Before reading this, I would recommend reading our article titled What Happens At Burning Man.  In order to understand why you need to such preparations, you first need to know how Burning Man works. The preparations explained here are based on the information shared in the other article.

Let’s start with the most basic question: How do we find tickets?

1. Burning Man Tickets

In terms of Burning Man preparations, our first order of business was to follow the dates for ticket sales. The tickets go on sale in multiple stages. They try to improve the ticketing system every year, so these stages may vary. Here is how it worked this year–please note that this may be subject to change in the years to come:

1. Directed Group Sale

First, tickets were sold directly to the camps at Burning Man. This is done to give priority to the groups who enrich and give life to this place. Some of them have unbelievably big investments such as art cars, facilities, decorations, etc. Before opening sales to the public, camps were offered priority access to the tickets in order to ensure they weren’t left out. Apparently, 50,000 tickets are sold at this stage, for $425 per ticket + service fees, which adds up to roughly $480.

2. Main Sale

– Tickets go on sale in April.
– First you need to open a Burner profile on Burning Man’s website. You can’t buy a ticket if you don’t have a Burner account.
– Each person can buy two tickets at most.
– Tickets cost about $480 at this stage.
– If you plan to arrive by car, you also need to buy a $100 vehicle pass.
– They only accept Mastercard and Visa.
– In addition, you can only pay once using the same credit card.
– Around 23,000 tickets are sold at this stage.

IMPORTANT: Be online & already logged in the minute sales open. It’s really a matter of milliseconds. Of course this doesn’t guarantee a ticket but at least you are increasing your chances.

3. The OMG Sale 

A bunch of additional tickets are released in July. At this stage the tickets cost $550.

Those who wish enroll in the OMG sale first have to register for the sale on Burning Man’s website.  Last BM, the registration period was between July 24-26 and the sale took place on July 31.  If you miss the registration period you can not attend the sale.

4. Ticket Resale

People who bought tickets but aren’t able to go can return their tickets to Burning Man. They are put on sale on the BM website. This is the last chance to buy tickets.

Those looking for tickets enter their credit card information in the BM system and the system automatically matchs them with returned tickets on a first-come first-served basis.

IMPORTANT: You buy the tickets online, but unfortunately they don’t send them to you digitally; they send them to you via mail. Make sure they are sent to an address where it is unlikely for the tickets to be stolen/lost. Even if you have proof of purchase, you won’t be able to enter without the actual tickets.

Other Ways to Find Tickets

Low Income Tickets – There is a discount ticket program to include people from different income levels. Tickets cost $210 each. You can apply in April.

Volunteering – If you volunteer to work for Burning Man for a certain amount of time (60 hours, I think) you get a free ticket.

Black Market – Some people who have no intention of going, buy tickets to sell them on the black market. For instance, a Burner from Berlin whom we met on our flight to the U.S. had paid $1,200 for a ticket. And a friend of his had paid $1,700! This is one of the things that worry Burning Man; they don’t want the tickets to turn into commodities, as decommodification is one of its fundamental principles. Don’t buy tickets off the black market. You may actually end up with a fake ticket which the scanners at the Burning Man entrance won’t recognize.

Well, what other expenses are there? You might want to sit down first because this is only the beginning of the money you are going to spend.

2. The Total Cost of Going to Burning Man

– Standard ticket : $450

– Vehicle pass : $100

– Camp fee :  Assuming you have read our other article mentioned above, I won’t explain what the camp fee is again. For those who are too lazy to read, it is your share of your camp’s expanses. The cheapest camps cost around $120-150 per person, some go up to $2,000, depending on the scope and contents of the camp. As for plug-and-play camps, they cost $10,000.

– Accommodation: Camper vans start from $5,000 per week, shiftpods cost $800-1,300, and tents start from $40 and go as high as $1,000.

– Airfare : Burning Man is planned to include the Labor Day weekend, a public holiday in the U.S. So, plane tickets are more expensive than usual. The nearest airport is in Reno, Nevada.

– Car rental & gas

– Car wash :  $100

– Outfits : If you plan to rent, they cost about $85. If you plan to buy, there is no limit…

– Food & Drinks : Depends on how much and what you eat. We spent $120 per person on our food for the week.

– Bike: $100

– Gifts: We brought with us 500 evil eye beads from Turkey (the traditional evil eye beads, usually made out of blue glass in the shape of an eye, are believed to protect you from evil and envious eyes and keep negative energy out of your way). We also filled up two water guns with sunscreen to offer to people. This cost about $70. You could do less, or much more.

TOTAL: Usually it costs about $1,300-5,000 per person (excluding airfare).

3. Are You Joining a Theme Camp?

Theme camps are pretty much survival units and your family at Burning Man. You live together, eat together, party together and work together. Joining a camp comes with a lot of benefits and responsibilities. Read about Theme Camps at Burning Man to know what to expect, how things work and how to join them.

Because our friend who invited us to Burning Man has been coming here with the same crew for several years, so we were able to join their camp. This provided us with a shared kitchen and a lounge, a shared meal we cooked together every evening, a bar where we served pickle juice and whiskey as a gift to the community, and a facial mask party but our camp didn’t have an art car.

Of course all of these preparations cost something. On top of the evident costs such as food, there are other less visible costs such as transport and storage of the camp’s items. All costs are summed up and then divided among members. At our camp it cost about $190 per person which is very low for BM’s standarts. Our other friends at another camp were paying $2000 per person.

Ours was one of the more minimalistic camps. We had 1 shared meal a day with usually something simple like pasta and salad while some camps had 3 shared meals with extensive buffets. We had no generator, thus no fridge. There are camps that prefer to set up a generator, provide a fridge and even air-conditioning. Some bring their own toilets and set up shared showers, set up fresh and wastewater tanks, etc. The larger the package, the more expenses you have.

You don’t have to join a camp to attend Burning Man. You can come on your own and set up a tent, but it would be much more challenging to survive. Also it is really beautiful to share this experience with the camp members.

4. Year-Long Preparations by Camps

If you are in a camp, a year-long preparation process awaits you. As you know, at Burning Man the performances and events are organized by the participants, mostly by the camps. It is a part of the gifting culture here.

The camps start working months in advance to plan & craft their gifts. They build art cars and lounges, prepare shows or games, etc… I think art cars are among the best gifts the camps offer. It has a huge impact on making Burning Man a magical place. But it is a very costly gift. Most art cars are modified from vehicles. So they invest in a vehicle, in a work-shop for the modification of the vehicle, and also in the modification itself. Much money and time is spent preparing these gifts.

But don’t be overwhelmed, a gift could be as large as building an ice castle in the middle of the desert, or as simple as teaching chess or braiding someone’s hair.

To generate funds to cover these expenses, camp members organize fundraising activities such as parties, BBQs or garage sales throughout the year. As a member of the camp you are expected to contribute to these events. If you live overseas like us, evidently that’s not possible. But instead, you may offer a monetary contribution to your camp or offer to contribute by working more than other members during Burning Man.

In addition to these collective efforts, the following are the preparations you must do on your own:

5. Are You Ready for Burning Man?

5.1 Accommodation

Camper Van – Without a doubt, the most comfortable option is staying in a camper van. It has a bathroom and a kitchen, a wastewater management system… You can also use its built-in air conditioning if you bring a generator. 30% of Burning Man participants prefer camper vans. But rental companies tend to jack up their prices around the time of Burning Man. So rental fees start from $5,000 per week.

Shiftpod – The second best alternative is the shiftpod, a huge yurt made of materials produced by NASA. It’s so tall that you can easily stand up inside it and its insulation is a thousand times better compared to a regular tent. It’s super easy to set up, too. Inside we put an inflatable bed. It was very comfortable. We highly recommend it.

