(no subject)
Trip to New Zealand:
Flight:
So, I started out in Birmingham. I stayed at my friend Jamie's overnight and he dropped me off at the airport. I had a short flight to Charlotte and during that flight I sat next to a (relatively) young guy from San Diego. We talked throughout the flight. He was pretty cool. We exchanged phone numbers and everything. I had a short layover and then got on a five hour flight to LA. I sat between a really sweet old lady and a Mechanical Engineer who I had a chance to talk 'engineering' with. It was probably the worst of the flights because it was just looooong and boring. Then I had another layover in LAX which was a pain in the ass. I'm not too fond of that airport's layout. However, while I was there, I met a couple from Alabama that were also travelling to New Zealand. They were very sweet.
My flight to Auckland was about 12 and a half hours and it was over nice. The Boeing 747 that I was on was really nice, and there was no one in the seat next to me, so I had some extra room. I got the window seat, and there was toooons of on board entertainment to choose from. I got a chance to sleep some, and the Air New Zealand crew fed us twice, which was pretty awesome.
So then I finally arrived in Auckland and I had to travel through customs and get my passport stamped and stuff. And then I made my way over to the Domestic airport. I had to wait around for several hours, but then wakethefallen and I finally met up. We showed a French lady how to get to the international terminal, and then we were on our way!
Auckland:
We caught a shuttle from the airport into the city. First off, we headed to our hotel/hostel. We stayed at Kiwi International. They let us check in early, which was fortunate. I got to set all my bags down and relax for a bit. The hotel was pretty cool. Really laidback-like. Although the elevator (lift) scared the shit out of me every time we rode it, because it was really jerky.
So, we put all our stuff down and then headed out again. We spent most of the day just wandering up and down Queen Street. We went to the Sky Tower. I TOOOOOTALLY wanted to bungy jump off of it, but we didn't. Mostly because Siobhan wouldn't do it with me, but also because it was totally expensive.
We went shopping for a while and I scoped out the local cute boys and such, obv. Because, you know. I like pretty boys.
Siobhan texted bexing and we made plans to meet up with her for dinner, so then we headed back to the hotel to take a quick power nap. Then we headed to dinner with Bex and had Kebabs. We wandered around a bit more, went to the mall and made fun of emo kids. Then we sat around and watched some skaters who thought they were way cooler than they were. We walked Bex to her bus stop, and then the plan was that we were gonna go take another power nap, and then hit the stip clubs. But we got back and never actually woke up from our power naps, haha. So we missed out on them that night. In retrospect, that kind of sucked, because we probably would have found Avenged if we'd gone out. But we really enjoyed the sleep, tbh.
Queueing:
So the day of the show, we got up and headed to breakfast. Siobhan was in contact with shira, and ended up getting a photopass to the show SUUUUPER last minute. So after breakfast we headed to the venue to see if she could pick up her photopass, but it was to early. We went back to the hotel again and got changed for the show and joined the queue about 12 or 12:30.
It really didn't take us long at all to start chatting with the kids around us. We met some TOOOOOOOOTALLY awesome kids. Most of their names we don't actually remember, but we had some really good times. We talked about all kinds of different shit. After HOURS of sitting around, some guy came out and told us that we were lined up behind the wrong door and we had to move back. But then the kids behind us that were at the right door wouldn't actually move, so we mostly just ended up hoarding around the door. It rained on and off and that kind of suck.
At one point, these douchebags came by and started making fun of us all for liking Avenged Sevenfold. This incited a few fans to start screaming curses, but the true revenge came a long time later. The douche bags walked by again, and our line-buddy Koert picked up a soggy donut that had been sitting around from earlier and threw it at him. He NAILED the douche in the back of the head. It was SO epic.
We pretty much all just sat around chugging energy drinks and getting to know each other. As the show got closer, the queue just turned into a big singalong, and we sang everything from Atreyu and Avenged to Third Eye Blind and Panic at the Disco. There was even some High School Musical thrown in there.
