Woke up early, at around 6am. Show day today!!! Got up, hopped in the shower and walked around Manassas for a bit, stopped by a 7eleven and got some water and pop tarts. My first time having them, great texture but way too much sugar. I also didn’t really see a lot of pedestrians or bikes here in Manassas, mostly cars, but that seems to be the number one way of getting around here, public transportation is usually not the fastest or cheapest option. I was also definitely shocked by the fact that bottled water was more expensive than Mountain Dew, no wonder obesity is such a big issue over there. Quickly stopped by McDonald’s, that food is even shittier than McDonald’s in Germany, way too salty and greasy, my stomach was definitely not too happy. Went back to my hotel and got ready for the show.

Got an uber to get to Bristow, took around 15 minutes. I was surprised that I was the only person there (Maiden fans always get in line early!) at 12:30. Soon after another Maiden fan, Kenny, turned up, also wondering if we were either the only ones or just at the wrong place. We talked for a bit when a woman in a mid 80s Steve Harris costume turned up, looking for her tour flag. She told us there were around ten other fans waiting by the street, since a security guard told them not to queue until 4:30! After the exact same guard made us leave ‚his property‘ as well (weren’t even allowed to park the car there) we walked all the way back to where the property ended. Met the Brazilian fans Diogo, Arthur and Julio whom Stephan already told me about. (‚Oh you’re friends with Stephan? Here,have a beer! Tastes like piss but it comes from the heart!‘)

The waiting time went by quickly due to talking to new Maiden friends. Jett turned up handing out the wristbands, but I didn’t have a +1. The guy behind me, who turned out to be really nice, didn’t have a guest as well so we asked Jett if it was okay to leave line and look for two fans to be our guests. We found two younger boys who seemed super happy. The rest of fttb went smoothly, even tho security didn’t allow flags inside the venue (managed to sneak mine in)

Ended up in the middle, between Manny, (who started queuing at 3am!!) and another nice US fan. Raven Age came on, and they were even more boring than I remembered. Anyway- time for Maiden!!! The bois were in pretty good shape, even tho Bruce completely missed the first part of WED, which Steve wasn’t too happy about, and Bruce also knocked over his mic stand during TMTM. The show in general was good as always, walked out with a drumstick and completely covered in sweat. Gotta say I was kinda disappointed by the US crowd tho, no energy at all! After the show I met Pratik again, who offered me a lift back to my hotel, which J graciously accepted (especially since they only had one exit for approximately 10000 cars. We also met our +1’s again, they both caught something at the gig which they proudly showed us, so cute! Pratik drove me back to my hotel, where I fell asleep soon after.

5 a.m. Woke up from a terribly loud noise emerging from my phone. Had an incoming message saying EMERGENCY WARNING. Heart attack. Pressed decline, only a flood warning. Tried to get back to sleep, but my phone decided to receive three more of these messages until I finally found out how to turn them off. Wide awake now at 5 a.m., great. Rolled out of bed, trying to be as quiet as possible because I didn’t want to disturb my roommates. Brushed my teeth, took a shower, put clothes on and left the hostel in the pouring rain in search of coffee and breakfast. Walked around for a bit, found a place that sold nice acai bowls and coffee. Headed back to my hostel, got ready ,checked out and took the subway to Port Authority Bus Station. The subway is something that I still haven’t figured out completely haha. Port Authority is close to Times Square, so I decided to explore the area a bit- definitely overwhelming to see, but also really overcrowded and hectic, probably not the best idea to do this while dragging a suitcase around.

Decided to get some overpriced ice cream (9$!!!), a bottle of water and a snack for the bus ride before going back to Port Authority. Over 400 gates for buses, this station is huge!! Bus was on time, was a little worried about that since Stephan’s bus got delayed for over six hours! Ride went smoothly tho. Got to DC, tried to get on a train to Manassas, typed it into my phone, and maps said 8(!!!) hours. No way. I was beyond exhausted at that point, so I went to the help desk and asked the lady who worked there if there was a way to get to Manassas. She told me to go to Vienna and catch an uber fron there, so that’s what I did.

Got to my shady hotel, which was better than expected. Clean room, large bed and enough towels for my stay. Got to bed soon after .

Woke up after a rather short night this morning, but slept way better than expected. Hopped in the shower, headed down to grab some breakfast, packed up all my stuff to catch a bus to the airport.Scanner for boarding passes didn’t scan the QR code on my phone, saying ‚invalid boarding pass‘. So I went back and downloaded the pdf file, which had the exact same QR code, but apparently that one worked- very weird.

Security check went smoothly and didn’t take longer than five minutes – 1,5 hrs left til boarding!

The flight to Düsseldorf was probably the smoothest flight I’ve ever taken. No delays, boarding happened in under 15 minutes, the flight itself took less than an hour, didn’t expect that from an airline like Germanwings. Currently charging my phone and taking advantage of the free airport wifi, to kill four hours until boarding my flight to NYC 😅

Those four hours went by quicker than expected. Passport control was okay too, the guy at the desk kept asking where I worked and who my boss is, I got kinda nervous and I think he could tell 😂 got a cup of overpriced coffee at the gate, boarded the plane and now waiting for takeoff. They had to unload luggage from the plane and then wait for a new slot, meaning we’re delayed an hour by now. The girl next to me left in search of an aisle seat and hasn’t returned yet, which most likely means I’ll have both seats for myself!

Took off an hour later than scheduled, but there’s an entertainment system on board, so I started watching Braveheart. They served food about an hour after takeoff, tiniest portions I’ve ever seen lol.

Tried to take a nap cramped between two seats, ate a snack,took another nap and soon after we started our descent to JFK. Couldn’t land for almost an hour because of bad weather, flew a loop across the Atlantic and finally landed at 9:30 pm

Passport control went rather smoothly, the tranfer from JFK to Long Island, where my hotel was located, didn’t. Subway trains weren’t running due to AC problems, the LIRR didn’t work for me either, so I caved and called an UBER. First time uberpool, had trouble finding my driver, but the ride went better than expected, driver was reallly friendly and made sure I made it to my hostel safely.

Hostel was called ‚local hostel NYC ‚ located in Long Island City. Checked in, paid, went up to my 6 bed bedroom. Nice and clean for a hostel, plus the AC on on full power. Brushed my teeth, set my alarm to 7:30 and went straight to bed.

Day one of the Maiden tour- still beyond exhausted from the wedding yesterday and a tough week at work, but I finally managed to get all my stuff together, finished my banner and vest.

Got up super early today, a bit of cleaning here, a bit of laundry there and I’m definitely kinda nervous. Realized I lost my national ID this week, so I hope my passport will do. Couldn’t check in on my flight to Düsseldorf, I hope I can figure it out before tomorrow.

Currently on my way to Berlin, weather is way too hot imo.

Train ride has been very smooth so far, no delays and not too crowded. The guy next to me is super weird tho, he just lost a game of solitaire and started cursing and punching the screen of his phone 😁

Made it to my hotel near the airport after a shady ass train ride, and finally figured out how to check in on my flight. Window seat for Berlin to Düsseldorf, stuck with the aisle seat on the flight to NYC tho.

Hotel isn’t too shabby, nothing too fancy tho; no wifi, no soap and towels with stains on them, eww.