Get ready Europe, 3 weeks today!

USA 2010 tour pictures.

Staples Centre, Los Angeles, 29th November 2010

USA 2010 tour pictures.

27th November 2010, Phoenix show panorama.

USA 2010 tour pictures.

26th November 2010, Las Vegas, NV

European tour 1st leg (Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan and Rome)

My blog will be active again whilst I'm on the road from the 21st March to the 10th April. five cities, ten shows, two birthday celebrations in Rome and a one day trip to Pompeii. Not sure what sure my plans are as yet after this.


View Roger Waters European tour, 1st leg in a larger map

Christmas 2010 in Woodbridge,VA, the best Christmas ever…..

 

Christmas Eve,

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Christmas Day,

Album with pictures from Christmas Day

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Williamsburg, VA 27th,28th and 29th December

An album  of pictures from the last couple of days down in Williamsburg, VA

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Christmas lights….

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This is in someones garden!!

Part 2…….(26th Dec now updated with surprise pictures)

So i finally arrive in Washington DC ate 2:30! I walk towards immigration with thoughts of getting in and out of Ottawa a few weeks ago in my head. I’m the first inline and head through, “what’s the purpose of your visit” asks the stern Immigration guy “just to see friends for the holidays” i replied. As i replied i could see he had already picked up the rubber stamp and proceeded to strike it down onto a blank page in my passport!! he hands it me back and wishes me happy Holidays! WOW easiest entry into the USA ever!

And now the moment of truth! I head to carousel number 6 to wait for my luggage, after waiting 5 minutes i hear my name along with 3 others on the loudspeaker. I report to the desk as asked and my suspicions are confirmed, my bag is still in Paris! The only negative about this was my GPS was in my case and i didn't know where i was going, soon sorted that out though. My bags are apparently being delivered to me tonight or tomorrow however i don't think they were aware that an hour  after me flying out of Paris they closed the airport! We’ll see when they turn up but in the meantime I've bought  some new “essentials” from the Target down the street!!

So i get the shuttle bus out to the Alamo car rental, pick up the rental car and head over to the Gaylord Hotel just across the street from where Mark and the family are seeing the ice sculptures. I text mark and he replies saying they are  out of the exhibition and in the sports bar having a drink and some food just down the escalator in the hotel where i am, he also says they are  at a table under the big screen in the bar.

I head on down the escalator and peep through the door, i saw them all sat at the table and pulled my head back from the door. I then just decide to sneak in and take my chance. As luck would have it mark knew i was coming and saw me walking in and distracted Kami and Kim asking them to look his way so he could take their picture. I walked faster up behind them and it was at this point that i saw Beth noticed me and i read her lips as she said “oh my gosh there's Simon” As i got up behind the girls i put my arms around them and said “ can one of you two order me a long island iced tea” they both turned around and were totally shocked at what they saw! ME!! Kim burst into tears within seconds and i don't think Kami still realised it was real and that i was actually stood in front of her! Brent was pretty shocked too and Beth just looked at me and said “ what are you doing here” i told her id come over to taste some of the cookies which she had made. This was a real payback for them surprising me in Omaha and i really got them good! I sat down and ordered a Long Island iced tea which was well deserved after the travelling id been through. Marks mom Beverly is staying with them for Christmas too and id met her in Denver a few years ago, such a lovely lady and its so nice that she was here to see the whole surprise

I tried to get a couple of pics while Kim and Kami had the surprised look on their faces and i think Mark took either some pics or video which I'll get off him and put up here when i can.

Mark saw me come in and was distracting the girls as i approached, they hadn't seen me at this point.

Kim was in tears and Kami couldn't believe id just surprised her!

Me checking Kami was ok after seeing her being in shock! (Kim and Brent looking on)

What was going to be a pretty bleak and non eventful Christmas for me has already turned into one of the best i can remember and I've only been here 6 hours!!

Merry Christmas everyone and i hope you all have a fantastic festive season with the people you love and care about, i know i am!

Beth by the Gunzinger tree!         Me by the tree in the hotel           Kami, Brent, Kim, Beverly and Mark

   

Si

P.S. Oh and i tried eggnog for the first time tonight and i love it!!

Christmas, its about giving….. and SURPRISES!!!