Tent – The least comfortable and the cheapest option is staying in a regular tent. In desert conditions, a tent may be somewhat challenging, but it is still a very popular option.

Please note that the nights are pretty cold at the desert. You definitely need a comforter or a good sleeping bag to keep warm.

5.2 Water & Water Containers

– You have to bring all the water you need for drinking, cleaning, etc your very self. It is recommended to bring a gallon (6 liters) of water per person per day, but that wasn’t enough for us. I think you should bring minimum 8 liters of water per person per day.

– Don’t forget that you will need to bring back all your wastewater, as well as all unused clean water. Those who don’t have shared showers or wastewater storage systems at their camps usually bring inflatable pools and take showers in them. The water shouldn’t touch the soil. Some of the water evaporates from the pool, but most of it remains. You put the remaining water in containers and take it back home with you. To have warm water for shower, you can simply leave your water bins outside, it will warm up in a few hours. So, finding hot water will not be a problem.

– When you leave the camp to go the playa or anywhere, you should take 2-3 liters of water with you. We used a CamelBack, which was very convenient, but you can also use other kinds of water containers.

– You should also have a shatterproof (e.g. metal) cup in your bag at all times. There will be free drinks and beverages served all around you, but you’ll need to bring your own cup.

– If you run out of water while at the playa, no matter how far you are, you must go back to your camp for a refill. The sand at the playa sucks up the water in your body. You may get dehydrated without even realizing it.

5.3 Food

– You have to bring all your meals with you. We usually brought easy-to-prepare meals like instant soups and chili. But aside from that, pretty much any time of the day, you will find some camp offering free food.

– If you are arriving from the direction of SFO, we would recommend buying your food in Reno, the closest major city. This way your food will stay fresh and you can also delay putting ice in the cooler to save yourself sometime.

– If your camp does not have a shared kitchen, you should also bring your own stove, pots, pans and dishwashing equipment.

IMPORTANT: Usually there is a lot of traffic at the entrance and exit of Burning Man. Sometimes you spend an entire day waiting in line. We suggest adding 2 extra days when planning for your food and water. Make sure to have some food and water ready to consume in the car.

5.4 Cooler & Ice

– 10 days is a long time to live on canned food. So you’ll sometimes want to have some fresh vegetables and fruits to eat. If you fill up a good cooler with ice, it lasts for about 5 days. You can find packs of ice at any supermarket in the U.S. In our experience, it works the best to put the ice bags into the cooler unopened. They last a little bit longer this way.

– There are only three things you can buy at Burning Man: Ice, coffee and tea. If your ice melts you can buy new ice.

5.5 Bike / Segway / Scooter / Boosted Board

Black Rock City is an immense place. It might take about 1-2 hours to walk from one end to the other. That’s why everyone brings their own vehicle. Bikes are by far the most common vehicle. Electrical scooters, boosted boards, etc. are also preferred. But you would also need a generator to charge these.

Usually the dust of the playa eats up bikes (and everything else for that matter). So, you need a bike that can survive in the desert:
– Beach cruiser is the best option. Mountain bikes are OK, too, but I wouldn’t prefer them as the sand/dust tends to eat up the mechanism and wiring.
– Don’t take a good bike, because you’ll end up destroying it. And don’t take a flimsy bike, because it will break. Burning Man warns to stay away from bikes from department stores or anywhere else that sells white labeled bikes because in their experience those are the ones that break down most often. Get your bike from a company that actually produces bikes.

If you are looking to buy, these are the options they recommend:
a) A new $100 3-speed beach cruiser.
b) A used $100 beach cruiser, mountain bike or electrical scooter that was originally $500 when new.
c) Craigslist and Facebook are commonly used to find used bikes.

If you are looking to rent:
If you are planning to rent, do it well in advance and secure your ride. Don’t wait until the last minute and think you’ll figure it out on the way, because places may run out of bikes. Even if you have a reservation for a rental, make sure to get there early so will have options to choose from.

– Reno Bike Project : Reno, the closest major city, is a 2-hour drive from Burning Man. Here you can find second-hand bikes designed for Burning Man. If you buy a new bike, you have to assemble it yourself, like a piece of Ikea furniture, or you can have it sent and assembled here.

– Playa Bike Repair: A camp within Burning Man. They generate funds to rent out bikes and repair bikes at the playa. You can make reservations online. Make your reservations early; because either they run out of places, or their prices skyrocket like last-minute flights.

– Hammer and Cyclery is another organization that rents out bikes and offers free repairs at the playa. If you don’t want to take your bike back with you, you may donate it to them. They have an initiative called More Than a Bicycle and they ship donated bikes to Africa.

–  Burner Bikes LLC – An affordable bike rental place located at 12 km from the playa. burnerbikesllc@icloud.com

– Of course, there are also shared bikes at the playa. But it’s so important to have a bike, we don’t recommend leaving it up to chance.

Personalizing Your Bike
Your vehicle should also be a part of your BM personality. You should radically express yourself through your vehicle, just like you do through your outfit. This is why everyone adorns and personalizes their vehicles. While dressing your bikes with lights is an absolute necessity, I highly recommend going the extra mile to decorate your bike more creatively.

Lights are a must for your safety, but if you only have lights and nothing else, your bike will look stark naked in the daytime. Believe us, we felt pretty lame out there. Also the bikes get mixed up all the time! Personalizing is also useful to prevent that, but you should still write your name on your bike just in case!

I also highly recommend using a bike basket, it’s very handy for carrying your stuff.

Repairs – There are free repair stations at the playa. But you may want to be prepared just in case they run out of materials or your bike needs special parts. It turns out every year 4,000 bikes, which is one in every 18 bikes, break down at the playa.

5.6 Lights

In addition to the lighting your camp, you should definitely bring lights to illuminate yourself and your bike, otherwise you will get hit by someone. For bikes, I love monkey lights (they’re very cute and even though they’re attached to the wheels they also light the way ahead) but anything works. The more lighting you have, the better. Because you won’t always be on a bike, you should definitely illuminate yourself as well.

I would also recommend accessories like LED gloves, capes or strings. It’s so much fun to play with them in the deep dark desert. Make sure to bring extra batteries! They run out fast!

5.7 Outfits

You may have noticed that people at Burning Man look like they just popped out of a video game or Mad Max. You would feel absolutely bland and boring in your everyday clothes. Outfits are the most essential elements of self-expression and people allocate serious amounts of time and money to dress creatively.

Finding an outfit – It’s quite easy to find outfits for those who reside in the U.S. There are numerous options available online. You can always find unusual pieces at thrift stores as well.

If you live in a country where self-expression is very limited, you can order online from the US. Dolls Kill was my favorite; they have great stuff for both women and men.

Things to consider when picking an outfit – The nights are pretty cold and it gets too hot during the daytime. You end up wearing a swimsuit and a fur coat on the same day. Which means, you need two outfits per day, one for hot weather, one for cold. We found that while it is possible to wear the night outfits are several times, daytime outfits are wearable once or twice because you sweat so much throughout the day. Keep this in mind when you are planning for outfits.

There is obviously no limit to self-expression, you can also wander around naked if you want to.

When I was there, I personally wished I had brought more sparkly or illuminated things to wear. That would be my suggestion for both men and women.

Gloves – Your hands get very cold when riding a bike at night. It’s a good idea to wear gloves.

