London, with side trips to Ireland, Morocco and Belgium, as well as a stopover in Hong Kong for a few days on the way home to Australia is a rough outline of Meegan Jones’ last working trip. She’s a festival organiser, who after years of working on events in Australia, now works on events such as the Glastonbury and Leeds/Reading festivals in the UK.
 
Meegan’s first leg of work in the New Year will be based at her office in London. After the logistics have been finalised, she will then move onto the festivals sites, living, for about a month at each of them.  She was onsite at last year’s Glastonbury Reading and Leeds Festivals for about a month each, living in a ‘Bunk-a-Bin’, which sounds rougher than it was. ‘Bunk-a-bins’ are little portable cabins complete with hot shower and toilet. At the Reading and Leeds Festivals, she traveled between the two, a week at one and a week at the other.  She also worked at the Latitude Festival based in Suffolk/East Anglia, and was also onsite there for a month. All the festivals sites are on farms so before the enormous festivals, organisers living onsite have a month of English countryside highlighted by visits to the tiny villages close by and in most cases, the pub.
 
Mainly her involvement is in making the festivals sustainable. Working through all the operations of the festival and assessing whether they are being conducted in the most sustainable way, if not, she puts forward ways that could change the practices for the better. In essence, her role in making the festivals adopt methods of sustainability comes down to considering energy, transport and waste.

So far, out of all of the UK festivals Meegan has worked at, the highlight for her has been at Reading Festival in terms of seeing the fruits of her labour. Her satisfaction with the project came from being able to implement several new initiatives that had considerable impact on the event. Glastonbury Festival was also an amazing festival ‘a must do for those interested in festivals. Latitude Festival was in its second year, and is the style of festival I would put on if I were to create one from scratch. The attention to detail was amazing. It is an exquisite festival and just voted the most fan friendly festival at the recent UK Festival Awards’.
 
Hedonistic crowds of thousands infuse the festivals with adrenaline. Meegan recalls lying in her bed one night listening to huge waves of cheering going across the site – ‘like a Mexican wave of cheering. It was so electric; I got up and wandered the site with a couple of other workmates, until 4am. Just being in it was incredible’. This adrenaline, denied an outlet once the music ends on Sunday night at the Leeds and Reading Festivals can turn into something ugly. Meegan calls Sunday night  ‘riot time’, it is when ‘Fences go down, portaloos get set on fire, tents get set on fire with people in them, the ‘angry mob’ rove the site creating chaos, gas canisters are thrown in the fires created by burning tents and mini-bombs go off. Lots of people have been injured over the years – eyes out, major burns etc’. In a bid to protect the survival of music festivals and events, the ‘Love Not Riots’ campaign was born. Created some years ago by some of the festival fans and patrons, ‘Love not Riots’ has been quite successful. They now work in promoting safety and peace during the festivals, producing free merchandise for festival goers with their tag line ‘love not riots’ printed on them.
 
As for festivals back home, Meegan has noted more recently that there is a stronger emergence and an embrace of more uniquely Australian festivals; camping festivals such as Woodford, Meredith, Falls, Peats Ridge and The Great Escape.  There are also many boutique events, some with cult audiences like ‘Folk Rhythm & Life’ in Victoria. New comers like ‘Festival of the Sun’ and ‘Gumball’ are also giving it a good go. She also notes the specialists such as the ‘bush doofs’, or psytrance festivals like ‘Exodus’ and ‘Earthcore’.
 
When in the UK Meegan recommends the ‘Big Green Gathering’ and ‘Sunrise Celebration’, ‘Due to the number of people in the UK, the festival scene is really healthy and festivals can be quite specific in their style. I really loved the horse drawn cart camp, with travelers (gypsies) living onsite, tattoo stalls selling their bits and pieces’. The big Kahuna of them all, if it’s big and pure rock concert power you’re after is the Reading Festival. ‘It is legendary and the original. Glastonbury, of course, is Mecca, and you can’t say you’ve really been to a festival until you’ve been to Glastonbury.’
 
Back home though, ‘Peats Ridge Festival’ is it for Meegan. There aren’t ‘big headliners, but the spirit of the festival, along with the natural setting, is amazing’.

With Festival work being seasonal, and living and working on opposite ends of the globe, Meegan has unique opportunities to travel. Her favorite travel destination is Turkey. She describes the country’s natural beauty as ‘mind-blowing’. ‘The Aegean Sea and the south/west coast areas are stunning. The crystal-clear water and stark cliffs and valleys right on the coast were amazing. I had some incredible times in Butterfly Valley - a must visit for anyone wanting an idealic chill space - mostly backpackers are there, so it's not a mix it with the locals scene, but it is an Eden that's for sure.’ Her cultural experience was heightened by the pride the Turkish people take in creating earthy, comfortable spaces to relax in. For Meegan these havens engage a higher level of interaction between people. Just imagine… floor cushions and lowered tables, grape vine terraced roofs and outdoor clay ovens. These earthly comforts inspired Meegan and she has emulated these spaces in every place, she has lived in since.

Amongst all the bustle of travelling, her favourite mode of transport is train travel as it is much more relaxed than buses. ‘I like a bit of comfort. I don’t mind bus travel when I’m backpacking. It is always fun to discover chickens under your feet or a goat at your side. I get really really excited about going on international flights though. I find out in advance what movies are showing so I don’t see them beforehand at the cinema, I get all my snacks and books sorted, plan what I will wear, check-in online and try like crazy to get the best seat.’ Meegan recommends the one next to the window behind the exit seats, this way you can leisurely stretch your legs and get up easily, as the exit seat is usually only two seats wide, and you get the window. What can’t she travel without? Chocolate and something to read, and Vegemite of course, it reminds her of home when she is away.
 
So far, her most memorable travel experience was a thirty-six hour bus trip from Cusco to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. The pain endured on the difficult bus trip was well worth it as soon as she arrived in Salar. ‘It was the most amazing place I have ever seen: three hundred and sixty degrees of salt plains. Thrilling. We were out there for three days I think. I also have to mention mountain bike riding down the ‘World’s Most Dangerous Road’ from La Paz.’

From her observations our world is full of individuals with individual quirks and outlooks on life, no matter what their personal circumstances or cultural background. But even after all of this travel packed into her working lifestyle, Meegan still views travel as a blessing.

‘For now, travel around the world really just feels like commuting. If I put a couple of days in Asia on the way to the UK, the actual travel doesn’t feel like much. Once I’m at my desk in London, or onsite, it’s all systems go. I’m doing my job, but just happen to be in a different country. It’s kind of surreal. The time doesn’t feel linear though. It is like my different parts of the year are running parallel to each other, in segments. When I go somewhere again, it’s like I’ve never left’.