Rumbellion Festival with The Turner Brothers, Theydon Bois

I'm writing this sat in bed because my body hasn't quite recovered from the weekend yet, I think I might possibly have ingested way too much rum...


I've been hanging out with The Turner Brothers recently, an eleven-piece band from Watford whose style is difficult to catagorise (you get a different answer depending on which Turner Brother you speak to) but their website says "their sound is sprinkled with Ska, Indie, Folk, alternative and Rap..." so that probably covers it. Check them out below...

This weekend I headed over to Theydon Bois (much of the journey was spent working on our pronunciation of that...we have been pretty much convinced it's Theydon Boys now though...)

This was the first year of a little festival in the countryside just outside London, called Rumbellion. It was run Pirates Grog, who make rum and Green Yurts who provided tents and yurts at festivals. We didn't know what to expect, but we had an amazing time and I can't wait to go back next year!

We arrived on the Saturday, quite a few people had started the party on Friday night and were already completely covered in glitter...

The Turner Brothers were playing to close the festival on Sunday afternoon, so there was plenty of time for testing out the rum and dancing to the great selection of music. I was especially excited about seeing Craig Charles (Lister from Red Dwarf!) do a funk and soul set, which was incredible, he played Heard It Through The Grapevine and the whole yurt was absolutely loving it, climbing up shoulders into the rafters and crowd surfing...

After a night partying under the stars, followed by being squashed around a campfire (thanks to the photobooth guy for letting me eat his last Tracker bar - if anyone knows who the photobooth van thing was provided by, please let me know in the comments) Sunday dawned with the most perfect weather for sinking as much rum and eating as much great food as possible! We started the day off with crispy bacon and herby mayo rolls with brandy coffees...

Still going to #bringbackcosmic by wearing cosmic clothes and saying cosmic a lot!

And then played ping-pong, danced, ran about wearing a goat mask, watched an impromptu brass band procession and generally just rolled around in a field, drowning in rum and sunshine...

Beating Patrick Turner from The Turner Brothers at ping pong

Would love to give these guys a shout out if anyone managed to catch their name...

... then they realised, ten minutes before The Turner Brothers set, that the equipment the band needed to perform live wasn't there and the guys were not going to be able to perform. The festival organizers were extremely apologetic but said that the equipment had already left.

It would have been a fantastic way to close their brilliant little festival, but we all drank some more rum and ate some lime & chilli corn and it didn't seem so bad after all :)

Getting the organiser guys wearing band shirts!

What a brill weekend, I hope TTB get invited to play next year at Rumbellion (and that there is ever-so-slightly MORE glitter). Thanks for having us to Beth, Gaz, Phil, Alex, Jamie...and whoever else was involved in putting on such an amazing little oasis of music, glitter and love...

I'm off to detox now!

If you want to catch The Turner Brothers performing this summer, a list of their gigs is available on their webpage here. The next one is Rhythms Of The World festival in Hitchin, 20th June. See you there?

** Please check out my Linkedin page if you are a band, small business or organisation and are looking for a Social Media person, I can help :) **

Paris Part Une! Review of Megabus Journey, London to Paris.

I had such an amazing time in Paris! I can't wait to post some of my photos. I decided to review each section of the trip, in the hope that my experiences may help (or possibly hinder!) someone else's trip to the city of love :)

I would strongly recommend arriving into Victoria Coach Station much earlier than I did, which at 4 minutes before my departure time did not give me enough time to buy a bottle of water let alone check in properly at the Megabus/Eurolines desk which is right round the back of the coach station at Gate 19.

The other bonus to arriving early is you will be at the front of the queue. You know it's a cheaper option so they really ram people onto those coaches, and only have two departures per day. They use the large, newer coaches for these longer European routes and getting there early enough to chose your seat could mean you might hit the coach-journey jackpot and get to sit at the front of the top deck, panoramic windows and enough leg room can't be sniffed at.

Sorry about the terrible quality of photo, I only had my camera phone with me!

The plug sockets didn't work, apparently when someone plugs in a too-high voltage item it blows all of the fuses, so my phone died the second I stepped onto the bus and I was stuck with no contact for hours. 

The coach takes 3 hours to get to Calais, boards the Eurotunnel with a very small layover where there is access to a vending machine but no running water, no change machine and some rather depressingly grim toilets. Once on board the Eurotunnel there are toilets but nowhere to browse or even relax, although you can get off the bus and sit wedged between the wall of the train and the coach. I would sincerely recommend this as it gets excruciatingly hot on the coach during the crossing. Once on the other side you will find the coach sets right of again, they don't mess about! It's off to Boulogne to change drivers. There is a short layover, it's around half an hour from the Eurotunnel exit, so the smokers jump off the bus. Again, there is literally nowhere to purchase a drink and no toilets anywhere at this stop. It's a carpark in a deserted part of the marina.

The rest of the journey to Paris can vary depending on the time of year. It took us 4 hours to get to Porte Malliot, the coach park in the centre of Paris. The Center For Commerce blocks your initial view, but the Eiffel Tower is directly behind it, around a 15 minute walk.

I would say, although it's evident at every stage that this is a budget option, I will definitely be taking the coach again. Such a long journey increases camaraderie in an enclosed space and I met some really fun fellow travellers. I would definitely recommend going round Europe in this way, I've already decided I'm going to take a trip to Barcelona at the end of the Summer, it's 24 hour journey though.

Top Five Megabus-To-Europe Tips

Arrive Early - Get the best seats!

Bring water & snacks - There are very few places to buy them!

Wear layers - It's freezing most of the time and then boiling hot in the tunnel.

Keep your passport in your carry-on, you will need it at Customs

Make sure your phone is fully charged and bring a spare battery if possible.

I would love to hear your experiences on this journey, pop a comment below.