The Streets Solana Beach 2009

Solana beach, America, 13 October 2009

October 10th

Ozzy & I took the train from Bloemendaal to the Airport. We arrived in America on October 10th flight was a nightmare. The plane left Amsterdam 1 hour late, so from the 3 hours that we had to transfer in Washington we had 2 hours left.

When we landed in Washington we arrived another extra 30 minutes late, so only 1 ½ hour left. Security/passport check took us another hour… 30 minutes left… pick up our suitcase, drop it off again 1 metre away (from the right side of the hall to the left side), and then hand luggage check…. took us another 20 minutes, we had 10 minutes to get to the gate, and that one happened to be on the other side of the airport… When we arrived at the gate the doors were closed already… DAMN… but the plane was still there.

A stewardess told us we missed our plane, but it was still there, just the door was closed. Ozzy didn’t take no for an answer. He said the plane is still there I want to get in. The Stewardess didn’t want to have a fight with Ozzy. The stewardess got through the door and asked if we and an older couple could still get through, and we could, but when we arrived on the other side of the airplane arm… the door of the airplane was shut.

The Stewardess knocked on the door and they opened the door for us so we could get in after all. Thank fuck, we didn’t run so hard for nothing. Thanks so much for the stewardess to help us anyway.

When we arrived at the airport, Ozzy‘s bag arrived but mine didn’t. Mine got checked by the security in Washington, after letting the San Diego airport security know that mine didn’t arrive and letting them know what the suitcase looked like, they knew which suitcase I was talking about. I had to give them the address of our hotel we were staying at and it would be delivered the next day. Thankfully they deliver it at the hotel… but what time? And thankfully we stay at that hotel for a couple of days.

We went to the car rental to pick up the van we have hired for a week. Emma Pope & Ozzy would drive.

When we filled in the papers we went to Holiday Inn hotel in Solana Beach (Near San Diego). We checked in and called our parents to let them know we arrived safe. Not long after that we went to bed. It was really early in the USA day, but it was about 2 am Dutch time.

October 11th

My suitcase would arrive at 7 am on the San Diego airport, At about 9 am the next day I checked at the reception if  my suitcase arrived yet, it wasn’t there yet…. damn, now I need to do some shopping for new clothing, it wasn’t sunny, but it was too warm to wear jeans and a woolen jumper, that was smelly from being sweaty yesterday after running to catch that flight…

We went to an outlet center and I got myself a new Nike outfit. We went to the beach, but it’s wasn’t warm enough to chill here, so we decided to get in the hot tub. When we got back to the hotel, my suitcase arrived, now I’m finally feeling relaxed, I can start with this short road trip/holiday now. Time to relax in the hot tub.

We checked out where the venue was.

October 12th

The next day we went to Sea World, and we had a wonderful time. Emma & Emma were there on the same day as we were, but we didn’t see each other. Weird, cos we were sitting very close to each other during the 1st Orca show… hmm…

October 13th

On the day of the gig we picked the Emma’s up with our hired van. When we got downstairs with the lift, we met Rachel briefly.

When we arrived back at our hotel with the Emma’s, Jamie and Shep were in the hotel already, Hmm, Rachel seemed OK. Rachel is a girl we all know from twitter. She’s called @rudemod. 

When we got back to the hotel with the Emma’s I checked twitter on the laptop of the hotel. Mike tweeted me:

I told Mike yeah cool! But where? Jamie and Shep knew a place. We went our own way and when it got time for dinner we all went to Burgers & Brew, to meet up with Rod. Later with the others as well.

After a while Devin came over. He’s from America. Lovely guy!!

And Rod‘s neighbours/friends Steve & Laurence.

We were there already when Mike, Ted & Kristy (Ted‘s cousin) arrived. Mike sat next to me when I gave him the menu. Safest place for him 😉

While he waited for his food, we had a little chat. I talked about my luggage that didn’t arrive, He advised me to bring only hand luggage next time. Thanks for the tip.

We had dinner with Skinner (although I didn’t eat).

With Rachel and Devin. Devin is a lovely guy

Skinner, Ted and Kristy and soon after them Rod left. Rachel, Ozzy & I joined Rod.

I promised Mike on Twitter that I would be up front at every gig, so I had to try at least. When we arrived, we were not on the guest list, none of us….

Oh my…. I’m afraid Ted forgot… Rod left us to get Ted….(It’s a good thing, we joined Rod) yeah he forgot, he said: “I only have to think about 1 thing, and even that I forget”. He wrote my name down and said “Tess you know the names” oh my… I had to fill in the guest list…. so funny, I was on the list myself?!!

I wrote down all our names, while I was doing that Rachel asked to write her name down, I didn’t want to, but did that anyway. I should have asked Ted if I should, so it would be his decision, not mine…. Anyway, that was done. It wasn’t hard to get to the front… very tiny venue, very few people there. We were up front.

Soon, the others arrived. I didn’t like the support act, it was really boring. An Asian guy was DJ-ing. his name was Nosaj Thing. Couldn’t wait for The Streets.

I had a lot of space at the gig to jump and dance about…. I loved the American crowd!

Nobody was pushing! They were all very friendly. Great gig!

After the gig we tried to look for the boys, but couldn’t find them. Soon we gave up and went back to the hotel. Early check out tomorrow, because we’re going to Pomona.