Was It A Dream?
Okay, figure I better write about France before it's time to write about New York. ;)
It was literally the two day trip we planned (well three with the stupid delay, but that's beside the point. ;) )
We went into work an hour early the night before so that we could leave an hour early to make it to the airport on time. It snowed the whole way, which wasn't wonderful on top of being dark, but it wasn't too bad either, as driving in the snow doesn't usually scare me.
Got to the airport and tried to do self check-in...I only got two of my three boarding passes. I was freaking out already. Talked to them and got all three. The first flight wasn't too bad, even though Amber was sick and we were both already tired.
The long ass flight to Paris was hell. It was like nine hours of being squished - and I do mean squished - in the middle row (there were three rows on the plane instead of the usual two) of the plane with NO leg room at all. We briefly saw the Eiffel Tower as we flew into the Paris airport, but that was it. The airport itself was very...ghetto. Not at all like you'd expect it to be. I was confusified by it.
The flight to Nantes was much shorter than I expected and not quite as horrible. Though, by then, we were both tired and miserable and rather bitchy.
The cab ride to the hotel was hella expensive and the hotel...the hotel was even more ghetto than the airport. I shit you not. It was...about the size of my livingroom with three beds mushed into it. The bathroom was barely big enough for ME to turn around in and Amber blew out the power simply by turning on her blow dryer.
The lady running the hotel was a bitch. She probably thought we were stupid Americans and didn't WANT to help us. She was refusing to call us a cab to the venue because she had to leave right then. "Someone will be here at five." Um...we had to be at the venue for the meet and greet at four. Finally, she did call.
That cab ride was even more expensive. And I'm not exagerating on the expensive either. We spent just about all of our money on stupid cab rides.
We got to the venue around one or so. People were already waiting outside, which isn't a surprise. Mars concerts are first come first serve if you have GA tickets. There were a bunch of little groups and stuff and (of course) everyone was speaking only French. Not that I expected any differently, since it was France (duh), I just...don't think I really though anything through. I didn't think it would be a big deal for two days. And a LOT of people smoke there. I mean...it seemed like more there do than here. Weird.
We walked over to the mall for some water and, wow...even that was hard to order. Then we couldn't find the bathroom...and we gave up on trying to get food. :"> It was so embarrassing. And, I'll admit, I was NO help at all.
We went back to the venue and sat to wait, a little worried that there were no 'yellow signs' to look for as our e-mail from Sarah had said to look for. I wasn't too worried, though. The e-mail had said to get there by four...I figured they would put up the signs closer to then. I was right. Finally they put up the signs and we went to get in line there.
There were a few Echelon in front of us - and they spoke English - that we listened to a little, but mostly tuned out as it was still a while to wait.
FINALLY, we were let in. They didn't want to let me in at first, until we explained that Amber's receipt was for TWO Golden Tickets and I was the other person. One of our worries was eased when Sarah had us get a sticky and a marker and write our names on the sticky to go on our bags that would be left in a locked room during the show so that we didn't have to keep it with us.
The bags were pretty cool.
We got a few things in them:
The guys were late to the meet and greet (Surprise! Only not really. ;) ) and didn't come in from where we expected them to. They came through the curtain, scaring the shit out of a couple people. ;) They took turns going around the circle to sign stuff and stuff.
I totally chickened out and couldn't say more than "Hi." and "Thank you." What a loser! lol Jared talked to us about the secret ( MARS300 Livestream ) and told us not to tell. It kind of surprises me that NO ONE told. Of course, when Jared tells you not to do something...you listen. ;)
Then it was time to line up for pictures with the guys. It was a quick one shot thing and when Sarah moved me up for mine, she moved me to the wrong side and then off to the other side without my picture. I was trying to get her attention (the girl behind me had the same thing happen), but obviously not hard enough. Amber was freaking out and did get Sarah's attention and I went back to get my picture.
I threw my arms around Shannon and Jared and was all "My turn!" lol Again, what a loser! ;)
Then we were taken to the room to put our stuff there and to line up to go into the show. GTs get you early access as well. Amber and I were like...third in line, despite some girl trying to shove in front of me, and we got right up to the barricade.
One of the girls who had been in front of us in the line outside was right next to Amber and we talked to her some. She was way cool. We discovered that she's from Ireland and has a Mars FB page. ;) She'd been to nine shows previously, including BOTH Paris shows, and her dream was to get onstage for Kings and Queens. Now...Amber and I both wanted up there as well, but she's been to nine (now ten) shows!
I was pleasantly surprised by the opening act, White Lies. They were actually very good. The lead singer has a VERY nice voice. ;)
Then Mars came out and...that was it. Most amazing show I have EVER seen!
