Mel (Mel C), Cat (Cathjex), My Brother (Devin Dash) and Me (Torqueo) decided to drive to the Antilliaanse Feesten from Birmingham. We hired an MPV and set of at 8.30pm on the Thursday. Our ferry was at 2am from Dover to Dunkerque. An hour into the journey, I jokingly asked if everyone had their passports. My brother had forgotten his!!!!! We turned round, raced back to Birmingham, then had two and a half hours to get to Dover from Central Birmingham. We managed it…. Just!!!

Managed to grab an hours sleep on the ferry, then drove through the remainder of France, then Belgium, to the festival location at Hoogstraten, which is near the Dutch border. We arrived at about 8am, pitched our tents next to the group from Chester, had breakfast in the campsite tent, then got a couple more hours sleep. Later in the day we drove into town to get a couple of disposable barbecues and some food, so that was dinner sorted! The whole campsite at this festival is electric - because they allow cars to be parked with the tents, there are loads of makeshift soundsystems wired up to car batteries so the whole place is like one big party!!

Popped back to the campsite tent after eating, where a band was playing and everyone had a dance!

We walked up to the actual festival site later in the evening. It takes your breath away on first entering - so many people and different stalls and tents. Checked out the Salsa club tent, then went over to one of the two main stages where Joe Arroyo was due on. The Colombians went mad for him and a few jumped onto the stage, one girl nearly pulling him over. Really enjoyed the first part of his set. We then went to get some food - the food area has anything you could possible want, with food from across the globe!! Drank a bit too much Rum and was shattered so went back to the tent with Mel. Stu and Cat stayed out to watch Pitbull.

On the Saturday, we went backtage with Mike from FunkySalsa and met Louis, the organiser of the festival, so that we could interview him. We then popped into town again for more barbecue provisions, and I ended up reversing the hire car into a tree - not sure how that happened, as I'd asked 'will we be able to get the boot open because of that tree' when I parked! Lucky I had zero excess!! Anyway, the next couple of hours consisted of prawn and chicken skewers, a fair bit of beer and rum, some campsite games, dancing, then back to the festival site!!

We had meant to see Kassav, but they weren't due on yet so went to the other stage to catch the beginning of N'Klabe's set. We ended up staying for the whole set to allow Cat to drool over the Sax player!! Plus, they really rocked the place!! Went for a bite to eat after that, then checked out La India for a bit. Back to the Salsa tent, then home to the campsite.

After all that, it was soon Sunday morning, and time to pack up the tent and head for the ferry for a bit of dancing and frisbee at the docks!

Will definitely be back next year, and the year after….. As festivals go, this one has the best atmosphere of any that I've been to, and I've done the lot!! For those that don't like camping, there are loads of B&B's and guesthouses nearby, but you'll miss a lot by not being on the campsite!!