Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Positives

How much do you pay for your rock n' roll lifestyle? Because I get paid for mine.

I've been doing this job for just about three months now and have learned a lot and had some good times. There is also a lot of negatives, but that's for the next post. Let's face it, the positives are pretty obvious. I am getting paid to travel internationally, I can fly stand by for free, I get to meet awesome people and my life is entirely spontaneous. I had my most awesome layover yet this last week, let me tell you about it.

I had my first trip to Hamburg on Monday. I'd been there before but this would be my first time working the trip. It didn't look to be too exciting though, the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy and all the flight attendants seemed to have different plans so it was looking like I was on my own, which when you read the negatives post you will understand how sucky that would be. Another flight attendant told me that there was an awesome spa and pool in the hotel so I made plans in my head to sleep all day, venture out for dinner, and then relax by the pool and sauna until bed time. I have never been happier that a night of quiet relaxation was ruined.

I headed out for dinner and happened to hear the very loud voice of the other German speaker, Kirsten,from her hotel room. I knocked on the door to see what was going on and to joke about how noisy she is and was invited in to join two flight attendants( Kirsten and Kelli) one friend( Sang, Kelli's hair stylist) and two pilots (Mark and Kyle) for drinks. They were getting ready to go see Evanescence with back stage passes provided by Sang who is a very cool hair dresser and also friend of the guitarist in the band. Turns out they had one extra ticket and after lending me an awesome outfit, I was going with. Awesome.We drank, we talked, we made it to the subway and then to Döner, the delicious Turkish fast food place, and then to the concert. It was a small venue called Grosse Freiheit.

I found out later that night that the basement stage area is one of the first places the Beatles ever performed.

 

The concert was amazing. The venue wasn't very big but I kind of like small places better. The performance feels more intimate and involved. We were right up close to the stage. The music was great and everyone was having an awesome time. Here's Kelli and I covered in sweat but still looking pretty good.

Kirsten, me, Kelli and Sang...and Mark's hand in the back.
And then it got even better. In addition to free tickets we also had back stage passes. After the concert was over we headed to the basement area and waited for the band. We mingled with the opener band for awhile and then Will the guitarist/friend of Sang showed up

 

and shortly after the rest of Evanescence was there. We got to talk and hang out and even got a group shot with Amy Lee, who was super nice.

This was such an incredibly awesome night and the fact that I had know Idea it was gonna happen until it was made it even better. This is why everyone thinks this job is glamorous and fantastic. Because you never know what's gonna happen, you could end up drinking beer with Evanescence in Hamburg next to the stage where the Beatles first started. Maybe next time I'll actually do some site seeing in Hamburg or get that relaxing spa night....or maybe something else crazy and unexpected will come up. Who knows? I do know that I will have concert clothes packed in my suit case from now on, just in case.