Well well well + Story Of How I Ended Up With 14 Taylor Swift Eras Tour Tickets + UPDATESSSSSSS
So my last post, which was published on 9 March 2023, ended like this:
... as it turns out, the pressure of having to write witty, personal details about my new life in Copenhagen every week turned out to be far too great, and it just gave me massive writers block and put a lot of pressure on me, and the last thing I needed after moving to a new country, essentially restarting huge parts of my life, social circles, routines, etc was just beyond what I was capable of.
So I'm going to resume this blog with a new paradigm, instead of committing to making a new post every x days/weeks/months, I'll just say that I'll write new posts as/if/when interesting things come up that I would like to write about that I believe you all, or even just some of you all who read this, would be interested in reading. Since my blog has an option to send out an email when a new post is published, there is no need for you to worry about checking the blog regularly for new posts, when I write a new post it will find it's way to your email inbox and you can read it if you are interested.
I find writing and documenting my various travels and experiences to be quite enriching regardless of who reads it, I've always enjoyed writing and expressing myself through text and video, and since I have been asked by some of you what's happening in my life, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the two. That way, with the way life gets, as busy as we all find ourselves, you can know where I am at in my life. But I make no committments to post every x schedule, because that pressure can really get to a person.
Note: In general you can just read the blog post directly in your email inbox as I just include images and maybe a video link or two, but this one I went a bit wild with embedding some tiktoks etc and therefore for the best experience I recommend that you click to view the post on the blog itself, there is a link at the top of this email.
So where did we leave off?
I had found an apartment in Copenhagen, in student accomodation, basically a tiny room with kitchen bedroom living room all being one small room, and I was prepared to make do with that, because Copenhagen rental market is brutal and you take what you can get. Then my boss found me an alternative apartment, more central than the previous one yet much bigger too, and for similar rent. I felt so blessed and shocked that even now a year and a half later still cannot believe my fortune in the find. Over the past year and a half I've also made the apartment into a home that I feel very comfortable and settled in, through much sweat and tears, and yes even a little blood (because assembling Ikea furnature be like that sometimes).
I've also been dating a wonderful guy for the past year but as I am still adjusting to posting a blog again, I find the feeling to be just like jumping off a cliff into a cold body of water, or something like public speaking, where even though I'm sharing information that I would be happy to share with any one of you, since it's done in a medium of this bulk email/newsletter/blog thingy, it feels much more announcement-ey and egocentric, and exposing me and my emotions to the world than I feel comfortable with right now.
I am currently writing this on a train to Germany, where I am seeing Taylor Swift live in Hamburg N1. (Update: and then on another train from Hamburg to Munich)
I try take the train whenever I can if possible and reasonable because with the faff of air travel, where you have to arrive at least 2 hours before your flight, at the airport, which doesn't even include the time it takes to get to the airport, which often is called something like <city name airport> and actually is located a 1 hour drive away from the city itself, and it adds up to a 5 hour trip or more.
So since Hamburg is about a 5.5 hour train journey from Copenhagen I chose to do the train. It's not much more to book first class so naturally I did that, but for some reason there is the worst smell in this cabin, probably because it's the one right next to the bathroom. I thought that my nose would get used to it, but here I am, about 4.5 hours into the journey and nope. Counting down the seconds until I can be free of this smelly capsule.
My plan when I get to Hamburg is to go straight to my hotel, an incredible find called the Grand Elysee, it's by far the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at, and honestly not that much more expensive than any other one in Hamburg. I was shocked to find that even with Swiftlation, the price of the rooms was the same as what I paid last time I stayed there when I vistied Hamburg in December, and they still did their reserve for free and you can cancel up to 6pm on the day you were going to check in, which is insanely generous for a hotel cancellation policy.
There is a whole blog post I could write just about that hotel but let me not get too side tracked, I have to keep that ADHD that keeps me so creative under control! Although seriously, I just might actually write that post one day.
Okay fine I just have to show you the entrance to the hotel. - I've just checked and every photo I took of the hotel entrance makes it look like it's in witness protection, so come on Google Images
It's also got the best showerhead and water pressure and hotel spa / sauna / hot pool / freezing cold water shower ice thingy / steam room etc of all time. I'm getting distracted.
