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You may be wondering why Oktoberfest is held in such high regard by your previously well travelled friends. “What’s the big deal?” You say, “it’s just old fat drunk men singing unintelligible songs on tables and hugging each other.” Sounds like your best nightmare, or your worst high school sleepover, right? To you I contend that it is both, and much more, and also not quite that.
No camaraderie is as strong and breaks as many barriers as that of beer, that destroys whatever divides a drunken German man from singing with a proud androgynous teenaged adult. Welcome to the rainbow of the human condition, amplified by ridiculous rides, slurring, good mateship and, I really just can’t emphasise this enough, singing on tables with beers while thousands watch you in good spirits. Lo, this be the good times.
In the beginning there was a wedding. And lo, this wedding, it was between Prince Ludwig and Princess Theresa. And they made a festival to celebrate and the festival happened in Theresa’s Field. And lo, did they bang in the field. Probably. And then, so it was. And on the next day there was an agricultural fair and they added some fair rides and beer stands… And lo, did Ludwig say, let there be beer and there was beer. And they said “lo damn. There be a lot of beer.” And they looked upon their work and they saw that it was good, and it was good. And lo, Ludwig sayeth, “Let this henceforth be the Oktoberfest”, though it’s day not be in Oktober and they were in September but they had drunk more than a few good German beers. “And let it be the party where the fat old drunk men are lo, the coolest guys in the party.” And then they brought in some more beer tents… And lo, there be much more beer now. And on the seventh day they rested because they were pretty hungover. And now it’s the biggest festival in the world and more than 6 million people go. Lo, goddamn.
Be afraid, Bavaria-fraid of our favourite Xtreme festival and the most favourite public festival in the world. In Munich you arrive at the exact time beers will be served! When we arrive you can soak in the glory of our beautiful campsite for a few moments but then it’s time to get to business. Here’s the details:
Every year we pack out the festival. Last year our partners partied with over 8000 people at Oktoberfest. We had by far the largest groups Oktoberfest, because we offer the best deal on the best parties there. Unlimited beer at the accommodation for only next £15 a day. How good is that?
All you have to do is turn up, after booking we will provide details of how to get there.
Tentertainment. We really go to town to make sure you have the best Oktoberfest ever! That includes a massive party tent, ( Just so you know what to expect, last year the entrance was a massive hairy vagina. This year well you’ll have to wait and see.
When the Festival shuts down at the end of the day it continues with us. The campground exclusive to us has a capacity for several thousand, and we pack it out frequently. It’s only 20 min away from the festival so you know you’re going to party with people from all over the world and have the most incredible Octoberfest experience ever.
Be under no illusion know, this festival is all about drinking, so we look after you as well it’s nice to know you have a team who are experts in herding drunk morons to and from the festival and ensuring everything goes swimmingly. We have lunatic guides who will look after you, and make sure you don’t end up in the back streets of Bavaria, but we cannot guarantee you wont be horrible offended by some of the antics going on.
While sleeping will not be on your priority list during the Oktoberfest it’s always good to know you have a place to pass out. We include all of your accommodation in pre-erected twin share tents, don’t worry about bringing any of the gear you need, we have it all for you. Ground mat sleeping bags it’s all there. Yes you can bring your hairdryers as well. This is Germany after all.
You can travel by bus to Munich from London, Paris and many other European cities. The largest bus operator from the UK to the continent is Eurolines, operating out of London’s centrally located Victoria Coach Station. In Paris, Eurolines is located on rue Malmaison, a 35-minute Metro ride from the centre. In Munich, bus services usually terminate at the Zentraler Busbahnhof, which you will find on the north side of the Hauptbahn
Itinerary
ThursdayAnytime from 18:00: We meet for drinks at The Slug in Fulham.
Coming from Amsterdam?
We have buses coming from The Hague via Amsterdam to Munich every weekend of Ofest, leaving Thursday evening and returning Monday morning.
