The Package Tour (Planning)

Getting all my plans together for the upcoming Package Tour! Tickets, hotels, mapquest.... So far I'm planning on 9 shows!

Driving pt 1:
Detroit June 8th (lower bowl, 1st row)
Cleveland June 9th 5*
Pittsburgh June 11th (Free View Tix) plus 98 VIP
741 miles

Flying to meet up with Jen:
DC June 15th 4* Taking the train to Philly:
Philly June 16th 4th row
1,053 miles

Driving pt 2
Louisville June 24th (still looking for tickets)
Cincy June 25th 4*
463 miles

Driving pt 3
Columbus August 3rd 4*
Indy Aug 4th 5*
400 miles        

That's a total of about 2,600 miles of traveling, and about a dollar per mile spent on tickets.... Hoping for lots to blog about!!! :)

NKOTB Cruise 2013

Wow! where do I begin? This was definitely at the top of the list for nkotb fun, a great combination of NKotb moments & frienship fun!! As I sit here uploading my 5 hrs of video footage I will try to remember & share as much as I can!
My cruise roomie was Jen & then the rest of the VIB crew we're roomin together. Nichole, Kelly & Steph. We flew to Miami the day before to enjoy a day at the beach & getting to know everyone.  Jen, Kelly & Nichole had never met. We did exactly that with only 1 minor bump (literally) along the way. I was in a minor fender bender when I went to pick up the girls at the airport.  :( just crawling thru rush hr traffic not evrn using the gas peddle. I looked at jen in conversation & the bitch infront hit her brakes. no injury & as far as I cld see no damage but she insisted in getting a report.  2hrs later we got to the airport.  Shit happens right? Anyway....dinner at Carrabas Italian Grill & the mandatory Walgreen liquor run filled our evening! The plan was to rack up sleep time the night before the cruise. Everyone but jen & I did due to snore competition between steph & kelly! Lol nic was lucky enough to sleep thru most of it. Lets just say I'm glad we all didnt end up in the same cabin like we originally tried to do! I love u both but I can't room with u! :-*
At the port things were different,  lots of different this yr. Some good some not good. We didn't see the guys board,  only saw the pix posted on twitter as we checked in so it seemed weird to not see "The entrance". How did we not hear the screams? Im sure we were there way before 12? Once on board, we found Danny in the hallway taking pix right after lunch :) steph & Kelly got a pic then me & jen. I said we can do 2 at a time its better. (Meaning less time so he can take more pix) he says "oh yeah I can definitely handle 2 at a time" ;-) gotta love Danny's dirty mind! So I told him that last yr he could've explained the trifecta as simply "all 3 holes". Lol he says yeah but man some ppl just can't handle sexual talk like that. I'm a very sexual person so...better to let em Google it" I said "well I can definitely handle it" (or something like that) he's like oh yeah. ..lol and that was it...I walk away giggling-did I just say that?
Then its the lido deck for usual mingling of fans waiting for the cattle call to the emergency drill & then of course the running of the blockheads for a good sail away spot! We snagged a decent riser/railing spot on the starboard side, our only "good" party spot on the cruise. We drank, we danced, & we waited to hear from Captain Wahlberg to get this party started! We took the oath,.... its time to party!
When I first saw the stage built over the hot tubs & 2 additional platforms against the 1st row of risers I tought this is gonna be perfect! But it turns out that a few small changes made for a VERY different experience for lido parties: Half the lido deck floor was for handicapped & the rest of the lido floor was claimed by bsc's camping out ALL DAY. So you either had to be crazy stupid or with your grandma for a good lido spot. Some never left the ship, some skipped the concert to keep their spots & of course their 10 friends too so by the time sane fans arrived for the parties there was absolutely NO WAY to get close to the stage. We tried a couple times but it was more than elbow to asshole trying to work into the crowd it required Full body contact/sliding though the fat & b.o. #gross Only 1 time did we get kinda in the middle. Usually we couldn't get further than a side view.  they of course rarely turned to the "back" & the audio speaker set up made it impossible to understand wtf they were saying. We tried to "migrate" around looking for a good spot but never had much luck because if you don't get railing space it sucks. Another big change from the deck set up is the last 2yrs the guys only had the small platforms or the upper balcony to be so they were constantly moving through the crowd, lots more fan interaction/photo chances. Plus it wasnt so crowded, security could part the bh sea & make their way through amongst the fans. They didn't do that much at all this yr. So unless you camped out all day you weren't getting anywhere near the guys.
