heaven's opened and it rained, which arrived to cheers in the queue I was standing in at the time for water. That rain made the conditions a little more bearable, and it was only a short shower, so once that was over, and we'd eaten and re-hydrated ourselves, we were ready to go!

Yves Deruyter was playing at this point, and he was good! This was where we had our first jump around, although we didn't go too crazy with the dancing. It was still quite hot! I think the secret with The Gathering is to try and pace yourself. It's quite easy to see how people get carried away, after all, it's the start of a weekend-long party, but being older we knew we had to take a step back, in reality, or we risked peaking too early! 😅😅

The Gathering

Anyway, after Yves Deruyter MANDY played a set - a female hardstyle DJ who really managed to whip up the crowd. She was followed by Robert Falcon, I think, some of that night is now a blur! And then it was time for the first of 3 surprise acts lined up for the evening - Netsky! Although not really my thing, he was much better live than he was when we were just watching his sets at home, and the lighting was amazing! Lasers and fireworks shooting up into the sky, there was no expense spared.

After Netsky, it was the act I'd been waiting for - Regi vs  Yves V. I was back up and dancing for a bit now we'd had a beer and a short rest. Next, it was surprise act number 2 - Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano. They aren't our favourites, but we hung around because we were curious as to who surprise act number 3 would be, and to be honest, it was nice to just sit down, soak up the atmosphere, and listen to some music while watching people go crazy! Mind you, a lot of them were sitting down, just like us, by this time. The heat, the travelling, it was all starting to catch up with a lot of us, I think. You kind of live on adrenaline and excitement for a long time, but once you sit down your body starts to tell you it's knackered! 😆 Others, however, weren't listening to their bodies and were really going for it! There were, as was to be expected, a lot of drunk (possibly drugged-up) people around, but we saw no trouble. The atmosphere was all good, from our perspective. People were friendly, on the whole, just excited to be there, I think. We did, however, witness one young lad being carried away by medics after someone alerted security to the fact he hadn't moved in a while. I have no idea if he was OK or not, but I hope he was. Maybe he'd just partied too hard too fast, a lot of people seemed to be doing that. We also witnessed a lot of people arriving really late, dragging their cases and camping equipment through The Marketplace as late as 1 am. I know that, because of the adverse weather, there'd been a lot of train/flight delays and cancellations, so this probably explained a good many of the late arrivals. But it made me glad we'd had an early, hassle-free flight and had been in our Relax Room by 3 pm. We'd had time for a (cold) shower and a little nap before we'd headed over to The Gathering. I can't imagine what it must've been like trying to pitch a tent in the dark, so I didn't envy that job at all. I was just looking forward to going back to The Montagoe and getting my head down!

The Gathering at night

So, anyway, the final surprise act of the night? It was W&W! And I actually really like W& W, although, to be honest, I prefer their alter ego NWYR, and because we were planning on seeing NWYR at the festival itself we decided to listen to the first half of W&W's set and then head back to The Montagoe. And we stayed seated, we really were starting to get tired by this point. I mean, I think it was around 1 in the morning by the time the last act came on, and we'd been up since 6 0'clock, had a long day of travelling, and the overwhelming heat hadn't helped anything, so we felt there was no shame in bailing early from the party.

Tomorrowland did a really good job of The Gathering, though. The stage was impressive, the sound incredible, and the lighting effects were amazing to watch! And The Marketplace itself was so much bigger than I thought it would be. Here there are lots of shops and stores from a bakery to a hair salon to a Carrefour supermarket. There are also loads of food and drink stands, and on that particular day, because of the heat, one of the drinks stands was doing buy one get one free on water. Of which we drank a LOT! There are lots of places to sit down and eat, and two huge fountains that were crammed with people from bottom to top once the bigger acts started playing. I wish I'd taken more photographs, to be honest, but I was too busy taking it all in. I also wished I'd spent a bit more time at the Marketplace, I was only there that night for The Gathering. But I think a lot of that has to do with the distance it is from The Montagoe. It's about a half hour walk (double that in the extreme heat!) so it's quite a way, especially with the weather we experienced over the course of the weekend, and we kind of had everything we needed back at The Montagoe Area so there never seemed a reason to head back there. However, if we go back next year (and we are planning on doing that, if we can get tickets) I think I'd like to visit The Marketplace on a normal day, when The Gathering isn't taking place. Let's hope we get to do that in 2020. 😊

Anyway, all in all, The Gathering really does set you up for the festival to come. And after a very hot, but very good nonetheless, night's sleep back in our Relax Room, we were raring to get to the festival itself on Friday.