Siobhan headed off about half an hour before the doors open in order to get her photopass and I stayed hanging out with our new friends. Mostly the really badass girl named Lisa.
When they finally opened the doors, it was SUCH a mess. Everyone was hoarding around the doors and it was just this huge mass of kids. The security guards wouldn't let anyone in until we sorted the line some. And when they finally started letting us through and searching bags and such, we just went inside and down some stairs to ANOTHER set of doors that weren't open yet. This got even worse because the kids all pushed in so tight. So when they finally opened the doors, everyone was in such a rush to get through the doors that they practically killed each other.
Lisa and I held hands and ran to the stage as fast as we could, but we didn't get barrier like we hoped. Way too many kids managed to get in through another door before us.
Show:
Atreyu was up first. Their set was so much shorter here than in America, but it was cool anyways. They give such a fucking great live show. I love that band live. Alex is great with the crowd. Brandon seriously takes my breath away every time. I can't believe he can play drums and sing so well at the same time. And wtf, I love Danny. He is so cute :( I don't remember their entire set-list, but I know they played Doomsday, Bleeding Mascara, Blow, Falling Down, Right Side of the Bed, Crimson, Two Become One, and Becoming the Bull.
Bullet was next. They were decent. IDK. I'm not entirely crazy about them as a live band. Mostly because I feel like the exude douchebaggery. Their CD is decent enough and they're good musicians, but they don't do much for me as performers. They don't look too bad, though. So I enjoyed their eye-candyness.
The crowd at the show was just fucking awesome. These bands don't come around much, so the kids were just so energetic and so hyped and so fucking awesome. It's been like three days and I'm still sore. I'm not gonna lie. But it was just so amazing. So much passion and so much fun. There was this one girl in the pit that had a fucking BROKEN HIP but she was still out there rocking it. Mad respect.
Siobhan came out into the photo pit and she got close enough to chat with me and Lisa for a while. We made fun of the 'a7x bar' they'd put on stage and she took a few shots of the crowd before she had to leave again. But after she did, everyone thought I was ~*so cool, because I knew the photographer. lulz.
Avenged actually didn't take as long to get on stage as they did in the states. But the coolest part was that they didn't put up their big black curtain like they normally do between bands, so I got to watch the roadies put the stage together, which is always fun. Mmmm, Berrys.
When they finally made their way out, it was awesome, of course. The setup wasn't too different from the American ToC shows. Critical Acclaim to open. Johnny sang during Seize the Day. ALPOH for the encore. Although the A7x BAR was new, and they pulled a couple of girls out of the crowd to be bartenders. Matt Tuck came on stage with them for a while and he and Shadows chugged (skulled) some whiskey. Tuck took it like a fucking champ and Shadows flinched like a little bitch. The pansy.
But it was an amazing set. I'm not gonna lie. Shads is such a great front man. The whole band, though, has their own ways of interacting with the crowd. And it's fun to see how comfortable they are with each other. Brian totally did some flirting with Zacky. And then Johnny did some flirting with Zacky. LOL. I love this band :(
There was some kid on the floor with me from Australia that kept talking to me. I couldn't figure out if he was flirting with me or making fun of me for being American. But either way, he was weird.
Towards the end of the show, my friend Lisa managed to break her foot on the floor. We got the security guards to help us get her out, so after the show ended, I met up with her where the paramedics were helping her. Siobhan joined us and after Lisa's friends helped her off, we headed towards the back door of the venue. We could have hung around to see the guys come out, but instead we just hung around for a few minutes. We talked to some of the kids we'd met before and we ended up being told where the after-party was supposed to be. We watched the roadies do their thing (read: I stared at Matt Berry's ass for a bit), and then we decided to just head back to the hotel.
Post-show:
When we got back to the hotel, we met up with Koert again. He had heard that the after-party was at a different place, so we ended up getting his phone number and we decided to just go different ways and keep in touch if any of us found the band.
