Stay festive at Coachella with cool gadgets and clothes
by Phil Hornshaw
One of the biggest music festivals of the year is about to take place this month.
Coachella, located in Indio, California, includes a lineup of bands that spans two weekends of great music. Festival-goers often grab campsites and settle in for days of warm weather and good tunes in southern California. In order to get the most out of the festival, though, you’ll need to pack the right clothes and bringing (or leaving behind) gadgets.
A safe place for gadgets?
In today’s age, it’s hard to imagine not bringing certain implements anywhere, including your cell phone or maybe smartphone, tablet or camera. For the most part, though, you’ll probably want to skip bringing such valuables to a festival like Coachella, because so much stuff often gets left behind in tents and other unsecured locations.
If you have to pack technology, keep it simple and useful – like a smartphone. A good smartphone can double as a photo or video camera, and while it’s useful for staying in touch and helping you navigate to different locations, there are also a number of Coachella apps for both iOS and Android. Check out Amazon and Target and Walmart, both of which offer 3 percent cash back, for gift cards to iTunes and the Google Play store that can be used to purchase apps.
Meanwhile, if you don’t take your own photos, try places such as iStockPhoto (with 3 percent cash back) and Getty Images (with 8 percent cash back) for photos you can license to help immortalize your Coachella experience.
What to wear
You’re going to need cool clothes to handle a couple of days out of doors in Southern California to get the most out of your Coachella trip, but there are lots of retailers that can help. Start with Garage Clothing to nab things like shorts and t-shirts – you’ll get as much as 8 percent cash back, and you can get as much as 15 percent off Spring looks.
Other solid places to shop include Gap, which offers 4 percent cash back, and Express, which offers 2.5 percent cash back. And don’t forget retailers like Target and Walmart for all kinds of items, ranging from comfortable outdoor shoes to sunglasses.
