Will my boyfriend like Burning Man?

Avy & I started dating in May 2024 while I was taking a temporary break from vanlifing from festival to festival in the USA. Avy lives in Singapore, has never been camping, and has never been to any kind of multi-day festival. A few months after we met was my favorite annual event, Burning Man!

I took a risk & invited Avy to Burning Man 2024. Not only did I invite him, I tempted him with a free ticket. He declined. It was too much for him to plan & figure out with just a couple months notice. I think this was a very wise decision. I went solo & we made tentative plans to go together in 2025.

Vanlife and Burning Man are two big passions of mine, so I was fairly nervous about Avy potentially not enjoying either of them. On top of that, he had also never been to the USA before & was worried about racism he had seen heavily reported in the media.

When Coachella announced that two of our favorite artists were headlining (Lady Gaga & Green Day), I knew we had to go! Even though Burning Man is nothing like Coachella, going would allow us to check off many of the uncertainties we had on our list. Avy was going to fly to the USA with me, he was going to camp in my van for a week, and road trip with me in it from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and then back again.

The week was great! Avy had a couple of very minor snags getting used to living in a van for a week, but he ended up enjoying it, and he LOVED Coachella! He saw more artists that weekend than he had seen in his life. He immediately began making plans to go next year.

After we got back to Singapore, I was hurt a little because I already knew the answer to this question I asked him: Do you think you will like Coachella or Burning Man more? His definitive answer was Coachella. He elaborated that he was worried Burning Man was a little “hippy dippy” and that he just wouldn’t get it, fit in, or “click” with it.

I think most people who go to Burning Man know about it, research it, and have a strong desire to go. Avy definitely wanted to go, but I hadn’t really considered the people who go mainly because their significant other is going.

While we were at Burning Man, I could tell Avy was enjoying it. There are so many beautiful things there, it’s hard not to. I patiently waited until we were on the plane back to Singapore before I finally asked him how much he liked it…

He said if he had to choose only one event to go to next year, he would choose Burning Man! He loved it more than Coachella! He was teary-eyed, telling me how much going meant to him. Yes! This made me so happy! Mission accomplished! We will be back for 2026!

P.S. Special shout-out to all of my awesome friends who said hello and made him feel welcome! An extra special thank you to my friends who helped coordinate tickets, driving my van to Reno, gifts, playa magic, and more! You helped me pull off this awesome week & I couldn’t have done it without you! 💋