Join me for Part 3 of our Tomorrowland Journey where I'll be talking about the festival itself, the stages, the food, and... the weather! 😮


Michelle x

Our Tomorrowland Journey Part 1 - How we got our tickets, the Global Journey experience, and arrival at Dreamville.

So, we've just got back from Tomorrowland 2019. Did we have a good time? Of course we did! This festival is one I don't think anyone who's been can ever forget, but how easy was it to acquire the tickets in the first place? And what happened when the time finally came to head off to Belgium?

In this first post chronicling our Tomorrowland journey I'm going to talk about how we got our tickets, our Global Journey experience, and what it was like arriving at Dreamville, and hopefully this might prove useful to anyone thinking about going to the festival in 2020.


Getting Tickets

Acquiring a ticket for Tomorrowland is notorioulsy hard. Fact. Getting a ticket through either the Pre-sale or the Worldwide ticket sale is a lottery - there are those who have managed to get tickets no problem this way for a number of years where others have been constantly unlucky. But there is an almost guaranteed way to acquire a ticket - and I say almost guaranteed because even this way is becoming a little more difficult as the years go on, apparently. Choosing the Global Journey option is your best bet, though, and this is the route we took. Tickets do take a little longer to sell-out but I'd still say it's best to be ready and online for when the shop opens if you want to stand the best chance of getting the package you really want. Oh, and I should mention that to buy tickets for Tomorrowland you need a Tomorrowland account, which is very easy to set up. Just go to the official Tomorrowland website - HERE - click create account, and within minutes you're done. This is necessary, because you're also required to pre-register around December time in order for you to be able to try and buy tickets when the sales start in January/February.

Anyway, we went for the Relax Room (2 people) with Full Madness Passes and flights from Birmingham to Brussels. It took about an hour to finally get through to the shop, choose our option and pay, but that was because the site kept crashing. We got there in the end, and I have to say, choosing this option really does lessen the ticket-buying stress, especially as the Global Journey packages go on sale around a week or two before the Pre-sale and Worldwide ticket sales. 

However, you will pay more, but as far as I was concerned that extra cost was worth it to know that we had our tickets, and that our journey to Tomorrowland would be a lot easier than if we were making our own way there. Which brings me on to the next thing I want to talk about...

The Global Journey Experience

Honestly, it was stress-free from start to finish. We got to the airport, checked in our hold luggage (my husband and me had already checked in online the day before to make sure we got seats together), and once we were through security it was just a short wait before we headed down to the departure gate and straight onto the plane. Our flight wasn't one of the few designated Party Flights Tomorrowland organise, but the majority of the people on the plane were going to the festival, and even though we'd expected it to be a pretty noisy flight we were wrong. It was probably the most relaxed flight we've ever taken. Everyone was excited, yes, and maybe it was the stupidly hot weather but it was just such a calm, chilled journey.

We were given a Tomorrowland newspaper, and a small Global Journey themed drawstring bag that contained some snacks and a can of Iced Tea - which was very welcome - and then settled back for one of the shortest flights I've ever taken, just 50 minutes from Birmingham to Brussels.

Once at Brussels Airport we knew we had to look out for the Global Journey desks, and found them situated right next to baggage reclaim, which is handy. Each desk is labelled with a different country, so you find the desk of the country you've just flown in from, show your ID, and you're then handed an envelope containing some information and your shuttle bracelet. The shuttle bracelet must be worn at all times, so it's clear you're part of Global Journey and therefore entitled to use the shuttle buses provided.

So, once our bags were collected, we then followed the many signs that are around the airport directing us to the shuttle buses outside, honestly, it couldn't be any easier. There are Tomorrowland staff everywhere, it's impossible to get lost. And, thankfully, because of the weather, they were handing out free bottles of water left, right and centre, which was a godsend!

