If your social media feed was abuzz with snaps from the annual Coachella festival this weekend, it probably looked like an idyllic gathering of the world’s most beautiful people, all living their best lives while watching the biggest music acts in the world.

But Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are lying to you. It’s true that this weekend’s festival featured some of pop’s A-list, including headline sets from The Weeknd, Eminem and Beyoncé (whose set really was all that). But for most attendees, Coachella is a grueling weekend that can leave you shattered, broke and possibly suffering from a respiratory infection. Here’s why the festival isn’t quite what it’s painted to be.

The dust

Do you enjoy breathing? Well, the desert dust at Coachella will put an unceremonious end to that. There’s nothing remotely glamorous about hacking up brown phlegm and desperately calling every pharmacy in the Palm Desert area to ask if they stock neti pots.

Amateur hour

The crowd at Coachella is particularly young, and that means having to dodge people dabbling in narcotics for the first time. At one point during a set by Brit-rockers Alt-J, a young man came up to me and nervously asked me for “some kind of pill.” I was sorely tempted to give him one of my antihistamine tablets and send him on his merry way.

Watching everything from miles away

Coachella’s so sprawling that unless you’re willing to stay in one spot all day — and have a camel-like ability to go without water — you’re not gonna be in the front or even the middle for your favorite acts. Cardi B’s set was so well-attended that the crowd stretched back for two football fields. At that point, you could watch it with greater clarity on Periscope.

Traffic, traffic and more traffic

Unless you’re camping, you’ll spend several hours of your Coachella experience in a car. The incoming traffic to the site during the day is a major buzzkill, but the feeling of being dehydrated, drunk, hungry and exhausted while stuck in a parking lot at 1 a.m. opens up an unimaginable netherworld of existential pain.

Celeb sightings (or lack thereof)

Good luck getting that quick selfie with the Biebs and Ri-Ri in the VIP section. All the true stars are chauffeured around backstage and kept as far away from the plebs as possible. So unless you’re desperate to get a picture with the guy who does sound for Portugal. The Man, you’re out of luck.

Conclusion: If you’re going to Coachella just to say you’re going to Coachella, then go to Coachella. If you want to see some good music and not feel like you’re in an overheated dustbowl with 100,000 people, just stay home and watch the livestream. You’ll be more comfortable, and there should theoretically be fewer weird people asking you for drugs.