SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12TH – PERFORMANCE IN LYCKSELE, SWEDEN – LAST SHOW OF THE TOUR!
Got up at 8:50 am and by 9:00 we were at the hotel – and it was snowing. Beautiful countryside and hotel. Our rooms were ready for us when we arrived, too, which was wonderful. Breakfast was still available until 10 am so most of us got up and ate before going to our rooms. We have really large rooms at this hotel and my bathroom had a “private” sauna in it! There is a beautiful indoor pool here, too.
I forgot to mention that at last night’s show in Gavle, the guy from Oslo who got hit in the head by the ceramic tiger that fell in the hotel, showed up at our hotel before the concert. I’m not sure if he lives in Norway or Sweden but was shocked to see him. He says he’s doing okay but did go to the hospital to get checked out in Oslo.
The stage in the venue doesn’t have a “back entrance” unless you either go through the audience or walk a long way outside the hotel. Since it was snowing, I found someone with a car who could drive Howard and David from the lobby to the backstage area for the show.
I showered and got some work done before sound check. My texting quit working AGAIN and I spent an hour on the phone with T-Mobile. They finally got it working again and it kept working all day until we left. Then I spent an hour trying to check everyone in on KLM. First I had to go to Delta to check in and then be re-directed to KLM. Such a PITA every time!
Sound check was quick and easy. The guys ate at 5 pm in the restaurant and their choices were either Ox steak or a “veggie patty”. They said both were great. Howard, David and I had salmon delivered to our rooms and it was good, too.
The concert was sold out and the attendees first went to the concert, then had dinner in the hotel. Then a local county band performed and another band played after them. It was a great, appreciative audience and perfect ending to our 10 concert tour.
We had to pack up really quickly and leave at 10:30 pm for the Stockholm Airport. The hotel had pizza delivered to our bus right before we left. Now, it’s a 10 hour drive, check in at the Stockholm airport, fly to Amsterdam, RUN to our flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta, and hopefully arrive home a little before midnight on Sunday night.
But, it’s been a great tour with fantastic entertainers and wonderful musicians and crew. I am truly blessed!
Jude
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13TH – GOING HOME FOR 3 DAYS!
Well, it was another miserable bus ride for 10 hours. At times, we all thought the engine was falling out of the bus. I think the driver just didn’t know how to shift gears! They made better time than anticipated so we had to stop for about an hour before going on to the airport.
When we arrived at the airport, the driver pulled into the PARKING GARAGE instead of dropping us off at the departure terminal. He said he “couldn’t” pull up there. I reminded him that I had been departing from this airport for decades and knew that wasn’t true. We had to take all the luggage/equipment down a couple of steps to carts and then bump them over a curb just to get to the elevator. Once inside, I took a photo of a large tour bus parked right in front of the entrance to the Departure Terminal and sent it to the drivers!
We were the only ones in line at the check in counter and we got a “nice” female agent. It still took quite a while to check in. She only charged us for a couple of pieces of excess instead of 6 pieces. KLM is supposed to “partner” with Delta but they don’t really. If a passenger is Gold on Delta, they bump them down to Silver on KLM. The coach passengers had been allowed to check 2 pieces free of charge on the flight to Europe on Delta but could only check 1 piece on KLM on the flight home!
We had a very few minutes before boarding so I spent that time in the Lounge. Fight from Stockholm to Amsterdam was about 2 hours and we only had 1 hour and 15 minutes to go through Passport Control and get to our gate. Flights board one hour prior to departure, so we were rushing through the airport. We lucked up at Passport Control because there were only a few people in line. I was in the front of our line of guys and didn’t realize they pulled Howard and Randy Hiebert aside for “extra security check”! But, everyone made it to the gate before boarding started.
The aircraft was really “old” but had been reconfigured and remodeled inside. The one thing they forgot to update – the most important thing to me – was the WiFi. The plane was not even equipped for WiFi. I was in shock and really upset. I had planned to work all the way to Atlanta because I only have 3 days at home before leaving for Japan. With nothing I could do offline, I slept for 5 hours! The Purser came by at the end of the flight and asked if I had a nice flight. Of course, I told him how much the flight sucked without airfare and told him KLM needed to come into the 21st Century!
We landed Atlanta on time and had a couple of hours but had to go through Immigration, pick up bags, clear customs, re-check the bags, and go through security. I had about 20 minutes to spend in the Lounge and then went to the gate. Once at the gate, we were informed that our flight would depart at least 20 minutes late due to late arrival of the incoming aircraft! We were already landing at almost midnight, so this took away even more the hours I have at home before flying to Japan. It was almost 1 am Monday morning by the time I got home.
So….it took me 2 days to write this Road Report and get it posted. I leave for the airport at 3:30 am on Thursday morning. Working hard….
Jude