Shoes – Don’t even think about wearing flip flops or sandals because the dust of the playa is unlike anything you have seen before. It is impossible to rinse the dust off with water. It sticks to your skin and it dries it up. If you walk around in flip flops, there is a good chance that in a few days the skin of your feet will crack and bleed. So, definitely pick shoes that will protect your feet. We chose to wear boots day and night because they are durable. Also make sure to pick something that is easy to put on and take off, otherwise, it will drive you nuts each time you go in and out of your tent.

Backpacks – You will need a backpack to carry the essentials you want to have with you at all times, such as water, sunscreen, lip balm, snacks, goggles, flashlight, and a cup. Take a good look at this list, as you will want to have these things with you at all times.

Burner Bazaar – We flew to San Francisco, took a friend’s car and drove to Burning Man via Reno. Because most participants arrive from the direction of San Francisco, there are small bazaars set up along the way. Pack all your essentials before you leave, but you can check out these bazaars for the additional fun stuff.

Important – Ethnic outfits would fit the Burning Man atmosphere very well, but appropriating other cultures’ clothes or symbols as accessories may be offensive and perceived as disrespect for that culture.

Costume Theme Days

There are 3 theme days if you want to dress accordingly:

Billion Bunny March – As you can tell from the name, everyone dresses up as bunnies.
Tutu Tuesday – On Tuesday, men, women, everyone wears colorful tutus.
White Wednesday – Everyone dresses in white.

Costume theme days are fun but it is not something everyone strictly adheres to. So, don’t stress out if you don’t have something to wear, but it’s fun if you do. New Burners tend to be more into these. Some of the themes may sound “feminine”, but Burning Man is not a gender-normative place, everyone goes along with the themes regardless of gender.

5.8 Gas/Fuel

– If you are driving from the direction of SFO, your safest bet is to fill up your tank at the gas station in Fernley, which is about a 2-2.5 hour drive to Burning Man. If you can, also fill up an extra container. There’s also a closer gas station in Nixon, but it’s not always open. If it is open, fill up your tank there as well.

– The reason we insist on filling up the tank whenever you get a chance is that the heavy traffic at the Burning Man entrance and exit eats up the gas. Entering/exiting the area alone may take up to 12 hours.

5.9 Get Ready for the Sandstorm

The dust is unavoidable. Sometimes the storms get so bad that you can’t see beyond your nose. You should bring a pair of goggles and a scarf to wrap around your face. The playa dust contains hazardous, cancerogenic substances. When storms break out, it’s a good idea to wear a carbon filter mask. We bought ours on Amazon. I’d say pack two per person.

5.10 Personal Care

The sun and the dust are your biggest enemies at the playa. Together they really dry up your skin. The playa dust is really weird, it doesn’t come off with wet wipes or water. Vinegar is the most effective solution. It is recommended to pour some vinegar into the box of wet wipes to clean both your body and your stuff. If you have shower facilities, soap water also helps.

All in all, your skin will get very dry. You should apply lip balms and moisturizers every day. Also, make sure to wear a hat and lots of sunscreen.

5.11 There is No Cell Phone Reception

Before you arrive notify your office, tell your mom and dad: THERE IS NO CELL PHONE RECEPTION AT BURNING MAN!

In the previous years, they used to set up base stations and the cellular network worked just fine. They no longer do to make sure people stay in the moment. This is actually very liberating. You will feel as light as a feather, but you should take care of all your communication needs before you arrive.

In case of an emergency, go to Burning Man staff, they have Internet for certain staff members. They will help you out. Your other option is to exit Burning Man and get away to a 10-20 minute distance, where you’ll have reception again. But they charge $20 per person for each entry and exits to avoid unnecessary traffic with people going in and out just to post stuff on social media.

5.12 Download “Time to Burn” Before You Arrive

They give you a booklet upon entry. It usually covers the major events such as “sunrise set at Mayan Warrior.” But it is not a very detailed guide and you can’t find some essential information such as the places that give out food and drinks in there. The Burning Man app is the most comprehensive source of information, but because there is no Internet inside, you should download it on your phone before you arrive.

5.13 Other

Rake – When you leave Burning Man, you are supposed to remove all MOOP from your campsite, including even the tiniest piece of glitter. To do that, you first rake the sand, sort out the stones and pebbles, and then you inspect them to see whether there is anything else among them. Everyone has rakes, you can easily borrow one, but it takes forever for your turn to come! Bringing along the widest rake you can find will save you a lot of time. You will get done as soon as possible and be on your way to avoid the traffic.

Lots and lots of XXL size trash bags.

Gorilla tape – the fix all your problems.

Powerbank.

Write your name and camp address on all your stuff. If you lose them, they magically find their way back to you! Burning Man also recommends setting your name and camp address as your phone’s wallpaper. A clever thing to do.

Where Is Burning Man At and How to Get There

Where Do We Fly To?

Black Rock City (BRC) – Where Burning Man takes place. A private temporary airport set up in the desert, but there are no international flights. The information for local flights can be found here.

Reno –  The closest major city, about a 2-hour drive from BRC. There is an airport here (Reno -Tahoe). There are no international flights, but you can find connecting flights via other U.S. cities.

You can rent a car in Reno to drive to BRC, or you may take the Burner Express.

San Francisco (SFO) – SFO is the closest international airport to BRC. We chose to fly here. From there you can get to BRC via the Burner Express or your private vehicle.

Burner Express

Buses from San Francisco and Reno to Burning Man are pretty expensive. Moreover, it’s impossible to fit into them the tons of stuff that you need to take with you to Burning Man. Consider them only if you have someone who is bringing your stuff for you. The upside is, they directly enter Burning Man without waiting for the long lines forming at the entrance.

Renting a Vehicle or a Camper Van

You need to take a lot of stuff to Burning Man. Because it’s impossible to fit two people and their stuff into a standard passenger vehicle, people usually rent a pick-up truck or a U-Haul truck. Another option is getting a trailer to pull with your car.

The most comfortable option is the camper van for sure. If you plan to rent a camper van, or any other type of vehicle for that matter, you should be expecting to pay beyond the regular rental fees. Because;
1) Burning Man overlaps with Labor Day;
2) The Burning Man dust is unlike any other you have seen before. It has a sticky, lime dust-like quality and it doesn’t come off with water. When they hear you are renting for Burning Man, cleaning fees instantly pile up. Don’t try to hide it when you are renting, because no matter how much you clean up, that dust will reveal itself.

Don’t forget to buy a vehicle pass.

Entering Burning Man

The gates open on Sunday. The first few days, you might be facing an extremely long line at the entrance. And by extremely long, I mean waiting for 12-15 hours. So, you should come with your lunch, etc. prepared. They set up a couple of porta-potties along the way, but not that many. So use them whenever you see one. While you are waiting, tune in to Burning Man Information Radio (94.5 FM). It provides you with a constant flow of information on waiting times and procedures.

Because we entered the area on Wednesday, we didn’t experience any traffic.

Orientation & Finding Addresses

How do you find your camp, friends, events in a temporary city with a population of 80,000 set up in the middle of the desert? Burning Man has its own address system. For instance, our camp’s address 8.45 & C.

The Man in the center of the playa and the Temple, which I have indicated with a star above, are the two biggest and most visible things at the playa. You draw a mental line that passes through them. The end that extends towards the camps is at 6 o’clock; the other end extending towards deep playa is at 12. This way, you can tell directions. The streets of the camp are formed in concentric crescents, which are named alphabetically from A to Z, starting in the middle and progressing outwards. To avoid any miscommunication, people usually spell them out with words, C as in Cupid, E as in Echo, so on and so forth.

Most of the points of reference you see at the playa are mobile. When you stop, try to lock your bike at a stationary installation and pay attention to the time slice it is located at.

