Your FAQ’s on Burning Man Festival answered
Did That Actually Happen? Was It All A Dream?
These are the usual thoughts we have after a night out combined with too much booze, right?
Burning man has the potential to be your most random night out x1,000,000 and whether you drink or not, you’ll be questioning the visions you see for years to come.
It’s creative madness GENIUS.
I don’t even know where to start when writing about the crazy ass adventures I got up to over there. Maybe I will write a book one day, I am pretty sure I wrote some intoxicated notes on my iPhone when I was there just to try capture my fading clarity…. God, Let me find them!
… But like they say, a picture says a 1000 words, and I sure did take a shit load somehow … just on my iPhone (naughty me, but I promise I had zero Wi-Fi all week) … and GUESS WHAT .. I did not loose it !!
POA
Plan Of Action! Yes, you definitely need to plan WELL if you’re making the trip to Black Rock City this Summer. I’ve attempted a more detailed blog on getting tickets etc, so check out my first-timers Guide to Burning Man here, AND of course a guide on what to wear.
There are many stages in the preparation for attending Burning Man and the whole thing is a bit of a minefield if you’ve never been before.
Luckily for me I had the guidance of my crazy Kiwi girlfriend who is a veteran of this festival and guided me, quite literally, from start to finish, she pretty much planned it all for us, LEGEND. I just booked the flights.
It’s a LONG drive. No matter where you’re coming from, the Black Rock Desert is in the middle of nowhere. The traffic getting into “Black Rock City” is horrendous. The important thing is to drive as close to Reno the night before.
We had spent 2 or 3 days driving the long and windy roads from California over to Nevada (read about those euphoric escapades here) and we ended up in Reno Saturday evening ready for our crazy family shopping spree. HA, it was so unorganised we all grabbed trolleys like supermarket sweep and dispersed. I spent over a $100 on absolute shite I had no idea I really DIDN’T need.
- TIP – SEE EUPHORIC THREADS’ ULTIMATE PACKING GUIDE FOR BURNING MAN.
- Burner Virgin? – SEE OUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ATTENDING BURNING MAN FESTIVAL
The most exciting thing (about the shopping) was cycling out of Walmart like a little kiddy after buying a sexy cruiser bike, $88, bargain!! We crammed all our crazy purchases in the RV, removing as much packaging and “MOOP” as we can, binned it, then walked over to the casino for our last “normal” meal. ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT baby.
TOO buzzing and excited to sleep, bless up to our G Spencer, AKA Daddy, for driving us most the way, dear god I was too scared for my life whenever Casey was behind the wheels LOL. We stopped off and went shopping at 3am in the morning when we spotted a sick little gypsy gathering of shops selling last minute wavey garms and supplies! Then I think I might have passed out, only to wake up to the excited squeals that we were there… oh wait no… just the back of the Queue.
FYI – I have written a useful blog on shopping your Euphoric Threads for Burning Man, this has more details about Reno’s costume shops.
Oh that god damn Queue! Yeh it was long, but it was EUPHORIC when we reached it, until the excitement fades after realising you are literally crawling in that line of traffic throughout the night for the next 3-4 hours (IF YOU’RE LUCKY!)
… I remember napping in my sick little bed right above the driver seats, and peering out at the crack of dawn to see millions of car lights in rows and rows of traffic … and in the far distance a warm orange glow ….SUNSHINEEEE! Happy days. As soon as I know its sunrise I am bolt up right, and like a wind up toy with bundles of dopey energy.
I honestly think that was one of my earliest highlights of BM, seeing all the other crazy vehicles lined up at sunrise, and climbing up on to the roof of our RV to watch the sun rise as we got to the entrance of Black Rock City.
Entry is pretty straight forward thanks to the legendary BRC volunteers.
A MUST-DO if you are Burner Virgin, is get out the vehicle, DONG THAT BELL, and make a dust angel!
Dust masks at the ready. YOU ARE ON THE PLAYAAAAA BABYY!!!!
I remember, as soon as we collected our tickets, we had arrived into THE most craziest sand storm (“WHITE OUT”, as they all it) it was pretty sketchy stuff. We were in stand still, could not see ANYTHING outside, not even the car a metre in front. I mean, it was WHITE out there.
I could slowly feel my breathing getting heavier as layers of dust lined the interiors of our RV … holy shit I’m going to die I’m thinking, and oh dear we should have taped the van up. Literally swirls of dust was coming in, we were all undercover wearing our Max Max style breathing apparatus and dust masks. – Something you MUST bring with you. View Euphoric Threads ultimate packing guide here.
NOTE – ALWAYS hire vehicles from a company that rents for Burning Man .. or at least tell them you’re going. YES it will cost you more, but we sure paid for it in the end after lying about going haha. You will get charged a shit load at the end, and wreck the hire car. OOPS.
