If you are the kind of traveler who likes to socialize with the local crowd, here is a guide to some of the world-renowned festivities in the United Kingdom.
Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts
Glastonbury Festival or Glasto is a popular performing arts festival in Somerset, England. The first ever Glasto was held in 1970, after the day Jimi Hendrix died, and was heavily influenced by hippie ethics. The festival was so successful that it began attracting more and more people each year. Today, Glasto houses over 170,000 festival goers and features some of the best artists in contemporary music, dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other forms of art.
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is scheduled to be held on 26 to 30 June 2013. The line-up includes The Rolling Stones, Mumford & Sons, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, The XX, Two Door Cinema Club, The Lumineers, Alabama Shakes, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Azealia Banks.
Insomnia Gaming Festival
It is a well known fact that Brits are huge gamers. Their enthusiasm for everything about gaming has led to the advent of several annual festivals, one of which is the Insomnia Gaming Festival. Insomnia or iSeries describes itself as “a gaming event for all ages, where gamers and industry leaders alike come together to celebrate games in all their forms.” The Insomnia Gaming Festival has been running for 14 years now, with 42 series under its belt. Their next event will be on 23 to 26 August 2013 at the Telford International Centre in Shropshire.
World Poker Tour
Another gaming-inspired event in the United Kingdom is the World Poker Tour. It is an annual series of poker tournaments that are often held in the regions of the United States, China, France, Spain, and England, among many others. Some of the participants in this poker competition came straight from live casinos, while others had their breaks at social gaming sites like partypoker.com. partypoker.com offers qualifying rounds so that casual players will have the opportunity to join this prestigious event and compete with the pros.
The first ever World Poker Tour started in the later part of 2002, and climaxed in April 2003 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Currently, the competition is in its 11th season.
Cheese Rolling Festival
It may sound surprising, but cheese rolling is an actual sport in the United Kingdom. The Cheese Rolling Festival in Gloucestershire was based on an age-old Pagan tradition. In this event, hardcore thrill seekers will pursue a Double Gloucester cheese down 200 meters of slippery, wet grass of Copper’s Hill, and the first person to grab the cheese wins. The Cheese Rolling Festival is often held in May.