South by Southwest is an annual film/music/interactive festival that overtakes the beautiful city of Austin, Texas every March. I’ve attended for two years now because it’s an incredibly cost-effective vacation that provides two things I need on a regular basis:

• A smooth blend of relaxation and chaos
• Interesting and intelligent people to meet

It’s essentially a few thousand sponsored parties, shows, and events all designed to make you have a good time (and usually remember a brand or an artist). For the common man it means enjoying free food, open bars, live music, and creative people for twelve days.

When combined with CouchSurfing/staying with friends and airline miles it gets even more affordable. Just don’t buy an official badge. You don’t need it.

A few things I did at SXSW 2012:

1. Ate heaps of burgers sourced from local, grass-fed beef
2. Drank loads of Tito’s vodka, Lone Star, and Dos Equis
3. Learned about truffles and truffle oil (and truffle fries)
4. Watched at least 30 live music performances
5. Saw a fight at a local grocery store
6. Became jealous of Austin’s Car2Go service
7. Watched the Austin Music Awards from the third-tier VIP section and saw Bruce Springsteen’s surprise performance
8. Met dozens of incredible personalities from Austin, New York, Mexico City, and Toronto
9. Consumed massive amounts of free BBQ and tacos
10. Saw a concert in a church at midnight
11. Personally returned a lost wallet
12. Won a Sphero at a tech party
13. Saw a mobile Occupy SXSW street movement and the police response
14. Watched Jeff Who Lives at Home at an Alamo Draft House – my new favorite theater (you can silently order food/drink with little slips of paper during the film)