Burning Man Rituals

The Man Burn

There is no doubt that burning of The Man is the best known Burning Man ritual. It happens on Saturday, the night before the last day. 70,000-80,000 people form a gigantic circle around it to watch. Artcars form another circle around the people sitting on the ground. As lights and music emanate from all of them, The Man is burned accompanied by fireworks.

Temple Burn

The Temple is the most emotional place at Burning Man. A friend of ours had told us he started crying when he entered, and at the time it didn’t make much sense to us. But once I was there, my eyes welled up with tears, too. When you enter the Temple, you leave the joyful atmosphere of BM and face how much pain there is in the world.

The temple is a place dedicated to loved ones people have lost. People prepare remembrances for those they miss and leave them here. Some made photo collages for lost spouses, some brought their father’s hat, and they have written long letters to them. They have expressed how they miss them, their regrets, all that is left unfinished. This is also a place to bury the pain you want to eliminate from your life. For example someone who is fighting with cancer brought the apparatus she has to wear, another whose wife has cheated on him brought her underwear, another who can’t forgive himself for what he did to his loved ones brought their photos and wrote he’s sorry on them, and there are many other examples.

On Sunday, the last day of Burning Man, they burn the Temple to symbolically end all the pain. Once again, all burners make a 70,000-80,000 person circle around it and art cars line up behind them. This time there is no music or talking. You listen to the crackling of the wood in the deep silence of the desert. And to those who are softly weeping and sniffling after their loved ones.

Lamplighters

The road to “The Man” needs to be illuminated with lanterns every night. In 1993, this turned into a tradition. Every year 1,000 people volunteer to for this task. It has a symbolic meaning, just like the Olympic torch. If it is your first time at Burning Man and you don’t know what to volunteer for, this is the right place to start. You can find the information for volunteering here.

Post-Burning Man : Decompression

If you fly back right after you leave Burning Man, you will be so depressed. So people have come up with rituals to gently ease into real life after Burning Man, which is known as “decompression”.

Before we get into these rituals, let’s quickly talk about the hustle and bustle of leaving BRC: After the burning of the Temple on Sunday evening, Burning Man starts closing down. But the exit traffic begins earlier, on Saturday. Despite hitting the road early Sunday morning, it took us 6.5 hours to get to Reno, which is normally a 2-hour drive. So, we would recommend getting on the road in the early hours of the morning to avoid the exit traffic.

Once you get in line, tune into Burning Man Information Radio (94.5 FM) at once. They announce  the expected waiting times so you can guess how long you’ll be waiting in traffic for.

Arriving In Reno: The first decompression ritual is staying in one of the burner friendly hotels in Reno. Here is what burner friendly means:
– They take all the trash you have brought with you (You can not dispose your trash anywhere, you have to take them to specific locations and pay. So this is a huge service that they are providing)
– They have high-pressure air nozzles at the hotel entrance to remove your dust (true story)
– They have burner pool parties.

But of course, the best part is that while you get to enjoy the comforts of returning to the civilization like the warm showers and spring mattresses, you are still not completely detached from the Burning Man community. On the streets, in the hotel, everyone still keeps wearing their Burning Man outfits. People usually stay for two nights, on Monday and Tuesday, but one day was enough for us, because Reno is like a small version of Las Vegas and to be honest I’m not a big fan of these factory-like casino hotels. Nevertheless, it felt so good because Burning Man had kicked my butt. The two most preferred hotels are Grand Sierra Resort and Sands. Try to get a room in one of these.

Lake Tahoe: The second decompression ritual is to go to heaven on earth, Lake Tahoe after a night in Reno. Tahoe is so beautiful and serene that many other natural wonders would pale in comparison.

If you can go to Reno and stay in the Grand Sierra Resort or Sands for a day. Get cleaned up, eat out, get your trash taken care of, hang out with fellow Burners another day.  The next day go to Tahoe either on a day trip or for an extended stay.

Few skip Reno altogether and go to Tahoe right away after Burning Man. In my opinion, Reno is a much-needed pitstop but everyone has different priorities. Withthat siad if you end up having to choose between the two, go to Tahoe. It’s a gorgeous place. We couldn’t get enough of swimming in the lake and taking walks in the forest. If you go there, make sure to rent a canoe from Sand Harbor. Secret Bay is the most beautiful bay, but if nudity is not your thing, it may not be the right choice for you.

You can book a house on Airbnb here. It makes more sense if you are a crowded group because the houses are quite huge and expensive to rent on your own.

I guess that’s all the Burning Man advice we have to offer! Happy burn!

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I said this to explain that no matter how wide the attendance to Burning Man from around the world is, it is still a very San Francisco based event. And we all know that San Francisco is something else. Since the summer of love in 1963, it has been sending ripples of art & love-fueled revolution across the world. From the hippies to the anti-Vietnam protests and the African-American revolutionary movement the Black Panthers, San Francisco has been home to many leading counter-culture movements.

The development of Silicon Valley has brought a different kind of revolutionaries into the cultural fabric of San Francisco. Some of the biggest tech game-changers in the world such as Airbnb, Facebook, Pinterest, Google, WhatsApp are here.

With the two revolutionary forces coming together, the city has become the world’s greatest center of innovation and creativity. San Francisco is a futuristic dynamo of revolution with a hippie soul and an engineer’s mind. And that is exactly what you see at Burning Man both in attendance and spirit.

Everybody Is Here, from Hippies to Google, Facebook, SpaceX and Other Tech Giants

I met with many people from NGOs, firefighters, masseurs, teachers, hippies, and artists. Basically people from all walks of life. However, it is an undeniable fact that the cost of attending Burning Man forces a natural selection so they are not the most represented professions in my personal experience.

The real statistics could be very different in reality but most of the random people I met were from the tech circles.  For instance, Elon Musk (SpaceX), Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are some of the tech bosses who attend Burning Man. You won’t believe how much the feeling of the playa resembles the cyberspace.

As a matter of fact, while looking for a new CEO, Google founders Larry and Sergey took their candidate Eric Schmidt to Burning Man to test him. There they observed his adaptation skills, how he works with the team, how open he is to change and how he deals with difficult conditions and then hired him. If you are interested, you can read more about it here.

Is It True That Burning Man Is Becoming Increasingly More Elite?

Here are some numbers that demonstrate how participants are becoming more elite:
According to a study, in 2004 61% of the participants had at least a college degree, and this figure grew to 67% by 2013. Meanwhile only 29% of the general U.S. population has a college degree or higher.

Naturally, the participants’ income level also got higher: As of 2004, the annual income of 11% of the participants was $100,000 or more. This increased to 21% by 2013. Here is the article if you’d like to read it.

CNBC reported that the median annual income of participants was $60,000 in 2017.

Burning Man and Celebrities

https://www.instagram.com/p/B19rDJCndhu/

Often we hear about celebrities who attended Burning Man. Everybody is welcomed to attend Burning Man, but its association with these celebrities paint an image of Burning Man as an exclusive playground for the jet set. Another result of this association is that sometimes people tend to project their impression of a celebrity on Burning Man. This is enhanced by the media which loves to cherrypick the juicy parts of any event.

While I do think that there is a mismatch between Burning Man’s true spirit and the way it is percieved because of the celebrities, it does not mean they don’t belong here. Many popular figures attend Burning Man. In addition to the famous tech bosses, stars like Susan Sarandon and Will Smith, Paris Hilton, Victoria’s Secret models also come to Burning Man. Under their costumes that they enjoy a relieving anonymity here. I would imagine that blending in with the rest of society is a rare luxury for them. And they love Burning Man for it. Here is the photo Diplo, Paris Hilton and Blondish took together at Burning Man.