It was impossible to jump at all unless you were coordinated with the thousand (literally) people behind you. Otherwise you just kept each other from jumping. I couldn't move at all, really. Not even to look behind me or even when Jared was out on the platform thing that was behind us. We had to watch on the screens. It was amazing. People were so close that it was almost like being violated at times. lol And I was SO smooshed against the barricade the entire time. I gave up on taking pictures or videos...I wanted to participate in the show! Anyone who knows Mars, knows their shows are VERY audience participation heavy. It's amazing.
There was one point where Jared made me laugh. ;) I love him so much! And poor Chloe was so cute!
I still wanted to be up there for Kings and Queens, but it wasn't meant to be. Anne-Marie, however (the Irish Echelon we met) was called - by Jared - like five times. The security guard kept telling her no. Amber finally basically threw her over the barricade to get her up there. Jared fucking Leto called her up there five times! You don't say no to that, no matter what the guard says! It was awesome.
Most amazing night of my life. *nods*
After, we didn't get to buy anything because we had to get someone to call a cab for us and it was there a few minutes later. Amber was still sick, I was SO sore (ribs and back) from being smooshed, and we were both exhausted.
We decided to get the cab to take us to the hotel to get our stuff and then just to the airport because no one would be at the hotel in the morning to call a cab to get us to the airport. We ended up sleeping in the airport because the three hotels in walking distance were full.
Our plane was delayed like an hour and a half in the morning, which caused us to miss our connecting flight in Brussels, Belgium. This was stupid because we had ten minutes when we got there and they knew we were coming...there's no reason they couldn't have held it for a few minutes for us. But, they didn't. And I think the airport in Brussels is the biggest airport ever!
From there we took a train to Brussels Midi and then from there we took a train BACK to the airport in Paris. Let me tell you...travelling by train is the way to go! Arriving at the Paris airport, we weren't even sure we were in the right place! It was all fancy and amazing and what you'd EXPECT from an airport in Paris. Nothing like the ghetto side we'd been to before.
We ended up having split seats, which ended up not mattering much since I, at least, slept most of the time anyway, but it was still squished on the way home and that sucked. VERY uncomfortable with the days we'd had and the concert 'injuries.' We went from Paris to Atalanta and then to Salt Lake. We had to call in to work and ended up getting home around three-thirty that morning.
It was a stress-filled, not well thought out, not working at all the way we wanted it trip...but I would do it all again in a heart beat.
People don't get that we went for the CONCERT and MEET and GREET. We did not go to explore France, and therefore, we're not upset that we didn't get to see anything there. Sure, it would have been cool...but that wasn't the point of the trip. The point was to have the most amazing night ever. And we did.
It was literally the two day trip we planned (well three with the stupid delay, but that's beside the point. ;) )
We went into work an hour early the night before so that we could leave an hour early to make it to the airport on time. It snowed the whole way, which wasn't wonderful on top of being dark, but it wasn't too bad either, as driving in the snow doesn't usually scare me.
Got to the airport and tried to do self check-in...I only got two of my three boarding passes. I was freaking out already. Talked to them and got all three. The first flight wasn't too bad, even though Amber was sick and we were both already tired.
The long ass flight to Paris was hell. It was like nine hours of being squished - and I do mean squished - in the middle row (there were three rows on the plane instead of the usual two) of the plane with NO leg room at all. We briefly saw the Eiffel Tower as we flew into the Paris airport, but that was it. The airport itself was very...ghetto. Not at all like you'd expect it to be. I was confusified by it.
The flight to Nantes was much shorter than I expected and not quite as horrible. Though, by then, we were both tired and miserable and rather bitchy.
The cab ride to the hotel was hella expensive and the hotel...the hotel was even more ghetto than the airport. I shit you not. It was...about the size of my livingroom with three beds mushed into it. The bathroom was barely big enough for ME to turn around in and Amber blew out the power simply by turning on her blow dryer.
The lady running the hotel was a bitch. She probably thought we were stupid Americans and didn't WANT to help us. She was refusing to call us a cab to the venue because she had to leave right then. "Someone will be here at five." Um...we had to be at the venue for the meet and greet at four. Finally, she did call.
That cab ride was even more expensive. And I'm not exagerating on the expensive either. We spent just about all of our money on stupid cab rides.
We got to the venue around one or so. People were already waiting outside, which isn't a surprise. Mars concerts are first come first serve if you have GA tickets. There were a bunch of little groups and stuff and (of course) everyone was speaking only French. Not that I expected any differently, since it was France (duh), I just...don't think I really though anything through. I didn't think it would be a big deal for two days. And a LOT of people smoke there. I mean...it seemed like more there do than here. Weird.
We walked over to the mall for some water and, wow...even that was hard to order. Then we couldn't find the bathroom...and we gave up on trying to get food. :"> It was so embarrassing. And, I'll admit, I was NO help at all.
We went back to the venue and sat to wait, a little worried that there were no 'yellow signs' to look for as our e-mail from Sarah had said to look for. I wasn't too worried, though. The e-mail had said to get there by four...I figured they would put up the signs closer to then. I was right. Finally they put up the signs and we went to get in line there.
