WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24:
Today I leave for Zurich, Switzerland with the amazing bluegrass band The Grascals. I met them at the airport and helped them get checked in. I was flying Delta and they were on Continental. When I got to my gate I noticed the flight from 7:45 AM was about to depart and it was after 11AM. RED FLAG!! I went over to the counter and asked about getting on an earlier flight, as my flight did not leave until almost 12 noon. I could only imagine that my flight could be delayed 4 hours too. If that happened, I would miss my connection in Atlanta. Fortunately, I was able to get on the flight that was leaving at 11:19 AM. J I checked the board to see if the Grascals flight might be delayed too, and it was. I called Terry and told him about my flight and that theirs was delayed also. I told him that he needed to go to the Continental counter and find out what was going on. I did not want them to miss their flight.
Landed in Atlanta, tried calling Terry – no answer. I called the office and spoke to Judy. She informed me that their flight had departed Nashville and was only 20 minutes late. Whew!! They would have plenty of time in Newark to make their connection.
Got a call from Lindsey saying the travel agent had called and my flight to Zurich from Atlanta was going to be delayed. I hated the idea of having to spend another 2-3 hours in Atlanta so I went to buy me a buy. OMG!! I am not a big reader, but this book was so amazing I literally could not put it down. If you are looking for a great book to read, pick up “Look Again”, by Lisa Scottoline.
My flight ended up departing on time, thank goodness. Flight was about half full so most of us were able to stretch out and move around.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25:
Arrived in Zurich about 8:30 AM, met the promoter and waited for the Grascals to arrive. Got all of their luggage and gear and left for the airport. Got to the hotel and the rooms were not ready, it would be about 30 minutes. We all went to the restaurant and had breakfast while we waited. Got everyone checked in and they all went to crash. I decided to stay up and crash later in the evening. J Got on the computer, checked email, called home, cleaned up and about 3PM a few of us went downtown for a bit. Came back to the hotel, had dinner, checked more email and passed out about 8PM.
My phone rang about 3:30AM. I didn’t answer it, but it was a friend of my sons. I liked to have never got back to sleep after that. I tossed and turned until about 5AM.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26:
Easy morning. Went downtown and walked about some, did a little shopping, had some lunch. We departed the hotel at 3PM for load in and sound check. It only took them about 45 minutes, which left lots of extra time before dinner. One of the guys asked about going back to the hotel and I had to let him know that we couldn’t do that, didn’t have a driver. L I went downstairs to iron a “show shirt” and when I returned, 3 of the guys were gone. I jokingly asked, “What’d they do, take a taxi to the hotel?” Surprisingly the answer was “yes”. I thought I would panic. What if they over sleep? They will miss the show, and they would miss dinner.
The rest of us had a nice dinner and great conversation. I really enjoyed getting to know the guys and Kristin. Jamie was telling us stories from his college days and leaving home for the first time. He was such a momma’s boy. He was cracking us all up. I think he was traumatized he hit a deer with his car and didn’t kill it. A lady stopped to check on him, and since the deer was not dead, she went back to her car, pulled out a pistol, shot the deer and left. He was telling us about the cops coming and asking about the deer and how he shot it. Sad, but funny.
It was about 8PM and I wondered about calling the hotel to give them a wake-up call. I did not want them to oversleep. I went downstairs, called the hotel. The lady at the front desk told me they had just left. J Went back to the dressing room and there they were. Thank goodness!!
Show started just a few minutes late, but they put on a great show. The place was sold out and the crowd loved them. The promoter told me that they have a lot of country acts perform at the event, but “bluegrass” is a special event.
After the show, I sold cd’s and the Grascals signed autographs for about 45 minutes. Left for the hotel about 1:30AM.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27:
Another easy morning. I love the fact that I don’t have to get up at 5AM and do anything. J Went downtown to the train station, walked around, done some window shopping, and had some lunch. Town was SO crowded. The day was beautiful and I think everyone was out taking advantage of the weather; just like we do. J
Left the hotel at 7PM, had dinner and another great show. The Grascals sold 4 boxes of cd’s, which is great. They signed autographs again after the show got back to the hotel about 1AM.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28:
VERY early morning. Got about 2 ½ hours sleep, up at 4AM. I had wake-up call scheduled for 4:30 AM. Andrew sent me a text at 4AM, so I went ahead and got up. We all left the hotel at 6:30AM for the airport. We struggled getting the Grascals checked in for their flight to Belgium. We were using the kiosk, but it was checking them in for their entire flight back to Nashville. The kiosk would print their boarding passes and their luggage tags. Kristin done her first and noticed that it was checking her luggage back to Nashville. They ended up having to go to the counter and get checked in. Once they were all checked in, I headed off to the other terminal to check-in.
I slept about half of the way back, I was SO tired. I finished my book, “Look Again”. Was such a good book. Landed back in Nashville at 4:30PM and so glad to be home. J