Reactions to the Rich People Who Don’t Follow the Burning Man Principles

As more and more wealthy people are attending Burning Man each year, rich camps known as the Billionaire’s row started to emerge. By many their percieved as a threat to the Burning Man spirit and principles, so there were some backlashes.

The Backlashes

Burning Man is the most effortful and inconvenient thing in the world to participate in. You can’t just buy a ticket and go to Burning Man. The preparation process takes months. Throughout the year, camps organize events (BBQs, movie nights, tours, etc.) to raise money for their Burning Man expenses; design their works of art and gifts to offer to the Burning Man community and take care of the entire infrastructure of the camp, from generators to furniture. They do it together with all the camp members. There is a great culture of solidarity and collaborative production around Burning Man.

And the effort doesn’t end there. When you get to Burning Man, you get a completely empty land allocated to your camp where you set up all your facilities together as a team. This takes a few days. Oh, and there is the traffic to enter the area, which can take up to 20+ hours. When you’re in the desert, every day is a struggle with all sorts of deprivation. There is no electricity nor running water to you need to cook, clean yourself, etc. Burning Man takes a lot of effort, but this is exactly where its spirit lies.

Burning Man CEO Goodell said, “Burning Man is anything but convenient, and therein lies its transformative potential!” People are indeed reborn from their ashes in the harsh conditions of the desert.

Burning Man Shuts Down Turnkey Luxury Camps

For years, there has been a big discussion about wealthy people hiring teams to set up camps with the luxury and comfort of their homes. These were referred to as turnkey or plug-and-play camps. When their owners arrive, they are met with their cooled-down rooms, warm meals, and entire camps set and ready to go. The word is that they also hire cleaning personnel and chefs.

Throwing money and buying their way into this process (apparently, it costs them about $10,000) violate many Burning Man principles such as  radical self-reliance, decommodification and communal effort. They are also criticized for putting barriers around their camps to close themselves to visitors. Some think that it damages the feeling of unity and brings in the class differences to place. Normally at Burning Man, you could ask politely to eat, drink, stay and use the facilities in camps that aren’t yours. This is what the Burning Man culture is like. So the turnkey camps are believed to threaten the Burning Man values.

In 2018, Burning Man shut down the billionaire camp called Humano the Tribe for not complying with the environmental rules and issued warnings to 12 other camps. According to Mashable this camp cost up to $100,000 per person. Well, we should also keep in mind that the media tend to exaggerate these kinds of things.

Burning Man Is Looking for Ways to Include the Wealthy Without Discrimination

At the same time, another significant Burning Man principle is radical inclusion. Nobody should be presured because they are millionaires or celebrities. It’s neither realistic nor fair to expect someone like Elon Musk to allocate this much time from his life, or someone like Paris Hilton who probably doesn’t even iron her own clothes herself to come here put stakes in the ground to build a camp.

Larry Harvey, Burning Man founder who died of a heart attack last year at the age of 70 had said, “I stay at a turnkey camp, too” to point out that this issue has been overrated (Source: Sacbee). There are so many older people at Burning Man, who shouldn’t be expected to show such an effort, either.

In short, they are trying to find a way to consolidate these two contradicting principles.

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How do you join the theme camps?

Upon invitation. Camps are made up of groups of friends who have been attending Burning Man together for years. If you have a friend who is part of a camp, that person can ask the camp leader if they have a spot for a newcomer that year. Usually, all camps accept new members, by referrals.

What do the camps offer?

Each camp decides on its own format. Here are some questions you might want to ask your camp:

1. How many shared meals will be served?
Only the dinner was a shared meal at our camp. We would all take turns to cook and wash the dishes. People managed all other meals on their own, but the shared kitchen was available for everyone to use. We would leave it as found.

Our friend’s camp had three meals. But then again, there were camps that did not even set up a kitchen. The camp decides.

Of course, the more meals you have, the more dishes there are to be washed. For us, our camp’s meal program was just perfect. It was ideal for us to come together with the rest of the team and enjoy dinner together and be free for the rest of the day.

If you’d prefer, you could also offer the camp different arrangements: “ I don’t know how to cook, maybe instead I could work at the set-up?” etc…

2. Will the camp set up a shared shower space? If it will, will the wastewater be stored together?
If there is no arrangement for wastewater collection and transport, you have to figure out a solution on you own. For ideas you can read our Burning Man Guide.

3. Are we going to bring generators?
Our camp did not have a shared fridge. People had brought their own coolers. We didn’t have other things that require electricity such as a music system or an air-conditioned lounge. So we didn’t have a generator. When you do have a generator, you also have to budget for fuel. Some camps use solar power. Of course, all these things would introduce additional expense items.

4. Will we set up a shared shade space?
Usually all camps have one. Some feature camping chairs, and others corner sofas. It is up to the camp.

5. How will we decorate the camp?
Some camps have elaborate constructions and decorations. Other don’t. Remember that you are expected to work to set up the camp.

6. Will we build an art car?
Art cars are fantastic. They are fun and they are great gifts to the community but it will raise the costs.

7. What will we offer the Burning Man community as gifts?

As we mention in our What Happens At Burning Man article:

Camps spend thousands and even hundred thousands of dollars out of their own pockets to build art cars, give out free food, set up air-conditioned dormitories, etc. Those with more modest resources may set up low-cost things like hair-braiding stations.

You will be expected to participate both with your money and time in these preparations.

8. Will the camp set up its own toilets?

These are some of the essential questions a camps has to figure out. But there are also much more sophisticated camps.

Note: Keep in mind that every “yes” to the questions above means time commitment and money. Because you will bring everything, set it up, take it down, store it and maintain it. All of these require time commitment as well.

Camp fees

You don’t pay rent for your camp space. But all the things mentioned above constitute expenses which are equally distributed among members. Everyone pays her share to the camp leader.

The camp gear is stored so that it can be used again in the following years (hence the storage fee). For instance, if the kitchen equipment is bought in the first year, the following year that budget is allocated to something else and the camp is further improved every year. The decorations of some camps are absolutely amazing.

I don’t have any burner friends. Can I go without joining a camp?

There are many people who camp solo. You can definitely go alone, but it would be more challenging. It is very convenient to be able to use the shared spaces.

If you have a tent, storing and taking back your wastewater (taking showers, washing hands, preparing meals) will be your biggest problem. So, if you decide to stay in a tent and don’t have a camp, you should plan very well what to do about the wastewater.

If you have a camper van, most of your problems are solved as you would have all the equipment and facilities you need.

If solo participants need something, they should go ahead and ask the camps for help. Everyone welcomes each other with open arms.

What are the preparations I should make for myself?

Going to Burning Man requires serious preparation. You can read our checklist and recommendations here: The Complete Guide to Burning Man: Tickets & Preparations

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So many people seem to have formed opinions based on assumptions without even having been there. Is it a rave? Is it a cult or is it a sinful millionaire playground? What happens at Burning Man? I wanted you to hear it from someone who has actually been there and loved it. But do read other peoples’s opinions as well. Some are less enthusiastic, some are thrilled. As they say, everybody experiences a different Burning Man and here is mine.

We travel around the world for work and we made our living organizing festivals and other events. Yet, I have not seen another experience in the world that transcends this. Having seen Burning Man, everything else pales in comparison and seems to lack creativity; all other ideas feel simply inside the box.

I recommend reading this article without skipping because there is a certain flow and if you miss certain parts, you may not be able to follow the rest. If you are new to Burning Man jargon, you can find out little glossary at the bottom of this article.

How Did We Decide to Go to Burning Man?