There were a few Echelon in front of us - and they spoke English - that we listened to a little, but mostly tuned out as it was still a while to wait.
FINALLY, we were let in. They didn't want to let me in at first, until we explained that Amber's receipt was for TWO Golden Tickets and I was the other person. One of our worries was eased when Sarah had us get a sticky and a marker and write our names on the sticky to go on our bags that would be left in a locked room during the show so that we didn't have to keep it with us.
The bags were pretty cool.
We got a few things in them:
The guys were late to the meet and greet (Surprise! Only not really. ;) ) and didn't come in from where we expected them to. They came through the curtain, scaring the shit out of a couple people. ;) They took turns going around the circle to sign stuff and stuff.
I totally chickened out and couldn't say more than "Hi." and "Thank you." What a loser! lol Jared talked to us about the secret ( MARS300 Livestream ) and told us not to tell. It kind of surprises me that NO ONE told. Of course, when Jared tells you not to do something...you listen. ;)
Then it was time to line up for pictures with the guys. It was a quick one shot thing and when Sarah moved me up for mine, she moved me to the wrong side and then off to the other side without my picture. I was trying to get her attention (the girl behind me had the same thing happen), but obviously not hard enough. Amber was freaking out and did get Sarah's attention and I went back to get my picture.
I threw my arms around Shannon and Jared and was all "My turn!" lol Again, what a loser! ;)
Then we were taken to the room to put our stuff there and to line up to go into the show. GTs get you early access as well. Amber and I were like...third in line, despite some girl trying to shove in front of me, and we got right up to the barricade.
One of the girls who had been in front of us in the line outside was right next to Amber and we talked to her some. She was way cool. We discovered that she's from Ireland and has a Mars FB page. ;) She'd been to nine shows previously, including BOTH Paris shows, and her dream was to get onstage for Kings and Queens. Now...Amber and I both wanted up there as well, but she's been to nine (now ten) shows!
I was pleasantly surprised by the opening act, White Lies. They were actually very good. The lead singer has a VERY nice voice. ;)
Then Mars came out and...that was it. Most amazing show I have EVER seen!
Click to viewIt was impossible to jump at all unless you were coordinated with the thousand (literally) people behind you. Otherwise you just kept each other from jumping. I couldn't move at all, really. Not even to look behind me or even when Jared was out on the platform thing that was behind us. We had to watch on the screens. It was amazing. People were so close that it was almost like being violated at times. lol And I was SO smooshed against the barricade the entire time. I gave up on taking pictures or videos...I wanted to participate in the show! Anyone who knows Mars, knows their shows are VERY audience participation heavy. It's amazing.
There was one point where Jared made me laugh. ;) I love him so much! And poor Chloe was so cute!
I still wanted to be up there for Kings and Queens, but it wasn't meant to be. Anne-Marie, however (the Irish Echelon we met) was called - by Jared - like five times. The security guard kept telling her no. Amber finally basically threw her over the barricade to get her up there. Jared fucking Leto called her up there five times! You don't say no to that, no matter what the guard says! It was awesome.
Most amazing night of my life. *nods*
After, we didn't get to buy anything because we had to get someone to call a cab for us and it was there a few minutes later. Amber was still sick, I was SO sore (ribs and back) from being smooshed, and we were both exhausted.
We decided to get the cab to take us to the hotel to get our stuff and then just to the airport because no one would be at the hotel in the morning to call a cab to get us to the airport. We ended up sleeping in the airport because the three hotels in walking distance were full.
Our plane was delayed like an hour and a half in the morning, which caused us to miss our connecting flight in Brussels, Belgium. This was stupid because we had ten minutes when we got there and they knew we were coming...there's no reason they couldn't have held it for a few minutes for us. But, they didn't. And I think the airport in Brussels is the biggest airport ever!
From there we took a train to Brussels Midi and then from there we took a train BACK to the airport in Paris. Let me tell you...travelling by train is the way to go! Arriving at the Paris airport, we weren't even sure we were in the right place! It was all fancy and amazing and what you'd EXPECT from an airport in Paris. Nothing like the ghetto side we'd been to before.
We ended up having split seats, which ended up not mattering much since I, at least, slept most of the time anyway, but it was still squished on the way home and that sucked. VERY uncomfortable with the days we'd had and the concert 'injuries.' We went from Paris to Atalanta and then to Salt Lake. We had to call in to work and ended up getting home around three-thirty that morning.
It was a stress-filled, not well thought out, not working at all the way we wanted it trip...but I would do it all again in a heart beat.
People don't get that we went for the CONCERT and MEET and GREET. We did not go to explore France, and therefore, we're not upset that we didn't get to see anything there. Sure, it would have been cool...but that wasn't the point of the trip. The point was to have the most amazing night ever. And we did.