It has this amazing spa, with 2 saunas, a Finnish one set to 90 degrees (celcius), an aroma therapy one set to 60 degrees, and a really nice beautiful steam room, with constellation LED lights in the domed ceiling and then a whole range of these showers, some with temperature controls, some that are just walls as powerful as a mini waterfall of freezing cold water. One has 6 different jets, 3 on each side, and the rainfall large showerhead above.
It's actually the first place I ever tried the hot sauna then cold water thing that is very popular here in Northern Europe and I've been hooked ever since. I was convinced to do it by a nice German lady, who saw me apprehensively setting the water to lukewarm, and then squeeling in alarm at the contrast of my hot skin and the cold(ish) water. She told me that she has been coming here (to the spa part of the hotel which is available separately for Hamburg residents) for the past 40 years, and that this waterfall shower thingy is the best one she has ever used.
I now do it regularly in Copenhagen in the winter months at the Svømmehal. When it's summer it's less fun because sometimes Copenhagen as a city in the summer can feel like a sauna, and then if you go to an actual sauna, it's like, well, why am I here, I could just be outside anywhere.
Then later in the afternoon the plan is to go to my 3rd Taylor Swift concert, this time in Hamburg.
What do you mean 3rd Taylor Swift concert
How many have/are you going to?!
(only 7)
Why am I going again? Well that's a complicated answer and I can't quite work out how I got myself into that situation but I'll try explain it as best as I can.
As you may know, it's incredibly hard to get tickets to Taylor Swift, her tour is extremely popular and all the seats sell out in seconds (yes literal seconds). In fact, to even buy a ticket, you usually first need to sign up to a specific location to get a presale code. You then join the queue on the date that the actual sale opens, and you join it at exact the time that the queue opens. Then it's waiting to get through to the actual ticket sale page, where you grab whichever seat or floor standing area you can and race to checkout.
You know what? I need to show yall this delightful tiktok that explains it better than I could (although I shall also explain it)
@thecountryjumper But I love that you think that. #taylornation #erastourtaylorswift #taylorswifttok ♬ original sound - Caitlin | Life in Portugal
I've always wanted to see her on tour, since 2015 when I became a super fan (aka Swiftie) so this time last year when Taylor announced the European tour dates, I signed up for the presale codes for literally every city in Europe that she was playing at, hoping to get a presale code for at least one of them, maybe more, and then armed with a few presale codes, I would hopefully manage to get through the queue and buy my one ticket. So that was the plan, and a lot of fellow Swifties did the same thing, and literally got no presale codes, or got a presale code or two but even though they joined the queue exactly on time at the sale date, there were no more seats by the time they got through.
Ticketmaster buying experience
This was my work calendar last year for applying for the pre-sales that I did manage to secure:
I'll see if I can find a screenshot of my Tickermaster experience from last year. I saved it somewhere.
Paris was a no go, I joined the queue at exactly 9am, and was told that I was position 1.1 million. There are only around 300,000 seats to be sold across all the nights that she was performing there so I was like, well this is off to a fabulous start. It got worse when the entire queue just collapsed a few minutes later, so I couldn't even purchase my already occupied seat.
Anyways, the Vienna presale went a lot smoother. I managed to get through right away and secured a ticket for night 3 (N3). I tried again, because you could use that presale code for up to 4 tickets total, and I was through. WTF I thought, okay before I knew it, I got a second ticket for N1. I did this because thus far every single experience/vlog thingy of people that experienced the tour said it was the most incredible show they have ever seen, and their first thought after it was, okay how can I go again?! So I was like, sounds like a plan. Let's try for as many of these as I can, YOLO and all that. Also it would be a cool opportunity to see some European cities whilst I was at it, and it was all conveniently timed for 1 years time during the summer holidays, so I was sure that my work leave would work out and be approved.
I should also add that whilst the US tickets were around 900 dollars a ticket for even the cheapest ones, and that was before the resale chaos, where scalpers snatched up tens/hundreds of tickets and then resold them at up to and beyond 10 000 dollars a ticket - that this wasn't the case in Europe.
