Heading solo to Miami...
Karen
flyin solo. All my MI Phish phamily spent all their loot on Festival 8
so no one will take the plunge with me.
So, anyone ever done this before care to share some advice?!? lol. I
sorta feel lost without my crew. All my girlfriends think I'm nuts and
keep giving me the, "There isn't anything closer you'd rather go to on
New Years?!" schpiel. Um, no. I've been bitching for the past 10 years
that this is THE only place I want to be for New Years.
Any suggestions on where to stay? (I'm thinking about just going with
the package plan they're offering but not too sure yet.)
Anyone else in need of a travel buddy? :)
Z
information for you, sorry).
Z
marcman
> It's official - I'm making the trek for NYE from Michigan and I'm
> flyin solo. All my MI Phish phamily spent all their loot on Festival 8
> so no one will take the plunge with me.
>
> So, anyone ever done this before care to share some advice?!?
I went to Hampton in March solo and had a great time. I stayed at a
hotel (Norfolk Sheraton) that was one of the pick up spots for the
Consider It Dan Shuttle to and from the venue (about 10 miles away)
and that turned out to be a great move. While at the hotel, mostly
while waiting with 50-100 other people for the shuttles, I met a
couple of other people there by themselves, one guy I wound up hanging
with all three nights.
> lol. I
> sorta feel lost without my crew. All my girlfriends think I'm nuts and
> keep giving me the, "There isn't anything closer you'd rather go to on
> New Years?!" schpiel. Um, no. I've been bitching for the past 10 years
> that this is THE only place I want to be for New Years.
>
> Any suggestions on where to stay? (I'm thinking about just going with
> the package plan they're offering but not too sure yet.)
>
Going with the package could be a very good idea if you can swing the
cost. In Miami, nice hotels are going to be *very* expensive that
week, and many of the ones being offered at a discount on the usual
hotel sites sometimes look a LOT better in the pictures than in real
life. Keep in mind that there are still a ton of very old not
recently renevated hotels on Miami Beach. More like low end dorm
rooms than hotels, so if ya can get one of the packages I would advise
that. Although you could get lucky with a hotel room on your own, but
good luck with that.
> Anyone else in need of a travel buddy? :)
We live locally. I will be at M-T-W either by myself with an extra
ticket or with a friend. You are welcome to congregate and hang out
with me/us pre-show if that would make you feel more comfortable. ;)
Just drop me a line. On NYE, I'll be there with my wife, and the same
applies, if you would like to congregate and meet up that would be
nice, just let me know. :) My wife and I will likely be mostly sober,
no psychedelics that's for sure, so that may enter your decision
making process. Either way I hope you have a great time . . . I was a
little bit concerned when I got in the Jeep and drove to Hampton by
myself, but everything, and I do mean everything, worked out really
well and going was defintely the right thing for me to do! Great time,
one of my top five concert going events and I've been doing this for a
looooooong time (since '79).
marcman
Karen
Awesome awesome awesome! You've just eased every worry I had in one
foul swoop. :) THANK YOU! Everything you said mimics what I've been
telling myself for weeks but to hear it from someone who just did it
really helps. I would love to congregate with some familiarity. Sounds
like I'm on the same page with you and your wife - no psychedelics for
me. I'm just DYING to hear the tunes and it would be lovely to share
some company with like minded folks beforehand. Once again thanks for
your response! :) I really appreciate it. Be in touch!!! WOOHOO
MIAMI! :)
marcman
> Marcman -
> Awesome awesome awesome! You've just eased every worry I had in one
> foul swoop. :) THANK YOU! Everything you said mimics what I've been
> telling myself for weeks but to hear it from someone who just did it
> really helps.
Glad to be able to help if that's even what I did, I guess maybe I
balanced some of the naysayers from back home. :)
> I would love to congregate with some familiarity. Sounds
> like I'm on the same page with you and your wife - no psychedelics for
> me. I'm just DYING to hear the tunes and it would be lovely to share
> some company with like minded folks beforehand. Once again thanks for
> your response! :) I really appreciate it.
LOL, I can tell you are happy and that makes me happy, glad to help.
Send me an email when you have your travel plans down and consider
that you have a friendly person or more, should be seeing a bunch of
other local people there, to at least stand next to and small talk
with before the shows. :)
> Be in touch!!! WOOHOO
> MIAMI! :)
If you're on facebook you can find me here: http://www.facebook.com/marcman
. Let me know if you'd like to be Facebook friends.
dabassguy1
My tour buddy did not want to go. I didn't really know any other local head
going. At the last minute, my mother's business partner's 17 year old son
wanted to go. So my 36 year old ass took him along. I had to drop him at
an airport early the morning after Big Cypress. He almost did not make the
flight due to the traffic leaving that day.
I headed to New Orleans to watch my Hokies play FSU for the national
championship. Bought a ticket to the Sugar Bowl on the side of I-10.