Itinerary
Thursday 22:00: Festival Party Bus leaves from The Hague
Address: Waldrop straat (HS train station tunnel entrance)
Via Amsterdam to Munich. Estimated pickup time in Amsterdam: 23:00
Pick up address in Amsterdam: Amsterdam Amstel trainstation Julianaplein, Amsterdam
Itinerary
Transport inclusive packages:
On the standard trips (no transport)
On the transport inclusive trips:
You can join us at any time during the Festival or join us for our set date with transport included.
| Oktoberfest |
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Time to party your pants off with the best of them at some of Europe’s top festivals and have an epic summer that you will probably forget. The Xtreme passport is your ticket to an incredible European summer choose from up to 21 festivals (more will be added soon) and let us know one week prior to arrival that you wish to attend and your space will be reserved.
This is the perfect option to make the most of your summer and is super flexible meaning you can fit it in between working and hopping over to somewhere new every couple of weeks.
At some of the events there can be up to 8000 people so you can be pretty sure you’re going to meet lots of people from all over the world and have an incredible time.
You can choose from the following festivals:
Travelling is amazing, but getting from destination to party to festival to tour can be a big pain in the Schengen*. Welcome to the Xtreme Passport that doesn´t shuffle you around like a herd of cattle, but allows you to experience travel your way.
The Xtreme Passport is an unforgettable pass to international times. You choose from any of 21 destinations or festivals and receive an all-inclusive 3 nights at any of your chosen festivals, camps or event trips. The passport gives you a hefty discount on normal prices plus free unlimited beer and sangria at all of the festivals!
All that you have to do after purchase is tell us one week in advance of your desired arrival date to any of the festivals. We’re the type of people who hate rules. We get bored with itineraries. We’re more about the infinities. We’re all about the bare footed, unzipped options, endless times and boundless boundaries. The Xtreme passport shamelessly encourages unrestricted fun. With unlimited booze thrown in (and at) any new passport holder, what are you going to do?
*(If you’re not from Australia or South Africa you can have no idea what that means but if you book this pass I’m sure you will find someone who is who will willingly explain it to you over a few beers.)
San Vino, as we call it, La Batalla del Vino de Haro, as the locals call it, is a full on war path in the middle of the vineyard and we own it. All’s fair in love and wine battles. We take a bus from Barcelona or San Sebastián to the small town of Haro, we party in our campsite and have dinner together to plan strategies for the battle.
We then pay last regards and walk into a town with your classic Spanish street festival. If you’ve never been to a Spanish street festival, holy vineyard… this is the one. Bands everywhere, open drinking in the streets and in the morning we all go throw wine on each other. In the vineyard, as the sun rises.
Farmers versus public servants, women versus serfs, tourists versus that tree that was lookin’ at you funny. It’s a no-holds-barred rootin’ tootin’ red wine drinkin’ beautyfest.
At the filthy end you can choose to swim down the creek back home, drop in on a farmers truck to come back, swim in the pool at our campsite, all the while discarding wine at your feet like some hoboriffic wino Hansel and Gretel. We spend another night in the idyllic, mountainous town partying up a storm and running riot, and then we all dust off, drink a bit more and head back to Barcelona or San Sebastian. Because that’s just how it’s going to happen.
“San Vino is a vicious and outrageous war and you would naïve if you thought you could avoid ruining every item of clothing you’re wearing, dying your entire body purple for a few days or if you thought it was possible to find some sort of escape from the madness amongst the vines.”
“My childhood was filled with Xtreme moments. From the minute I busted forth from fruitful and dampened loins, to the minute I leapt from the top of the swing, landed on the playground and made that uppercut movement and was like, “yeah”, I have always been in search of a new place I can shower myself in new juices. So when I visited San Vino last year it was like I’d come full circle, and was also the fourth time I’ve been able to do that. The second and third time being when I spilt Fanta on myself and bent over to lick it up.”
San Sebastian, the Basque Country and we bask really hard here! For those of who know it (and I mean really know it that way we know it) you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who don’t, let us show you and we promise you’ll probably never want to leave.
