The blog challenge prompt is to talk about a recent travel experience.

Guys, I don’t travel much.

My body is not very cooperative when it comes to the usual vacation activities of walking around places and exploring the sites.

I haven’t flown since 2002 when we took the whole family to Oregon to visit my grandad.

I’m from the midwest–we drive. Whether it is 10 minutes away or 10 hours away, we are driving.

So where have I driven recently? March was full of driving, and it was an experience, so let’s go with that.

My daughter buys 2 tickets to concerts she wants to attend, and I am the designated driver to said concerts and then get to enjoy some really great shows. In March, we had almost back-to-back shows.

First up was a short 5 hour jaunt to St. Louis to see Waterparks and their openers (Poptropicaslutz! and Loveless). We tried something a little different this time and booked a hotel right next to the concert venue. And when I say right next to, I mean we didn’t even have to cross a street. 10/10 will always recommend doing this from now on to avoid the hassle of finding parking at the venue.

We pulled up to the Moon Rise Hotel roughly 3 hours before the venue doors were going to open, and we could already see that the fans were wrapping around the venue. This is pretty typical, and we were glad we had a hotel right next door. Got checked in, dropped our bags in the room, and headed over to the venue. The wait in line wasn’t too bad–it wasn’t terribly cold for early March. Finally got in the doors and my daughter headed for barricade and I hunted down a venue employee and made my way to the ADA seating upstairs.

After the show, we were hungry–found a White Castle nearby, collected the car from the parking lot behind the hotel, and brought sustenance back to the room.

Check out in the morning would have been uneventful except for the fact that the parking lot had a gate, and that gate was not opening and the lot guard was not in their little hut. Finally called the front desk and they came out and stood in the hotel entryway and pushed a remote and the gate slid open. Headed back to Kansas and got my daughter there for her afternoon classes.

A week later, we drove 11 hours to Minneapolis, MN for the next concert. I am glad the weather gods smiled upon us and we had great weather that was in the 50s. Got a hotel next to the venue again, albeit across the street, and the parking garage was a skyway away from the hotel. Still a better setup than finding parking at a venue. We went up the day before the concert so we could explore the city a little this time. I have not experienced a city where street entrances are not easily accessible and you have to go into a building to access bagel shops, etc., but we eventually figured it out.

When it came time for the concert, we discovered that some fans really struggle with deciphering where a concert is held when the venue has 2 separate areas. We knew we were standing at the correct entrance, but it took awhile for other fans to realize they were in fact not first in line at the other door. Got in, daughter went to barricade, and I went to my ADA seating–it was cool, cuz the venue had a sign taped to the barstool with the seat reserved with my name on it. Powfu and his openers Jomie and Cody Lawless put on a great show. I used DoorDash for the first time for our after concert meal. I live in a town of 550 people, so this doesn’t happen regularly. We wrapped up the trip the next day with early breakfast with a friend and headed back to Kansas. Didn’t have to get back for classes, but we did have to get back quickly so my daughter could head to her next concert with her brother in Omaha. March was very concert heavy.

So yeah, that’s my latest travel experience. As long as I can navigate lodging, parking, and meals, it all tends to go well. Looking forward to the next trip!