We got showered and put on our sexy clothes, then hit the town again. Our first destination was a little place called CrowBar, but when we actually found it, we decided it looked TOOOOTALLY lame. So we skipped out and headed towards Showgirls/Pony Club instead. That was where we'd originally heard the afterparty was gonna be. We got there as Shads and Tuck were leaving. We chatted with a few people we'd met in the crowd, then headed into the club.
There was no cover for the girls, so we went inside. It wasn't really that great, but at the same time, it was a Wednesday night. The stripper we saw at Showgirls was decent. She had nice tits. But she danced weirdly and we just weren't all that impressed. So we headed out after that.
The next stop was another strip club, called The White House. We actually really liked that one.
The stripped was WAYYY cuter and more fun. We hung around for a few minutes, but then the skeezy old men just wouldn't lay off of us, so we decided to head back to the hotel again.
When we got to the hotel, these three kids from the show were hanging out outside, and there was also this drunk old lady on the steps. Her baggage was EVERYWHERE, open and strewed through. We didn't really think much of it and we just walked past, waved at the kids from the show, and got into the lift. The two girls from the show rushed into the lift after us, and the guy started to join, but there was a 'four person' limit on the lift, so he stopped. But we grabbed the door and told us to join us anyways. But as this was happening, the drunk lady rushed in and screamed that she'd been 'rolled' which we think was actually supposed to be 'robbed.' She pushed her way onto the lift all 'you better fucking hold that lift' and she GRABBED Siobhan and shook her and told her to open her purse and show us our room key. We were all like O.O. "What do we do?" Ugh, it was so freaky. There was no guard or receptionist or anything in the lobby. It was ridiculous.
We eventually got the drunk bitch off the lift and got upstairs to our room, but not too much later, we got a text from Koert. "When you guys get back, watch out for the drunk lady with a knife."
O.O
Apparently, she ended up passing out drunk on the steps and when the receptionist came 'round, the cops were called.
Anyways, we're heading out to another strip club now. Next post:
Travel Day, Dunedin, Metal Show, Exploring, Larnach Castle, Party/Stillettos, Horse Trekking, and Marnie's Party Van.
Flight:
So, I started out in Birmingham. I stayed at my friend Jamie's overnight and he dropped me off at the airport. I had a short flight to Charlotte and during that flight I sat next to a (relatively) young guy from San Diego. We talked throughout the flight. He was pretty cool. We exchanged phone numbers and everything. I had a short layover and then got on a five hour flight to LA. I sat between a really sweet old lady and a Mechanical Engineer who I had a chance to talk 'engineering' with. It was probably the worst of the flights because it was just looooong and boring. Then I had another layover in LAX which was a pain in the ass. I'm not too fond of that airport's layout. However, while I was there, I met a couple from Alabama that were also travelling to New Zealand. They were very sweet.
My flight to Auckland was about 12 and a half hours and it was over nice. The Boeing 747 that I was on was really nice, and there was no one in the seat next to me, so I had some extra room. I got the window seat, and there was toooons of on board entertainment to choose from. I got a chance to sleep some, and the Air New Zealand crew fed us twice, which was pretty awesome.
So then I finally arrived in Auckland and I had to travel through customs and get my passport stamped and stuff. And then I made my way over to the Domestic airport. I had to wait around for several hours, but then wakethefallen and I finally met up. We showed a French lady how to get to the international terminal, and then we were on our way!
Auckland:
We caught a shuttle from the airport into the city. First off, we headed to our hotel/hostel. We stayed at Kiwi International. They let us check in early, which was fortunate. I got to set all my bags down and relax for a bit. The hotel was pretty cool. Really laidback-like. Although the elevator (lift) scared the shit out of me every time we rode it, because it was really jerky.
So, we put all our stuff down and then headed out again. We spent most of the day just wandering up and down Queen Street. We went to the Sky Tower. I TOOOOOTALLY wanted to bungy jump off of it, but we didn't. Mostly because Siobhan wouldn't do it with me, but also because it was totally expensive.
We went shopping for a while and I scoped out the local cute boys and such, obv. Because, you know. I like pretty boys.
