Beginning of tour

Tour got off to a bit of a rough start. Got up at 5 am, got ready, and headed to the airport. Went to check in at 6:45, learned they stopped checking bags for my flight at 6:40. I called someone over and they told me there was nothing they could do. Had to pay $75 to switch to a flight leaving at noon.

Got through security with no problems, dispite the fact that I have bright red hair and probably looked like I was going to cry the whole time. One of the guys working asked me about the shirt I was wearing. It was a shirt of a band that some guys I went to high school with are in. He told me about how they have a lot of famous people come though. Apparently Carlos Santana came through not that long ago.

Got to my gate, and tried to find something to do for 4 1/2 hours until boarding. Wandered around to see if I could get some coffee or breakfast, since I hadn't planned on the extra hours. Every place had super long lines and a regular cup of coffee was almost $3. I decided to head back to the gate and wait. Luckily the airport had wi-fi as long as you watch an ad every half hour so I could catch up on a few things and waste sometime. It's really hard though when you're tired, just sitting around, but can't sleep/nap.

Around 9:30 I tried for food/coffee again. Ther were more places open and the lines were a lot shorter. I still ended up paying $6 for a coffee (with grounds in the bottom) and muffin. I guess that's not too far off from what you'd pay at a place like Starbucks.

Less then 10 minutes before we were supposed to board they announced a gate change. Whenwe were supposed to be boasrding they announced that boarding was delayed 15 minutes. 20 minutes later I gave up and ran to the bathroom. When I got back I saw that boarding was changed to 12 and take off to 12:30. Boarding FINALLY started at 12:10. While waiting I did see an awesome lady wearing purple shoes, purple pants, a purple sweater, carrying a purple bag.

They finally called my boarding group and I got in line to board. They scanned my ticket and it beeped. I thought maybe, once again, I had been selected for a random search. Nope, they just took my printed ticket and gave me a more official looking one. I was also for some reason moved from seat 14A to 11A.

I really wish I had thought to get my camera out because the view while taking off was awesome. First we flew out over the ocean. At one point yuou couldn't see anything but water. Then we turn and headed back east. I could see the Hollywood sign, Griffith Park, the Americana, roughly where I lived. It was cool seeing the landscape turn from all city, to suddenly mountians and no buildings.

Finally, several hours later I arrived in St. Louis. When I turned my phone on I had a text from Jr. They were stuck at the venue and couldn't come get me :( I ended up having to take a taxi. After all of that I finally made it! I'll have to write about the first few shows some other time because doors are about to open!