Day 8 (Monday)- Djibouti
We got up at 6am to grab an early breakfast, and managed to catch the end of the
Vikings/Green Bay game (nothing like Monday night football on a Tuesday morning -- Go Vikings!!) and then met up with the people from the weapons and ammo department of the base at a shooting range in the middle of nowhere. There were 6 targets set up and surrounded by sand dunes, and with the assistance of someone for each of us, we were taught how to load, aim, and shoot both M-16s and 9mms. We each had our turn at a target and shot laying down on our stomachs and standing straight up. It was seriously an experience I never thought I would ever be able to do, and they let us keep the targets (I'm much better at the M-16 than the 9mm, but not really too great with either. I got one lucky shot dead center, way stoked on that). The people who work with the weapons are seriously incredible individuals, and the woman in charge could quite possibly be the strongest and most fierce and badass woman I have ever met.
From there we went to the flightline but found out our helicopter ride was canceled (bummed but understand-- we still got to watch it takeoff and tour another aircraft). Then we did some laundry (such and understated chore out here), got some food, and grabbed some internet for a bit before loading up and heading to the airport.
We sat on the bus for about 20 minutes before being told that our flight had been delayed from a 5pm departure to a 10pm departure (not good considering our connecting flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Bahrain left at 10pm), so we had to weigh some options. We waited on the bus for at least 4 hours, and after making a few phone calls to explore some possibilities, we decided upon taking the Ethiopian flight and being at the mercy of the airline to put us up to stay the night and catch the next flight to Bahrain (which was 24 hours later). Someone from the base agreed to go with us, too, to ensure that everything went well. Unfortunately that meant that we had to miss our first show, but luckily we were supposed to play that base twice so we're happy we still get to play there.
So now, fast-forward to landing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The airline set us up with a 4-star hotel, and we took the shuttle there shortly after landing. They managed to get all our musical equipment stored inside security so all we had to be responsible for was our personal luggage, which was a nice change. Upon landing at the MN international hotel, however, everything changed. We got our room assignments and headed up to our respective rooms. From there, we discovered a whole lot of creepy crawlies, dirty sheets, some sharpie artwork on end tables, even an electric plug to the hot water heater...in the shower. We all ended up back in the lobby with the same sentiment, and so Jess and the wonderful rep from the Djibouti base (Gizera is her name, but I don't know how to spell it! Either way she was a lifesaver!) tried to get ourselves a different hotel. However, it certainly didn't stop there. The staff were very rude, not refunding the rep's money (she paid in cash), and while they were calling up hotels from the front desk they were speaking another language and apparently lying to whomever they were speaking to, because the rep called them out on it and was getting quite upset. THEN a whole group of rowdy men with, like, 12 'ladies of the night,' came in and got into a rager with the other desk attendant. Meanwhile, the rest of us are all sitting in the lobby at 2:30am, freaking out inside. I personally thought we were going to shortly be witnesses to something ugly.
Ten minutes later I believe we gave up the fight to get a refund and the Hilton picked us up. As Aaron now says, "Every time I see a Hilton an angel gets their wings." It was wonderfulllll. And so we ordered some room service, took warm showers, and slept until 2pm the following day. And such ends one of the worst days in travel history. And don't really get me started on the flights to and from Ethiopia. I'm over it.
Day 9 (Tuesday) - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We slept until 2pm and then went and ate at the hotel restaurant. It's always odd dealing with foreign currency that seems so much higher than the dollar. For example, my lunch cost 136 Bir. Sounds like a lot, right? Nope, roughly 11 bucks. Kind of rules except for the fact that I don't have a calculator on me since my phone doesn't work. After that we pretty much just hung out and then grabbed some more food before leaving for the airport at 7pm. Everything from there went pretty well (minus the accidental non-stamp from customs the first time through), and then we were off to Bahrain at 10pm.
Day 10 (Wednesday) - Ethiopia and Bahrain
Contrary to what one might think, itineraries on this tour have been anything but reliable. The one lesson we've learned thusfar is to pretty much not expect anything. That or expect absolutely everything. Neither one is really great though in terms of planning. Our itinerary told us we would be arriving in Bahrain at 3:30am, so expect our surprise when we landed 2 hours earlier. Our POC obviously wasn't there yet, and the police and customs were pretty less than thrilled at 8 people with 45 pieces of excess baggage just kind of lingering. Finally we had our rep come to the airport, and we loaded up all of our things and went straight to a military airport. We had on our itinerary that we’d be heading to a ship, but we really didn’t know too much more than that. When we arrived at the airport around 3am, we were told we would be taking off to a ship at approximately 9am that was out in the middle of the ocean. We had briefly talked about carrier ships and how cool it would be to see one (we thought we’d be visiting a docked ship), but we were actually going to be flying onto one. For those of you who don’t know a lot about carrier ships, basically they have a very short runway. In order for planes to land they have to catch a wire on the runway that will drag them to a very abrupt and short stop. On the flip side of things, taking off is quite the opposite. You are launched into a catapult type thing, with tons of hydraulics, and you are basically shot into the sky. We were lucky enough to experience both, but I’ll get to all that later.
