Valencia: Arenal Sound Festival

Hi everyone, today I am going to tell you about the trip I took to Valencia two summers ago.

It all started when my cousin realised that there was a music festival that took place in a town called Burriana close to Castellón called 'Arenal Sound'. We had no idea who the groups and artists were that were performing there, but still, we were convinced to go. Out of our friends from Huelva, two of my friends from Seville went, one from my cousin's class with her boyfriend, and six of seven of the boyfriend's friends. By the end, more and more people were joining us, so we were more excited by the festival itself rather than the music, because like I said, we didn't know anyone.

Since my cousins was the one that convinced us all to go because she really wanted to, it was her that told us where to get the tickets from and she was the one that told us what it was like and what we could do during the day, apart from listening to music, of course. Everyone was really impressed, apparently, there are lots of different areas to camp. where we could pitch our tents, different music stages depending on what time of the day it was, an area for showering, and area with some bars, a few swimming pools... and everything was just walking distance from the beach, which made it even better. The ticket wasn't that expensive, but it did get more expensive the longer you left buying it, I think I remember paying around 30 euros. We bought the tickets in advance because I remember that the festival was the first week of August and the winter before we were already planning it.

So, knowing what to expect when we got there we could organise the trip well and figure out how we get there. We had a few options, by train, by plane or take a bus. The good thing about going by train was that there was no limit on how much luggage we could take, but by plane we were charged extra. Because we had to take all of our camping equipment and sleeping bags, that took a lot of space up, and it was impossible to put it all in one big bag, as well as clothes for five/six days.

Looking at train tickets, they were a lot more expensive that the plane, even with the extra charge of taking more luggage. We decided to get into pairs and split the price of the extra luggage between a pair, so me and my cousin would share a tent and my two friends from Huelva would stay together. The same for our friends from Seville.

Me and my cousin could only take one sleeping bag because there was no other way of taking two without having to pay for another bag. So what we did was filled one suitcase with both of our clothes, another with the sleeping bag and in our hand-luggage, our toiletries. In the end, we had to put the tent in another suitcase because some of the equipment was sharp and we weren't allowed to carry it on the plane. Our friends did the same thing, but whilst my tent was a donut shape, theirs was a pop up one that could be installed in three seconds. So we tried to put them together to see if we could manage with just one suitcase for both of them because it would be a lot cheaper. My tent could be folded more so it took up less room, so we could fit the other tent next to it, but I'm not sure if they would allow it at the airport. The others in Seville had done the same, but they had rolled it up in kitchen roll (because they had to take the packaging off at Seville airport). After making the Ryanair girl feel sorry for us, she let us check it in as one case and we saved a bit of money.

The flight was awful, the worst flight of my life, there was so much turbulence, it would just drop suddenly and people would start screaming. I am not even exaggerating, it was really scary and I wasn't afraid of flying before this flight. But we finally landed and I was so grateful to get off that plane alive!

When we got there we had to take a metro to get to the centre of the city, and then we took a train that dropped us off in Burriana, which is the town of the festival. To understand its location, the town belongs to Castellón but it is closer to Valencia than Castellón itself.

So we did that when we got there, we picked up our luggage and separated the tents so they were easier to carry and headed for the metro, which we could get from the airport. We got a multiple ticket which worked out cheaper for us to share, that we could use one by one. We already knew the stop we had to get off at, so we didn't have the worry of getting lost. We knew from reading somewhere that the train from Valencia to Burriana was quite frequent so we didn't have to rush to get the metro because we wouldn't have to wait long between trains when we got to the station.

The metro stop was right at the door of the train station. We went to look at the times of the train, and because it was lunch time, there was a wait of a couple of hours until the next train. so we had some time to kill. With all the travelling, we were all pretty hungry anyway, so we spent the time we had to get going to get some lunch.

My two friends, my cousin and I went to the easiest option, McDonald's, which was just opposite the train station, so we didn't have to spend much or walk very far, and because we were still carrying all of our luggage. A friend of my cousin said because we were in Valencia, we should go for tapas to try something new and typical to the city, so they were a while deciding what to do. In the end, they split up and went to wherever they preferred. We walked down the street and went into McDonald's, which ended up being a bad idea because it was full of people and we had nowhere to sit and nowhere to leave our stuff. We ordered our food and we got it soon after because we were in McDonald's after all, but we had to wait a little until we found a free table where we could leave all of our stuff. We ate quite quickly but it was uncomfortable because we had to put some of our bags on top of us because there was no space to put them anywhere, because a lot of people were sat on the floor. A lot of them had camping stuff and big bags too so it looked like they were going to the festival like we were.

