Tomorrowland 2022
The Tomorrowland music festival is the largest EDM festival in the world had been on my bucket list for nearly a decade so I was delighted when G agreed to rock some weird clothes and hop on a flight to Belgium with me to make my EDM rave dream happen. After waking up early and pressing refresh on every internet connecting device we own for the minute the global journey passes went on sale (the best chance Americans have of getting in), sweating bullets, and throwing a credit card down on any pass we could find with a train, we were officially going to week 1 of Tomorrowland 2022 (by way of train through Amsterdam with VIP passes and a spectacular relax room in the Montagoe sleeping area, a shipping container with electricity in the VIP camping area - though not to be confused with the VVIP Mousai camping area where they have mansions and people checking you in wearing tuxedos - not exaggerating).
G planned our engagement and his proposal 2 days before we left the country which made the entire trip doubly special. Our flight path would be Sacramento - LA - London (Heathrow) - Amsterdam where we'd get in late afternoon and spend the evening before hopping on our official Tomorrowland Global Journey train at 9am that would take us to Belgium.
We packed a bag with heavily curated festival outfits (think sequins, fringe, and everything flamboyant and fabulous we'd never be caught dead wearing in Sacramento) and items to make our "camping" (staying in a shipping container with cots and no AC) more comfortable. We also each brought a carry-on with some essentials just in case as we'd been hearing horror stories about people's luggage being lost. Upon reaching LA, our flight to London was delayed an hour....then two hours..then more. 8 hours later, things started to feel like it was the Titanic and everyone was trying to get on the last lifeboat - and we hadn't even left the state of California.
The arrow points to the only person who works for the airline as panicked people try to get on the last flight to London
In positive news, we made it on the last flight out. In not so great news, when we arrived in London, we'd missed our flight by hours. Given that 200,000 people attend each Tomorrowland weekend, flights were booked solid through the next several days as were trains and rental cars. A nice woman who worked for KLM took pity on us and while the last flight was booked solid, threw us on the last flight out to Amsterdam (we ran down the hall with her and she then told her coworker that we were getting married the next day in Amsterdam and they needed to put us on the flight). We arrived in Amsterdam to what could only be described as a luggage graveyard.
When we checked the tags, many of the bags were over a week old
Suffice it to say, our luggage didn't make it (and while we didn't know it then as we searched for it at 4am at the Amsterdam airport before finally giving up - we wouldn't see it for 25 days later). But in that moment, we were just happy that we made it and we were going to make our train and TOMORROWLAND!
We were staying at Rosalia's Menagerie, a small boutique hotel where check-in was supposed to be by 10 pm but the kind owner stayed up until 4:30am to make sure we could get in. He even left some snacks in the room for us knowing that we probably hadn't eaten. The snacks were a lifesaver, and we quickly grabbed the 3 hours of sleep we could get before needing to wake up and get our train. The breakfast at Rosalia's was amazing - looking forward to another stay at this place when we get to be there for more than 4 hours - and brought us back to life before heading to the train station. Thankfully European train stations are next level and like malls so I was able to buy underwear, jeans, a sweatshirt, and a few other things before our train to Brussels, given by this point it was clear that our luggage would not be joining us for the journey. (I still have yet to find an appropriate place to wear my black leather fringe belt and gold glittery see through dress and high waisted hot pants...)
We checked in at the train station burger joint and officially got our boarding passes!
Boarding our Global Journey train from Amsterdam to Brussels!
Upon arriving in Brussels, we were greeted by Tomorrowland workers dressed in fanciful eclectic outfits (and many playing instruments) who loaded us onto a bus that would take us to the festival grounds.
welcoming us at the bus station
playing as we get on the bus
Upon arriving at Tomorrowland, it looks like a massive magical kingdom. The festival grounds span over 9,300 acres with multiple campgrounds depending on ticket type (ranging from a pitch your own tent type situation to villas where the people working there are in tuxedos). G and I had opted for something in the middle called the Montagoe area where we got a "spectacular relax room". Our accommodations included a private shipping container with electricity and community showers. The Montagoe area also included its own bars, showers, restaurant, pool and hot tubs - it was certainly not like any campsite I'd seen before. For tickets, we also upgraded to VIP which allowed us access to special viewing areas, a special entrance, VIP areas with massage chairs and hot tubs, etc. and it was very much worth it.
Montagoe area hangout spot
Outside our accommodations - a spectacular relax room
The first night at Tomorrowland for those "camping" is an experience called "the gathering". It's held in the main camping area vs. the festival grounds and is an epic show focused on togetherness.
