MORE virgin burners!

[simplyallure]

Hey everyone,

My name is Stine. My boyfriend, Phill, and I will be traveling west from NJ to our first burn this year! We have our tickets, booked our flights and are planning for an amazing adventure. I work in the healthcare industry and enjoy painting, drawing, and other art projects in my spare time and Phill is an engineer who likes to spend time working in the garage on various projects. We are still looking for a vehicle pass and a camp to volunteer at. I've been reading all the pros and cons about joining camps your first burn, but we would still like to be involved, volunteer and be a part of group if possible. Hopefully that comes together in the upcoming months before the burn. We are so excited to have tickets, especially since about 6 of our friends will not be going this year since they were not able to get tickets thus far.

Some questions I have so far: Is it worth it to ship a box of supplies when flying into burning man, or should we just shop when we arrive? What's your favorite food on the playa (considering we have to fly there)?

We can't wait to make some friends and get involved.

[Melonblue]

Welcome! Look forward to meeting you on the playa!

Such good questions, and I'm gonna tell ya, as another virgin burner....the answers are not easy to come by.

Not because the community isn't helpful. They are awesome. It is just that your burn is going to be unique to you, based on the 1000 decisions you'll make between now and August.

I've found so far that planning for Burning Man is like one massive "choose your own adventure".

Every time I post a question, I get a great answer and then I have 17 follow-up questions to that answer.

But every how, where, what, when, who and why seem to only be answerable by; me.

The more I've planned, researched, explored the answers for myself, the more I've found that I am hella self reliant.

And as well meaning the community is, (myself included) some suggestions just won't ever fit your trip hygiene/environment.

So feel free to read on, or skip my reply, knowing that I truly wish you an awesome burn and I know my answer might not be what you are looking for. And that's okay


Like for example, shipping items. Do you want to ship items? Do you think it's worth it? Is it affordable to your budget, how many things are you wanting to ship?...(See 17 follow-up questions to your 1, happens every time)

Getting into a camp. What kind of camp are you looking for, how much volunteer time are you wanting to dedicate, how much energy can you divert from your first burn to other people's projects?

Food, (coming from a happy fat kid who loves good food) this one is toughest yet. I was prepared to eat ramen noodles, and my heart (literally) choked at the thought of that much sodium and sad college memories.

So I said eff that. I'm bringing boneless trimmed steak in a powered cooler for my first night, with fresh asparagus and mushrooms.

Sure it'll only survive for one night before the ice melts. So I'm eating hella good on my first night.

The rest is chips and fresh salsa (canned it myself)
Hummus and pita
Oatmeal and coffee (keurig ftw)
Dried fruit and nuts
Tabouli
Shawarma (hellz yus!)
And a makeshift poutine...Canadian...It has to be done,

Me and my little camp stove, frying pan, coconut oil and
Wing and a prayer


You're gonna have an awesome burn, be confident in your ability to make the hard choices. (Some are actually hella easy, like "what do you want for dinner?"

It was one of the life lessons I've learned so far preparing for this adventure.

That I already have the answers, I just have to commit to trusting myself.

Sorry for jumping in your thread
I hope you and Phill have a positive life changing experience in the desert.

Sending dusty hugs!

~ Mel

[Ratty]

Simplyallure welcome. My advice is Google. Yes, use google to search eplaya. 'eplaya shipping from back east'. 'eplaya volunteering on my first year', 'eplaya food list'. After you've read enough to make your eyes explode come back and get our opinions. I'm not saying this to be mean. I'm just pointing you in the direction that will get you the most useful information. Welcome to our little online community. I hope to hug you in person.

Melonblue that was a great post. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

[Elderberry]

Hey there, welcome to eplaya!

[some seeing eye]

Oops, we have reached our quota for virgins to be sacrificed this year! (Just kidding)

I would suggest a search for Burning Man Packing lists on the internet. What's in your knapsack/daypack ePlaya thread is also useful.

I have mine broken into personal things and camp group things, which you can adjust if you join a camp.
You can further divide into buy local in Reno/SF landing point, bring into carried/luggage, and shipped.

If you do outdoor activities, you may already have many items.

And this is all mediated by how to get all this material to the playa, and back, to wherever it needs to go afterwards. There are also various delivery tactics/locations, including if you take advantage of it the Barbie Death Village hotel deal.

The bulky items which might be shipped include tent, sleeping/bedding stuff, clothing, costumes (including a warm coat), footwear (if multiple), shade materials for your tent/camp, goggles, camp cooking, camp lighting, bike lock.

Easy to get locally - food, water, fuel, cooler, tent stakes, (borrow a hammer at the event), batteries, shade structure poles (if you have a vehicle), drinks, first aid/analgesics/sunscreen etc., camp chairs. There are even various on-playa bicycle solutions which don't cause the bikes to become one of the thousands of abandoned bikes each year.

