Palm Tree Festival

This weekend we had a trip with some friends!

We picked up Pam and Klaudia from campus and then we drove over to the beach. We started with brunch in San Clemente at a cafe. The place was a little odd, with hippy style clothes for sale in the back and it was the first place I've been in California which didn't serve lattes, just filter coffee. But we got some big plates of food to fill up for the day. 

After eating, we parked at our hotel car park, but couldn't check in yet, so we got an Uber to the festival venue. It was very busy outside with loads of people walking along the path to the beach park. As we entered through the main gates we received a light up wrist band for the evening party and our 21+ bands ready to purchase drinks.


We walked in and found our bearings. It was a very small festival with just one stage right next to the beach. There were palm trees all around (hence the name) and we got some drinks and sat down on the grass to listen to the first band. All the acts were EDM (electronic dance music) which is basically dancey pop, and on the beach gave a really chilled vibe as we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. Me and Klaudia had dressed for summer and while it was cloudy, it wasn't actually too cold, so with our cover ups we were ok. 


As usual, the crowds here don't really dance to live music, but we had fun dancing to it and chatting between sets. Ellie Goulding was our highlight and as the sun set our bands lit up and flashed different colours in time to the music. Mitchell went to go and get us a pizza, and after Ellie Goulding's set I went to go and find him. The pizza took ages as the truck was really busy, but we did eventually get it and it was worth the wait. 




After pizza we danced some more with the DJ and there were fireworks towards the end of the set. We left a little early to try and get an Uber back to the hotel before it got too busy, but it still took us ages to get one on the app. While we waited, we walked over to a supermarket and got some snacks to hold us over for the night. 

We eventually got back to the hotel and got settled. We had one room with beds for 6 people and we all got tucked in for the night. 

In the morning, two of our group left to go home for American mother's day, and our international contingent stayed for a beach day. We started by taking a walk along the San Clemente beach. It was still cloudy, but not too cold once we got walking.

About a mile along the beach, we got to a little cafe/food stand. I got a coffee and a bagel, and Mitchell tried the arepas. We sat on the beach to eat, and the sun came out as we munched. There was a little surf competition going on on the beach, so we could hear the announcements and watch the surfers too. 



We sat here for a while, soaking in the sun and went for a little paddle in the sea. After a while, we walked up onto the pier to look at the sea and see all the people fishing. Klaudia nearly walked into a shelf with a half gutted fish on it, but she saved herself. We ate some snacks and then walked up the hill into the town of San Clemente. 

We popped into one shop which was very cute and was just built into someone's house. in the bathroom there were soaps and candles for sale, in the kitchen there was local honey and in the garden there were patio knick knacks. There was locally made jewellery, postcards and more to be found. 

We stopped in some other shops selling surf supplies, antiques and other items. It's a cute town with lots to see, and after we were done we caught the free trolley bus back to the hotel to drive home. 

It was a fun weekend with friends to celebrate the start of summer!

Lots of love

Emily and Mitchell

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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