Siobhan texted bexing and we made plans to meet up with her for dinner, so then we headed back to the hotel to take a quick power nap. Then we headed to dinner with Bex and had Kebabs. We wandered around a bit more, went to the mall and made fun of emo kids. Then we sat around and watched some skaters who thought they were way cooler than they were. We walked Bex to her bus stop, and then the plan was that we were gonna go take another power nap, and then hit the stip clubs. But we got back and never actually woke up from our power naps, haha. So we missed out on them that night. In retrospect, that kind of sucked, because we probably would have found Avenged if we'd gone out. But we really enjoyed the sleep, tbh.
Queueing:
So the day of the show, we got up and headed to breakfast. Siobhan was in contact with shira, and ended up getting a photopass to the show SUUUUPER last minute. So after breakfast we headed to the venue to see if she could pick up her photopass, but it was to early. We went back to the hotel again and got changed for the show and joined the queue about 12 or 12:30.
It really didn't take us long at all to start chatting with the kids around us. We met some TOOOOOOOOTALLY awesome kids. Most of their names we don't actually remember, but we had some really good times. We talked about all kinds of different shit. After HOURS of sitting around, some guy came out and told us that we were lined up behind the wrong door and we had to move back. But then the kids behind us that were at the right door wouldn't actually move, so we mostly just ended up hoarding around the door. It rained on and off and that kind of suck.
At one point, these douchebags came by and started making fun of us all for liking Avenged Sevenfold. This incited a few fans to start screaming curses, but the true revenge came a long time later. The douche bags walked by again, and our line-buddy Koert picked up a soggy donut that had been sitting around from earlier and threw it at him. He NAILED the douche in the back of the head. It was SO epic.
We pretty much all just sat around chugging energy drinks and getting to know each other. As the show got closer, the queue just turned into a big singalong, and we sang everything from Atreyu and Avenged to Third Eye Blind and Panic at the Disco. There was even some High School Musical thrown in there.
Siobhan headed off about half an hour before the doors open in order to get her photopass and I stayed hanging out with our new friends. Mostly the really badass girl named Lisa.
When they finally opened the doors, it was SUCH a mess. Everyone was hoarding around the doors and it was just this huge mass of kids. The security guards wouldn't let anyone in until we sorted the line some. And when they finally started letting us through and searching bags and such, we just went inside and down some stairs to ANOTHER set of doors that weren't open yet. This got even worse because the kids all pushed in so tight. So when they finally opened the doors, everyone was in such a rush to get through the doors that they practically killed each other.
Lisa and I held hands and ran to the stage as fast as we could, but we didn't get barrier like we hoped. Way too many kids managed to get in through another door before us.
Show:
Atreyu was up first. Their set was so much shorter here than in America, but it was cool anyways. They give such a fucking great live show. I love that band live. Alex is great with the crowd. Brandon seriously takes my breath away every time. I can't believe he can play drums and sing so well at the same time. And wtf, I love Danny. He is so cute :( I don't remember their entire set-list, but I know they played Doomsday, Bleeding Mascara, Blow, Falling Down, Right Side of the Bed, Crimson, Two Become One, and Becoming the Bull.
Bullet was next. They were decent. IDK. I'm not entirely crazy about them as a live band. Mostly because I feel like the exude douchebaggery. Their CD is decent enough and they're good musicians, but they don't do much for me as performers. They don't look too bad, though. So I enjoyed their eye-candyness.
The crowd at the show was just fucking awesome. These bands don't come around much, so the kids were just so energetic and so hyped and so fucking awesome. It's been like three days and I'm still sore. I'm not gonna lie. But it was just so amazing. So much passion and so much fun. There was this one girl in the pit that had a fucking BROKEN HIP but she was still out there rocking it. Mad respect.
Siobhan came out into the photo pit and she got close enough to chat with me and Lisa for a while. We made fun of the 'a7x bar' they'd put on stage and she took a few shots of the crowd before she had to leave again. But after she did, everyone thought I was ~*so cool, because I knew the photographer. lulz.