Tomorrowland is very focused on diversity and being a convener through music for people all over the world. One of the ways they enforce this is through a lottery where only a select number of tickets are sold based on country (because we are from the US, that's why we did the Global Journey tickets which go on sale before the lottery tickets. They are more expensive as they include either a train or bus or airplane ticket but they give you a better shot of getting in). At the gathering, in line with the theme of diversity, everyone brings their flags representing their different countries and it's truly an incredible experience and feeling that is hard to describe when it all happens.
my attempt at capturing the sheer size of the welcome gathering - this photo doesn't come close as it's about a tenth of the size represented
It was packed with more people in one place than I'd seen my whole life, but was especially wild given COVID's isolation period had just recently ended. Our VIP tickets got us access to an upper viewing level which was really nice to see the show. We drank, danced, and basqued in the sheer awesomeness before heading back to our shipping container to crash.
The next day we woke up and had breakfast in our campsite restaurant (cafeteria?) where they had a live piano player and singer entertaining everyone. Pretty awesome!
Just a little sax, piano, and singing with your eggs!
After getting our sustenance and coffee, we were off to officially enter the festival grounds! Our VIP wristbands gave us access to a special entrance on the side where there was no line, which was especially nice.
The line to get in, VIP is the far left where no one is
The festival grounds are so huge that it almost feels like you're entering a city (a city that's like Disneyland meets Alice in Wonderland). The grounds have 16 stages and host 400 DJ's throughout the weekend. They even have their own post-office (where you can mail postcards anywhere in the world for free)! They even have something called "a love chapel" (for couples to "free up passion and imagination" with a max time of 10 minutes. While G and I did send some postcards, visit all the stages and do a dip in the "rave cave", we did opt out of experiencing the "love chapel").
Day photo of the "main DJ stage", one of 16 stages.
The "flower" stage - note the entire ceiling has hanging flowers
Some stages were shaped like libraries, some the DJ sat in a fire breathing dragon, one was situated with a rooftop full of flowers, some were inside and some were outside. Additionally, the attention to production and dedication to detail was next level, even the trash cans were themed!
The Tomorrowland post office
Tomorrowland trash bins (with explicit recycling instructions). It's worth mentioning there were 200,000 people there and the place was immaculate
The food options were also nuts at this place. From really good food you might find at Bottle Rock Music Festival in Napa to nice sit-down restaurants with white tablecloths and 5-star quality food....all the way to a legit Michelin star restaurant that looks out over the main stage - whatever type of culinary adventure you wanted, Tomorrowland can deliver. While we didn't indulge in the Michelin star restaurant ($500 a person), we had heard that doing at least one nice meal at Tomorrowland was a must so we signed up during the add-on sale for the "Taste of the World" experience at Mesa Gardens (important as these experiences sell out before the festival starts). The multi-course meal with cocktails and wine was fantastic and they sat us with 4 other couples from all around the world so it was a great time to make some friends too!
A yummy tuna dish as our first course!
After lunch, we went around and danced and checked out some DJ's! After a lot of walking, we also stopped by the VIP area to spend some time in the massage chairs.
Enjoying the massage chairs!
It stays very light for a long time (until about 10pm) so that's around when it starts to get very cool with the production value. That being said, when 40 ladies in space suits came out to a DJ set to a "voice of god" type situation, I knew we were about to have our minds blown.
Note the space suit ladies
As the sun went down, and the lasers and uplights came on, I can honestly say the production value at this festival is like nothing I will most likely every experience again. Fireworks coming from the stage, fire breathing dragons, opera singers closing out the shows...G and my minds were absolutely blown.
Main DJ stage
Mushroom DJ stage
Dragon on the water with a tail that's on fire DJ stage
random decor as you're walking
The next few days were a blur of ounce oonce oonce and jaw-dropping production. We had a blast feeling like we were characters in a beautiful European Alice in Wonderland. One thing we did miss a little (though also one of the reasons we loved Sofi Tukker's performance so much was the lack of lyrics and live performance - because of the international focus on togetherness, there's a big emphasis on not having lyrics which are sometimes in languages people can't understand vs. "a beat" which is universal. That being said, I did find myself missing lyrics a bit!)
Some additional highlights....
9pm hot tubs
Pool hangs
Leaning in to the festival face jewelry and rocking our CA flag
by day and night
Enjoying free appetizers in VIP served by space ladies
More oonce oonce, fireworks, dancing until our feet felt like they might fall off, getting weird, and live Opera singer finales
Admittedly by day 4 (day 3 of the official festival, 4 if you count the welcome gathering), we were ready to head home - the time had come for a real bed. That being said it was a bucket list experience that was every bit as whimsical, weird, and memorable as we'd hoped for and more!
As they say
LIVE TODAY, LOVE TOMORROW, UNITE FOREVER!
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