Travelling to a festival can be one of the most exciting parts of being a music fan. The aura of your first festival, the atmosphere and camaraderie of thousands of people with the same beliefs and musical tastes, can be a truly magical experience. However, while the trip can be exciting, it can also drag, especially if you are chomping at the bit to get to the festival and have hours left to travel on the road.

It can feel like time is moving backward, but do not worry. Today, we will cover some of the best ways to kill some time en route to the festival. Some of these are from personal experience, others are road trip tips from other festival goers, and some are just handy tips we’ve encountered during our research.

Reading up on topics and expert opinions

A collection of land-based games has moved online with great ease over the last 20 years, including a litany of games that gamers thought might have trouble moving online. This includes chess, word searches, and casino games, which have created multibillion-dollar markets via digital platforms before moving to smartphones and tablets.

Online casino gaming is an intriguing ecosystem. There’s obviously the face of the industry, which is casino games like slots, blackjack, and poker, but the industry has grown so rapidly that a wide range of subdivisions have helped the overall market flourish.

For instance, the number of casinos available has multiplied exponentially since the early 2000s. Now that there are so many options available, a gap in the market has emerged for experts who know what a competent platform looks like to provide their opinions and insight and review casino sites to rank them based on various components. This also makes having a smooth casino experience much more common. Free slots, for example, are made much easier online due to the credit already being available to the player. With so many to choose from, all you need to know is which is the most reliable and which gives you the best offers.

One review website is askgamblers.com, which reviews online casinos that have free slots or anything else you might like, so you don’t have to do the digging yourself. It has established itself as one of the leading voices in this field. It acts as a one-stop shop for expertise, providing detailed breakdowns of games and terminology and allowing casino gamers to boost their knowledge before they decide which game to play.

The internet is a phenomenal learning resource, especially for those with a penchant for casino gaming; it can help them develop a better idea of what the industry entails.

Seeking out festival reviews

The long trip to a festival can be a great time to familiarize yourself with some of the do’s and don’ts of festival living. They are often a bit of a free-for-all, with non-stop parties, questionable hygiene, and a lot of fun if that’s what you are into.

However, depending on the festival you attend, a heap of information will be available online to give you an idea of what to expect. Festival reviews cover what a casino has to offer, including:

• Quality of the food
• The layout of the festival
• The general atmosphere and crowd
• Areas for improvement
• Best place to camp (if it is an overnight festival)

If you prefer vlogs, social media is awash with people who have vlogged their entire festival experience. I find these people annoying and would rather read a review but to each their own.

Exploring information about the festival itself could save you some time though, especially when you arrive. You can find out where to park, where the best food places are, and how long you can expect to wait in traffic if you are arriving at the festival at the busiest time. If you’re heading to somewhere like Coachella, which has recently come under some scrutiny, it might be a good idea to study the geography and the areas you most want to see.

It’s also probably a good idea to do this before you leave so you don’t forget anything, but if you want to research information at the last minute, this can be a great way to kill time.

Fire up a playlist

For my 14-hour round trip to Glastonbury, I put together a Spotify playlist; it ended up having 300 songs on it. However, in the modern market, Spotify and other music streaming services have plenty of playlists they have curated or left to AI to curate, which pull together all the leading artists playing at the festival and their top tunes.

If you’re not in the mood for a full-blown car singalong, then perhaps having the music buzzing away in the background can be a great conversation starter about who you’re going to see at the festival and what some of your favorite songs are by the big headliners and smaller upcoming acts.

Read a book

Unless you get motion sickness, which I sometimes do, reading a book can be a great way to pass the time. In a world where people are continually glued to their phones and constantly trying to one-up each other on social media, a good old-fashioned read can be the perfect disconnect.

If the story is interesting enough, you can put your phone down for a couple of hours, dive right into it, and watch the hours quickly drift by.

While it might not be the most social way to pass the time if you are traveling with a big group of friends or family members, it’s up to you how you want to spend your time. If you’re somebody who becomes engrossed by a good story, then reading a book on the way to the festival might be the perfect way to pass the time.

Final thoughts

While some of these tips can depend on how long your trip is, there’s no shortage of things you can do with your friends or family if you’re looking to pass some time en route to a festival.

You could even combine some of these tips if you are facing a particularly long and arduous journey. Ensure you stay hydrated and eat well because a festival can test your limits, especially if you’re there for a few days.

Although our mobile phones can be a great source of entertainment, festivals are about making memories with friends, so there’s definitely a market for a more social way to pass the time. However, if you are more introverted and need to recharge, there are plenty of other avenues to explore.