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The thing I don't get is the vacation time. I have 3 full weeks (not that great, no need to rub it in my face) of paid vacation and I simply can't make logistics work for multiple festivals.
Like right now I'm really thinking about going to Coach, I think it'd be fun and if the rumors out there carry any weight I'm going to really like the lineup.
I also want to go to Roo for obvious reasons.
I am looking at a situation where I am probably only going to get to go to one, so that's going to suck.
I could afford it fairly easily, I just can't get the time to do it. And that's the case with most festivals for me.
Post by itrainmonkeys on Nov 20, 2012 17:06:57 GMT -5
Most fests do volunteer things. I have known people that pay for one or two fests and volunteer at a bunch of others. Then it just becomes a matter of getting there.
Post by crazykittensmile on Nov 20, 2012 17:11:24 GMT -5
I basically don't take any non-fest vacations at this point. And 2 of my 3 fests this last year were made possible with the generosity of QSAROO and Phi.
I basically don't take any non-fest vacations at this point. And 2 of my 3 fests this last year were made possible with the generosity of QSAROO and Phi.
I think this is a big part. I generally take most of my money/time and put it towards non-fest travel. If I didnt want to go/do anything else I could probably hit quite a few fests. Plus I have a weenie load of fests in the city or relatively close.
Oh yeah, and a car. If I drove places that'd make a difference too.
Yeah, exactly. My company's fiscal year starts on July 1st, so I basically have to ration my vacation out over 11 months so I have that week for Roo. I've already used almost a week of vacation time, so from here on out it'd be Coach and Roo and that's it.
It's something I'd consider (and would turn it into a week-long trip like you), but not sure I want to go all-in on the festivals (with "all-in" being two).
I only have 3 weeks of vacation, a personal holiday, and 10 paid holidays from work. So 26 paid days during the M-F work week in the year where I get paid and don't have to be at work. And I pretty much ONLY use them for festivals or shows in ATL, Nashville, etc. I rolled over like 3 days from last year so I think I had 29 total days this year. 1 day left now. And I didn't use any sick days because we get like $200 in january if we make it through the whole year without taking a sick day.
This year I went to more shows than any other year in my life including a couple that were 7 hours away from me that caused me to burn up 3 days of vacation for both (Dead Can Dance and David Byrne & St. Vincent). I went to a French Quarter Fest, Jazzfest, Hangout, DeLuna, Bayfest, Voodoo, Fun Fun Fun, and Bear Creek. Most of those fests that are within a couple hours driving distance I can do without taking much vacation. It takes a good bit of planning though. I do need to request off at least a few days in advance and there is always 1-2 weeks at work during our plant shutdown that I cannot take off (we normally know when this is a good bit in advance though).
I am a R&D chemical engineer with a pretty decent salary based on the cost of living in Mobile. My wife and I don't go out to eat hardly ever and we are both pretty good cooks. I always bring either a sandwich for work everyday or leftover from the night before. My wife also works and her earnings go towards her student loans and groceries. I take care of the mortgage, my student loans, and the bills. She hates festivals and only goes to the occasional show with me so I normally am only buying one ticket.
I get 4 weeks of vacation a year. I also get 2 weeks of holidays, and since I volunteer to work most holidays, that equals to 6 weeks of vacation a year, giving me plenty of days to travel and attend festivals.
As far as money is concerned. I am 27yrs old, single, no children. My car is paid off, I rent my place, no mortgage, and the only debt I have is a student loan and small credit card. Being as that I'm still young and single, I've decided to spend the next few years attempting to attend as many festivals as I can with my money. Once I hit 30 I'll probably slow down and focus more on saving the money instead.
I have 3 weeks of vacation and take as little time off for festivals as possible, increasing my time off that can be taken. For example, I worked Thursday of Roo this year half day before coming. Roo cost me 2 1/2 days. Hangout cost me 2 days. Wanee cost me one day.
Sure, I missed out on a few shows at Roo and wanee but it was still worth it.
As far as concerts, I get lots of free tickets through my job and I can walk to the st Augustine amphitheater for shows there. I buy scalped tickets at a discount to get in and stretch my $.
As far as money goes, I make a higher amount in the summer (I'm in sales and summertime is serious prime time) so I live inside my means (meagerly) in the winter and have loads of extra cash in the summer.
Plus I look for deals on fest tickets. This year I spent 260 for TWO tickets to Roo.
After all that I still managed to send my 3 kids to Hawaii for 6 weeks and visit there for 9 days myself.
It takes pre-planning and prioritizing but I make it happen.