After what seemed like hours trying to navigate through a sand storm , passing the WEIRDEST Mad Max type set ups, art cars, etc, god knows how but we found a wooden post labelled 9 + J .
(Trust me it took us agesssss, we all got out, covered ourselves in dust masks and Arabic style shawls to protect us from the dust.. and wondered around reading signs LOL.)
Burning Man is mapped out like a clock to allow for a helpful address system. Half the clock is habitable camping space, the other half-ish is the deep open dusty desert, aka ‘Playa’. It honestly took me 3-4 nights to understand and get used to it all. I’d say its a tiny bit easier than finding your tent at Glastonbury Festival when you’re off your trolley .. however, not towards the end of the week when they start switching the signposts around!
We finally made it late Sunday afternoon, pitched up, and realised everyone was passed out in their RV’s waiting for the storm to pass … so inevitably, we get on it. HAPPY BLOODY BURN!
As for the rest of the week, I’ll tell you those stories another time….
Burning Man Highlights?
Too many.
I spent the week donned in rainbow colours, dancing my docs off to the most amazing techno and house music totally oblivious and care-free amongst beautiful celebs, silicon valley tech moguls, billionaires and hippies. I made friends for life, and I witnessed the most magical sunsets and sunrises that made me feel like I was on planet Mars.
The place is insane. No one can really describe it or pinpoint the highlights, but one thing thats certain is the MUSIC is on point!
Tip – Follow your favourite DJs or Camps on Facebook/Twitter before you go, check social feeds just before you enter BRC and you will often find DJs post the locations of their camps, and set times.
Hands down the best parties EVER are found at Burning Man.
I mean the whole week is one big party, but if you happen to know the right people and find the right camps, you’ll be sorted.
My favourite moments to name a few;
- Mayan Warrior B2B Robot Heart – when the infamous art cars from Mexico City and NYC collide n’ provide at sunrise in the deep playa.
- Carl Cox 12 hour set in Playground camp
- DISTRIKT day parties !
- THE MAIN BURN!! Words can’t describe the utter craziness of the Saturday night party as the gigantic wooden structure of the Burning Man itself GETS LIT. Best bloody bonfire night you’ll ever witness I’ll tell you that!
- The Temple Burn. The amazing Temple structure is burned at the end of the week after the man burns. The temple at Burning Man is meant to be a place for anyone to go and release, mourn, or celebrate someone or something important in their life. So on the final Sunday night, its one big emotional rollercoaster, instead of excitable art cars all parked up partying, the playa goes silent and pays it respect .. its time to reflect.
- The IBIZA CAMP closing party – bumping into absolute G – P.DIDDY was a highlight.
- ALL of the crazy art installations are just AMAZING too! My favourite from Burning Man 2018 was the Giant Rainbow and these trippy LED light poles where I bumped into Katy Perry :
BURNING QUESTIONS I normally get asked …
So Is There Really NO Money?
NOPE!
Aside from buying ice there is ZERO VENDING whatsoever. Burners bring, they gift and they share to survive. Buying and selling of goods is considered a distraction to connecting and creating relationships.
So What’s The Whole Gifting Thing? I Don’t Understand.
The understanding that I had about the ‘gifting concept’ before I went was that I’d be there with a little bag of goodies handing them out in exchange for my dinner. As in, I thought what I bought as ‘my gift’ would buy me other things due to the absence of actual ‘money’.
The gifting concept is bigger than that and works on a much larger scale. The things you bring don’t substitute currency, it’s more of a ‘bring something that people may enjoy, and if everyone brings enjoyable things there will be enough enjoyment to go around’.
For example, some people came loaded with popsicles, some with chapsticks, some bought barrels of rosé, some bought barrels of iced coffee, or strangers would spray me down with water as I cycle by. Others bring art cars and stages, there are many different levels of ‘bringing’ and you can do it on whatever scale you fancy.
Of course chapsticks and popsicles aren’t enough to survive on which is where you separate the ‘gifting’ from you actually bringing your food and drink.
Think of it like a week long camping trip. You still bring all the food, supplements and drinks you need for the week and then on top of that you can bring ‘a gift’ to the playa.
If you’re part of a camp like we were, you effectively put your money together to offer something larger to Black Rock City. This is how stages, open bars and cocktails for everyone at sunrise can occur. You all chip in, the camps fundraise throughout the year and ‘gifts’ are created on a larger scale.
Hmm, Does that make sense?
I can understand now why Burners don’t like the week in Black Rock City to be referred to as a festival. A festival hosts different stages and books a variety of different acts to play on official stages to entertain a crowd, right?
Burning Man is literally a gathering of people coming together with their different skills, creativity and ‘gifts’ to endure a week of madness as a unit, as a community.
