Herma
When I first heard about this concert I immediately decided to go, no doubt. I felt this was so doable. Three concerts coming up. DC was too far and too expensive, just too much for
me, so that was out. London a definate maybe and Modena absolutely YES. Just hop in the car and go fot it! Italy is not quite next door, but with a few people in the car it would not be
half as expensive as London.. No sea to cross, that is the big problem for us in getting to the UK, it is an island.
As it turned out my two American friends Paulette and Sonja came to stay here before and after the concert, so they would join us in the car. That made seven people in two cars. In
the end one didn't go at all and two others decided to fly after all, so there were four of us left. OK, so we were going in my car. Nicole doesn't have her drivers license just yet, so there
were three drivers. No problem.
Three days before we left I found out that the American ladies only know how to drive an automatic, not a car with a stick :).
So a quick driving lesson was in order. The day before we left I put the girls behind the wheel and bombarded myself to driving instructor. With the promise that they would only have
to drive if I would break down we left. This was a low budget trip, so we brought drinks and sandwiches and candy, after all we are Dutch, we bring stuff from home :))
On the way there we were going to sleep in a hotel, but going back that was not possible since Nicole had to take an exam on Thursday. So leaving on Wednesday morning after the
concert, we drove all through the night to get home in time. Which we did!
Paulette arrived at my place on Wednesday and Sonja on Thursday, so we had enough time to chat. So many subjects. Ofcourse George and the concert, but also our own stuff. Paulette does social work, she works with gay youths in the USA. She has been working on setting up a shelter for kids who have been thrown out of the house by their parents, for quite some time now. We often talked about this on ICQ, since this is a subject that interests me a lot. Also other stuff concerning her work, crack babies for instance. Or politics. Talking, I come to the conclusion every time that there is a lot of difference between the Dutch and the American society. It amazes me, some of the things that happen overthere. I am not saying it is all roses here, but I think especially in the way parents over here receive the coming out of their teenage kids is quite different. They may not be too happy with it, but it is rare that a kid becomes homeless for that. And even if, there is a social security system here that helps these kids, if they want to be helped ofcourse. Anyway, this has nothing to do with George and Modena. I am just telling you all this because I still think it is so great to meet people from all over the world and to talk about our different cultures. And in a way... The video George showed at Equality Rocks had exactly the same information... the shelter Paulette has been working on for so long, is exactly what is needed according to George's video... Amazing... Great minds think alike :)
From London I went to Venice where I had to meet Jen and Nathalie.
Kristine
My Modena via London trip... It was the longest vacation I have ever had, to be honest!
Normally I do not leave my work for more than a week! This time it started off in London, at the
HELP4HALC party. London was fun, even though I missed my friends who always make those long
tube rides so fun and those long nights so short! ;) Thanks goes to Jules who joined me for one day
and to Saf who invited me to spend a day with him in Allhallows near Rochester!
I remember on the first night in London before the NetAid show Nathalie and I ended up heading to
Leicester Square in a bus full of Australian Rugby players. Now when I arrived in Venice, I should have
known better... My plane arrived at Midnight, and it was close to 2 a.m. when I crashed into our hotel
room just to find out that they are out. Of course, I found them in a small Venetian nightclub, with two
gorgeous looking Italian men! Believe it or not, they were talking about George! ;) ;) ;)
I hadn’t met Jen since Stonewall and Nathalie since NetAid, so we had plenty to talk about. Time was
flying in Venice! It was really beautiful. After two days the three of us took a train to Bologna (oh, all that
wine and laughing on the train...I am sure you guys can relate!!!). We caused quite a mess on that train.
(Nathalie, do you have anything to say about this? ;)) It was hysterical! In Bologna we parted - Jen and Nathalie went to Florence and I went to Modena.
While some of us were having fun and drinking wine on their Gondola rides in Venice, some of us were getting ready for a long drive and giving each other driving lessons and some of us had not booked their flights yet, Ramona was already in Modena checking out everything for us. This is how Parco Novi Sad looked 5 days before the concert.
Jeannette
Just as I got back from the London George/Planet George 2000 party in London,
I had to pack my bags again for Modena, Italy.
Ludo had booked us the hotel in Modena. Us meant in total 14 persons, and not arriving on the same day! Ludo booked single rooms, double rooms, triple rooms, for one night, for two nights etc etc...because not every person left on the same day either ;-) Very complicated. Our rooms were booked from Sunday until Wednesday. Tuesday being the concert day. Only on Saturday afternoon, Bianca and I booked our flight to Milan Malpensa airport.
Kristine
When I got off the train in Modena I took the first taxi I saw and showed a taxi driver the address of the
hotel. He said, "Oh, George Michael fan? Welcome to Modena!" I was thinking, am I THAT famous?
But later I found out that he had taken Cornelia to the same hotel few hours ago, so he has heard the
whole story! He asked me where all the people who are coming to Modena in our group are from, and
then he asked, "are you a religious group or something?" ... Well, sort of! ;)
Herma
Four women in a car for hours...... that is asking for trouble....right?????
No, it is not...lol. I still can't believe how much we talked and laughed. In the end I drove almost all the way myself, so it was their obligation to keep the driver happy:) Which they
did.... at one point I was laughing so hard, driving down a Swiss Alp, I burst out into laughing, then a terrible cough and we all nearly got off the road. The stories these ladies can
tell..... and no, I am not telling...LOL. I've got a lot of great memories from just travelling this time.
Our journey took us via Amsterdam and Milano to Modena.
Bianca
We got an email from George himself, saying he would perform at three concerts, Washington D.C.,
London and Modena. Now I knew already that DC would be hard for me because I had just returned
from a great trip to New York.. and unfortunately I'm no millionaire who can afford to go to the states
every month! (Not to mention my family would kill me... lol). London would be very difficult because of
the lousy timing.. so all that was left really was the concert in Modena, Italy.
Initial plan was to keep this a low budget trip, and just take the car and drive all the way up to Italy,
together with the other dutch girls.. but in the end Jules & I decided we preferred flying. True to our last
minute reputation we only booked our flight 18 hours before it left! :o)