So when i left the USA i was up to 88 on my 90 day VISA so there was no way i could stay in the USA any longer otherwise the men in long black coats with sunglasses would come looking for me! So i HAD to go back to the UK. I was led to believe that one had to be back in the UK for no less than 30 days before being able to enter the USA again, however this later turned out to not be true and worked to my advantage!

Id had countless offers of places to stay, visit and be for Christmas and just want to say thanks to everyone for those.One of those offers was from Mark (Gunzinger) Kami, Beth and Kim also wished i could spend Christmas at the Gunzinger house in Virginia however it wasn't to be.

The prospect of going back to an empty house and spending Christmas alone was not one i was looking forward to at all. However i didn't see any other option, that is until i found out i did NOT have to be in the UK for 30 days before i could re enter the USA! As long as i had a valid return ticket and had not outstayed my welcome on a previous VISA i was able to re enter whenever i want.

My dad is going to Spain for two weeks over Christmas and New Year so i couldn't drive up there and stay with him (Sorry Kami i know i told you i was going to my dads for Christmas but i hope you’ll forgive the little white lies i told you!) and having moved down to the south of England  18 months ago i knew no one around where i live apart from the next door neighbour and didn't really want to spend Christmas day with an old camp transvestite!

On the Monday morning i looked up the price of flights to Washington DC, WOW cheap, VERY cheap indeed. I e mailed Mark and asked him if the offer of Christmas dinner was still open. “Sure” he replied “ we would love to see you for Christmas” he said i e mailed back and said “great but, Kami, Kim, Beth and Beverly (Marks mom whom id met a few years earlier) could not know a thing about it as this was payback for surprising me in Omaha! Mark was into it and i started to look round for flights. On the previous Saturday Heathrow and the south of England had been hit by terrible snow and ice and Heathrow was closed on the Sunday and Monday with no flights coming in and out for two days! I live 6 miles from Heathrow and that would have been an ideal place to fly out of however there was no way i wanted to risk booking something and then it not leaving!

Manchester airport in the north of England is about 20 miles from where i used to live in Huddersfield, they are used to snow and as it happens there wasn't as much snow “up north” as there had been “down south” , the airport had no problems at all and had been running as normal the last few days I looked at flights from Manchester as it was worth the 4 hour drive north to make sure i would get to Washington before 3:30 (there was a reason for this!) it worked out if i left Manchester at 6am, flew to Paris and then got a flight to Washington DC at 10:30am i would be in DC for 1pm! perfect! i checked the weather in Paris and it was showing sun, sun sun, (but cold) for the rest of the week ( this was Tuesday when i actually booked the flight)

Christmas Eve, Friday, 3:45am

Its now Christmas Eve and I'm sat in the departure lounge waiting for the flight to Paris which is at the moment showing on time! Its been just my luck that the last 2 days the flight has been delayed a couple of hours, but that couple of hours means i would have missed my connection in Paris so I'm sat here praying that today's flight leaves on time! I drove up to Manchester very late last night to find out the two flights into Paris last night had been cancelled due to snow on the runway!!

So, Mark and the family are all going to see some huge Ice sculptures at 3:30pm today just outside DC, the y have a timed ticket to enter the  display and Mark picked me one up as well. If all goes to plan then i should arrive in DC at 1pm,  clear security, customs, pick up a rental car and drive over to the  North Harbour area where they are seeing the display! So hopefully I'll be there before they get there to surprise them all!! I cant wait to see the looks on their faces as I've spoke to Kami a couple of times over the last week just to say hi and to congratulate her on her masters degree and i asked what she was doing Christmas eve and she was telling me about the ice display they were going to see, little did she know i knew already, hehe sorry Kami. (remember me telling you Christmas is nice as its about surprises as well as giving?)

Update 5:00am

The flights still on time while I'm adding this sentence, hopefully the nesx sentence will be written while I'm in Paris! If i get there late and am unable to get to the ice display then I'm gonna drive over to the house and knock on the door, anyone know where i can borrow a Santa outfit with a  huge beard as a disguise:) lol I've thought of lots of ways of surprising them but even if i just walk through the door i think its gonna surprise them all in a big way!! i warned you id get you back for Omaha!! Don't mess with the best!!

 

Update 6:00am

They've just started to board the flight!! looks like all is well, unless were held on the runway!

De icing the plane getting it ready!              Boarding on a cold wintery morning

 

Update 7:00am

I spoke to soon, we were due to leave at 6:15am, been sat here on the plane for 30 minutes and they've just announced we missed our flight slot and have been given another but not until 8:00am!