Your itinerary for the day looks like this: wake up, eat, surf, drink beer, nap, drink beer, tan, have a beer, socialize, swim, eat, drink sangria, party at a club and then wake up by the beach surrounded by the clearest waters, the most beautiful and chilled out people you’ll ever meet and the Pyrenees mountains. And then probably grab another beer.
At our surf-camp you’re fully accommodated for: tents are erected, beers are chilled, food is served and parties are organized. Even if you don’t surf or swim, you’re guaranteed a great time tanning, drinking and mingling with our fully diverse and international staff. Learn a few new international phrases, a few more drinking games and make some memories that you’ll probably never remember with friends that you won’t forget.
The basic package includes camping accommodation in a twin share and hearty breakfast in the morning. Add-ons: meals, surfboard hire and surf lessons.
For 5€ a day get unlimited beer, wine and sangria all day long!
Check out our full package: All-inclusive for only 60€ a day. Have it all with three meals a day, surf hire and surf lessons.
Your life will never be the same again. This is what heaven is like. Our little slice of paradise, and we’re sharing our cake with you.
Includes
Benicassim is one of those festivals we love just because it really doesn’t matter who plays. The Bingy bongys? The sha la lalaylas? The wingy dingy who-nows? Whatever. The town becomes a beautiful festival in itself.
Don’t get us wrong, it’s an awesome lineup every year, and it’s organised so well that you can’t go to the loo without someone helping you out to where you need to go and how you need to do it. It’s in the middle of a desert, for 4 days, next to a beach, in a sleepy town with fountains and public libraries and municipal facilities that let you do whatever you want for those four precious, special little days. It started as the little festival that could, and became the big festival that did.
It’s everything you want, and not much more. But why would you need more? It’s everything you want. So stop asking.
When we go, we rock the shit out of it.
Everyone moves to our set and learns to our grooves, and once again we get reminded why our friends and us get proclaimed the monarchy of dance, every single night.
Self-proclaimed. But still. Jealousy it seems, takes many forms.
One of the best festivals is always the one where you needn’t worry for showering, taking naps, snaps and chicken wraps because you can do all that at the beach tomorrow, and then head on back to the festival that night.
Year after year this tiny Spanish town takes us in with our blowup Lilo mattresses in the town fountains, in the beaches, on the hills, on top of crowds, the limit is with your imagination, my new friends.
The festival has a stellar lineup every time and an excellent Spanish reputation for making you sweat out your sleep from about 5 am til 9am, and then it’s straight down the beach til the music starts again at 4pm. I’m telling you, Benicassim is raw and it’s great and for €350 all included? You’d be stupid not to.
Las Fallas is a five-day party in Valencia. It is quite a spectacle with people creating huge statues which all eventually get burnt. Expect crazy costumes, thousands of people and well fire everywhere.
Spring beer fest, much like Octoberfest but in spring. That means better weather & who does not want to get smashed in the sunshine?
The Running of the Bulls is part of a festival in Northern Spain in a place called Pamplona, a town famous for allowing Napoleon to invade them armed only with snowballs, and since that embarrassment not taking any shit from any of you Frenchies, tourists, or bulls.
It is an eight day festival of which the Bulls are only a part. At night there are world famous fireworks competitions, hedonistic street parades with multiple live bands, reveling and drinking, dancing, all with the knowledge that tomorrow you may be running with a beast who could kill you with but a flick of the head. And if you’re scared/slow/anti/not bothered, you do not need to run with the bulls – to watch them at 8am is a once in a lifetime event in itself.
When we facilitate a festival where you run on the horns of massive beasts and we say we make it more Xtreme, you know we mean it.
We have our own festival outside the festival at our legendary campsite in Zarautz with buses running back and forth all day. You can stay with us as long as you like. If you choose to go into the bulls in the morning, good luck to you and Godspeed, if you choose to stay in our site and chill on the beach, or go for a surf, we can help you out with that too. Every night is a party, and every night we have some new stuff going on, whether it’s a DJ, carnival, live band, sacrificial burning at the stake, political drunken debate, who knows? We decide on the day. One thing we can be sure of though, is you will most certainly be a part of it and it will be the experience of a lifetime.