The first (non-air-conditioned) bus we boarded took us to a site just a 5 minute drive away where we were all then transferred onto an air conditioned coach for the half hour(ish) journey to Dreamville, but not before we were given Global Journey goodie bags containing a Tomorrowland dice game and a beautiful little travel journal and pen. We were also given more water and, if we wanted, we could also take an apple to eat on the journey to Dreamville. I think the heat had sapped some of my appetite, though, so I just chose to sit back, chill out and watch the world go by.

En-route we passed many houses - and businesses - with Tomorrowland flags hanging outside, there were even people sitting outside (it was one of the hottest days in Belgian history when we arrived!) having mini parties of their own, waving to us as we drove past, you could already feel the atmosphere building! It also proves how much the residents of the aptly-named little town of Boom, where the festival is held, take it to their hearts, getting involved in their own ways. It's just another thing that makes Tomorrowland so different.

Arriving at Dreamville

On arrival at Dreamville, we were dropped off just a short walk away from the entrance, but the heat made that walk feel longer, especially when you're dragging luggage behind you, but once there, we found the Global Journey info desk outside Dreamville, and they directed us toward The Montagoe Area, where we had to go to check in to our accomodation. All of this took about half an hour, but then we finally had the keys to our Relax Room in our hand, and were being directed to what would become our home for the next four nights.

Relax Rooms are, basically, like a shipping container converted into little rooms, with a couple of beds, pillows, duvets, two camping chairs, a table, 2 plug points, windows that open, blinds, a small mirror, and plenty of hanging space for clothes. Two big towels were also provided, which was a nice touch. We'd actually brought our own because we hadn't been sure if towels were provided or not, but the ones in the Relax Rooms were better than ours so we used those!

The showers and toilets were really close, and really clean! I never experienced a dirty toilet at all, and toilet paper, soap and paper towels were constantly being topped up over the course of the day. The only negative, I suppose, is that the regular Relax Rooms showers and toilets (as opposed to the Spectacular Relax Rooms) have no shelter, which was a slight pain when it started to rain, but nothing that would put me off chooing this option again. It's all part of the experience!

Our neighbours were extremely friendly, and there was barely any noise from anyone at night which meant we got sleep! Even on the last night, when we only had a window of opportunity for two and a half hours sleep before we had to get up for an early flight home, there was a party going on in our row with loud music and a good few people, but once the cut-off point of 2 am arrived, the music just stopped! And it was quiet again, so we got our two and a half hours sleep, which I was grateful for. 😊

And the beds, I have to say, were very comfortable. The pillows and duvet were clean and good quality, although the first night we couldn't sleep with the covers on, it was way too hot! The rest of the time, once it had cooled down, the temperature was fine, and you needed the covers back on. Never had a bad night's sleep, though. Way more comfortable than I thought it would be.

Now, for The Montagoe Area itself. This part of Dreamville has had a bit of an overhaul. And it's stunning! Inside it's like a huge, glass atrium, the decorations are so intricate and beautiful, and outside there's now a pool as well as the hot tubs, sunloungers, a bar, plenty of seating... oh, and a DJ booth which lets new talent play sets and keeps the party going all day and most of the night, until 2 am.

Food is also available at The Montagoe, with a good range of dishes and snacks, like big bowls of pasta, burgers and spring rolls (which were very nice!). And a big buffet breakfast is also available every morning, which we bought vouchers for, but you can pay daily if that's what you'd prefer. The selection of food on offer for breakfast is really good, too. There was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, granola, muffins, yogurts, pastries, fruit juices, bread, cold meats and cheese. And you can eat as much as you like, I know I did!! There's also tea and coffee, which are both free all day and night. And the coffee was SO good! Wasn't so keen on the tea, but then I'm British, and very fussy about my tea! 😁

I also have to say that all the staff we met at The Montagoe were extrememly friendly, helpful and welcoming. Nothing was a bother, and anything you needed they'd try to find/sort out. We couldn't fault them.

And if you want to have your hair or your make-up done then the Angels of Beauty Salon is right next door to the bar/restaurant, but it's advisable to book as soon as you get there. I didn't use them myself, but every time I looked inside it was busy. I think it was about 6 pearls for hair and another 6 pearls for make-up, but the choice of what you can have done is limited, apparently. I saw a lot of up-dos and hair glitter, but everything looked really well done, and everyone who came out of the salon looked good!

