I’m accidentally in the middle of Coachella…and I hate it.

a person's face with leaves

I’ve been in Palm Springs for exactly five hours, and I have already seen enough suede booties paired with teeny denim cutoffs and flowy tank tops to last me a lifetime. Ew. And it’s not just the “desert sandstorm chic” uniform, it’s the attitude.

When we checked in this afternoon, the lobby of the Hyatt Regency was completely overrun with swarms of identically dressed Coachella-bots, all desperately trying to out-cool each other by screaming “YOLO!” and trying to stuff as many flowers as they possibly could into their artfully disheveled braids.

It’s really uncharacteristic of me to dislike a music and fashion event such as this…but I have to make a huge exception here. It’s totally awful.

I’m really really hoping that they all leave tomorrow.

I had no idea that our Palm Springs vacation was going to intersect with Coachella, or I never would have booked a stay on these dates. It just never crossed my mind. But…lesson learned. I think in the future I’m going to call the hotel directly to ask if there is anything “big” going on for the dates I’ve booked.

Have you ever accidentally stumbled into an event at a hotel or on your vacation? Was it a good thing or a bad experience?

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21 Comments

  1. Gene – I always need more FCQ in my life.

    William Charles – I usually LOVE music festivals as well, but for some reason this crowd is really in-your-face, and not in a good way. We’re still having a great vacation, though.

    Shannon – That sounds like an interesting combo.

  2. Sounds like the words of an opinionated middle aged woman. I’m sure the lingo has transitioned from the 60’s decade of your youth, but are those years so far from you that can’t remember what is it like to be young? I’m surprised the flowers in ‘artfully disheveled braids’ didn’t make it into your article of “How to make cheap clothes look expensive,” but hey, now you have another reason for an egocentric blog post.

    1. Dave – Wow, quite a comment! You managed to age me by two decades, call me opinionated and egocentric, but ALSO remember the name of one of my previous posts. I’d say I’ve arrived as a blogger 🙂

  3. A couple of years ago, I ended up in Bled, Slovenia during the Rowing World Cup. Had no idea of what was going on until I checked-in. I had never been to a rowing competition, nor I even watched rowing before… I have to say it was a great weekend.

    If you don’t like Coachella, that’s fine. It’s probably overrated anyways. But did you seriously think that it is a brilliant idea to post this rant on you blog? Even a rant tweet would have been too much.

    Stop complaining about stuff. It is just making you look stupid, intolerant and close-minded. Enjoy your holiday, instead of being negative. 😉

    1. Hyacinthe – Thanks for your comment!

      Since I write a personal blog, these are my personal opinions. I’m telling stories and writing posts from my perspective. That is why I enjoy reading people’s blogs in general – I want to know what THEY think about places they go and things they do.

      I didn’t feel the next to sanitize and smooth over my description of my experience because I’m confident that people who read this can handle it…and perhaps even appreciate a different point of view than the one typically featured all over Instagram and Twitter.

      And I’m enjoying my holiday very much. I’ll write my opinion about the next installment soon. 😉

      1. I appreciate your perspective, but, Kendra, perhaps keeping positive and making small efforts not to offend would make the world a better place. I went to Coachella and didn’t feel like festival goers were as you described them. Your post came off as from someone a bit insecure, though I’m sure that’s not true at all. I felt like most people there were just enjoying life and having a good time, not “in your face” and trying to outdo each other at all… But maybe where you stayed had some kids doing just that?

        1. Duy – I love that you wrote this comment. I agree that positivity is always the best perspective. I think I got a big dose of a small faction of Coachella-goers who just happened to be not so nice…and they affected my opinion of the entire festival, which was not fair at all. Thank you for being so nice (and positive!) about sharing your thoughts. You did a good thing.

  4. Well, you’ve earned yourself a reader in me. You’re willing to say what you feel with class, and give your own personal perspective without shoving credit card links down my throat. Besides, if we didn’t kvetch about things every now and again (and you have every right to kvetch, this is, after all, YOUR vacation and YOUR blog) I don’t think know if a blog would be that interesting. It’s perfectly reasonable to have positive reactions to some things and negative reactions to other things.

    To answer your question though–was once in Downtown San Jose during a furry convention and a teenage volleyball tournament. Ridiculousness ensued.

    1. Nick – Thank you for the support 🙂 I appreciate it and am happy that you understand the point.

      I cannot begin to imagine the cross-section of furry and teenage volleyball. OMG.

  5. OMG, Kendra! Your blog is so fun! Also, some people really need a lot of attention, right?

    Spring break in Maui. It didn’t really affect us until the bars closed and young partiers began returning to the hotel. We heard what sounded like fights, flirtations, singing, and vomiting. Our kids slept through it, thankfully and we had a really memorable, fun vacation. THANKS, KENDRA! Love your blog and your opinions!

    1. Jeri 🙂

      And ack!! The Maui shenanigans you describe are sorta funny but also ack-worthy! Glad you still had a good time.

      And thanks for the comment.

  6. I feel your pain! This weekend I was in SoCal with my nieces. We stayed near the convention center at the Hilton, which was host hotel to a national competitive cheer competition. There were 500 teams and thousands of girls and cheer moms roaming EVERYWHERE. It was totally insane, and we were on a floor that was completely full of the them. Granted they were very cute, but they sure were quite excited and vocal. Oh, my nieces were two of the cheer girls, but it being my first cheer event with them, it was a bit overwhelming. I had no idea there’d be so many. Despite it all, I enjoyed myself. Cheer moms are an interesting breed. It was great for people watching!

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