How Reddit Saved This Aussie Raver’s Trip to EDC Vegas

The social makeup of EDC is a beautiful rainbow of cultures and nationalities that has grown only more diverse over the years. It takes courage, dedication, and a lot of strategery by our international Headliners to bring their plans to fruition. So, tip of the hat to those who make the trek from all corners of the globe. The payoff for us here at Insomniac is looking out over the sea of smiling faces and seeing so many flags from all over the world, united and held high Under the Electric Sky. It’s a beautiful thing.

Enter Kyle from Australia. When Kyle first found out about EDC, he was completely blown away, and he quickly convinced his festival buddy to join him for the adventure. But plans often change. A few short weeks before they were set to leave on their trip—one that would take them from Sydney to Vegas and then Cuba—Kyle’s buddy ran into some legal trouble, which unfortunately made it impossible for her to enter the United States on the visa waiver program. With no time to alter travel arrangements, Kyle was now flying solo. Taking it all in stride, he jumped on Reddit, met some new friends, and quickly realized that despite the hiccup, his upcoming trip to EDC was in fact the opportunity of a lifetime.

Here’s how it all unfolded, in Kyle’s own words.

Flying halfway around the world for EDC is no joke.
Yeah. I only actually found out about EDC back in 2015. That’s when the whole idea of it just got stuck in my head. Seeing photos and video of the kineticCATHEDRAL stage from 2015 made me realize that I needed to go to this. So, I stopped going out and started saving, which pretty much killed my social life.

How did you convince your friend to go with you?
I showed her some videos and pictures of the stages, and it blew her mind, as well. We had gone to some music festivals together here in Australia, but we both agreed this was way bigger than anything we ever get. Our biggest festival over here is like 20,000 people.

How quickly before your plans began to evaporate?
I didn’t have much notice. It happened just over two months before I was supposed to fly over to the States. And at that point, I had so much money and time invested into the trip, that I decided to do it on my own.

What made you turn to the online community to make it happen?
I had come across Reddit a few times in the past, and knew it was a forum for anything. I had no idea what I was getting into, and with so many people going, I figured I’d get as informed as possible. I actually only joined Reddit as a user for this EDC trip; I’m still in awe that the entire EDC community was so amazing. The first post I put up was looking for a person to split my hotel with. I got seven or eight responses from that and narrowed it down to one guy who had similar interests. We met at the hotel room and chilled for a few minutes, and he seemed like a pretty cool guy, so that all worked out well.

I was also supposed to go to Cuba for a few weeks, but since my friend was no longer coming, I wanted to see San Francisco instead. I met another mate on Reddit, and we discovered that we were both super obsessed with hardstyle. So we decided to meet up in San Francisco and do a road trip. We figured we should meet before, so he flew over to Australia from New Zealand, and we went to an indoor hardstyle music festival in Sydney and partied heaps. We got along great.

So, not only did you get to do EDC, you also had an American road trip?
We drove from SF to L.A. and then met up with another one of his buddies from the Reddit hardstyle community in L.A. We all rented a Mustang and drove to Vegas from L.A. The road trip was awesome… We had the roof down and were pumpin’ tunes the entire way. I had so much fun!

Considering everything you went through to finally get there, how did the event compare to the journey?
I had been to Vegas a few times, but I had never done pool parties or anything. And the whole vibe during EDC Week was absolutely crazy. Me and my mate (who I was splitting the hotel room with) hit two or three pool parties during EDC Week.

Day one of EDC, we lost each other about five minutes after entering through the gates (laughs). We both had agreed that if we got lost, we wouldn’t worry about it too much. I raged on my own with everyone that I met at all the different stages on the first night—which was way more fun than I thought it was going to be. Out of all the festivals I’ve been to, the people at EDC are the most friendly.

Would you say the friendship factor was one of the things that stood out the most?
100 percent. The energy of the whole event makes you feel like you are one big family of 140,000 people. It was unbelievable. It felt like a dream the first night. Waking up on Saturday, I wondered if it was going to be that way again. Getting there on the second day was absolutely crazier. My roommate had run into these two Aussie chicks and this guy from Arizona who we became friends with at the shuttle stop on the first night. We decided to party together. We all met on day two, and we kicked it all night together. Me, my roommate, and our friend from Arizona are actually meeting up this year and splitting a hotel room in Vegas and partying for the week and going to EDC together.

The main thing was the amount of time and effort that Insomniac has put into the event. You can tell that Pasquale and Insomniac staff do it because they love to do it. They love getting those people together every year. I’ve spent all year getting ready to go back; I’ve almost thought of nothing else.

You weren’t alone—there’s a strong group of Aussies at EDC.
I ran into a lot of Aussies carrying their flags. It was crazy—the people I was partying with were from Brisbane, which is one state over from New South Whales, and they were super chill. We met so many Aussies and people from countries all over the world.

I think it’s amazing that even Americans who are only driving from a few states away are saving up just like me all year to go to EDC. And it’s not just kids; I met a 60-year-old couple that was renewing their wedding vows. There’s nothing like EDC Las Vegas on the planet.

EDC Las Vegas 2017 takes place Friday, June 16, through Sunday, June 18, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For more information, visit the official website.