PV Gap

Ernest Said:

What are the really useful things to take to a Music Festival when camping?

We Answered:

You can get phone chargers that work off AA batteries but they only put a small emergency charge into the phone. All the phone shops sell them.
Maplin do one for £3
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Take a load of AA batteries and only take kit that uses AA batteries, not funny sizes. Life's easier then.
One of the biggest selling points for cameras etc for me is whether they use AA batteries.
Take an old phone, not your best one. Swop the SIM card and if the phone gets lost you've still got the expensive one at home.
Charge the phone just before you go and keep it switched completely off as much as you can to conserve the battery.
You can sometimes find phone batteries in the £1 basket in BT shops....if you're lucky there will be one to fit your phone. I've got three for my Samsung B2100 for long hiking trips but the phone goes for over a week without charging anyway and it's waterproof and tough....it's an expedition phone.
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For security of all personal stuff a waist-belt fitting bag is ideal. Round the world backpackers use them, and all the locals in some of the more dangerous cities like Maputo and in Much Hadham-under-Gotchaville when the Red Lion closes at night.
They are ideal for festivals for keeping cash, train tickets, phone etc. Put it inside your sleeping bag when you sleep.
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Very thin seen better days towels are far better for festivals and camping trips than thick ones. They are less bulky to pack, do the job, and then dry out easier. Take a few. They soon get mucky in festival campgrounds.
Also take some old wiping cloths you can chuck out afterwards and some Baby Wet Ones or similar alcohol wipes for freshening up and generally cleaning things and a few rolls of toilet paper, which also makes good wiping cloths for messed up phones etc and drying them after the wet wipe treatment.
Half a dozen plastic carrier bags make good storage to tie old worn clothes into and for rubbish bags for the tent.
Keep tents organised and then they get a bit of space in them. Roll up the sleeping bags when they are not in use to keep them drier, and hang them out when the Sun shines to air them out.
Keep the tent as well ventilated as you can to keep condensation to a minimum.
Some spare tent pegs and a length of washing line to cut up for guy lines are very useful, and a groundsheet from B&Q or Homebase etc makes a good cover for a tent and keeps it more stable in the wind, and gives you total waterproofing. You can peg it down all the way round as extra security for the tent when you are away from it.
Also, if you use one to pitch the tent over you'll have a dry floor.
Dome tents do well in wind because of the shape but are less easy to cover. Tunnel and ridge tents cover easily and tunnel tents have the best space/weight/packed bulk ratio and also have excellent wind performance.
Coleman are great value and Vango are great too but are more expensive. Cheap tents can be covered as above and then they are just as good for festivals as expensive ones when the monsoon rains come.
Tents, and getting the sleeping bag back into the bag it came in....or into another one.
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A flying saucer type of LED lamp will be good for tent lighting and walking around and an LED rear cycle lamp makes a good soft tent light at night.
A small Camping Gaz stove and a couple of cartridges, and a lightweight steel bowl, will get you hot tea and coffee and some soups and stews, fry-ups, whatever. They can be bought for less than£10 and will save more than that just on coffees and egg and bacon baps over a three day festival.
A notebook is always handy and a pencil. Pencils write on damp paper. Ball point pens don't and fibre tip pens can smudge all over the place when the paper is damp so that when you try to read it later it's impossible.
Pencils are the great writing technology of the age. They actually work in tough situations. A true survival tool for safe and reliable recording of valuable infornmation and saves embarrassment later when you need a name or a number and can't decipher it.
Take the least amount of stuff you can get away with. Anything you take is at risk of getting lost or damaged. The less you take the fewer worries you've got and the more you can concentrate on enjoying the festival.
Have a great time.

Chad Said:

What do I do now??????????

We Answered:

Since you apparently like electronics, you might be interested in amateur radio.
The ARRL website has great information.

Christian Said:

Solar Powered Charger for Thailand? Thai Sim cards?

We Answered:

You don't need a solar powered charger. Even the cheapest budget hotel room will have a lamp (and 99% chance a TV) that you can unplug and charge your mobile/ipod overnight in.

Local PAYG SIM's are cheap to buy and you can surf the net with them/call home at a reasonable price.

[If you want a less touristy journey you can go up to Phitsanulok, via Ayutthaya from Bangkok, from Phitsanulok go to Sukhothai, then go east through the mountains into Issan and work your way up to Udon Thani and then to the border (I recommend the bronze age site at Ban Chiang just north of Udon); then you can head south to Khorat (take in the Khmer sites in the area); then head down to Khao Yai national park; then to Koh Samat for the beach and return to Bangkok. That should take about 3-4 weeks if you take in all the sights on the way.]

Derek Said:

Solar powered laptop charger?

We Answered:

Something like these solar backpacks may be your best bet. The smaller more portable devices don't seem to have enough power to charge a full size laptop. If you can mount it on your saddle bags then you can charge while you are riding.

Matthew Said:

What is wrong with my solar usb charger?

We Answered:

There isn't enough current really.

While the cell may be 5V, that is open. Put load on it and it will drop.