Locked my keys in the car at the game and did not get back to the place I
was staying until 6:30 AM. Met the guy I was staying with leaving for work
as I arrived at his place to crash from the game he saw end at 11:30 PM the
night before. And Slidell is only a 45 minute drive.
I have gone to many a show solo. I planned to do he first seven shows of
Phall 2000 tour alone, but I adopted a 20 yr old Israeli army vet midway
thru the run. When I taped, I almost preferred to fly solo. You always
meet the nicest people and some interesting email relationships have ensued.
I wasn't married back then either.
So go, but be careful. I am 6'3", weigh 255 lbs and constantly get accused
of being a cop in the lots. Not many folks are gonna mess with me. That
may not be true for a female. Have fun, but be careful.
J
Joel Schwitzer
I'm headed solo, thinking of it as my early mid-life crisis tour. We
just can't afford big $$ on a hotel, so I ended up at an Extended Stay
America for about $65 per night. I booked right after my tickets came
through-- I figured hotel rooms in Miami NYE might be hard to come by
regardless of Phish playing there. Actually, I ended up with 2 two
night stays at different ones. The first one is less than a mile from
the arena, the second one is a little bit farther, but still within
striking distance.
I saw them on my own in 2003 as well, once the music starts, I'm in my
own world anyway. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to take a
nice long road trip-- used to be a hobby of mine, haven't gotten to do
too many of them of late.
marcman
Just a general FYI . . . the immediate area surrounding the arena in
miami is very nice. Its right on Biscayne Bay. But venture off a mile
or less in the wrong direction and the surroundings become very bleak
and crime ridden. It's a real concern, so if anybody is "solo" and
unsure of the neigborhood where their inexpensive hotel is located, ya
might want to just double check and make sure you're not in I guess
what I'd call the "hood." In the past I've found http://www.tripadvisor.com/
to be a pretty good place to read "reviews" from others that may have
stayed at the hotel you're booked at.
DaManfred Mann
Hey Karen,
I thought I'd check in and offer my encouragement as well. I've done
several musical adventures solo over the years and they've always turned
out great. I went to New Orleans for Jazz Fest in '99 to see the
original Oysterhead performance. None of my friends wanted to join me,
but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I was there for a week by
myself and had a blast and met all kinds of cool people. I also went to
see U2 in St. Louis one time...scored a ticket in the hotel hallway and
went to the show with the people I got the ticket from.
Obviously you want to be careful partying with strangers, but you sound
like you've got things in hand...but watch out for that Marcman guy lol.
I really respect your dedication to the music, I am the same way. I
never let something like friends that don't have the same dedication
keep me from making a great show.
I had a friend bail on me for Deer Creek in 2000, so I went anyway and
ended up meeting this really cool girl who was into music like me and
now we're soul mates. Marcman and DEG have both met her recently and
they can both attest to our relationship, forged in music and musical
adventures...and I would've probably never met her if I'd been dragging
a semi-interested friend to the shows.
I hope you have a great time and I wish I was going to be there with you
guys. Tell Marcman I said hi.
Take care,
Dave
DaManfred Mann
Everything's not finalized yet, but it does appear that we will be able
to join the party after all. I can hardly believe I'm typing this.
I really should listen to my wife, she said that she had a feeling we
would somehow find ourselves in Miami for the shows, even though it
seemed unlikely. Well now it seems a lot more likely than it did last
week...heck, even this morning it seemed unlikely.
So Karen, I hope to see you soon. BTW where in Michigan are you from?
I'm in Arizona now, but I grew up in Michigan. in fact we were just
there for that incredible show at the legendary Cobo Arena. What a
dump, but I love that place. Cobo embodies the very essence of a rock
venue for me. That's where it all started for me...Deeetroit City, the
home of rock and roll, baby! Do you remember Arthur Penhallow?
So we'll have to round up some other RMPers and put a few more names
with faces. So Joel, you in too? I know Marcman will be involved.
This time, we'll be at the show together man, and we'll call Wayne, like
Wayne and I called you...unless he can get down there too. I need to
check in on that boy, I haven't heard anything lately. He said he was
going to get access to another computer to check in once in a while
until he's up and running again.
Wow, the tenth anniversary of Big Cypress...and without over-flowing
porta-johns even. I did like the mode at BC though, cool place.
That's my report for now.
Peace,
Dave
Karen
encouragement, recommendations, safety tips, etc. Plans are still
coming together and I can't wait for the adventure that lies ahead.
Hope to see you in the sunshine very soon. Would love to share a
preshow brew and chat it up.
Dave - I'm from southeastern MI but spent several years on the west
side of the state in Kalamazoo as well. I was at that Cobo show as
well. Sure is a crappy venue but the nostalgia of it makes up for it I
guess.- Totally remember Arthur Penhallow by the way - WRIF ...
baaaabay! ;)
Happy Holidays - see ya'll soon! :)
Karen