How do you do a whole tour?

dimitrispearljam

jones wrote:

i looked at this thread and thought more about health than money.

i went to 3 shows this year and am near death. in a fuzz. life seems pointless.

pretty convinced if i did a whole tour i'd end up dead

i know that after Belfast i will not be able to speak,and after Berlin,to walk...

dottles

I’m going to six shows on the Euro tour, Dublin. Belfast, London, Berlin, Arras and Werchter then stopping off on the way home in Manchester to see The Black keys.

I am in a lucky position I guess, I am single with no dependants and currently live with family, so although I pay rent, it is not market value and it includes household bills/food. I work hard, and earn a very good wage so have a fair amount of free cash. I get 32 days annual leave a year, plus the 8 English bank holidays and can accrue an additional 24 days flexi days off a year if there is a business need for me to work over my 37 hour week.

I knew I wanted to go to multiple shows and decided to do six if possible. When I knew the dates of the tour I put in an advance request for 15 days annual leave to my boss, which was approved, so I went ahead and bought the tickets.
My parents very kindly gave me the money to cover the cost of the six PJ show tickets as my Christmas present. I am using another members 10C spare for Dublin, and he is using mine for Belfast, another 10c friend is having my spare for Berlin and one of my oldest friends from home is using my spare for London.

I scanned the net for cheap flights as soon as the tickets were confirmed and was able to get some absolute bargains.
I am staying in hotels for the 17 nights I am away, which is the most expensive way to do it I know, but it is what I wanted, and the average is £60 per night B&B. Plus, I wanted to see some of the cities so have extended my stays.
In order to pay for my hotels and any other spending I have been saving a quarter of my monthly pay since January, I am hoping not to spend all the moneyy I've saved but wanted to know that I had it there. It has meant that I have curbed my spending on other things and althoughI have gone out with friends I've done things like caught the bus home costing £4 rather than getting a taxi which costs £25. It is my birthday the week before the tour and my family are giving me Euros as my present. My friends are buying me other bits and bobs to take away with me.

My itinerary is – My best mate is taking me from home to Newquay Airport, flight from Newquay to Dublin, 3 nights in Dublin in a guest house, train to Belfast, 1 night in Belfast in Premier Inn, flight to London, 2 nights in London in a hotel, flight to Berlin, 5 nights in Berlin in Motel One hotel, flight to Paris, 1 night in Paris in a hostel, train to Arras, 2 nights in Arras in a hotel, lift from Arras to Leuven, 1 night in Leuven/Werchter in a hotel, train to Brussels and then flight to Manchester, 2 nights in Manchester in a hotel, flight to Newquay, my Mum is picking me up from the airport and taking me home

I know I am very lucky, and my parents were lovely to give me the money for my tickets (my brother got the same amount of cash). I don't know if I will ever be in the position to do this again, so decided to grab it now whilst I could. I would love to be in the position of having a family and a mortgage, but that's not me right now, so following PJ for a few weeks it is

CServant

A decent paying gov't job as well as a cool wife made it possible for me. Did 6 shows this time around by car, which is a great way to see the country. My only gripe was the back-and-forth from Columbus, back to Indy, then on to Cleveland. The shows actually break-up the driving pretty nicely. Went to baseball games in CLE, PIT, STL, and KC to break-up the trip back home. 72 vacation hours and a personal day is all it took from work.

riffrandall

Quit the job you hate & go full tilt after a job that will pay you to travel to see bands.

gndcd402

UpSideDown wrote:

my biggest hurdle is getting time off from work...........only have 10 vacation days a year, and I cant take ends of months or quarters.

PJ is really the only thing I blow my money on......Im pretty thrifty when it comes to other purchases.

The # of shows I try to go to each year just keeps growing though

sucks working here in the US eh? i have 10 days too and would much rather use my time off on something other than pj

in eds tree

i'm lucky on the job front, i have a job that is flexible and i can pretty much take off whenever i want, as long as i can afford it. it's a shitty job, but i work to live not live to work and all that jazz.

i saved up some $, flew into kansas city from denver, rocked out, met a bunch of cool people, woke up the next morning and took the amtrak to st. louis (dropped me off right in front of the venue and my hotel, that was awesome!) then flew home from there. worked a couple weeks to save up more $$, then flew into nyc where i stayed in a hostel for $43 a night in times square. went to newark, msg 1, and msg2.

other than vacations/concerts, i'm kind of a tightwad with my money. i save it all up then blow it all at once :P but it was worth it. now i just have to worry about the come down...

RKCNDY

Surprised I have not seen 'Rent an RV and GO!'. I am unemployed right now, but, I gave up so many concerts in the last 5 years (besides PJ, we used to average 20 concerts a year) so it's ok (that job only gave me 50 hours of vacay a year). Reading this post, I thought, we have an all inclusive camper (real head & shower, sitting area, bed, stove/oven, fridge, tv/DVD, heater), on the next tour, just take the camper from venue to venue, save on hotels and cook for ourselves instead of eating out. Feels so Grateful Dead! So maybe I'd have to splurge on a hotel once in a while....

SentimentalOrnament

I did every show but 1 this tour and was unemployed.

Save your money for future tours, Priceline hotels or stay w/ friends, book the cheapest flight to your start location and ride with friends and chip in on gas money.


I've always thought an RV would be a great way to do the next tour. Get a tour bus that sleeps 24 people, hire a driver, split the costs, grill out every night.

milan

Make sure you have Platinum Amex card.
Take one month off work
Fly London to Perth business class.
Perth to Sydney to Brisbane Qantas economy
Fly Brisbane to London business class
Stay in 5 star hotels all the way.
Have greatest holiday ever.
Keep the economy of the world ticking over
Hey the UK, Greece, Spain, Portugal etc are up to their eyes in debt and the money I have saved is for me and the wife and kids and we are spending it.
Just keep laughing.

See you in Europe folks.

dimitrispearljam

milan wrote:

Make sure you have Platinum Amex card.
Take one month off work
Fly London to Perth business class.
Perth to Sydney to Brisbane Qantas economy
Fly Brisbane to London business class
Stay in 5 star hotels all the way.
Have greatest holiday ever.
Keep the economy of the world ticking over
Hey the UK, Greece, Spain, Portugal etc are up to their eyes in debt and the money I have saved is for me and the wife and kids and we are spending it.
Just keep laughing.

See you in Europe folks.

see u soon brother!!

BinauralJam

milan wrote:

Make sure you have Platinum Amex card.
Take one month off work
Fly London to Perth business class.
Perth to Sydney to Brisbane Qantas economy
Fly Brisbane to London business class
Stay in 5 star hotels all the way.
Have greatest holiday ever.
Keep the economy of the world ticking over
Hey the UK, Greece, Spain, Portugal etc are up to their eyes in debt and the money I have saved is for me and the wife and kids and we are spending it.
Just keep laughing.

See you in Europe folks.

Can you adopt me? Please? i cook and clean!!!