No words…

No words at all could possibly do justice to this experience…

But I have to at least try.

          Over the next couple of days, I’m going to be releasing my Electric Daisy Carnival series. EDC is an electronic dance music and arts festival that I have been counting down to attend since I was in high school. That being said, one post could not in any way begin to explain how amazing the festival was, and so in light of that, I will be posting a series of articles that will really dive into different aspects of the experience, ending in the link to the video trailer of my trip. So I guess settle in, and get ready to experience the Electric Sky through my eyes!

          A little over a month ago, I was sitting in my dad’s care, dusted with glitter, and quite literally bouncing with excitement. 

          Walking up to the shuttle lines alone was equally exciting and terrifying. Hundreds of people around me were wandering through the winding barriers in groups, dancing around already and talking about what stages to check out first, but not me. I had just gotten out of my dad’s car and was walking up to the ID and pass checks alone. But with that came a sort of freedom that I later learned to cherish. For now, I walked through the lines, talking here and there with random groups about artists we were excited for, and how long it took us to do our hair and makeup. 

          There were people dressed head to toe in their favorite artists’ merch, complex and intricate costumes, sparkling masks and hats, and anything else you could probably imagine to wear.

          Once through security, I bypassed the water and bathrooms to jump right into the loading dock lines. It wasn’t actually too bad a wait and as I climbed onto the shuttle bus, I dropped into a window seat. A girl with dark hair, a black baseball cap, and refraction goggles sat down across from me with a friend. Their third friend wandered past me at first before realizing the seat and asking to sit down. I smiled, nodding a quick yah and he dropped into the seat beside me. 

          At first, I stared out the window, uncharacteristically nervous to talk to strangers. But it didn’t take long for me to look over at the tall, friendly-faced stranger next to me and ask if this was his first EDC too. 

          When he replied that it was and introduced himself as Tim, I offered him a piece of kandi, the little beaded bracelets that we make and trade with one another at festivals almost like personalized souvenirs. He smiled as I taught him the universal handshake for PLUR, signifying our shared values of peace, love, unity, and respect for one another. Pulling the candy corn colored bracelet over his wrist, we both joked about how he can cross kandi trading off his to-do list and from then on I don’t think we stopped talking almost the entire way there. He introduced me to his friends Lava and Chiam and we all joked that at this rate we’d never get off this bus. Topics shifted from work to school, favorite artists, to previous raves and what we were seeing out the window. What had been projected as a 45-minute bus ride turned into an hour, then two, as construction traffic slowed the trip and everyone on the bus started to get antsy. Around each winding turn, there seemed to just appear another stream of busses in front of us, all waiting to arrive at the same destination, but the three new friends I had found made the ride bearable.

          About two and a half hours later, we finally pulled up to the Las Vegas Speedway and began fixing our outfits and bags before eagerly climbing off of the bus and taking our first steps. The barriers winded back and forth making the walk long so it only took a couple of rows for all of us to start hopping the short metal guide barriers to get to the ticket lines. Laughing we all landed on the other side and began towards the front gate. Tim stopped me for a second to ask me if I wanted to join their group and I eagerly replied that I’d love that and walked with him toward the other two. Lava skipped up to my side reaching for my hand as we laughed and started heading into the lines, joking about how chilly it suddenly was in the cool Las Vegas night air.

          This group was an extremely big part of what made my experience so amazing, as you’ll see in the coming posts. They may have started out as strangers on that shuttle day one, but by day three they were friends that I can easily say that I hope to keep for a long time. I definitely believe that they were meant to be my first real rave family…

          If you want to follow the rest of my Electric Daisy Carnival series, don’t forget to subscribe below for updates on when the next segments are posted! As always, thanks for reading!

Love always, Me