It’s that time of year again…Coachella time! Well technically that time has come and gone and this post is late since it took me 2 weeks to recover 😅 seriously, my body cannot bounce back like before.

But here’s to my last Coachella post forever…or at very least a very long while. The boyfriend and I agreed that this would be our last Coachella hoorah since:

1) it can be expensive and we gots to save up for other adult things (ahem, a wedding…a home…a baby 😬)

2) it’s a LONG weekend and we…well more like I can’t hang. Days that end at 1am have been long gone for me (I used to sleep at 10pm in college regularly 😇) but it’s so much harder trying to be out all day and sleep late AND do that 3xs in a row

3) this year was pretty damn near perfect so it’s nice to go out on top 🤗

This year, the boyfriend and I went with my college roommate and her boyfriend. We were the Fab Four for the weekend 🙂 We stayed in Palm Desert for the first time which I highly recommend because it is closer to the festival ground which makes the shuttle or drive easier (roughly 20-30 minutes). Also our hotel had free breakfast! Yes, we did make ourselves rally every morning at 8:30am for the free food despite sleeping at 2:30/3am every night. It was worth it 😬

Onwards to the actual festival, this year my focus was the art. I regretted never spending that much time enjoying the art and always rushing from music set to set. This year we made sure to start Friday early to enjoy the slightly less crowded festival grounds. This also made taking photos easier because hello, Instagram photos or it didn’t happen 😛

VIP wristbands: we were fortunate enough to get to go VIP this year (gotta go big for the last!) and we were excited for the perks. Honestly, my favorite was that there was a separate VIP entrance with almost no line. Also the workers in VIP are just SO MUCH NICER! An example is at the general admission merch stand, they were rude and not very helpful. They sold me a men’s large tank instead of the women’s large tank and when I realize the error, they refused to exchange it because they said they couldn’t do exchanges once the product went over the counter. Please keep in mind I hadn’t stepped away with it or anything or even put it on. NADA NOTHING. Yet at VIP, they brought out multiple sizes and allowed people to try them on. It was a world of a difference. Guess the saying “money talks” is veryyy real at Coachella *eyeroll*

Anyways, back to more VIP benefits was the separate areas (one to the left of Main Stage and a Rose Garden next to Mojave) where there was lots of seating and umbrellas. There are porta potties still but also a bunch of trailer AC bathrooms which were so nice on a hot day. There were a few trailer bathrooms in the GA area too, but not nearly as many. It was nice to have so much space to wander and relax, but the areas are quite isolated…maybe that’s the point?

The last day we went to the VIP rose garden which was beautiful and so relaxing. I wish we did spend more time there, but we were rushing to go see Zedd perform. As nice as it was to have more space and nicer workers…I really didn’t feel VIP was worth the 2x GA price tag. I mean I definitely enjoyed the perks, but I’m also okay being with the general for half the price. Overall though, I am really glad we got to experience this at least once 🙂

 
Lastly the highlights (aside from VIP):

Antartica: seriously my favorite!!! It was an immersive show set to DJ Rufus Du Sol’s song Underwater. It was set in a Dome with the best seats. I went to watch 4 times over the weekend 🙂

Music sets: Blackpink, Wiz Khalifa, Dillion Francis, Diplo and Zedd were the standouts! Of course I have to support my fellow Asians so Blackpink was the one I MADE SURE TO BE AT! And they did not disappoint! Wiz I had seen during my college years at Sungod (shoutout to UCSD!), but I have to admit, he was soooo much better now!

Dolab and Heineken House: this year was the first that I actually made it to the “less” known stages which was actually really nice! Dolab has a mix of surprise DJs and a really fun GIF photobooth. Heineken was very chill with cornhole and other games.

And lastly, friends! My college roommate and I did our first Coachella together 2 years ago and we were both without our beaus (I was single cuz the boyfriend was taking his time to make it official 😛 and she was newly in the relationship with her guy but that was after we had gotten GA tickets). So it was really nice to get to celebrate our Coachella experience together again and with our loves 🙂

Coachella you will forever be one of my favorites! I look forward to telling our kids that mom and dad used to be hip here 😛 If this is the last time, thank you for the magical weekends and all the amazing memories xo