The Sonar Festival is an amazing experience to be enjoyed in Barcelona, Spain. There’s nothing like it and its authenticity and creative spark drive the increasing popularity from year to year. It was founded in 1994 as a festival for advanced music and multimedia art and was modestly attended with media coverage from the first event. The hype after the shows closed continued across the next two years as it expanded and sent some notable performers into the global music scene. In fact, the Sonar Festival is part of the reason that electronic music has continued to evolve and gain traction over the last 20 years.
The festival takes place in the city center of Barcelona every June when it is flooded with approximately 80,000 visitors. The electronic music rumbles through the streets from gigantic venues and the atmosphere is buzzing with excitement across crowds of hip, exciting music fans. Famous performers rub elbows with festival attendees and Barcelona happily opens their doors to everyone.
However, the festival is more than just an opportunity to bring great, new music to adoring fans. The Sonar Festival, since its emergence two decades ago, is dedicated to living up to its name as a festival for advanced music and multimedia art. Offering conferences, film screenings, demos, online content, and exhibitions are just some of the ways that they meet these goals of supporting the artistic communities. One of the extra special features of the festival is its intentional design as an open laboratory, rather than a traditional fair format. Technology enthusiasts can experience hands-on workshops and demos with professionals in the industry. It really is more than just a cut-and-dry music festival, it’s an experience that lives up to the hype as one of the biggest events on the European calendar.
You may be wondering why Oktoberfest is held in such high regard by your previously well travelled friends. “What’s the big deal?” You say, “it’s just old fat drunk men singing unintelligible songs on tables and hugging each other.” Sounds like your best nightmare, or your worst high school sleepover, right? To you I contend that it is both, and much more, and also not quite that.
No camaraderie is as strong and breaks as many barriers as that of beer, that destroys whatever divides a drunken German man from singing with a proud androgynous teenaged adult. Welcome to the rainbow of the human condition, amplified by ridiculous rides, slurring, good mateship and, I really just can’t emphasise this enough, singing on tables with beers while thousands watch you in good spirits. Lo, this be the good times.
In the beginning there was a wedding. And lo, this wedding, it was between Prince Ludwig and Princess Theresa. And they made a festival to celebrate and the festival happened in Theresa’s Field. And lo, did they bang in the field. Probably. And then, so it was. And on the next day there was an agricultural fair and they added some fair rides and beer stands… And lo, did Ludwig say, let there be beer and there was beer. And they said “lo damn. There be a lot of beer.” And they looked upon their work and they saw that it was good, and it was good. And lo, Ludwig sayeth, “Let this henceforth be the Oktoberfest”, though it’s day not be in Oktober and they were in September but they had drunk more than a few good German beers. “And let it be the party where the fat old drunk men are lo, the coolest guys in the party.” And then they brought in some more beer tents… And lo, there be much more beer now. And on the seventh day they rested because they were pretty hungover. And now it’s the biggest festival in the world and more than 6 million people go. Lo, goddamn.
Be afraid, Bavaria-fraid of our favourite Xtreme festival and the most favourite public festival in the world. In Munich you arrive at the exact time beers will be served! When we arrive you can soak in the glory of our beautiful campsite for a few moments but then it’s time to get to business. Here’s the details:
But I digress.
Our rolling circus does away with these ethical issues and makes it a circus just about you! You and our other mates and our Europe! We roll, we glide, we hip hop dippity slide to our favourite cities in Europe, making the party as we go, and bringing more people on our trip as we can fit. We hit all the best festivals, we take live bands, there are no rules, and our driver is my best friend, you’ll meet him soon and you’ll love him like I do.
The world’s biggest food fight with tomatoes in Spain? Yeah we do that. Oktoberfest? We end there! Paris, Belgium, Prague, Budapest, a whole shitload of Spain. That’s a tick. It’s the best way to see the coolest cities, and we make our own parties in every city we go! We just invite everyone we meet along the way!
