Wednesday, August 9th:
Today I depart Nashville to Silkeborg, Denmark. I will be meeting up with BR549 in Copenhagen and flying into Billund and then we have a 1 hour drive to the hotel. The flight from Nashville to Newark and Newark to Copenhagen was very uneventful. Thank goodness.
Thursday, August 10th:
Landed in Copenhagen, no problem, other than I may have gotten 2 hours sleep on the flight, IF I am lucky. The plane from Newark to Copenhagen was SO small. The seat configuration was 3 – 3. I had an aisle seat and every time someone went to the restroom or the food/drink cart came by, I was bumped. I have never been on a plane this small for an international flight!!
Once I landed, I went to find my next gate. It was a good 30 minute walk, completely on the other side of the airport. Good thing I had over 3 hours to kill. Shorlty after I found my gate, BR549 showed up. They had spent the last 5 days in Copenhagen. Sounds like they had a lot of fun, too! Cowboy asked me if I had heard about the terrorist arrests, which I had NOT!! Boy was I shocked to say the least.
We flew to Billund on a little propeller plane. It was about the size of the Continental Express jet that I flew to Newark on. We met our driver and headed to the hotel. Got everyone checked in, met with Jytte – the promoter – and everyone went to get some rest. My room is across the courtyard in a little building with about 8 other rooms. The hotel is really nice, and they have the best beds!!!
I napped for about 1 ½ hrs, didn’t want to over do it and not sleep tonight. Got showered, walked to town for a quick bite to eat and then walked around town for a bit. This place is really nice, cool little town square, streets are lined with shopping, and a little lake where you can rent pedal boats. Went back to the hotel, watched a little TV and crashed!
Friday, August 11th:
Went over to the hotel and had breakfast with Shaw and Mark, checked my email and I walked over to the venue. You have to walk through this “garden”, which is so cool. It’s little tiny “houses”, like 15×20, a greenhouse and either a veggie garden or flower garden. The driver told me this is actually like a “weekend” home for those who are less wealthy. We all headed over to sound check at noon. Everything was great, no problems. The venue is really cool. The stage is literally built into the ground. The ground is raised up about 3 ½ feet and the front part of the stage is a wall of creek stones. There is a wooden floor that is the stage and it is all nestled under these huge trees. It is very “outdoorsy” feeling and there are people set up with their campers at the campgrounds just outside the venue. There is boating, canoeing, hiking/jogging trails, fishing, etc.
After sound check, Shaw, Cowboy and I walked into town for lunch and shopping. I ended up buying a sweater to wear to the show tonight. I knew it would be cold! Got back to the hotel about 6:30 pm, checked email, freshened up and depart to the venue at 9pm. It had been sprinkling rain, but stopped before we left the hotel. AND then it started again. It rained during the entire show, but it was a just a light steady rain. Everyone was covered with the ponchos and they sat there during the entire show. The show was great!! BR549 is so fabulous and so much fun. The crowd LOVED them. After the show, they signed autographs and sold all but 2 cd’s. Good thing I brought 2 boxes with me. They still have another show tomorrow night, but unfortunately they won’t have any product.
Got back to the hotel about 12:30 am.
Saturday, August 12th:
I laid down for about 1 ½ hrs, back up at 2AM for a 3:30 am departure. Our flight from Billund departs at 6:30 am. L We go to check-in and we are all told that we have to pick up our luggage in Billund, take it to the counter and recheck everything. We all have 1 ½ hrs to do this and make our connections; not to mention all of the extra security we will have to go through because of the terrorist scare on Thursday. Flight was late leaving which really worried me; we were already limited on our time. We pick up our luggage and gear, take the airport bus to our terminals. I departed Terminal 2 and BR549 departed Terminal 3. I went inside Terminal 2 and the lines were horrendous. Then I noticed that the “Elite / One Pass” line is open. Good thing I am an Elite member with Northwest. There was only 1 person in front of me to check in. Otherwise I would have been in line for 3 hours and would never have made my flight. Security was not as bad as I had expected. They did allow me to take my carry-on, but did ask me all kinds of questions while checking in.
As I get to my gate, I notice the flight that BR549 is on, is right beside my gate and the sign says “Gate Closing”. I am praying they made this flight. A few minutes later here they come rushing through, so glad that they made their flight. I slept almost the entire flight home. I was so tired from almost no sleep from the night before. No problems on the flight to Newark, which I was completely surprised. We have not had the best of luck with Newark the last few years. Got home at 5:30 pm and was welcomed by Andrew. Being away from him is so hard; I think it’s much harder on me than him though. L