It's difficult to believe you're at a festival when you're sitting in The Montagoe. They've done an amazing job of making it feel more like a holiday resort, and the atmosphere in there always felt chilled and relaxed, although it did get really busy in the early hours of the morning as people came back from the festival, stopping off for a drink or a snack and a bit of post-festival partying. Which brings me onto one more thing. The most expensive Montagoe accomodation - the brand new En-Suites and the Cabanas - are directly opposite the bar, restaurant and pool, making them fairly noisy, I would've thought. Although the cut-off point for the music coming from there is 2 am, quite a few people continue to hang around there for a while, apparently, which could keep the noise going a little longer. Some of that noise could also spill out to a few of the nearby Dreamlodges too, maybe, but as far as the Relax Rooms were concerned we were far enough away to hear none of that, which suited us just fine.

Oh, and probably THE most important thing about The Montagoe Area is that it's just a 5/10 minute walk away from the festival entrance, which is a HUGE advantage!

Anyway, I have nothing bad to say at all about The Montagoe. And it was also great peace of mind knowing that our accomodation was lockable (and it was a very strong lock, too, according to my husband), and that we could hand the key in at reception every time we went out. There are a lot of plus points for the Relax Rooms in my opinion. I'd originally wanted a Cabana, but I'm not sure we could've justifed the extra cost for what was, in reality, just a better decorated, more aesthetically pleasing version of a Relax Room - which is, by the way, the cheapest of all The Montagoe accomodation. I wouldn't hesitate to go with the Relax Rooms again. But, when the heat is as hot as it was those first couple of days we were there, they do get extremely hot inside, but from what I can gather all the accomodation does. Not sure you can escape that.

So, getting there by Global Journey was a breeze. But what about going home? Just as stress-free? Pretty much, yes.

If you check-in online for your return flight home - do this the day before you're due to leave - you can take your hold luggage to the Brussels Airlines/Global Journey desk at the main entrance to Dreamville, and they will check your luggage in for you there and then, take it off your hands, and the next time you'll see it will be when you get back to whatever airport you're flying home to. This makes things much easier, not having to haul your hold luggage around, especially if your flight isn't leaving until late. And this is another instance when we encountered friendly, helpful staff who went above and beyond to make sure a problem we had was sorted. When we got to the Global Journey/Brussels Airlines desk, we explained that we'd tried to check in online but it wouldn't let us do it. However, all we had to do was show a staff member the email we'd been sent stating this, and she then checked us in herself, which we were very grateful for. We hadn't been sure that would happen, but they were more than happy to help, and even though it was about half past four in the morning, everyone was still smiling.

Once that was done, and our luggage had been taken away, we were directed to the shuttle buses. These start running at 3 am. And for flights leaving before 9 am (or just after in our case) the shuttle buses running between 3 and 6 am go directly from Dreamville to the airport, which was less than an hour's drive. I was quite tired, so I can't remember exactly how long it took, but it didn't feel like long at all. And for flights leaving after 9 am, the shuttle buses drop you off a little way away from the airport, where you're transferred onto another bus that then takes you on to the airport. What I would advise is to leave in plenty of time. It was early when we left, and we didn't experience many queues or crowds at all, either at Dreamville or the airport, but I've been told that the later you leave the more chance there is that queues will build at the Brussels Airlines/Global Journey desk to check in your luggage, at the shuttle bus stops, and at the airport. Someone who left a lot later than us told us it took them over three hours to get from Dreamville to the airport, whereas we we there in well under two. Although, everyone has to be out of Dreamville by 12 pm on the Monday after the festival, no matter what time your flight/coach/train leaves.

And the flight home was just as chilled and relaxed as the flight there. We were given another Tomorrowland newspaper, and another Global Journey themed drawstring bag containing an energy drink and a tomato and mozarella wrap, which was extremely welcome because I was starving! Leaving so early meant we'd had no time to grab anything to eat so I was very happy to see food! And it was SO good, too! Very big, and very filling, and a really nice touch.

Global Journey/Tomorrowland Goodies

Tomorrowland Gym Bag - FREE with Global Journey!

 As far as the whole Global Journey experience goes, I couldn't fault it. It takes every bit of travel stress away from you, guides you every step of the way, and the flights were just the best flights I've ever experienced. For me, you might pay more but the Global Journey option was worth it, for me. And our luggage got home to Birmingham without any problem at all! 😊

OK. That's the Global Journey experience and accomodation covered. But, if anyone has any questions about Global Journey/The Montagoe/accomodation please just ask away and I'll try and help, if I can.