I'd also like to point out that I am so fucking broke right now after doing Voodoo > FFF > Bear Creek 3 weekends in a row and putting further damage on my credit card from picking up a wii-u sunday that I will not be driving to p'cola tonight to see High on Fire. And if I can't find anyone to go with me saturday to split gas, I will not be seeing The Sword (luckily I saw them earlier this year and at FFF though). And my friend just told me yesterday that his work is sending him to Houston the week of Dethklok, so I will have to back out of that show too b/c I am not driving to ATL by myself for one show ($95 in gas) even though I have a free place to stay in ATL. That's another big factor though is having good friends in different cities like New Orleans, Atlanta and Austin so that I never have to spend money on lodging in those cities. I would like to become friends with more of you guys so that I can add more cities to that list. ;D
I have been whoring my orifices out to compensate the cost of fests and living that baller lifestyle. I am also a RN and work 3 days(12 hr shift)/week. Then my work schedule is very flexible. I can work Sun, Mon, Tuesday on week 1 and have off the next 4 days, then have off the first 4 days of week 2 and work Thurs, Fri, and Saturday that week. That gives me 8 days off in a row without using any PTO, but I clean up human body fluids and feces to be able to have that flexibility.
I ran out of money sometime shortly after Forecastle this year. I'm on some resemblance on a budget to get my bills paid now, and whatever is left over is used for concerts. When I get one debt paid off, I'll use it to save up for things like Moog and NFF. But I certainly can't go to 6-7 fests a year now, since I blown through thousands in savings to go to everything under the sun.
Post by wannaberoo'ing on Nov 20, 2012 18:30:03 GMT -5
It's an addiction, plain and simple. We all find ways to sustain our addictions I guess, and sometimes, it gets irresponsible and you need an intervention. I almost needed one this past year, almost.
As someone who works in a field with zero vacation/sick days, all this talk of having "only" 3 weeks hurts my heart. I'd give anything for paid time off.
As someone who works in a field with zero vacation/sick days, all this talk of having "only" 3 weeks hurts my heart. I'd give anything for paid time off.
Me too Katy Mae! If I don't work I don't get paid. I'm insanely jealous of all of you who get to do multiple festivals and shows every year. Being a mom doesn't help my situation any. Gotta be responsible and all that stuff.
single, no kids, a job that is very flexible regarding hours (at least my position). i'm a medical biller, and that being the case, can take off when I want...as long as my work is up to date.
as stated earlier, having a place to stay helps in cities where you don't live (be it family or friends).
when i go anywhere, about the only thing i worry about is my dog and my reef aquarium.
I work in education so I have plenty of time off. Festivals are my vacation. Student loans got me to festivals before (also helped that my last relationship was with a Southwest employee and I was on her buddy pass). I plan on buying a home and starting a life with my current girlfriend so Coachella probably won't happen for me again after this year.
Well I think I'm in a different situation than most, as I have a big family but I also have a job that provides 24 days of leave (vacation and sick) a year- it's a bump you get to when you hit 15 years of service. But the real deal is, if I know I'm leaving Wednesday for a festival and missing that plus Thursday and Friday - I can work 12 hour days on Monday and Tuesday and only have to take 2 days vice 3. My work is mobile to a degree, so as long as I log 40 and leave nothing hanging, no one cares. The fact is I work 50-60 generally since I don't sleep much, and they know it.
As to the money - yeah that's a killer for us, especially since we're paying for 4 or 5 tickets to some of these. However, we made a family agreement three years ago that we weren't getting new cars, TVs, hot new video consoles or other fancy thingies, etc. so we could put that money into 2 things - travel and music. So we may seem somewhat poor in some areas, but we've consciously made an effort to divert monies to buying music, traveling, and going to shows and festivals.
Again - I don't think I could have afforded this in time or money 15-20 years ago. Ironically, it's after I have all these kids that I've figured out how to do it some degree.
Flipside - can't just pick up and decide at the last minute to hit a Moog or a Forecastle even though I have both the leave and the money. Kids Spring break is over by April 7th so we miss out on Coachella (by one freaking week!) etc.
Ooooo-weeee. You lookin fine, baby. You need somebody to...like, look after your interests? Make sure you don't get beat up or ripped off...hold the money for you and so forth, while you're on the job? Stand outside the door when the boys come callin for some bromance? Say the word.
Self-employment is the only way to go. Give me a laptop and I'm working.
This brings up another good point. I also create highlight videos for high school football teams; recruiting, banquet videos, etc. This typically brings in an extra $3000 for me to play with each year and easily covers my festival expenses. Booster clubs have plenty of money to throw away, especially in Texas where "Friday night lights" is a very real thing.
Post by theshining on Nov 20, 2012 20:55:15 GMT -5
I've often wondered the same but these answers pretty well sum things up.
I also get 3 weeks vacation per year plus the xmas holiday shutdown period (about another 2 weeks) and whatever lieu time I accrue at heavy points during the year. This usually gives me about 6 weeks total time but the problem is that I have ambitious travel plans that I try to get to yearly (including a fest or two).
I would love to do 4-5 fests a year but realistically 1-2 is all I can and probably will ever get to per year.