Festivals?

I went to Sziget festival in Budapest back in 2007. I had a great time, and was there for almost two weeks. I also participated in the Duke of Edinburgh's award back in 2004. My last expedition was trekking 80km in the French Pyrenees, followed by a water sports holiday. The thing with Sziget, there were so many different types of food available. Also, there were supermarkets near to the festival grounds. If you decide to go to one, I would suggest getting hold of a book called carbs and cals. It gives typical nutritional information on huge numbers of food and drink, along with photos to illustrate the portion sizes referred to.

That said, some precautions would be a good idea. If it's a festival in europe, make sure you have an in date european health insurance card. I would also advise getting some form of travel insurance, and advising them of your diabetes. If you go to Diabetes UK's website, they have a section on travel insurance. Also, get hold of a way to keep your insulin cool when out of the fridge. I find that the Frio wallet is a good choice, they are available from a lot of pharmacies. you activate it by putting it in cold water for a few minutes, and it can keep your insulin cool for days. You can reactivate it while out on your travels so long as you have access to a sink and cold water.

It would be a good idea to make sure you have something to identify you as diabetic as well. I pay £30 a year to medic alert, so that I am on their database. I wear a medic alert bracelet, which is recognised across the world by emergency health workers. Obviously, the best thing to do is make sure you are keeping your blood sugars well controlled. If you're already doing that, great! If not, commit to getting your levels under control by testing lots, eating to your meter, and noting down your results to see patterns. That way, you can have the festival as a reward for all your hard work.

Having spent 5 days at Glastonbury in a year where it was both horribly cold and wet then turned into stupidly hot and sticky, I'd say there are no issues at all. Simply treat it like you would any other camping holiday or holiday abroad, or even a camping holiday abroad. That's what it is, with the added advantage of some great music!

L3wisr said:

Great advice thanks. I'll look into all what you've mentions, keeping the insulin cool was one of my biggest worries so I'll definitely be getting a frio wallet! its the EXIT adventure they've looking at...few days in Serbia and a few in Montenegro.

How much does the heat affect levels? Is it easy enough to control if you're doses are correct?


Good to know others have been and done it!

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Hey Iv been type 1 for two and half years now and I was so scared about going on holiday being type1 thinking the heat would make me go hypo all the time , that I only plucked up the courage to go on another holiday recently ! I took around 7 bags of jelly babies with me, made sure I had the correct insurance and bought two frio wallets and just crossed my fingers all would be okay ! It was fine I found the heat didn't alter my levels much at all I didn't have one hypo , just did the same routine that I do at home ! So I'm sure you will be fine, just be careful if your drinking as well. you seem to be doing a good job,should be proud of your self

I did wakestock last year and was perfectly fine. Just make sure you've got everything you need (insulin/food wise) and keep some form of sugar on you just incase you get caught in the middle of a crowd with a hypo

I am a bit of a festival veteran having been to many including one abroad (Benicassim), I also work at Glastonbury Festival. As has been said, treat it like a camping holiday, remember you will be doing faaaaar more walking than normal plus jumping around/dancing etc! Also you will more than likely be drinking far more than normally. The heat will also make a difference. I need a far lower basal at a 5 day festival no matter what the climate is like. At Glastonbury you can store fridge meds in the medical centre, although you won't need to store insulin in it for the duration it's good to have a back up I'm sure other festivals have a similar arrangement, def worth finding out. Take plenty of hypo treatments that are easy to carry, make sure your friends know what to do just in case and make sure you drink plenty of water (that goes for all the non-diabetics too!!) Remember tents turn into ovens early in hot climates!
You'll have a fabulous time

So just to add to this topic, I spent the weekend at Download. The key aspects were that it was soggy, muddy and a festival. All my by testing was finger pricking thanks to Abbott being useless. Managed to maintain an average, even guessing at food contents, of 7.0 without spectacular highs and lows and consumed plenty of beer and cider in the process.



The biggest challenge was keeping tech dry, and this includes by testing kit, of course. Got through and out the other side though, with no dead tech and still alive

I went to EXIT last year and it was just two or three months after i was diagnosed. I spent four days in Novi Sad ( Serbia) and everything was all right. Just try to control your sugars like you are home, don't forget to check it or to take insulin and of course be careful with alchocol. Also at that time temperatures in Montenegro are often over 35 C so find some cool place for your equipment and enjoy in great music !

I've been to Glastonbury several times but this year I will be going as a diabetic for the first time. We don't camp any more, we have the luxury of a rather old caravan! My DSN has advised me to halve both my background and rapid acting insulin while there, and I have a couple off frio wallets. I've only been diagnosed 6 weeks and went to Bearded Theory festival a few weeks ago. I was too scared to have a drink, and found it hard to keep my levels up but I'm a few weeks further down the line this time so hope to manage it a little better.

It's not going to be the booze fest it usually is and I've got mixed feelings about a sober one but I'm sure I'll still enjoy it.
Guesstimating the carb content of stuff is going to be hard as a newbie, but I do have theocket size carbs & cals book to help.

tim2000s said:

So just to add to this topic, I spent the weekend at Download. The key aspects were that it was soggy, muddy and a festival. All my by testing was finger pricking thanks to Abbott being useless. Managed to maintain an average, even guessing at food contents, of 7.0 without spectacular highs and lows and consumed plenty of beer and cider in the process.

The biggest challenge was keeping tech dry, and this includes by testing kit, of course. Got through and out the other side though, with no dead tech and still alive

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Fellow downloader here. I was quite nervous about it. Only diagnosed in January and first festival since diagnoses. I coped way better than I thought I would! I had way too much beer and cider and managed to maintain relatively normal levels. Had a few highs but easily corrected. I think the walking for miles helped as well. Definitely gave me more confidence and won't hesitate doing it again! Not even the mud phased me! Brilliant week

Hi @Trixy83, my phone reckoned that by the time I made it back to the car I had walked 40 miles over the course of the weekend. Not A massive surprise really...

It's just like going on any holiday, you need to take stuff with you, and take the relevant precautions. Just don't do what I did last year and leave all your insulin in a fridge in a hotel in the Amazon.