Anyway, next time, I'm going to talk about the pre-festival party that is The Gathering...


Michelle x

My first festival, at 50! Tomorrowland weekend 2, we're on our way...

So, after almost a year of watching sets, discovering new artists, and basically just getting ridiculously excited, it's almost time for us to head to Belgium to be a part of one of Europe's biggest EDM (electronic dance music) festivals - Tomorrowland! 😍

And because this is very much a bucket-list trip for me and my husband, it's something I want to remember, for a long time, so I'm going to be doing a few posts - over the coming weeks - documenting our experiences as first-time festival-goers. Starting today, with a little bit about Tomorrowland itself, our expectations of festival 'glamping', and the music we're looking forward to hearing...

What is Tomorrowland?

Every year, during the last two weeks of July, the appropriately-named little town of Boom plays host to over 400,000 EDM fans who descend on it for this always hugely-anticipated event. But this isn't just any festival, Tomorrowland prides itself on making the weekend not just about the music, but also about the experience.

To begin with, every year, Tomorrowland has a new theme. Past themes have included The Elixir of Life, The Kingdom of Melodia and last year's The Story of Planaxis. Basically, this festival is almost like a Disneyland for adults from its huge, imposing Mainstage to the quirky little details dotted all around the grounds.

Tomorrowland prides itself on taking those lucky enough to aquire tickets on a magical journey into a world so very different from the one they leave at the festival gates, so, what's the these this year? Well, it's a theme so perfect for me, as an author. A theme I couldn't have planned any better for my first bisit to the festival: The Book of Wisdom - The Return. Check out the simply stunning Mainstage below...

The Tomorrowland 2019 Mainstage 

We saw a lot of it on the weekend 1 live streams over the past weekend, watched those giant books open, watched the Book of Wisdom itself (in the centre) talk to the crowd; looked at all the intricate details that have gone into that stage, as much as I could on the TV. But I can't wait to get up close and see it for myself, so, look out for all the photos I'll be posting on my return. For now, that hopefully gives you an idea of the sheer scale of it...

But that's not all. Every year, along with your tickets, Tomorrowland also sends each festival goer a special gift, and because this year it's also the festival's 15th year anniversary, we all got a very special gift - something which was also the most perfect souvenir for someone like me. An actual Book of Wisdom!

My very own Book of Wisdom

This book tells the magical story of Tomorrowland, and I loved it! It's such a beautiful gift, something I'll treasure forever, and just another thing that makes this festival stand out from so many others. I'm so excited to be a part of it, my first festival at 50 years old! But, you know, despite worrying that we were going to be two of the oldest ravers there, we aren't going to be alone. The age of people attending Tomorrowland ranges from 18 to almost 80, so, I think we're going to be OK. 😉 

Although, we are about to have our first experience of 'glamping'. You can opt to stay in a hotel rather than stay at Dreamville - the on-site camping village within the festival grounds. But we heard so many good things about Dreamville, and that staying there gave you the ultimate festival experience so, we bit the bullet and chose to stay in a Relax Room...

These Relax Rooms are situated in a part of Dreamville called The Montagoe Area, which is, basically, where all the 'glamping' options are. It has, apparently, its own bar, restaurant, hot tub, barbecue area, and separate shower blocks and toilets for all the accommodation. I'll write more about all of this once I'm back from the festival next week, but for now I'm just looking forward to getting there, getting unpacked, and enjoying 4 days and 4 nights of great music. Which brings us to the final part of this post. The artists we're looking forward to seeing. 

For me, I'm excited to see the likes of Yves V, Laidback Luke, Timmy Trumpet, Andrew Rayel, David Guetta, Fisher and Lost Frequencies, to name but a few. That's covering everything from Big Room House to Happy Hard Core to Trance at its best there.

In all honesty, though, I just can't wait to party like I'm 25 again, forget everything for a few days, and just enjoy myself. A bit concerned about the weather - looks like it's going to be super-HOT the first 2 days and raining/thunderstorms for the next 2, but this is Belgium we're going to. That could all change. Here's hoping we get some sun, not a lot of rain, and some incredible vibes! I'll report more on my return, and let you know how this 50 year old festival virgin got on. Wish me luck!! 😍

Michelle x