First of all the base ticket prices were around 60-100 euro, with the most expensive ones going up to 250 euro. There are strict resale laws where you can't resell a ticket for more than a small percentage extra than what you bought it for. So my tickets I pretty much always got those cheapest tickets. The stadium lights up with these bracelets that everyone wears and they make various patterns, shapes and colours across the stadium so it's a whole experience, and further, there are large screens and the entire stage is a screen, so the further up you are, the better in some ways, to take in the whole spectacle.
Link to a video showing some cool light up tricks
And thats not even mentioning the whole event of just attending the concert, meeting all kinds of fans from all over the world, whom I immediately have a common interest in, there is friendship bracelet trading, it's just a whole vibe that is difficult to explain.
Anyways, so I saw her in Milan on 14 July, and it was everything that I dreamed of and more. I literally entered the stadium and burst into a puddle of tears because everything I had seen and prepared for the past year, and really for the past 10 years since I first heard about the 1989 World Tour, came rushing toward me and it overwhelmed my brain entirely.
Let me get a picture of that first scene:
That was an amazing experience and seeing it with my boyfriend and witnessing his kindness at how he was grabbing my phone to take all the videos so that I could enjoy and immerse myself in the show was so incredible. Also kissing him when Taylor Swift sang Lover and having the girls in the row behind us take a photo was extra special and shows just how kind and welcoming and accepting this fandom is. Maybe when I'm less shy and I take my boyfriend out of witness protection I'll post that one. So that was my Milan show. If I have energy and motivation I'll make a blog post about my Milan trip, which was my first time in Italy and took some fantastic pictures.
Gelsenkirschen aka SwiftKirschen + Hamburg
I then saw her with my friend Téa that I met in Danish class in Gelsenkirchen and that was amazing too.
So next up is Hamburg for my third concert.
I originally also had two tickets for this concert, Hamburg was my first choice for a venue because it's only 5.5 hours by train from Copenhagen, and the city is also home to the greatest and best hotel that ever was or ever will be, called the Grand Elysee, which is actually shocking affordable.
So anyways I had originally bought my Gelsenkirschen tickets because I could not secure Hamburg tickets at all, I had registered and gotten a presale code, and a guy that I was in a situationship with at the time (remember this was full year ago) also had a presale code and was trying at the same time as me but google recaptcha and its 100 bikes and bridges prevailed and by the time we got to the front there were only the VIP 800 Euro tickets available. So Gelsenkrischen it was. Then a few weeks later I was randomly looking at a thread on the /r/TaylorSwift subreddit and someone mentioned someting along the lines of "THEY JUST MADE ALL THE VIP SEATS REGULAR SEATS ON EVENTIM< RUN FUCKING NOW" So I SPRINTED to check and there were tickets literally at row 5, and I was like two please, and it was like, that's 250 euro, and I was like, okay, thats more than any of my other tickets but it's the experience of a lifetime so fuck it, I have a special 'In Case I Have The Opportunity To See Taylor Swift Savings Account" just for this and I was like Treat Yo Self
The plan was then to resell my Gelsenkirschen tickets (at regular price, I'm not evil - and also not wanting to go to jail - which you literally will if you scalp tickets for inflated prices in Europe) but that was like, no ways am I selling these tickets. That's how my friend Téa ended up joining me for that one.
I mentioned in Danish class one day that I was going to Taylor Swift and that I had several tickets and two for Gelsenkirschen and that my friends need to battle to the death to prove their worthiness of joining me for that show. One person at the table took me fully seriously and sent me a full set of Whatsapp messages showing her listening history over the past few months on Apple Music and said that she would love to join me screaming all the lyrics at the show. I sent her this message in response:
I'll paste the whole thing because I'm kind of proud of it and the suspense and ✨drama✨ that I created.
Dear candidate, your application has been received by this intern of the tortured poets department.You are number 913 in the queue. (Just kidding, I have not had that many people asking to join me).
The department has noted that you are absolutely a dedicated swiftie of the highest degree, and that these numbers are TRULY impressive! Your metrics across January though April are fantastic.