I’ve Heard There Are Bars There But How Do You Pay For The Drinks With No Money?
Just as I’ve mentioned above, some of the camps put money together and fund raise to provide a free bar. Yes, FREE.
If you’ve read our ‘Complete packing and shopping list for Burning Man’ you will have noticed the need for a ‘Vacuum insulated bottle or drinking cup’ to take around in the day. This is because, as you venture around you’ll find awesome camps creating cocktails and ice cold beverages that they want to share with you. The bars are free and the alcohol is flowing, but you got to bring your own cup! (Which I lost often, but then got gifted others along the way!) … OH, and celotape your ID to your mug! I just had a flashback though, showing my mug and ID at a bar (DUCKPOND! Sunday night) and one guy was not going to serve me without the real ID !! I know! Not what you’d expect, but funny enough LOADS of feds about too .. FYI.
What Is The Best Way To Get To Black Rock City?
The closest airport to Black Rock City is Reno. I personally road tripped from LA and stopped overnight in the Yosemites National Park and then up to Reno to break up the journey. If you don’t want to hire a car or are coming alone there is a Burner Express bus that runs from Reno and SF to Black Rock City. Additional fees apply for taking bikes and you would need to purchase water in advance for pick up.
FYI – The nearest large city to Black Rock City is Reno, about a 2.5 hour drive away, according to Google Maps.
From San Jose, it’s about 6.5 to 7 hours, and between 6 and 7.5 hours from San Francisco, depending on the route. If you’re coming from LA, the drive will take you at least 9.5 hours.
Your best bet is to rent a car or preferably an RV and share it with some fellow burners!
Getting to Burning Man from Europe?
In my opinion, fly to San Francisco / Reno and then road trip through to the desert! However, I flew into LA to meet friends and hire our insane 33-foot RV Campervan. It was AWESOME!!
Would recommend it highly. We road-tripped through to the Yosemites National Park and camped out for the night. We even managed to cram in a decent hike up past an insane waterfall with beautiful rainbows. Read about our Euphoric Escapades in the USA here.
What is a Theme Camp? How do I join one?
So you can totally rock up to Black Rock City on your own or with your little gang for the week. But you also have the option to join a larger community and join a themed camp. There are hundreds if not thousands of them to choose from. Check out the public camps you can get in contact with here.
Theme camps are interactive camps designed by camp members with the intention of engaging burners and hosting.
If you get accepted onto a camp you will usually have to pay a contribution which goes towards the camp bar / offering / art car fuel or you will be asked to do a few shifts at the camp bar, for example. It depends on the camp. We simply paid I think $120 each to be part of a smaller rogue camp made up of LA legends. It basically covered the costs of a shared generator, I think!?
Not all camps make themselves public and for a selection of them it’s a case of ‘who you know’.
I would recommend getting involved with a bigger squad and for the extra money, in the grand scheme of things, it will be SO worth it.
What happens if you run out of food?
You don’t really want that to happen, which is why it’s essential you aren’t stingy with your pre-burn shop and you buy more than enough to last you the week. Check out our complete packing and shopping list for Burning Man here. Of course there are people ‘gifting’ food but you want to make sure you have enough food to nourish your body correctly and soak up all the juices that I’m sure will be flowing.
If there’s no signal, how do I find my friends and my camp?
Sadly in the last two years, signal has actually been found at Burning Man (though I didn’t find any). So if you get stuck or lost, you do have your phone. Most people don’t explore with phones and to be honest – and shouldn’t (I had mine solely for shit camera use!). Burning Man is all about disconnecting from the world and reconnecting with each other. Typically, before you enter the desert you should write down the location of your friends camp and then go on an adventure to find it when you arrive. I know Facebook had a ‘BurnerMap’ app which shows you in one place where all your friends are camping – handy!
But isn’t everyone just f**ked?
I’ve been asked this a lot. FOR SURE, Burning Man is an escape from the ‘real world’ for a lot of people and many choose to enhance this experience with additional substances. But not everyone. You can honestly come to Burning Man and experience it in so many different lights. For that reason it’s hard to not want to go back and experience it in a different way each time.
Black Rock City is SO big and FILLED with SO much adventure that you can honestly find whatever it is you seek, and avoid whatever it is you don’t feel comfortable around. There are so many freaking EPIC art and light structures, playgrounds and concepts that are designed for getting a little bit intoxicated and in fact totally accommodate for it. Burning Man is a giant friendly playground so try not to judge people getting intoxicated as being a bad thing. ITS AWESOME. Experiment and go wild my friends!
As Burners say .. THE PLAYA WILL PROVIDE! Meaning you can literally Manifest whatever you want .. so ENJOY THE RIDE! 💫
