in times like these time off is hard to come by. BUT we managed. DH and I went to Eindhoven's Phantasium event to a concert of our favourite band Abney Park.
And it was wonderful. Abney Park is even better life. It was their first concert on the continent. They are from the Seattle area and up until now they were only performing in Britain. Driving nearly 1500 km only for a concert is a luxury we don't have. But 380 km is quite another thing. Our best friend watched the dogs for us (I do so much love him for that favour) and we stayed in a hotel for the night. My first stay in a hotel btw.
The way I travelled so far war either a rented holiday home (since we have the dogs) or youth hostels or some other weird way to spend the night, tents and rented caravans. (I think the weirdest lodging was a social project in London. Old houses were transformed into hostels and you were kind of shanghaied at Victoria Station. There were tough looking guys distributing flyers and they drove you off in small cars with too many passengers and the one next to the door had to actually hold it close. It proved quite safe and legit and really cheap. Not much comfort but 8 GBP for a night in London? I don't expect much and would never dream of complaining.)
Abney Park's musicians are whole-blood performers. And they brought so much fun to the stage, it was incredible. DH and I sang and danced the whole time. We had the time of our lives. Those two days were just as good as a fortnight holiday. Even without the sea ;o)