SATURDAY, AUGUST 8TH – PERFORMANCE IN SOTRA (STEINSLAND), NORWAY :
Got my 3 hours of sleep, finished packing and met the bus for the trip to the airport. Took us exactly one hour. As I said I was ready to “win the war” with KLM. Of course, they didn’t even question us! Let everyone check their two pieces and even allowed one guy who wasn’t supposed to check but one piece check two. They nailed us on the last guy. And again even though I had printed out the number of pieces he was allowed to check free of charge. They insisted on charging him more because it was his second piece even though the first piece was supposed to be free!
Before departure, I was able to find a few more of the toys that Zac and Zoe had asked for and then actually found a restaurant that serves scrambled eggs! David and I were sitting at the gate when I got an alert on my phone from Tripit. Our flight was delayed and we would only have 14 minutes to make the connection in Amsterdam! We actually boarded close to the original time but then sat there for quite a while before finally taking off. Right before we landed a flight attendant approached the man sitting behind me and said “Ms Seale?” David told him that I was Ms Seale! He said that our gates were next to each other and that we would make our connection but that none of our checked pieces would arrive. He said those pieces would be on the next flight. We explained that we had a show tonight but he really didn’t care. Just insisted they would not make our flight.
When we landed, it was a very short walk between gates and our flight had not even started boarding. The flight crew was just arriving. The gate agent said everything would make it. The guys saw all out things being loaded on the plane as we were waiting to board. Then after we boarded, they noticed that everything was being taken back off! I asked the flight attendant and she said they were just moving it from one compartment to another.
We finally landed in Bergen and it took forever for the bags to arrive. But thankfully everything was there. We have an early flight home tomorrow and I would hate to not have everything before we departed.
David our promoter was waiting for us. He took me, Howard and David to the hotel in the center of Bergen and the guys went to the venue. We are at a Scandic Hotel and it is nice. We all walked into town – the guys to the fish market for lunch and me to shop for Zac and Zoe. Found the last few things they wanted and then got totally lost trying to get back to the hotel! I tried to pay attention walking down but I just have no sense of direction. I finally made it back and stopped in for take-out Thai food again. Howard and David were just getting back to the hotel when I walked out of the restaurant.
I ate quickly and then tried to check everyone it. It was a nightmare because the first flight is on KLM. I still can’t get boarding passes for Atlanta to Nashville for Howard, David and Randy. I had that same problem at the Bergen Airport last year and that is when the KLM supervisor told me that my flight from Detroit to Nashville did not exist and I was booked on a train! Let’s hope he isn’t working there tomorrow.
We left for the venue at 6:45 pm and it was about a 45 minute drive to Sotra — an island off the coast of Norway. It is a beautiful new hotel and is owned by a church organization. The room where they perform is a church and a concert hall. It is truly beautiful and again sold out. We have played sold out shows all Summer in Europe to crowds as large as 18,000!
We had a short VIP meet and greet and then a radio interview. Then it was showtime. There was an opening act on before us and my friend Rolene Brumley had sent me a Facebook message that the pedal steel player was a friend of hers. I made a point to hunt him down and say hello.
The show was awesome once again – sold out audience. Great way to end the tour with ALL sold out shows. There was a very broad range of ages at tonight’s show. The young girl who was “helping” us backstage is 25 years old and said she has come to “love” country music. But she only likes the “real” country music, not the new “Pop” sounding music. She spent a year in California and that’s where she fell in love with the music.
David drove us back to the hotel and we had a great conversation with him. Looking forward to having him visit the U.S. later this year.
Can’t believe I’m finally going home….for a week….then 10 days in South Korea and THEN home for about 3 weeks thankfully!
Jude
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9TH – NORWAY TO NASHVILLE:
With only 3 hours sleep again last night, counting on sleeping on the flight home. Went down to breakfast at 6:30 am and while it was a great breakfast buffet, they didn’t have any hot food out. I was in there for about a half hour with the guys and the staff kept saying “It’s in the oven”. Now why would scrambled eggs be “in the oven”? I told the front desk when we checked out and they were shocked.
It was raining when I got up and continued with a light rain during our 20 minute drive to the airport. Check in was a breeze for ONCE with KLM. They did not even mention paying any excess charges. I think it’s because this was considered a leg of our “international flight” instead of “domestic flights”. They were unable to print the boarding passes from Atlanta to Nashville for David, Howard, and Randy though.
We landed Amsterdam on time and went through passport control. Then we had to go to “Gate 1” where everyone now does their security checks for international flights on Delta. Always a long line there. Frank was first in line (of course) and told the agent we were all traveling together. He processed all of us at once. We then went to the Transfer Station to try and print the 3 boarding passes but the kiosks where boarding passes can be printed also could not print the pass for the guys. That meant a very long “hike” to the Delta/KLM Lounge. Then the agents who can handle that process were busy. The agent printed Randy’s immediately but Howard and David got a different lady and she said she didn’t think it was possible. After telling her Randy just had his printed, she was able to print theirs as well. Then we had an even longer hike to Gate 53. The aircraft was already partially boarded by the time we finally arrived at the gate. Our 2 hour layover in Amsterdam almost wasn’t enough time to just make it to our connecting flight. And we all had visions of eating a good meal before boarding the flight. That obviously didn’t happen.
The flight was supposedly full although I noticed several empty seats. Strange thing now is you can start watching a movie as soon as you’re in your seat. In the past, the entertainment would not be accessible until airborne. I watched a really bad movie with Reese Witherspoon (which was a disappointment because I love her!). Slept for 3 hours and then logged on to the internet to get some work done. Since it’s Sunday, there’s not a lot of email traffic thankfully.
Landed Atlanta early and we made it through Immigration quickly with Global Entry. Of course, all of our priority bags were the last ones to arrive baggage claim. But, everything arrived! Global Entry members were given a slip of paper to show TSA that said we didn’t have to take off our shoes. I was holding mine in my hand when I went through but the agent said, “Take your shoes off!” and not in a pleasant way. I showed her my slip and she waved me through. No apology for her mistake.
Had about an hour and a half in the Lounge to get caught up. I brought Rocky and Tim in on my pass since they aren’t “elite” yet on Delta. They probably will make elite after this flight.
Flight left Atlanta on time and arrived Nashville on time – with all our luggage and equipment! It was a great tour with wonderful people! Going to enjoy my one week at home with Zac and Zoe.
Jude