coachella | indio, california

in honor of just purchasing my coachella tickets for next year, i thought it would be appropriate to write my long overdue post about my first coachella experience from (almost) two months ago! although this year was my first year going to coachella, i originally attempted to buy tickets in 2014 when they sold the second round of weekend one tickets after they released the line-up, but i failed miserably. once coachella 2014 came and went, i knew if i wanted to go to weekend one coachella 2015 then i had to buy the pre-sale tickets a month after coachella 2014 a.k.a. one year in advance before the line-up is even released. so like last year, i diligently waited to purchase tickets yesterday at 11 a.m. for next year's weekend one tickets. i remember last year waiting on the standby page for a good 40 minutes and having to use a backdoor on the site which directly went to the checkout page. i found purchasing tickets this year to be much smoother and slightly anti-climactic -- the entire process took me about 20 minutes and was only given a few days notice about the pre-sale. nonetheless, i have myself two tickets for next year and a fat credit card payment in the near future.

http://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/los-angeles/2015-coachella-lineup-poster

aaron got into la on the evening of april 9th and we left for coachella first thing the next day! actually, that was the original plan but christy and zack picked us up around 1 p.m. we got to our hotel around 3/4 p.m., since we didn't hit any traffic on the way. we freshened up and took an uber to the shuttle stop. it was probably around 5 p.m. by the time we got there and it was more than enough time to experience the first day. we even managed to meet up with taryn! i remember seeing sets from dj snake and ac/dc for that day and we got some delicious hot dogs from the kushiyaki booth.

right when we entered and the only photo of my entire outfit that day

kushiyaki dog! they had some awesome food options

dj snake?

we found taryn!

one of the art installations/meeting points

my only photo from AC/DC set

we survived day 1! and now that we had one day under our belt, we felt better prepared for day 2. we left a little earlier that day around 3 p.m. and we saw dirty south, jack white, tycho, tyler the creator, and the weeknd. we also were able to ride the ferris wheel for $8 a person. i survived the day by drinking coffee in the morning and a 5 hour energy later in the day.

there was a point in the night where it was just aaron and i and we roamed all around the different stages. aside from the fact that you're an awesome event with your significant other, it's nice to only have to worry about one person. i couldn't imagine going with a large group and having to eventually find each other later or feeling like you have to stay with the group. we ended the night watching the weeknd who is amazing live!

all smiles on the ferris wheel

on our way to the ferris wheel while the sun was setting

view from the top

another art installation

being romantic. lol

day 3 was all about drake. we checked out of the hotel that morning and had lunch at a nearby pizza place. instead of taking the shuttle, we ended up carpooling which was free and the parking was not bad at all. this day was definitely the hottest of all the days and lucky for me, i wore black jeans -- all in the name of fashion. the heat didn't last long though and i brought another hat and shirt to change in. right when we entered, we bought some coachella 2015 t-shirts which i have yet to wear. we thought it would be a good idea to also go into the air conditioned tent, but everyone seemed to have that idea since it was packed with people -- this is where we saw these two older women (had to be in their 60's) dancing their hearts out to techno music. i also saw a kid in a stroller later that day! somehow we also managed to meet up with taryn again and hung out with her for majority of the night. 

drake's set was awesome even though i basically watched him from the screen the entire time. we were actually pretty close too so i couldn't imagine what the thousands behind us were looking at. also, i didn't even realize that was madonna when she came out and kissed drake! someone around us thought it was iggy azalea. lol. my only complaint about drake's set was that i wish he sang more of his old stuff. oh, and he was 30+ minutes late! nonetheless, it was pretty awesome to see him live.

day 3 called for lace and black lipstick

snapchat filters are the best

we randomly found taryn this time!

the worst decision aaron and i made all weekend

goodbye coachella 2015

right when drake's set was over, the weekend was over. and we headed straight home. i couldn't believe how fast the weekend went. there was so much more we could have done and seen -- i did contemplate going to weekend two for a good 10 minutes. we got home around 4 a.m. and i had to wake up in a few hours to go to work -- work hard, play hard, i guess. haha. aaron also had to catch his flight back to dc that afternoon. i was exhausted to say the least and ended up catching a small cold. in the end, was it worth the hundreds (definitely well over $1000) i spent on for just a few days? i guess so since i bought tickets for next year. we'll see if i actually go though since aaron said he probably won't go and i don't know who's performing! fingers crossed the line-up is good!