After eating we left and went to wait in the train station and we got our tickets from the machines close by. We still had to wait more than an hour, so we thought about leaving our bags in a locker in the station and going for a walk somewhere. We looked at the prices and they weren't too bad, but there were no large ones available so we would have had to split them up into smaller lockers which would end up being more expensive. So we had no choice but to wait at the station, which was pretty cold. I haven't mentioned yet that I was quite ill, I'd had a horrible cold and and fever for the past few days, but I didn't want to disappoint my cousin and not go since she was looking forward to it so much. Because it had already been paid for, I still went and hoped I would get better in the next few days. But to be honest one I got to Valencia, the heat made me feel worse and I was struggling to breath sometimes. But still, because I was ill before I left, I just got on with it.

Finally, when our train arrived, we couldn't wait to get on it. We were all very excited to get to the festival and see what awaited us.

The train was 30/40 minutes late getting to the station but we got there in the end. And then we had to find a way to get to the festival. We knew that there was a free bus to get to the site from the centre. There was quite a long line of people but luckily we were the last ones that managed to get on it. Although some of us were sat separately, we arrived in about 10 minutes. When we arrived I was pretty impressed. I couldn't believe how many people were already there. After we arrived we realised that there were all sorts of tickets, one where you could get there a few days before we did so there were already a lot of people camping. We got our bags and headed for the entrance where we had to queue for an hour. When it was finally our turn, they took our tickets and scanned our tickets, that it shouldn't be printed out in black and white so we had to wait longer. Soon, someone else came that was able to scan our tickets with another machine. They gave us a green and orange wristband to wear so we could leave and enter the premises whenever we wanted, it was so strong it was impossible to take off.

When we got inside there were some girls showing people where to put there tents up. We asked for a shaded area and we were told that the places that were shaded all day were already filled, so we got a spot which was shaded in the morning. We were told how much space we were allowed to take up with each tent. My friends put up theirs pretty quickly because it was like a pop up tent, but with mine took a little longer, but not much. The tricky part was nailing the pegs because the soil was really stony. Luckily, everyone was helping each other and a very nice guy saw us struggling and gave us a hammer. I found it strange that someone took a hammer to a festival, especially because the guy was not even Spanish, but hey, it helped!

Then we got together to set out to get some food for the evening and some breakfast for the next day. We also wanted to find a mat for our sleeping bags so that we didn't have to sleep on the ground, which was nothing like sleeping on a beach. The land was so hard and bumpy, definitely not comfortable to sleep on.

We also thought about buying a mat that we could use as a communal area to sit and play cards together so we didn't have to each sit in our own tents. We copied this idea from other tents.

We left everything in the tents and took our more valuable things with us in a little bag that we had brought from home, and went to look for a supermarket. The mission of buying something to eat and drink turned into grabbing anything that you could. People formed five metre queues outside of the supermarket and people were scrambling for some water or bread. It was like being in the Civil war and it was quite overwhelming to be honest.

There were some people who were stealing other people's trolleys so that they didn't struggle carrying all of their stuff... We tried to find a supermarket that was further away, and calmer, but to no avail, everything we were looking for had already sold out. We found a shop that was selling inflatable mats that we could use to sleep on. The cheapest ones were decorated with Disney princesses hahaha, but at least they would be much comfier to sleep on no matter what the drawing was.

We found some big bottles of water in the same shop, so we made the most of it and bought a few, so we had something to drink at least. We continued to look for something to eat, we wanted some bread to make some small baguettes and sandwiches but we couldn't find any anywhere. After several laps around a supermarket where the queue wasn't coming out the other end of the door, we found a little bakery where we could buy some baguettes from.

We ran there and two girls followed just behind us who also looked desperate for something to eat. There asked how much the bread was trying to push in front of us but there was four of us and we asked for the four baguettes that were left quickly. So the two poor girls were left with nothing and they glared at us angrily! The bread turned out to be a bit hard and dry, it had probably been there all day or maybe even the day before, but at least we had something to eat.

We went to a small supermarket which was pretty much empty of stock, but we found some cold meats to share between us. We also got some fruit so we had something more to eat. We picked some cookies to have for breakfast the next day, we bought some tissues and other things too. We had to wait a while in the queue but it wasn't too bad.

After we got everything that we needed, we went to an ice cream shop that was there close and we ate a 'granizada', because it was quite hot. We went to another shop and bought some more mats and then we headed back to the festival to set up our little porch and eat dinner.

When we had it all set up, we zipped up the tent and went to take a shower. We were pretty sweaty after our long day carrying everything around. The idea was to not shower too late because it was only cold water, and we wanted to be able to dry our hair in the sun so we didn't go to bed cold. There were male and female shower areas, the females was a bit cleaner but not much.

He had to queue for a little while to get a shower because there were not many, but the queue went down quickly because people weren't staying too long because it was so cold. Two of us showered, then the other two did, so that the others could look after each others bags whilst showering.

The truth is that the cold shower wasn't great for my cold and from then, I started to feel worse over the next few days.

Logically, we showered in our bikinis, and from there we went with our towels to the tent to get dressed there. The idea was to take a shower when the sun was still out so we could dry off. When we were back in the tent, we struggled a little because we had to sit down whilst getting dressed. It was even worse for one of my friends because he is really tall and his tent was smaller than ours!

