THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3RD – PERFORMANCE IN STAVANGER:

Got up in time to grab a quick breakfast because I know there won’t be time to eat the rest of today!  It was a really good breakfast buffet, too.  We departed on time at exactly 8:30 am.  My plans for this entire tour have been to “work” while we are traveling.  But, I also counted on having WiFi and not getting nauseous on the winding roads.  NEITHER of those things have worked out for me so far.

I used the bus driver’s cell phone WiFi.  It was slow but not as slow as my T-Mobile Hot Spot WiFi.  But less than 15 minutes into the drive, I got deathly ill from reading and riding on the really curvy roads.  I had to go lie down for about an hour.  Got up and tried it again, but no luck.

We arrived at the hotel at around 1:15 pm.  It is one of those “new age” hotels with the ipads for check in….which I couldn’t use.  There was one really nice lady who checked us in while she also sold items in the “store” behind her check in counter and took orders from the hotel “bar”!   She said she is a Barceptionist!.  Also, there is a really nice restaurant but no kitchen and no chef and no staff!  There is a computer terminal and you order food from any one of dozens of different restaurants.  Then it is delivered to the hotel – either to the restaurant or your room!

There were only 7 rooms ready because check in time isn’t until 4 pm!  The lady was nice and said she would rush cleaning along on the other 2 rooms.  I took my bags up and made sure everyone was off the bus because it had to go to the venue.  There was one person still on the bus asleep, so I got him up so he could get off before the bus left for the venue.

Didn’t have any time at all in my room before we walked over to the venue for sound check.  Our host “Stine” (female) had everything set up and organized for us.  I checked out the catering and dressing room situation and then walked back to the hotel.  Was hoping to get a lot of work done in the 2 ½ hours I had before show time.  But, even after screaming at AOL for hours last week, they STILL shut down my account because I signed on from a different country.  So frustrating.  I’m tweeting vicious comments about them on Twitter – like that will do any good!!!  So, I got a “little” work done but not much.  Beginning to feel really stressed because I can’t work on the bus!

Howard, David and I did order Indian food from the hotel and it was probably the best Indian food I’ve had in years.  Van picked up the guys at 6 pm and I rode over with Howard and David at 6:30 pm because we don’t have a “meet and greet” tonight.  Catering at this venue is excellent and Howard and David are going to eat a little after the concert.

Another packed house and LOTS of fans that they have made here throughout the years.  They have played Stavanger many, many times since the 80’s but not this venue.  It’s another beautiful theatre.

We were back at the hotel by 9:15 pm and leaving at 11:00 pm.  I’m trying to find Dramamine so I can work on the trip!!!

Jude