Considering I paid 2-3x what others did I really feel there should be a section on the lido deck for those with the upgraded seats. That is where 90% of the cruise experience is! With one of the seated events cancelled we only had the game show & concert for our "good seating" upgrade. 2 hours out of a 4 day cruise? And for me & my roomie even those seats sucked. We were in the 13th row, that's not what I consider upgraded seating? I would have preferred the 1st balcony row than be more than halfway back on the floor. Previous years all the "shows" were in the auditorium my seat was no further than 5th row & even w/ the concert on the beach we had a roped off area. So you can see how I was pretty disappointed w/ my "upgraded" cabin. To get all my gripes out in 1 paragraph: not sure what the problem was with the game show, not enough alcohol yet? It seemed to kinda drag... the m & g was also disappointing :( The guys were so tired/hungover they barely spoke to any of us. Made me feel guilty actually, like we were forcing them to be there.  I don't understand why they keep subjecting themselves to this. Find another way to do it or just take it out. Meeting exhausted new kids is not a good  experience for anyone. Past years we walked out of the m&g giggling/squeeling "omg joe said this, donnie did that..." this year we were speechless & not in a good way. I won't even get into the whole grouping fiasco. Just thankful we were able to have our group of 5 in the same photo.
All that being said, thank god I was with the best group of friends because we still had a blast! We didn't have the nkotb experience we paid & hoped for but we had our own fun! Lots of laughs! We did manage a few encounters that kept it from being a total bh fail :) So, back to the good stuff!
On pj night the 1 time we got the closest (5 ppl deep from the stage) & then 1 smart bh who moved out after getting her joe autograph allowed me close enough to pass joe my sign to sign, which was a photo collage of me w/ NKOTB & my remix pic. He started to just sign then he "saw" what he was signing -eyes popped, smiled at me, winked & said "NICE!" ...I now get the whole "sign this" thing.  Its not about getting the autograph its about getting his attention for those few precious seconds. Crazy how that can simply "make" your cruise! If everyone took turns we all could've had that experience but instead a few hogged it all every night. So to those who said I was rude for pretty much shoving my way past "your spot" that you've hogged for hours to get my 5 seconds of facetime, fuck you :)
The mystery event was mysteriously cancelled, then rescheduled at the last minute. Thank you to the elevator fans who told us the back rub was about to start on the lido deck, or we would've missed it all together.  Shockingly I was able to walk onto the lido deck close to the stage. You'll see when you watch my videos. I later heard lots of girls missed this because they had no idea it was happening, lucky for me tho, i was so vl i so Donnie gave me his tank top after he ripped it off! This, the danny pic & the Joe thing were my nkotb moments/highlights :) but there were a few other moments: We saw Jon in the dining room when he came in to watch the staff do The Right Stuff dance!  The last night while standing by the handicapped section jon came past us to go to the bathroom lol kelly jen & nichole got a pic with him on his way back through. I have so many already & I wanted jen to get her pic for sure since it was her birthday!  Previous yrs I saw them walking around the ship all the time. This year either they didn't mingle as much or I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Like I said in the beginning, lots of different this year. I don't want to be the complainer because overall I had an awesome vacation with my girls & a few nk moments which is what I expected in going on the nkotb cruise. I just hoped for more considering my "upgraded" rm. If there is another cruise, I won't pay for that again unless RT makes some changes to make it worth the extra.
Crap I wanted to end this on a good note lol
Ok the best thing about the cruise is now that its over I still have 9 concerts ahead of me!!!! See you on the road!