Overall, the your evidence that you kindly provided is truly excellent and the fact that you are a folklore and reputation girlie, just like me, has surely swayed the odds in your favour even more.
The department has reached a decision and is, unfortunately, informing you that…
You will be spending the evening of 17 July…
in Gelsenkirschen
…
being subjected to the singing of this intern, which has been described by others as
Impressive… but who hurt him!
and
Okay that man has watched FAR too many TikToks
and
Dearie me get that man a therapist ASAP (to which I would respond with, 'yes I do have a therapist and yes I do send her lyrics that just resonate with me so much.)
Just to be clear, memes aside, that’s a yes, I would absolutely be thrilled for you to join me for for the concert, and I would be so honoured to go with you!
I am now writing this next part on the train on the way to Munich, the afternoon after my Hamburg show, which was my best one yet, mostly because I was so close to the stage.
Train from Hamburg to Munich
Okay brief hiatus. I just had the most unusual experienceMy ticket for this Hamburg to Munich trip is for wagon 11, seat 64, first class.
How did I get first class you might ask. Well I work in Loyalty programs and so I am always on the lookout for that kind of stuff. Recently (or might be a long time thing but I saw a write up about it only recently) - and perhaps to encourage alternatives to air travel in Europe - the German train company DB introducted this thing called a Bahn Pass Trial 1st Class. You purchase 3 months of this access card that gives you huge discounts to journeys on 1st class, and if you don't cancel it, then it renews for 1 year, at quite a large amount of money. But if you sign up and then cancel it, (which involves filling in some forms in German so thank you ChatGPT) you can effectively have much cheaper than usual 1st class train travel in Germany for 3 months. So back to my weird experience.
I have been sitting the whole time, for the past 2 hours of this journey in Wagon 1, seat 64. I saw 1 and assumed it meant 1st class, because logically that fit, that is what the sign outside said, it said go to Section A of Platform 14 for 1st class wagons (which was at the front of the train). I went to Section A of Platform 14, and the wagon said <1”> on it. I assumed that meant that it’s 1st class. The seats were pretty nice and I had a little laptop table. What do I know of First Class. I see seats with cusions and I am like, yay first class.
The only thing that I noticed is that my window was kind of stingy:
Soon after the journey started I got my ticket, and then my Bahn Card - checked and they said thank you. So I was sure that I was in the correct seat.
After 2 hours, a man gets on the train at one of the stops and is like, you are sitting in my seat. I show him my ticket and he says this is for wagon 11, and you are in wagon 1. So for the past two hours I have been sitting amonst, to use a polite term, the unwashed peasants in 2nd clas, in wagon 1, which is at the front of the train for some reason. I needed to go to the back of the train, to wagon 11. Which is like a 500 meter walk.
So I made the journey, through all the wagons, with my giant bag and large heavy backpack, and finally get to wagon 11, and there are just waiters everywhere wafting coffee at you, and it’s all please sir, this way sir, thank you sir, and aircondition on the max, and panoramic windows, and germany countryside, and multi folding laptop table, plug points, and one seat per side (ie nobody sitting next to you, and people reading business section of physical newspapers whilst holding their iPad Pro 13 Inch Retina OLED Maxxx Pro Plus on the table unattended. People saying businessey things like stocks and ETF's.
And just now a waitress (we didn't have any of those in Wagon 1) is like can I get you anything, coffee, tea, I was like coffee, she said, regular or Cappachino, I said oh Cappachino sounds nice, she asks, "Medium or Large" I say Large. Then I am ready to pay for it and no bill comes. So now I am thinking in the first two hours alone I could have had fifteen complimentary coffees by now.
Whatever. I'll have to drink them over the next 4 hours.
Update update: As it turns out the coffee is not complimentary, but since I am used to Copenhagen Coffee prices, the German coffee prices are lower than tap water at a Danish restaurant.
Okay so this post is more than 3800 words and ChatGPT has called it "Rambling at times" so I'm going to end it here, and hopefully write another post soon because I haven't even covered Taylor Swift in Hamburg but I'll leave you with one teaser photo.