Let me introduce myself first. My name is Duygu. I graduated from Brown University in 2006 and I live in Istanbul, Turkey. I got married to my husband Bilgehan in 2018.

At our wedding, one of Bilgehan’s dearest friends Oktay, who knew I dreamt of going to Burning Man, said, “My wedding gift to you will be taking you to Burning Man.” Yes, we are totally blessed to have such great friends.

While we paid for our own tickets, Oktay made most of the preparations for us which is the most difficult part. I should also note that getting Burning Man tickets is so hard the search for tickets for us to purchase was enough of a gift in itself.

Oktay was able to find us tickets sort of the last minute, so the airfare was just too expansive. So we ended up taking a two-day trip with various layovers through Istanbul-Stockholm-Helsinki-San Francisco. As a result, we made it to Burning Man on Wednesday morning, 3 days after it started.

What is Burning Man

I’m not sure if it can fit into a single definition. Everyone experiences Burning Man differently. Ask a hundred Burners and you will get a hundred different responses. Some think of it as a party, others as meditation, and still others as a family…

As for me, I think of Burning Man as a new civilization. It demonstrates all elements that define a society: There are nuclear families, extended families, a shared identity, traditions, rituals and a shared moral code. It has a settlement called the Black Rock City with protected borders and over 70,000 citizens. While it mimics a standard societal system, the nature of these elements is very different than what we are used to. Families are not formed by blood, things that are looked upon with disgrace such as nudity outside are welcomed here, and other things that are glorified outside like money are useless here. So in a way, it is a new civilization.

So calling Burning Man a festival is extremely reductive. Yes, it offers the best entertainment the world has ever seen but that is only one of the many pillars that is built on. Art, entertainment, communal life, spirituality, open-mindedness, and creativity make up the cultural fabric of this civilization.

Unlimited Freedom?

Burning Man is perceived as a wild place but that is a very shallow approach if you don’t know where it is coming from. One of the biggest values of Burning Man is creating a safe space for everyone. While in our everyday societies the moral code is shaped much by taboos (about nudity, sexual preferences, jobs, appearances, etc), here the moral code is built around about being absolutely judgment-free about personal choices. In a way, taboos are the taboo here.   A judgement-free allows people to lower their guards, open up their hearts and let themselves be free.

What would you do with yourself if no one would ever judge you for your preferences? Perhaps this is where the entertainment aspect begins. Everything is magical at Burning Man. There is an infinite amount of stimuli. And you have all the freedom in the world to do what you want with it. You feel an explosion of happiness, hope, and inspiration.

This is exactly why everyone has a unique experience of Burning Man. Nowhere else in the world you can be so free to be simply  your true self. Everyone follows their own inner call. Some find themselves at the fighting pit, others dancing naked on an art car or handing out warm omelets at dusk. Here they are all equally acceptable ways to participate in this society and all are typical Burning Man. In other words, Burning Man is what you make of it.

Ten Golden Principles of Burning Man

While it is an incredibly free place, there are also very strict rules, all of which are to build a community of respect and harmony. We can call these the code of ethics of Burning Man:

1- Radical self-reliance:  There is no infrastructure like running water or electricity at Black Rock City, which is where Burning Man happens. You are face-to-face with the challenges of the desert. You have to think about your meals, water and shelter, etc. So you have bring with you everything you will need to survive here. You can read about How to Prepare for Burning Man here.

2- Decommodification: It is forbidden to use money or sell anything in Black Rock City.

3- Gifting: Burning Man encourages the citizens of the Black Rock City to engage in acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Everyone strives to contribute to the community in some way. Some people volunteer to work as staff, others throw parties or BBQs, while others create awesome art. Everyone contributes in their own way.

It is very impressive the extents people go to prepare gifts for this community. I have seen tens of thousands of dollars worth art cars and camp sites. But you can also contribute by doing something that doesn’t cost much like braiding people’s hair for one hour.

4- Leaving No Trace: A lot of effort is put into protecting nature and minimizing Burning Man’s impact on the desert. Things that don’t belong there shouldn’t be left there. That even includes spilling drinking water on the ground. It didn’t come from there, so by introducing it you are harming the ecosystem. You should pick up even the smallest glitter that falls off your face, because it simply doesn’t belong there. You collect not only your trash, but everything including you brought there your body hair, all wastewater, absolutely anything and everything you can think of, and take it back home with you.

5- Radical Inclusion: Anyone and everyone—all individuals with disabilities, the elderly, children, homosexuals, asexuals, hijabis or nudists, etc.—is considered a valuable part of this community and the people of Black Rock should embrace everyone without any prejudice.

6- Radical Self-Expression: What you wear, how you decorate your bike or your camp are all ways of expressing yourself. You are encouraged to get creative and limitless. By expressing we create art and also contribute to other people’s experiences at Burning Man.

7- Communal Effort: Looking out for one another, creating art together, collaborating is very important. People also have a deep sense of belonging here. There is a saying, “The playa provides,” which refers to the culture of taking care of each other here. If you ever need something during Burning Man, just ask around and someone will find you a solution. Say, your one week’s worth of food got somehow ruined and you have nothing to eat for the rest of Burning Man. You will find food, maybe even more than you need.

8- Civic Responsibility: Individuals need to keep in mind the law and social good in all their actions and behaviors. This is common sense and should be valid everywhere, but nevertheless a reminder is always useful.

9- Participation: The principle that the change in the world starts with the individual. As stated in the Burning Man principles, “We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.”

10- Immediacy: Not being in the moment detaches us from our inner world, the people around us, and nature. Burning Man tells us to be in the moment, not just physically but also mentally.

We can definitely say that everyone was usually pretty loyal to these ten principles.

The Tickets Cost $450 but You Don’t Get Any Infrastructure or Entertainment

Yes, you read it correctly: In exchange for $450 all you get is the good old porta-potties. They don’t provide you with any electricity, running water, concerts or other activities.

The entire city is set up by participants. So you bring your own electricity, water, kitchen, activities, etc. The environmental rules are quite strict, which brings about an extra workload. For instance, MOOP (matter out of place) is a highly sensitive issue. Want to shower? That water cannot touch the ground. You have to store the wastewater and take it back home with you. Similarly, you can never light a fire on the ground and you have to take all your trash back home.

You have all these exhausting rules, which are also necessary. You have to prepare very well and it is very far from comfortable. As you can see, from start to finish, Burning Man is quite a laborious and inconvenient affair.

It may sound crazy, but it is thankfully so! Because in a way, this brings about natural selection. People who can’t be bothered or obsessive types think this is a bit too much and decide not to go. Thus possible problem makers are filtered out.

The living conditions have encouraged people to come together and build theme camps, shortly known as camps. It would be very hard and costly for individuals to set up generators, kitchens, and showers and to store wastewater on their own. As a result, camps have emerged to do these things collectively.

Of course, this is not just a pragmatic union. Participating in Burning Man with the same people year after year, you become a family. You have fun together, you are deeply moved together, you look after each other, take care of one another.

Can You Tell Us a Bit More About These Camps?

Sure. You can read on about what theme camps are, what to expect and how to join them here: Theme Camps At Burning Man

How Do We Have Fun?

Burning Man is not a festival. They do not book performances nor provide entertainment. Yet, I don’t think I have ever had more fun or seen a bigger performance in my entire life. Burning Man is by far the most extreme and strongest expression of the transformative power of art.

When you first arrive, you are absolutely spellbound. Especially when you ride your bike into the Playa on your first night, it feels like having crossed into a different dimension or planet. The darkness and vacuum of the desert also have a magnifying effect. Tens of thousands of lit-up bikes and people are on the moving around you like a horde of fireflies.  Art cars pass by left and right. You pedal through the installations and works of art in the playa. It is really really fascinating.