Accommodation differs from Festival to Festival but in general it is based in tents or hostel accommodation. Please check each individual Festival for details.
We would recommend either booking a European hop on hop off pass or checking sky scanner for low-cost airlines on easyJet and Ryanair. A detailed predeparture pack is issued once you book which will tell you where you need to get to and when and you can always ask our reservations team for assistance.
Please note if you are including any of the trips in the Balearic’s like Ibiza you will need to make your own way there. Ryanair and Vueling have great low-cost flight options or you can get a ferry from Barcelona or Denia (80Km south of Valencia).
The Xtreme passport is open dated and valid from one year from the start date of your passport. The key dates for the festivals and events are as follows. You do not have to do it all in one go, which means you can combine it with working and travelling to different locations or perhaps using a hop on hop off pass to get you between events.
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How would you like to get a diploma, spend four weeks travelling somewhere exotic with the possibility to get paid for your efforts at the end of it. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t.
Not only can you do all that, you will get mentored by one of the top journalists in the country Beci Wood who spent 10 years at the biggest newspaper in the UK. Get assistance publishing your piece and sending out through news channels with the aim of it being picked up as newsworthy. This will give you an amazing exposure and a genuine opportunity to try out and launch a new career in journalism.
On this program you can either undertake the diploma only and use it to boost your qualifications whilst you undertake any of our gap year programs, or you can involve yourself On our Xtreme journalism assignments. Set in 2 locations where you can study and learn more about journalism.
For the assignments, you can choose either Thailand, or Mexico and you have four weeks to complete the course and we throw in some adventure activities along the way. What they are depends on the time of year, we do not keep it set so we can react to any newsworthy stories or events.
The course involves quite a bit of coursework, so where better to undertake some investigative journalism, or get inspired than abroad by paradise beaches.
You have full backup and support of our UK-based tutors, who have considerable experience in the industry. You can actually study anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection and a laptop.
Once you have completed the course and have written your final piece we will assist you in sending this out to our media houses who may or may not pick up on the story. If you do get published you will receive 60 percent of your royalty fees which could be enough to cover the cost of the entire course.
What you report on is up to you, but you will have the full back up and support and guidance of professional journalists (including the head mentor on the programme – Beci Wood with 10 years experience on staff at the UK´s biggest newspaper).
Not only is journalism and exciting career, it’s something you can take with you to your next stage after travelling, whether that be a part-time job at University, or something you do on the side or launch phone into as a career.
So whether you want to do something genuinely rewarding while you travel, or want to have something that not only looks amazing – really is amazing on your CV then the Xtreme reporter as you.
On the Thailand option we have a completely unique and very exciting work experience attachment to this program. You will work in a genuine media Company that produces monthly magazines all over Asia. Working from their offices in Phuket, you will put your newfound skills to use: tasked With writing articles and uncovering stories as a reporter. You will go out develop and write stories and make a valued contribution to the magazine and online websites. Working under the CEO and his media team this is a genuinely unique opportunity to gain work experience and do a really fun job which will build your resume and give you an insight into an exciting industry as you travel.
The company is called think media and is American run running various different franchises of popular magazines, what’s on guides and delivers local news and features in and around Phuket.
The work experience option can either last two weeks or four weeks, depending on your preference and includes all accommodation.
In Mexico you will stay in Playa del Carmen, a short walk from the beach at our base the Bendito Rancho. This is based on a dormitory (shared accommodation).
In Thailand you will stay in Phuket where you will also be involved in a work experience module with think media. You will stay on a bungalow either your own or shared with one other person the same sex. The bungalow is located close to the officers.
Journalism needs specialists. People with knowledge and passion for their subject. We provide a range of courses in specialist subjects ranging from health to the environment through to investigative and travel journalism.
Journalism courses currently available:
Yes our courses are accredited by third party organisations
Our diploma is widely recognised in the UK and overseas. It is a vocational award, equivalent to an NVQ level 1 or 2.
The Open and Distance Learning Quality Council (ODLQC) and the ABCC validate it.
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