We walked around the festival site to check out all the different areas, and saw the swimming pool and the beach close by. Later on in the afternoon, we played some cards outside of our tents on the mats and then started to make our sandwiches. We had to break the bread with our hands, of course, and we struggled a bit because it was so rubbery and chewy, but it tasted fine. The music had already started by then, so we went to watch some of the acts. The area with all the music stages was really cool, it had different tents and stalls where you could buy shirts and other little hippie things. I do not remember well what was in the stands. There were also stands where you could buy drinks from, but you had to exchange your money somewhere else for tokens, they wouldn't accept normaly money on the stand.

We got a few drinks to start, and went into one of the big tents where there was a really good singer. I do not remember his name but he was really good, I loved the whole music area. There were enough people, but everyone was spread out, so there was no chaos.

The music could be heard from our tents, so after a couple of hours hanging around we decided to go back to the tents, we were all knackered after our long day. We continued to play cards for a while on our mats and enjoy the music, it was perfect. About two o'clock we decided to go to sleep, but then the electronic music started and it was really loud from our tents so it was difficult to sleep.

The weather overnight was much more humid than during the day and I had trouble breathing because of my cold. I also had a fever so I could hardly talk because my throat was hurting that much. So, between that and the loud music, it was impossible to sleep a wink all night. Every time I looked at my cousin, she was wide awake too. We heard our friends in the tent next door and realized that nobody was getting any sleep, so by 6am we were all outside of the tents talking.

My cousin thought it was best to take me to see the doctor so that he could prescribe me something to help me feel better. He took my temperature and he said I had a fever so he gave me two ibuprofen for the whole day, but it did help me. On the way to see the doctor, there were some horrible sights. Everyone was drunk throwing up everywhere, people on drugs acting crazily, and some people were even using the outside of their tents as toilets. The smell was unbearable, the mix of alcohol and all the garbage everywhere. I started to go downhill and really didn't feel well. We returned to the tent and I lay down for a while whilst my friends were talking amongst themselves. No one was really comfortable, but in the end we had to put up with it for the next six days.

Finally, when it got warmer, we wanted to spend the day at the beach or at the pool. But the pool turned out to be full of vomit and the water was green, it was really disgusting. So we went to the beach, which got really busy really quickly, which was also a pain. The water was incredibly warm, for me it was great, especially when I'm used to going to Albufeira where the water is freezing. It wasn't very nice because there was a lot of nasty guys who would not stop looking at us and calling out rude things to us. Because we had no umberella either, we spent most of the time in the water because it was too hot. I still didn't feel great but at least it was less humid than staying in the tent, I could definitely breathe better.

At lunchtime, we took it in turns to go and get some snacks, whilst the other two stayed on the beach to keep an eye on our stuff. I stayed on the beach and relaxed because I wasn't feeling great. Soon, they came back with four sandwiches and cokes and we ate lunch quietly on the beach. We were there until late afternoon, when the sun started to set, when we had to leave so that we could take a shower back at the festival before it got too cold. I was already fearing the cold shower because it made me feel so much worse the day before, I had showered on the beach but I hadn't washed my hair so I didn't want it to be full of sea salt.

Before going to shower, a few of us had to go to the bathroom, but the ones near the beach were all really filthy and they didn't have a lock on the door. We walked past a few, but they were all equally dirty. So we thought we could go back and shower, and then go to dinner at a little bar nearby, and whilst we were there we could use the bathroom since it was impossible to be as dirty as the previous ones we had seen.

So that we did, we showered and got dressed in our tents. I tried to be quicker in the shower than I had been the previous day so it didn't make me feel as ill, but the water was still freezing. We palyed cards until it was dinner time. We went for a walk and tried to find a bar that wasn't too busy. We had already seen one the day before when we had been to the supermarket. So we went to the same one, although it wasn't great, it was cheap and it had a bathroom which we all appreciated.

When we finished eating, we went back to the tent and after a while, we went and watched one of the acts in the area and have a drink. The atmosphere was good at this time of night, the problem started after the mainstream music when people would get high and drunk. That night we slept we didn't sleep at all and I was feeling worse. We returned to the medical tent and doctors were surprised to see someone that was genuinely ill rather than someone who had just drank too much. I still had a fever of 38 degrees, but I just wanted some more ibuprofen because I had very sore throat.

We went back to the tent and decided we couldn't stand another day at the festival and that we wanted to go home. Changing the date of the flight was impossible, so the only option left was to go to Valencia and find a hotel. I was the one that wanted to go home the most because of the humidity, I was struggling to breathe so much in the evenings. But my friends insisted that also were tired and wanted to go to a hotel. Our other friends decided to stay at the festival, but my cousin's friend was also fed up of the festival but she had to stay at the festival.

But we had already made up our minds, we were going.