Update: 8:00am

We were given a new slot of 7:45am and are in the air!! taking into account the 1 hour flight time and the one hour ahead time difference we should arrive in Paris at 9:45  and hopefully in time for the 10:30 flight to Washington!

Update 10:40am

So we arrived in Paris at 9:35, took us a good ten minutes to taxi to a place where we had to get off the plane onto a shuttle bus, this then took us a good 5 to 10 minutes to the terminal.

In the UK my UK mobile phone shows the houses of parliament as the background image automatically, it changes to a national landmark in every country this is the image as i turned it on the runway after arriving in Paris.(see the time, 9:36 but Paris is one hour ahead of the UK, i took this as i was putting my laptop back in my bag and putting my belt back on.

The Arc de Triumph           The conditions at Charles De Gaulle airport

     

I ran inside like a madman and looked at the TV screens for the Washington flight, i couldn't see it, ARRGGGHHH!!,  then turned to my left and saw another bank of screens on the adjacent wall. “Washington Dulles, AF028  10:30 Gate E73  ON TIME” i looked at my watch it was 10:05am i looked up to the signs that said Gates 56 to 79 and ran like crazy up the stairs, got to the top only to find i had to take a train!! and one had just this second left! I saw a sign on the doors that said  “trains every 2 minutes” you have no idea how long that 2 minutes felt, i seemed like i could have flown to Washington and back by the time that train pulled up!

I  jumped on the train and looked at my watch at least 3 or 4 times, I was already checked in and had my boarding pass, they had checked me and my baggage right through to Washington ifrom Manchester so surely Air France would know i had arrived and was on my way ? The guy sat next to me on the train was flying to Cincinnati and his flight was the same time too but he had 4 less gates to run that  did!  As i got off the train i followed the signs for gate 73 only to find SECUIRTY!!  i had to go through security again even though i was airside and had cleared it in Manchester. Fortunately there were only 3 or 4 people in front of me, i removed my shoes, my watch my belt everything that i thought would make the metal detector go off! i threw it all in the tray and handed the assistant my boarding pass.

You know when you go to a gig and they scan your ticket and you see the check mark come up on the machine and you hear a positive beep, i didn't i, saw a cross and heard a buzz!!  I looked at my watch, 10:21am!! She looked at the boarding pass for what seemed like ten minutes, she looked at my passport then back to my boarding pass, pulled a confused look on her face and handed them back to me, once at the other side i threw on my jacket, slipped on my shoes, grabbed everything  i could and Ran Like Hell towards the big Gate 73 sign! The gates started at 56 and i ran like crazy as they counted up, 58, 59, 60, i even ran on the moving walkways thinking they were moving so would speed me up a few seconds rather than running on the motionless floor!

I've never been so happy to see an airport gate in my life! and one with about 25 people still lined up and boarding my flight! I sat for a minute (hey i haven't been running for the last 6 weeks!!) put my laptop and camera in my bag, tied the laces on my shoes, put my belt back in the loops on my jeans, put my watch back on and made my way to the desk. The assistant scanned my boarding pass again and this time the words “Invalid Document” came up!! He tried it again, same thing. He looked into his computer and pulled up my info, there was a bit of info missing like date of birth, expiry date of passport and a couple of other things, he filled them in scanned my passport and that was it, or so i though! it then popped up in HUGE red letters on the screen “NO ESTA” In the UK when anyone travels to the USA they now have to fill in an online electronic travel document called an “ESTA” this has to be done or you cant travel and from the beginning of last month it now costs us $14 to do this! I did this two days ago and had made a  note or the ESTA number that it gives you, i gave the guy the number and it wouldn't accept it in the Computer! By this time i was the last one left at the desk and everyone else had boarded the flight through the other desks. He was confused and  had no idea what was wrong and called his colleague over, she looked at the screen and saw instantly that when he had scanned in my passport, next to my name wasn't a number but a line of jumbled characters! she scanned in my passport again and up popped my passport number,  a big green check and a beep that I've never thought sounded so good came up on the screen!

I walked down the catwalk to the plane before the guy in the green security jacked started to close the doors behind me! That's it I'm on my way!!

Looking back after going through to the plane   My plane

 

I took my seat and the captain came over the speaker to say we’d be moving back in 40 minutes, he said there was only one runway open and 45 planes in front of us to take off first! it didn't take a mathematician to figure out that we may be moving back in 40 minutes but there was no way we would be up in the air in that time!