We hung out at the airport until it was time to takeoff, where we were asked to put on life vests and helmets called cranials that came equipped with goggles. Usually they don’t fly too far, but we were going to be in the air for a few hours. We were given all of the safety briefing and a coin from one of the pilots, and then we were up in the air. When it came time to land, they made sure we had all our equipment on, our 4-point seatbelts VERY tight, and when they started waving their arms you knew to brace yourself. The landing goes by so fast you really don’t have time to process it. I was sitting in one of only 2 window seats, and I didn’t see a damn thing. All I saw was sky, then all I saw was pavement. It was surreal and absolutely amazing.
We were immediately ushered off of the ship and to a small room where we met the captain (wow, such an honor, and already!) and then were taken on a tour of the flight line. Basically we got to stand and watch as flights came and left the ship… it was absolutely stunning. They go from so fast to stopped… or from stopped to, well, you get it. It was nuts. We went from there to the flight deck where we met a few other people aboard the ship, and they let us know a little bit about what they do. It was seriously an awesome feeling from start to finish aboard the ship. We could all sense their genuine interest and excitement about having us with them, and it was awesome. They truly let us become a part of their busy days and important jobs, from making calls over the radio to meet and greets that night where we took a bunch of pictures and signed a lot of autographs. It was really a great feeling, and everyone was so hospitable and warm. Oh, and did we mention we had a funboss?! Yeah. Her name was Therese, and she ruled. Her and David and Jason and Leon, who also helped us out and kind of were our ‘family’ while we stayed on the ship, took us to dinner and showed us around. We pretty much passed out around 10, and with our bunks being directly under the flightline I think that should tell you just how tired we were J
Day 12 (Fri) Aboard the USS Nimitz
We woke up at 8am, had some breakfast, and then started the day with a tour of the weapons department. We got to meet the people who make them, people who repair them, and people who watch over them. All pretty heavy jobs, and they were all awesome at explaining everything to us civilians who may otherwise not understand all the abbreviations and going-ons of their job. From there it was naptime (I think the rocking of the ship had something to do with that), and then lunchtime. We went straight from there to the hangar, where the stage had been built for the show. We got all of our equipment set up, and then (you guessed it) naptober part 2. We visited the ship store and got to catch up on a few things, then we grabbed some diner and got back to the hangar in time for Captain’s Call. After he spoke we took the stage for what could have been one of the coolest shows we’ve ever played. Not many bands can say they played a hangar of a ship looking out over the ocean and having over 2000 amazing people singing and dancing along. I think this was one of the most humbling and important shows we’ve ever played, because when people make signs that have our lyrics on them, or know the words to songs… it reinforces why we’re all doing this. It’s for that single moment. And trust me, when it comes to audiences, we couldn’t ask for a better group of people to play to than the heroes of America who are on deployment.
We signed autographs/guitars/Xboxes/ipods/shirts/hats (yeah… holy crap you guys are awesome) for over 2 hours, ran to the heads (bathrooms in Navy-speak), and had someone play us a song. It was amazing. We did an interview with some of the staff, packed up, got some midnight ice cream (yes!!), and then passed out. What an amazing day.
Day 13 (Sat) Leaving the USS Nimitz for Bahrain
We woke up at 8:30am to some of the staff bringing us our laundry (can I get an amen?), then Funboss wakeup call at 9, then people coming to pick up our bags at 9:15 (I have never done less in terms of transit this whole trip… it was so unnecessary on their end but boy do we appreciate it). We grabbed a quick breakfast and then went to the LSO platform (no, not the LFO platform. Though Aaron and I sang “Summer Girls” the entire time anyway). Basically we got to stand at the front of the runway and watch as the planes came in along with the staff that kind of guides and watches over them if anything should go wrong. What a rush it is being up there with these massive (small in relation to other planes, but still, it’s a plane) things shooting out hot, hot air, blowing you around while the ocean comes at you from every angle without any land in sight. They even made an announcement on the ship thanking us while we were down there.
We then went up one last time to say goodbye to the Captain and his staff, and to thank him for having us aboard. We were given out certificates making us honorary hookers (something to do with airplanes, though I told him my parents would be proud nonetheless), photos of us and the captain and the ship when we first arrived, a cd full of photos that were taken while we were aboard, and other amazing goodies that they packed up for us. I have to tell you, never in my life have I felt more like a rock star. And you won’t hear me say that often, because we’re all really just a bunch of kids who have a dream to play music, and were given the amazing opportunity to share what we love with all of you.
We then packed back on all the cranial/goggle/lifevest equipment, and were given a safety briefing once again. This time things were a bit different though, and having watched the planes take off days beforehand I knew what was happening and I was both excited and kind of nervous at the same time… you go realllllly fast. So anyways, once they staff were waving their hands, I braced myself, and before I knew it we were really, really high in the air. Extreme roller coaster. 0-200 in like 3 seconds. Holy never forget that feeling ever.
Oh and P.S. I have a lot of sorting to do so hopefully once we arrive in Kuwait I'll be able to go through them all and put them up! :)
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