There is a list of useful businesses in Reno and their addresses somewhere on the Burning Man website. Also read the Jack Rabbit Speaks - current, and back issues.

There are many ePlaya food threads. Coolerless, cooler, no cook, cook strategies. Your personal comfort foods are good to include.

[Eric]

Use this google-master format to only pull up responses from eplaya for your questions:

site:http://eplaya.burningman.org (space) (search term/s)
i.e.: site:http://eplaya.burningman.org shipping (~2100 eplaya only results)
or: site:http://eplaya.burningman.org AND volunteering AND "first year" (~3840 results)


Using just the word "eplaya" as part of your search means you have to wade through a bunch of chaff to find the good stuff. The "site:http://" trick is like google magic (and can be used for any site you want to search for something specific)

[Drawingablank]

Welcome.

I fly in from New York and usually ship 1 or 2 packages UPS. These would include stuff like my fire poi, gifts I've made, my playa coat, and other things I rely on having at the burn but would exceed my luggage allowance or not want to fly with (such as kerosene reeking fire toys).

Unless you have some really specific dietary needs it doesn't pay to ship food out, and alcohol is way cheaper in Nevada so buy that stuff in Reno or Fernley.

[simplyallure]

Thanks for the reply! It's great to hear from another east coast burner. I was thinking of shipping aimilar items, so sounds like I'm on the right track. When you ship your packages using ups, where do you pick them up? Do they hold them for you at a ups store?

[Sham]

I am also coming from the east coast and I usually stay at a hotel my first day in Reno. I ship my packages there giving myself a few days to spare. I use my time to zip around Reno and pick up all my supplies that are on the list. They have all the usual big box stores there --including Costco etc. My MO is to go to my local stores and list all my sullies needed. Then just work my way down the list and check off as I go. Keep in mind that the stores are stocked to the gills with items that burners may need. They sell out of nothing.

[Savannah]

Welcome, Stine and Phill!

I know some East Coasters annually buy in on a group shipment of gear. (Specifically New Yorkers, but maybe others). Have you run into that yet? The regional groups would have more info.

http://regionals.burningman.com

Favorite meal on the playa? Well, I don't like to cook on the playa (I'm about sandwiches, canned goods, nuts, dried foods and vacuum-sealed items) . . . but I'm never without a cooler and a zillion kinds of chillables: sodas, juices, shelf-stable chocolate & regular milk, champagne, fruit cups, etc.

[Ratty]

Savannah last year I brought vanilla wafers and skippy chocolate peanut butter. Everyone loved it.

[Drawingablank]

Thanks for the reply! It's great to hear from another east coast burner. I was thinking of shipping aimilar items, so sounds like I'm on the right track. When you ship your packages using ups, where do you pick them up? Do they hold them for you at a ups store?

These days I ship them to my storage locker, but previous to having one I shipped it to my hotel.

Note: If you have or know someone with a UPS or Fed X Ground account it is way less expensive than shipping it through a UPS store. You can also preprint a return label that way as well.

[Drawingablank]

Also there is a NY Burner Container that you can buy space in that loads and unloads in Jersey City iirc. I have never used it because it is cheaper for me to UPS it than to pay the round trip tolls to load it and again to pick it up.

I believe they announce that on the New York Regional mailing list http://regionals.burningman.org/regiona ... /new-york/

It sells out fast so if interested jump on it when announced.

[Savannah]

Note: If you have or know someone with a UPS or Fed X Ground account it is way less expensive than shipping it through a UPS store. You can also preprint a return label that way as well.

Good to know! . . . This was the first year I considered doing a flight + shipping of a few items, & I think--based on your recommendation--I would UPS to a hotel.

In the end, I decided to drive again. Horrors!

But I'm still interested in the info.

[Sham]

I have for years shipped two large boxes to my hotel. On the return side, I leave the box with maintenance and have a will call pickup set up for the return box. I tend to pack lots of things to gift, so an entire box is used up and I only ship back one.
My cost per box is roughly $50 for shipping +-. So I spend about $150 to get my excess stuff to the playa. It's very easy since they pick up and drop off right where I need it.
This year I upgraded my plane tickets to allow 70lbs. per bag instead of 50lbs. This will help if I need to stuff extra weight in the luggage.

[simplyallure]

Everyone's comments have been so helpful! I have been looking into the New York Shipping container, but it might be difficult and costly for us to drive there to load and unload. I think I will be shipping to the hotel that we are staying at. I had not even thought of that option. I can't believe it 's already June, burning man is just around the corner. Very excited to be a part of it this year.