Avenged actually didn't take as long to get on stage as they did in the states. But the coolest part was that they didn't put up their big black curtain like they normally do between bands, so I got to watch the roadies put the stage together, which is always fun. Mmmm, Berrys.
When they finally made their way out, it was awesome, of course. The setup wasn't too different from the American ToC shows. Critical Acclaim to open. Johnny sang during Seize the Day. ALPOH for the encore. Although the A7x BAR was new, and they pulled a couple of girls out of the crowd to be bartenders. Matt Tuck came on stage with them for a while and he and Shadows chugged (skulled) some whiskey. Tuck took it like a fucking champ and Shadows flinched like a little bitch. The pansy.
But it was an amazing set. I'm not gonna lie. Shads is such a great front man. The whole band, though, has their own ways of interacting with the crowd. And it's fun to see how comfortable they are with each other. Brian totally did some flirting with Zacky. And then Johnny did some flirting with Zacky. LOL. I love this band :(
There was some kid on the floor with me from Australia that kept talking to me. I couldn't figure out if he was flirting with me or making fun of me for being American. But either way, he was weird.
Towards the end of the show, my friend Lisa managed to break her foot on the floor. We got the security guards to help us get her out, so after the show ended, I met up with her where the paramedics were helping her. Siobhan joined us and after Lisa's friends helped her off, we headed towards the back door of the venue. We could have hung around to see the guys come out, but instead we just hung around for a few minutes. We talked to some of the kids we'd met before and we ended up being told where the after-party was supposed to be. We watched the roadies do their thing (read: I stared at Matt Berry's ass for a bit), and then we decided to just head back to the hotel.
Post-show:
When we got back to the hotel, we met up with Koert again. He had heard that the after-party was at a different place, so we ended up getting his phone number and we decided to just go different ways and keep in touch if any of us found the band.
We got showered and put on our sexy clothes, then hit the town again. Our first destination was a little place called CrowBar, but when we actually found it, we decided it looked TOOOOTALLY lame. So we skipped out and headed towards Showgirls/Pony Club instead. That was where we'd originally heard the afterparty was gonna be. We got there as Shads and Tuck were leaving. We chatted with a few people we'd met in the crowd, then headed into the club.
There was no cover for the girls, so we went inside. It wasn't really that great, but at the same time, it was a Wednesday night. The stripper we saw at Showgirls was decent. She had nice tits. But she danced weirdly and we just weren't all that impressed. So we headed out after that.
The next stop was another strip club, called The White House. We actually really liked that one.
The stripped was WAYYY cuter and more fun. We hung around for a few minutes, but then the skeezy old men just wouldn't lay off of us, so we decided to head back to the hotel again.
When we got to the hotel, these three kids from the show were hanging out outside, and there was also this drunk old lady on the steps. Her baggage was EVERYWHERE, open and strewed through. We didn't really think much of it and we just walked past, waved at the kids from the show, and got into the lift. The two girls from the show rushed into the lift after us, and the guy started to join, but there was a 'four person' limit on the lift, so he stopped. But we grabbed the door and told us to join us anyways. But as this was happening, the drunk lady rushed in and screamed that she'd been 'rolled' which we think was actually supposed to be 'robbed.' She pushed her way onto the lift all 'you better fucking hold that lift' and she GRABBED Siobhan and shook her and told her to open her purse and show us our room key. We were all like O.O. "What do we do?" Ugh, it was so freaky. There was no guard or receptionist or anything in the lobby. It was ridiculous.
We eventually got the drunk bitch off the lift and got upstairs to our room, but not too much later, we got a text from Koert. "When you guys get back, watch out for the drunk lady with a knife."
O.O
Apparently, she ended up passing out drunk on the steps and when the receptionist came 'round, the cops were called.
Anyways, we're heading out to another strip club now. Next post:
Travel Day, Dunedin, Metal Show, Exploring, Larnach Castle, Party/Stillettos, Horse Trekking, and Marnie's Party Van.