All activities are organized by participants! They spend thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for this!

We are talking about a 24/7 whirlwind of activities, an explotion of performances which are all organized by the participants.

But do not think of art only as of just the music, sculptures and the installations at the playa. Here every person is a performance in itself in the way they dress, act, be present. All Burners try to enrich each other’s experiences. People make plenty of preparations both collectively as camps and individually.

So everyone is a participant, a curator, an artist and sometimes the work of art itself all at the same time. It is quite a revolutionary approach. 

How Do You Become a Part of the Performance?

People offer their talents and resources to others without expecting anything in return. For instance, if you are good at reading fortunes, you can contribute by doing that; or you can offer people a small recital by playing tunes on the pianos placed on the playa. You can amaze people with your costume. You can sing or read poetry at open mic stages. When you meet new people, you can offer them small and unexpected gifts.

We brought 500 evil eye beads with us from Turkey to give out to people that we meet (the traditional evil eye beads, usually made out of blue glass in the shape of an eye, are believed to protect you from evil and envious eyes and keep negative energy out of your way). We also filled water guns with sunscreen to offer a squeeze to people who were scorched by the sun out there.

Imagine the happy feeling you would get if someone came up to you and said, “Your cheeks look a bit red, I thought you might want some sunscreen” and the fun you would have if the sunscreen were squirted from a tiny water gun. Ta da! You yourself have become a performance that enriches others’ experiences!

The Camps are the Real Deal

Camps (theme camps) usually take on much more complex activities. They spend thousands and even hundred thousands of dollars out of their own pockets to build art cars, give out free food, set up air-conditioned dormitories, etc. Those with more modest resources may set up low-cost things like hair-braiding stations.

Ultimately, everyone contributes to the community and no one expects money or any other favor in return. Everything is free of charge and available for all. Everyone has a single motive: Contributing to the Burning Man community.

How Do We Follow the Activities?

All camps submit to Burning Man information about the location/time of the activities they will organize. And Burning Man compiles all this information in a book and an app. Upon entry, you are provided with the program booklet, but its content is a bit more limited. It is best to download the app before you get to Burning Man.

How Does One Day Pass At Burning Man

Most people prefer stay up during the night and sleep thought the heat during the day

The sunset and sunrise are the most beautiful times of the day in the desert so, like most people, we tried to catch both. So we would be up until the sunrise, then we would go to sleep around 7 or 8 am. This way we also were sleeping though the day time heat as much as we could. However, around 11 am it got too hot in our shift pod and we had to wake up. Do not expect to sleep much at Burning Man.

Upon waking up would escape to our friend’s van and together we’d prepare breakfast. It would last till 1 p.m. so it was more like lunch. Then we would get on our bikes and pedal from camp to camp to join their activities. Or if there was an activity at our camp, we’d stay and work there like attending the bar.

Day Time Activities
If you want to party, you can find a party any time of the day. It doesn’t matter if it is 2 pm. But we preferred to use the day to hang out at different camps, attending their activities and meeting new people.

There are so many great activities at the camps; seminars, workshops, games, treatments, shows, etc…  You can attend download the Burning Man has an app called Time to Burn where all activities as listed. The abundance and diversity of activities will blow your mind. So we would hop on our bikes and ride them from one activity to the other. Most of the time we couldn’t make it to our intended destinations because we would get lured into different camps on the way. Very often there will be a person with a megaphone inviting you to the activity at their camp. That is how ended up at the wife-carrying contest where we won the trophy in the photo.

Shared Dinner at Camp

At our camp, dinner started around 7 p.m. If we were on duty, we would need to come an hour or so earlier to help. Most of the meals prepared at the camp were effortless meals but since the meal would be for 25-30 people it still took some time.

If we were not on duty, we were always around 30 minutes late and all the food would be already gone.

After dinner, you feel a bit sluggish. Of course, the sleep you get in the morning is not quite enough. So we used to take a nap for two hours or so after dinner. We would sleep like sailors, in multiple shifts, one shift in the afternoon and one in the evening.

Nights at the Playa

When we woke up, we would get on our bikes and go straight to the playa. The playa is so beautiful and stimulating at night that sometimes we would do nothing but ride our bike around aimlessly for hours. Other times we would park our bikes, climb on the installations and just chat, or chase after art cars, find DJs, etc… Then people would start gathering somewhere; we’d get curious, we’d go there and join them… We’d go up to the Temple and get wrapped up in our emotions. Until the sun rises you enjoy a mix of experiences and feelings.

There is no guidelines to how to spend a day at Burning Man. The simple answer is to say yes to every call.

Who Is Burning Man For?

So much talk has been going on about whether Burning Man is for hippies or for Billionaires. The truth is everyone is welcomed here. Ont the other hand, while being n hippie & artsy in spirit but surely it is becoming more and more the playground of the privileged. San Francisco’s rise as a tech hub a direct effect on the matter. Burning Man is trying to find a balance between keeping old Burners content and adjusting to its changing audience.

You can read on about the some flash Burners such as celebrities and billionaires here : Who Goes to Burning Man

I Want to Go to Burning Man. Where Do We Start?

Finding tickets and the preparations are a whole other adventure. You can read about them in our article: The Complete Burning Man Guide

Then Why Aren’t the Tickets Free?

Here is one of the most frequently asked questions: It is one thing for the tickets to be paid, but doesn’t it contradict the Burning Man principles for them to be so expensive?

Burning Man is a non-profit but as you might imagine it has a pretty good turnover. According to their 2017 tax returns, Burning Man made $36.7 million in revenue. This money is used to run the organization. Any remaining balance is kept for the following year’s event. Let us not forget, every year an entire city is built almost from scratch. Even a temporary airport is set up in there to serve during Burning Man. It is an incredibly big operation. It requires a large team and a budget.

Consequently, Burning Man has a full-time team on board throughout the whole year. When I asked someone who worked there, I was told there are about 200 paid employees. This is based on somebody’s statement, so I’m not sure how accurate it is. There are also thousands of volunteers who work there, but it turns out that paid employees take on some of the more critical roles.

In addition to the expenses for personnel and setting up the city, Burning Man also provides funds for art projects. For instance, an artist from Turkey applies to Burning Man about the idea of a jellyfish installation. There are many expense items such as the artist’s living and travel expenses, the costs for the work of art and transportation. Burning Man helps out with these expenses, but I’m not sure how and how much of them. Maybe they only allocate some funds for the work of art and travel.

To encourage the participation of people from all walks of life, they also support the participation of people who can’t afford it. For instance, they had covered all the expenses, including airfare, for a group of participants from Africa.

They also need to raise funds to rent and clean the land upon which the city is built, for health services and other services to be offered in there.

I think this is what the ticket fees are used for. I don’t know if there is ever a remaining balance or not, I have no idea. But in the future I’m expecting more creative and equalizing fundraising solutions from such an organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

Social Media

They dislike social media, especially influencers. In fact, in the previous years they had Internet, but they didn’t this year. There are several reasons for that:
– It detaches people from the moment.
– Photos are simply insufficient to do this place justice.
– Influencers and celebrities come here with sponsorships and use this place to make money. It is completely wrong to come here sponsored by Victoria’s Secret, using the works of arts as a background to market products, but unfortunately people do this. This year Diplo arrived at Burning Man on a Popeyes plane. He posed in front of the huge-ass Popeyes logo on the plane with two huge Popeyes bags in his hands and shared it on Instagram. Not cool.

