Wellies!! Diabetic or not, always take wellies! And wrap everything in bin bags before you pack it. It may seem odd, but when you wake up to find the rain or the condensation from inside the tent has seeped through your rucksack and you have no clean, dry clothes, especially socks, you'll wish you'd done it. Those were the best tips anyone gave me before my first festival (Sonnisphere 2010 with Iron Maiden, Rammstein and Alice Cooper headlining).
Also, a two man tent really means just two men. Nothing else. No bags or camping equipment. And the one we took must have been meant for two not very tall people, as I'm 5ft 8 and my feet were very nearly touching the end of the tent when I lay down. We were trying to be considerate and not take up too much space on the camping grounds, but we would definatley go for a slightly bigger one next time. A friend also swears by making room in your bag for a big, warm blanket, even if the festival is in the middle of summer, as it can still get cold at night when you're camping.
My Sonnisphere experience was pre-diabetes diagnosis, and now I think it'd be a struggle to find suitable stuff to eat from the food stalls as I need to keep relatively low carb in order to keep my BG under control, (although there was one place that did full fried breakfasts, so bacon & egg would have been an option every morning). If I was to go again I'd have to think carefully about taking some suitable food that would keep over the three days, but I'm sure there must be a thread somewhere on this forum about camping that would give advice.
Also, having learned from a recent holiday -
don't keep all your medication/testing kit in one place - very important. It's all too easy to lose a bag, or have it stolen, and whilst the majority of people at festivals are lovely, tents do sometimes get 'broken in to', so I would say take enough meds for the time you are there, and spares, and spare spares, and consider where to keep them. I would keep one set on me, one in the tent, and maybe give a set to a friend to keep, but maybe I'm over cautious. I'm on metaformin/glimepiride only btw so would not know what to do about insulin.
If you have any chance of going hypo, it may be worth keeping someting on you to state that you have diabetes, emergency contact number etc, just in case you need help and get seperated from your friends who know your condition. I've heard of people who have medical conditions introducing themselves in the first aid tent when they arrive as well, 'just in case'. Not something I would feel the need to do, but I'd imagine it gives a bit of peace of mind.
Was at the train station on Friday and saw some young people headed for the V festival, in the pouring rain, one of them carrying a very wet sleeping bag and wearing flat ballet pumps, which will most definatley not stay on her feet in the mud. Let's hope she had the sense to buy over priced wellies at the festival site, otherwise she'll probably come back with trench foot.
I really enjoyed Sonnisphere, but did not enjoy the camping experience, so it would take a spectacular line up to get me to go to a festival again, unless of course I manage to win millions on the lottery and can afford to stay in one of those luxury 'pop up hotel' pod things on site that they charge a small fortune for!
Vicky