The Package Tour NYC 1/22/13

It's been a while since I've blogged! wow,I didn't realize that I didn't blog anyhing from 2012, I'm slacking! lol I'm missing the cruise, Jordan Live & Unfinished & Mixtape! Maybe I'll go back & do those laster, for now it's The Package Tour! NKOTB had been tweeting since mid-december that "The Package" would be unwrapped after Christmas, so we knew the big announcement was coming

& later they actually gave us a date! Jan 22nd! Not just "soon", the dreaded word for any BH!

About a week before they announced that they would be making their special announcement/ unwrap the package live on The View! They wanted to fill the audience with BH's so they gave us an email address to enter for a chance to win. My friend Jenn won tickets & when her sister was unable to go with her,she invited me as her +1! After screaming with excitement I booked my flight & our hotel room & within a few days we were off to NYC! (Thanks to my wonderful understanding husband!)

We arrived at ABC studios just before 8am as the email had said to. We had heard there were girls in line the night before, and very early also. I don't know how they did it because it about below zero with the wind chill! We still ended up standing outside in the cold til about 9:30, but we stuck it out like only BH's know how to do! After yet another long wait in the lobby they finally started taking us upstairs to the studio.

Jenn & I were pretty much right in the middle of the audience. Although when you watch the show, the camera never pans over to the furthest side, so if you're looking for me I'm on the far right upper corner in any shots that do show us. The warm-up guy Tom Kelly was hilarious! So much fun, and we made his job easy as it doesn't take much to put us into a screaming frenzy!

But I gotta say, it's work bein in the audience, screaming no problem but the amount of clapping?! My damn hands hurt by the end & I actually cracked my engagment band lol We were allowed to take photos during commercial breaks & I also snuck in a few short videos haha

The ladies of The View

NKOTB announcing the package...

98 Degrees!

Donnie waving at us!

Group pic- The Dirty Dozen! At the end of the show they announced that everyone in the audience was getting a pair of tickets to any show on the tour! Oh yeah & the "big announcement" we already knew about, as usual everything gets leaked.

NKOTB will be touring with 98 Degrees & Boyz II Men this summer! New single on Jan 25th & a new album on April 2nd! Here's the video clips from The View: A few nights before The View, NKOTB announced they would be having a special event in NYC on the 22nd (evening of the view appearance) I entered & got my winning email notice when i landed in Philly (my connection to nyc)! So after The View we got some lunch, did a little shopping then got ready to go to the "special event"!

It was held at Irving Plaza, a small music venue. Thanks to a special friend we didn't have to wait in the cold this time! He took us inside & upstairs. We're standing there talking & in walks Jeff Timmons & Nick Lachey! OMG I was totally suprised, I didn't realize we were in a VIP area lol I said hi to Jeff first, I kinda feel like I know him thru my friend Suzi which I told him first. He knew her right away, said she's just so awesome, the most dedicated fan ever! How she sent them all their old footage on dvd, how she gave them their memories back, how she's always been there supporting them & how much it means to them...wow! We had a pretty fun conversation, but not everything can be shared in a blog, so if you know me.... well just ask if you dare LOL So after talking for a while,

I got the nerve to ask for a pic, he's like of course!:D Such a nice easy to talk to guy!! So now we're all standing in this group talking, Nick standing right next to me...oh shit. I know if I don't ask him for a photo I'll hate myself forever! So I join in the convo about his lullbye album, i say well my kids are 12 & 14 so a little old for that but i'm sure it's awesome. he looks at me, (Up & down...oh fuck) smiles & says wow 12 & 14?! me: yeah, i was a young mom him well it'll wrk on anyone who needs to sleep lol There was other small chit chat but honestly I don't remember since I was internally screaming like 12yr old tryig to remain calm! So i finally get the nerve to ask for a pic with him.

He smiles & says absolutely! I say ty he says no problem :))) You can tell in the pic I'm totally freaked out haha but I got a pic with NICK!!!! AND he was sooo nice!!! at this point we see they've started letting everyone in, so we went downstairs for the mini show they were doing. We ended up at the back of the stage set up in the middle of the floor but our experience upstairs was worth it!!! So I got a lot of ass views but no complaints here! It was so awesome just to be a part of this special day! No cameras were allowed & let me tell ya naked I felt without my camera! But luckily they didn't stop anyone from using their cellphone cameras!

and Thank god for my new awesome phone!! I tried to record the whole thing but unfortunetly i tweeted a few pix right when it started, including one of Jon's new ponytail

then every @reply message caused my phone to stop recording :( by the end when they all came out the replies had stopped so I was able to get most of the Q&A fun part! Jenn got to ask Donnie about Waffle House parties, & jon came over to repeat a question we couldn't hear- check it out on the videos: The one part I missed that I wish I hadn't was Joe tellin off the host for the night. He was singing PDGG, you all know how he does the end right? after the 1st pause, the host starts to talk & joe says "wtf man, apparently you've never seen our show, cause you'd know I milk the shit outta this" LMAO!! Gotta love JOE! If anyone has t or sees it online let me know! The other big hit of the night was Jon's ponytail! That's what was causing the 50 replies on my twitter feed! After the show we went upstairs to say goodbye to jen's friend. And ended up bein at the right place at the right time to see The Dirty Dozen leaving! I swear whenever I TRY to find/stalk etc it never works but dumb luck seems to find me sometimes! As Jon walked by I grabbed his arm & said Ï just gotta tell ya, that pony is blowin up twitter tonight!"he laughed and was like ah shit LOL shortly after Jon tweeted Ä certain ponytail wanted to relay a message attatched was this pic:

hahaha! To top off the night, Jenn got a pic with Donnie as he left with Lumpy! Her first faetime with him!!! I say 1st because I know there will be lots more to come this summer!!! See you at The Waffle House Donnie!!!