Have you ever toyed with the idea of backpacking through Europe? A chance to attend the coolest gigs and music festivals crossed your mind of late? This summer is your chance to do it all. The month of July is the perfect time to visit Europe, and this year it only gets bigger and better, with some of the hottest festivals in the music world happening all over the continent, one after the other, starting with Glastonbury Festival (UK) and ending with Tomorrowland (Belgium).
Here in India, we know the summers to be the season of pool side parties, cocktails and other ways to beat the heat. But people from all across the globe, those from Europe in particular, look forward to the hottest season of the year and for a different reason altogether. With the rapid emergence of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and the explostion of festivals that celebrate the genre all over, the world has one more common platform for people to explore their particular passion. Most notably, Europe is the ultimate hotbed to quench this wanderlust.
The only problem that one faces— there are so many festivals, spread across so many countries, and well, everyone wants to go for all of them.
Broken Compass, a Mumbai based travel venture might have the answer to this problem. Having discovered the growing trend of music lovers across the world, the company established by Manjari Verma & Avani Patel aims to introduce a more open-minded travel experience for anybody wishing to discover the world.
They started the company which shells out custom trips, working around your budget and interests in 2009.
"Indian tourists are becoming more aware about what's happening around the world. They are also evolving as travelers. Their travel plans are either driven by their hobbies or their travel personalities. So these days travelers (mostly young travelers) follow their favorite music band or football or cricket team and combine the rest of the sightseeing and things to do at any particular destination. This is what got us thinking about the music festival orientated travel plans," they said.
India has been getting some great international DJ's down, but as the girls pointed out India has very few festivals where multiple international DJs play. While internationally, there are many options based on genre, DJs, venues etc. The variety is endless.
They started explaining how they began this venture, thinking about whether people would be interested in this sort of planned trip, "At the beginning of every year, we identify Festivals and events we find interesting or people might like and get deals for the some of them. We have a few contacts in various countries so that helps."
But what do they do? How do they go about creating the perfect package for you? Here's how they do it. First they do all the booking, from tickets to festival passes, to hotel rooms. They analyse your interests and work around that, keeping in mind whatever budget you set. They did mention, "As hotels and sightseeing activities are booked well in advance for such things, when a client gets in touch with us close to the event date, it gets difficult to make it happen for them."
But are people really responding to planned trips like this? The girls answered, "It's picking up, and the response is great but it will take time for masses to travel for such festivals. Festival tickets are usually quite expensive and add to it, a whole holiday and the entire cost sort of increases a fair bit. Unless one opts for a really budgetted, backpacker’s’ trip, which a lot of young people opt for."
When asked about expansion, the girls explained that they are definitely hoping to expand, indicating that with every passing year, they keep adding newer, interesting trip ideas to their bank of ideas, initiating something new every 6 months.
As for whether, they'll plan trips for foreigners to visit the EDM festivals in India, they said, "It all depends on the people who have control of allowing festivals in the country. As and when there will be a fun festival in India, Broken Compass will most certainly jump at the opportunity and try and make it possible for people here to attend it, along with a fun holiday."
Here are some of the upcoming festivals, that Broken Compass can help you out with:
June 25th - July 29th: Glastonbury Festival, England - One of the world’s most prestigious music festivals
June 29th - July 6th: Roskilde Festival, Denmark - A wide of variety amongst 160 artists
July 9th - July 13th: EXIT Festival, Serbia - Last Year's European Festival Award for Best Major Festival
July 4th - July 19th: Monteux Jazz Festival, Switzerland - The classiest music festival tucked in between the Swiss Alps
July 18th - July 20th: Tomorrowland, Belgium - The world’s most celebrated EDM Festival
July 24th - July 27th: The Secret Garden Party, England - Finish up back in England with a not-so-secret kickass summer fest
(To get more information on Broken Compass, and how they can help you experince Europe, visit their Website or Facebook Page)
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