This is like placing dynamite into the values of Burning Man. It is not just the influencers who act so ridiculously. But when they do it, it is transformed into a global scale.

How Much Does It Cost?

You can read about it in our Burning Man Preparations article.

Substance Use

Burning Man takes place on federal land in Nevada. Which means anything except for alcohol is illegal. The bars inside serve alcohol for free. In the U.S. the legal drinking age is 21. You have to show your ID at the bars to drink. They also accept a photo of your ID on your phone, instead of the actual ID. Obviously, this place is not exempt from such regulations. There is police at the entrance of events and inside the events. There is also undercover police. There are volunteer Burning Man Rangers, who serve as a buffer between security forces and participants. They are on patrol 24/7 on their own vehicles.

Children and the Elderly

There were more children than we had expected at Burning Man. Those who were once young people with flowers in their hair in the 1960’s are coming to Burning Man with their grandchildren today. You can easily see people from three different generations.

There are campsites and activities for families with children. Families take children to age-appropriate places. I don’t think they fully understand what is going on around them, but I’m sure they find it very interesting. That said, I wouldn’t want to take my own kid there. Not because I wouldn’t want them to see the things they’d see, but because I wouldn’t want to expose them to the unsanitary conditions of the desert. I guess I’m not so open-minded enough regarding these matters.

There are also many participants around ages 70-80. And some of them even volunteer to work. Burning Man is really an age-less place. The only condition is being open-minded.

Pollution

Burning Man openheartedly discusses the environmental impact of the event.

The event’s impact on the desert is minimized with the collective effort of all the participants. As I explained above, people make sure not a single thing that doesn’t belong remains there. You won’t be able to see a single piece of trash on the ground at any point of the event. If a loose feather or something from someone’s costume flies off, someone would be sure to pick it up. After the camp is taken down, all camp members line up shoulder-to-shoulder and thoroughly clean up the entire area.

After everyone leaves, Burning Man teams do the same thing; they line up shoulder-to-shoulder, clean up the entire city step by step, which takes about a month. They also restore the changes done by vehicles and bikes on the territory. During this process, they also assess and grade each camp site’s cleanliness and publish a map. Camps that appear green on the map are invited again and red ones are banned from participating.

Burning Man is not only concerned with the environmental issues on the playa. They don’t want participants to clean up the playa and pile up all their trash in the containers of a nearby town. Because that would also constitute Burning Man pollution. It is also frowned upon and people are warned about urinating in the bushes on the way. But some people still violate these rules.

Toilets

Let us first warm up to these two terms:
Grey Water – Wastewater such as water from the sink, washing machines or dishwashers. It is the participants’ duty to dispose of the grey water they produce. Black Water refers to the toilet water with urine and feces. These two terms are used to refer to the toxicity of the water.

They deal with the waste from the porta potties set up in the area. But if you are not going to use them, you need to come up with your own solution. And you are responsible for disposing of your waste in line with to the rules.

Conclusion

Looking at photos and its reflections in the press may look Burning Man as a crazy festival or party. This is true to a certain extent; Burning Man is indeed a marginal place and a great party, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. It can never be reduced to just that.

I don’t blame anyone who thinks that way. At the end of the day, Burning Man isn’t s something you can fully grasp without experiencing it for yourself. Despite having several friends who had gone to Burning Man many times, I have to admit that even we didn’t understand it fully either. But that only occured to me after having been there.

As they say, “Burning Man is what you make of it.” For some it is a therapy, a way to let some steam off. Others find a sense of belonging. It is love, folly, exhaustion, challenging the limits, emotional breakdown or resurrection all once. It is a magical place that is going to give you whatever it is that you came to with the intention to get.

It is really a place woven with love. People really approach one another with kindness, compassion, and respect. Prejudices is not allowed in there. And those who can’t handle this much freedom and open-mindedness do not come back, leading to a sort of natural selection.

The weird thing is, while you may not feel like a love bug on your first days and do certain things just to adapt and go along with everyone else, in a few days you see your heart opening up. If you don’t believe it, let’s hear it from the infamous Facebook enemies:

For those who are not familiar with the story, here is a short version of the big fight: Facebook’s founders were roommates at Harvard. Evidently, they had “stolen” the idea from ConnectU, the company of their Harvard classmates the Winklevoss twins. Not only did they not talk to each other, but they also shredded each other to pieces at court and eventually Facebook had to pay the Winklevosses $65 million. The great enemies ran into each other at Burning Man.

Moskovitz: “These guys are among the only people on earth I might describe as real antagonists in my life or even enemies, but on playa my first instinct was that I quite obviously needed to introduce myself and start with hugs [You meet and greet people by giving hugs instead of shaking hands]. They had just arrived so I wasn’t sure how they’d react, but they were very gracious at the time and I knew they’d understand more deeply by the time they left.

Almost immediately when I got back, I had a Facebook friend request from Tyler [Winklevoss] and we started a thread mutually extolling the virtues of the festival. In no uncertain terms, he described a spiritual experience. I had created all kinds of dark fantasies about how meeting them would go (Tyler assures me it would have been cordial regardless), but on playa it was laughably clear. There, we were all part of the same community. We were always part of the same community.” Source: Business Insider

I think this is the greatest success of Burning Man: Creating a new civilization that resets the mind to new beginnings. It is really magical that this experience can truly transform you so that you would hug a person whom you’d wish to strangle the day before.

Burning Man Glossary

Here are some definitions to help you through this article, so you don’t ask yourself  “What is this girl talking about?”

Black Rock City (BRC) – Where Burning Man takes place. An immense city is built in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. It lasts for around 10 days.

In addition to this, there are many other Burning Man gatherings in Africa, Israel, China, Miami and various other places.

Playa – The area where you can find the installations, the temple and the man at the BRC. If you have seen a map of BRC,  it is the open space in the inner circle.

Deep Playa – The farthest corners of the playa.

Theme Camp – They are shortly referred to as camps. The camps logde, eat and survive together at Burning Man. Also the activities and entertainment at Burning Man are organized by these theme camps. In other words, camps are the fundamental units that realize and sustain Burning Man.

They are called theme camps because they revolve around a theme of their choice. For example our camp was called Pickleback Mountain so we operated a bar where we served pickle juice and whiskey. Some of my friends were at a camp called Bee Charge. Their art car was in the shape of bees and camp decorations were black and yellow.

Art car (or Mutant Vehicle) – Functional vehicles that have been turned into works of art. Magical things! Some of them feature sound systems and lighting, starting a party wherever they go. Some are simply works of art that you can’t take your eyes off of.

Burner – Someone who has graduated from Burning Man

Man – The Man. In 1986, Burning Man founders Larry Harvey and Jerry James met up with their friends on the beach and burned a wooden man figure to let go of the burden of a relationship that was over. Over the years it became a tradition and eventually became the symbol of the event. The man is burned on the night before the last day, on Saturday. Its design changes every year.

Temple – A non-religious structure of deep spiritual meaning. It is filled with emotion. The design changes every year, giving it a different name and theme. This year (2019) it was called the Temple of Direction.

MOOP (Matter out of Place) – Things that do not belong to the desert and pollute the playa. This is a rather broad concept. You shouldn’t even spill clean water on the ground, because the water doesn’t belong there so you would harm the ecosystem.

Ranger – After years of participating in Burning Man, some people volunteer to be Rangers in service of other burners’ safety and well-being. Whenever you have a problem, you reach out to rangers. For instance, lost your passport? There is a police station inside, but going to a ranger first is a better idea. Do you need to contact your family because of an emergency? Go to a ranger. And so on and so on.

Now that you have the necessary vocabulary, we can roll on.

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