Update 12:30pm

Its now 12:30pm as I'm sat on the flight to Washington and finally in the air!! we did start to move back after about 30 minutes as he said, but we then sat on the runway for another 90 minutes waiting for countless flights ahead of us to take off!

I have no idea if my bag has made it to the plane, I'm guessing it has but to be honest i don't care, i have!! and i can buy some new clothes  when i arrive if it hasn't!  I'm gonna have to see what time we arrive, how long immigration and customs takes and how long it takes to pick up my rental car before i decide the best way to spring my surprise!!

To be continued…………..

No, Thank YOU!!!

 

Although the USA leg of this tour is over this blog is not by any means over just yet i still have a few posts to write up and some random things to say before i fire it up again when i see some European shows next year! i do however want to say the following as I've just got home to the UK again yesterday.

Early on last year when i started planning this trip i had no idea how much fun it was going to be, I've done several full tours in the past, 8 weeks in Europe in 2002, the whole USA and Europe tours in 2006 and 2007 and the US and Europe  dates in 2008, plus various other one off shows here and there. Its only because of my blog that people are aware of my travels this time round and even though I've done it in the past this trip has been the most exciting and memorable trip I've ever taken.

Its also been a very emotional trip for me, not only because of the shows and the friends I've seen and left but also because during this trip for various reasons my girlfriend and i of 2 1/2 years separated. This was someone whom i changed my whole life for, sold my house, left my job, left my friends and moved nearly 300 miles away for. Things just didn't work out for a few reasons but it wasn't for the lack of trying. Honestly, i feel a lot happier than i did now and i look back and wonder why i didn't see things earlier and listen to other people, but hindsight is a great thing. With thanks to a couple  of people (one in particular) whom I've been with during the last 13 weeks i was able to handle the emotions well without thinking about it too much and without it spoiling my trip so much as to not enjoy it. I just wanted to thank those people, you know who you are and its nice to have friends like you.

I've met so many old friends and made so many new friends on this trip that it really is impossible to thank everyone by name so i just wanted to say a HUGE Thank You to the people that made this trip such a great experience for me.

One person i do want to thank by name is Kamilla, known to a few as Kami. I had such a good time and we created so many new memories that the whole trip would not have been the same without you, so THANK YOU!

I have thought and may even make this blog into a book! I've had a few people suggest this and it is something i would like to see happen. What i would also like if possible is that as many of you that have been reading this blog leave a comment on this entry so i can put them all in the book if it ever gets done. I know when i first started there were a lot of people who commented on the posts and this fell off as the tour went on, i know a lot of people just “lurk” and don't like to comment and i understand that perfectly but if you could take a couple of minutes to comment on it it would be greatly appreciated and you would all be part of history:)

THANK YOU!!!

The Gunzingers (Mark, Beth, Kami, Kim and Brent)….

 

Remember how i said in an earlier blog that we all try to describe the show after we've seen it for the first time and there's just not enough superlatives to say what we feel ? Well imagine coming up with all those and more and your not even close to describing the above family and how much love i have for them all!

I cant believe its been nearly 10 years since we met for the first time and even more years than that since Mark and i started e mailing and chatting! Mark, Beth and Kim flew over to Dublin for the shows in 2002 and we had such a good time together, we all hit it off from the word go. Mark and Beth have always been the perfect hosts, offering me a place to stay and even offering me a car to drive while I'm staying there! I usually stay at Mark and Beth's whenever I'm in the area and I've stayed there at least 4 or 5 times over the last few years.

The first time i got to actually meet Kami was in New York in 2006 when Sony flew me over to help organise the Ca Ira press show they did for Roger, up until  then Kami and I chatted on AOL chat and e mail. We get on great and both Kim and Kami are like sisters to me. I've met Kim’s friends and Kami’s friends, Mark and Beth's friends and even Mark and Beth's parents!!

I just wanted to say how great it is to have you all as friends and how much you all mean to me, your like my surrogate family and its such a shame i am unable to stay out there for Christmas and had to fly back, i couldn't think of any other place i would have rather spent Christmas this year. I’ll definitely be taking you up on the offer of thanksgiving next year and cant wait to see you all in Milan in 2011!!

Thanks again Beth, Mark, Kami, Kim and Brent. Have a fantastic Christmas and the happiest of New Years.