It has taken me four years to realise that to have fun; the real kind, not the ‘how can I make myself look like I’m having fun when really I’m just an anxiety attack waiting to happen’ kind of fun, I need to do two things.

Number 1 – Just Say No. The FOMO is real, people. But it doesn’t need to be. It took a 40 year old journalist I met recently to tell me that getting over FOMO was one of the best things he had ever done. “It takes time, but it will come”, he said to me as we departed a ski lift on the top of a mountain in Mayrhofen.

We were at Snowbombing festival and he was there to cover the festival for an online music magazine. He was having fun, not drinking, skiing loads every day, and most importantly left the festival with an average of 40 hours’ sleep during the week. I, on the other hand, drank my body weight in Jägermeister and beer, danced until 5am every night, skied probably more than I should have and averaged about 10 hours’ sleep during the week. I confided in him that I was absolutely having fun, but trying to ensure that I didn’t have a nervous breakdown in the process. He laughed and said that he would include it in his piece – sure enough he did. My mentality was identified as a nugget of information that would amuse his reader. And although I’m secretly totally down with that, I shall take his advice and probably increase my life expectancy in the process.

Number 2. Launch myself into situations without over thinking them. Now, the ‘doing’ bit is easy for an impulsive lady. And an impulsive lady I am. But the over thinking – woah, that’s going to be hard. Or is it?

A few weeks ago I received an email with information on a festival taking place in an old castle in Transylvania. Yes, I did just say Transylvania. You know, the place where those twins who look a bit like Dracula come from, one of whom had a sordid affair with a British MP in the naughties. Yes, those two.

Sadly, there will be no Cheeky Girls performance, or any cheesy pop for that matter. No, this festival is for the serious dance music heads out there. I opened the email, popped on across to the website and saw before my eyes a lineup like I haven’t seen… probably ever. Claptone, tick. Maceo Plex, tick. MJ Cole, tick. Moderat, tick. My fingers froze for a second in awe, but once thawed, typed an email to the PR so quickly that I think I could have got myself into the Guinness Book of World Records, if I had been recording.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, a few weeks ago I jumped back onto the website and saw the name of a band that not only have I not seen for around 4 years, but that completely changed the course of my existence back when I was a 17 year old at college in Nottingham. My friend Ross had dragged me along to the NME tour at Rock City and as if by magic, we walked into the venue at the same time Paul Thomson from Franz Ferdinand whacked his drumsticks to create a sound that will never leave me – the intro to ‘Shopping for Blood.’ I’m slightly gutted that Nick McCarthy won’t be there, swaying quickly from side to side and gracing us with his awesome rhythm guitar, synth and high-pitched vocals, but I’m bloody excited nonetheless.

So, as of now, I have booked our flights and posh camping for the festival, and my friend has booked us into a hotel for a couple of nights afterwards so we can explore Cluj-Napoca, what is billed as the region’s unofficial capital, packed with bohemian art & culture and a café where all the furniture is made out of cardboard.

If you like dance music, history and charming cultural European cities off the beaten track, I urge you to look into joining us this summer on our Electric Castle adventure.

For more information on the festival, visit the website here.

For more information on Cluj-Napoca, click here.