Austin City Limits Roundup

Anyone headed to Austin Limits Music Festival (ACL)  this year? Here are some past articles to get you prepared if you are going.

ACL Essentials
ACL Insider Tips
ACL The Eco Way

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Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) Insider Tips

Every year we head to Austin for ACL Music Fest and we have learned a thing or 2 about some of the best tips and tricks through the years. What are some tips you have? You can read past posts about ACL essentials and eco tips. 

1. Start saving to buy pre-sale tickets for the following year. 
2. Buy merchandise online or right before you leave. 
3. Wear sunscreen.
4. Link you credit card to your wristband. It will save you so much time. 
5. Tag your kid in case they get lost. 
6. Bring extra tissue or toilet paper because....... porta potties. 
7. Bring a water bottle. Stay hydrated.
8. Visit the vendors. You can win awesome prizes. 
9. Download the app.
10. Bring your AMEX card to get into the lounge. 
11. Follow ACL Music Fest on social media to win prizes.
12. Buy the wine. As far as alcohol goes, you get the most bang for you buck. 
13. Don't buy that koozie because more than likely you will find one on the ground at some point. 
14. At the end of the night if you stay until the very end, people leave stuff all around and you can score a lot of free loot if that is what you are into. 
15. If you like where you are staying and know you will be going back to ACL the following year, ask your host if you can go ahead and book the following year. 
16. Have FUN!!!

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Austin City Limits Music Festival The Eco Way

My husband and I have been attending Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival for many, many years now and LOVE going. Last year I wrote this post on what some of my ACL essentials were. This year I wanted to focus on some of their eco aspects like:

• ACL Cares program where they have various organizations there for others to support. 
• Rock and Recycle Program a recycling program where you can recycle cans throughout the festival for your chance to get a t-shirt.
• ACL art market where you can pick up goodies from local Austin artists. 
• Food features some of Austin's favorite local eats.
• They encourage biking there, carpooling and using the shuttle buses.
• They have refillable water bottle stations.
• Taken from their website: "Keeping Zilker Park and the planet healthy and around for future generations are key missions of the Festival. From the use of biodiesel run generators to diverting waste from the landfill and fan education and outreach, ACL is committed to minimizing its carbon footprint both during the Festival and throughout the year. Here are more ways in which ACL strives to lessen its environmental impact…"

Here are some things you can do to be more eco:

• Bring a refillable water bottle.
• Use a solar charger. Like Solio or this one.
• Use eco sunscreen like one of these options or these options.
• Use eco deodorant like this one or an Austin favorite like one of the ones in this post. 
• Download the festival map on your phone instead of grabbing a paper one. 

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Travel: Non-Toxic Austin, TX AirBnB

Since it is Earth month I thought I would post some eco/green posts or some of the like. In October of last year I visited a charming eco non-toxic Airbnb in Austin, TX. My husband and I frequent Austin throughout the year and I dream of moving there one day if we stay in TX. Anyways, I stayed in this place after being at Austin City Limits (ACL) for the weekend with some friends. I won passes to SXSW Eco and found it fitting to stay at this non-toxic place. I had a fabulous time being alone in Austin for several days. This place is very centrally located. You can pretty much walk, bike or uber whereever you need to go.

I loved going to SXSW Eco, yogaing at Black Swan Yoga, which is now in Houston as well, going to Shake Shack and overall just relaxing and catching up on work.

Many features of this place make it non-toxic like low Zero VOC paint, eco material like the fan and  the allergen free building materials.  Wifi worked great and it was wonderful sitting on the little patio area in the evenings.

Pros: great place, the owners are super easy to work with, great location, and easy in & out access. Cons:  I requested this place for ACL for 2016 for my husband and I and they quoted me $500 a night, which is absolutely ridiculous. Granted they are close to Zilker, just fyi you can find places for way less and I don't think it is worth it to stay there for that much a night unless you are in an absolute bind.

Would I stay here again? Yes, absolutely

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Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) Essentials

My husband, Bryan, and I have been going to Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) for years. In all honesty he is not much of a music festival / concert person, but he does these things for me because I love it. I wanted to highlight some things for us that have been helpful and useful throughout the years of going. As you can see in some of the photos there are a few things I initially left out of the main photo that are very important and you will see in photos below.  Here are some things we like to bring.

• Wristbands.
• Backpack.
• Sunscreen.
• Sunglasses.
• Phone. You can check Twitter for giveaways while you are at the festival.
• Empty Water Bottle. There are fill stations throughout Zilker. Stay hydrated.
• Tarp and Ponchos. This is in case it starts raining, which it has various times throughout the years.
• Comfortable Clothes and Shoes. You will walk a lot. I try to wear sandals or flip flops in case they get wet it can dry fast.  Same with clothing, you want fast drying cloths if it rains. I am more about function than style when it comes to music festivals.
• Hand Sanitizer. Because porta potties are nasty.
• Wipes / Toilet Paper. I will carry these things because you never know how the porta potties will be.
• Cash / Credit Cards. Now you are able to connect your wristband to your credit card, but we still carry one card, cash and our Drivers License.
• Chairs. We usually don’t bring them, but you can if you want.
• Waterproof Bag or Ziploc Baggies. This is in case it rains to keep our phones dry.
• External Phone Charger. We have never brought one in the past, but may this year because usually our phones are running low by the end of the night.

Also, this is a good article of what others recommend to bring http://www.austin360.com/news/entertainment/music/acl-fest-expert-advice/nSYLZ/

Tips while you are at the festival

• Try all kinds of food, it really is good.
• Listen to various acts, you'll be pleasantly surprised on how good many of them are.
• Don't get too wasted and stay hydrated.
• Save to buy your souvenirs for at night so you don't lose them or ruin them. ACL used to have a USPS booth set up where you could ship your items to your home. Not sure if they will have that this year. We always buy a poster and wait to buy it at the end of one evening.
• Take the shuttle if you can. There are so many constantly running and you rarely have to wait long to get on one. The only time we really wait is at night if we stay until the last act finishes up.
• If there is a lull period you don't have any particular bands you want to see leave and then come back. We have done this various times throughout the years. Sometimes we go eat at a nearby restaurant and other times we go back to our rental and take a quick nap.
• If you are renting a condo, a house, or somewhere with a kitchen for the festival bring snacks or frozen food. A lot of times we are hungry when we finish up with the festival and pizza often takes at least an hour to be delivered, if not longer. 
• Have fun!

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