Oh wow, what a weekend it has been. I am still trying to gather myself from it before I am off to Cork for another show this weekend.
Last Friday morning I set off to head to London to see Westlife in Wembley, a once in a life time experience, as they called it. My flight was early enough (9am) and I got to the airport two hours beforehand which gave me plenty of time to have some breakfast, too. In fact, the security check and all in Dublin airport has massively improved since June. It took me not even ten minutes from start to finish to get through.
Once landed in Heathrow Airport, I made my way into London via Heathrow Express to meet the girls at White City Station. As we still had plenty of time before the other girls arrived, we took the tube to Kings Cross Station as Jana wanted to see the platform 9 3/4 and have a look in the Harry Potter shop. We all went for some food in Giraffe which was in the station upstairs. At the same time, Vicky arrived on the Euro Star from Belgium so we took her along with us and walked to Euston Station to take the over ground train to our accommodation which was close to Wembley stadium.
Two of the other girls, who came from Scotland, were already waiting but we still had three more people to wait for as we were nine people in the house in total. While waiting, Lilly, Jana and I walked to Poundland and Tesco to get a few bits and pieces. It was hot that weekend so we needed plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.
As the last people arrived, by pure coincidence, Simone from Sweden was on the same train as the other three who I was staying with. Her accommodation was only up the road from us which was very handy as we could pick her up then before we started queuing the next day.
The house was only a 15 mins walk from the tube station. We checked out the house, left our belongings in our room and Jana, Lilly, Saskia, Simone and I walked to Wembley stadium. We wanted to see where we would need to queue in the morning so we knew where to go. Luckily the way we walk to the stadium was also the side where we needed to queue which was the red zone. We met a few other fans on the way who did the same thing. I also met a few fans that I knew from years ago. We swapped four tickets with them as Gold Circle was split and we all wanted to be together.
Back at our accommodation we went to sleep just after midnight. We had an early wake up call. Originally we were meant to be up at 6am to be queuing for 7am, however I wasn’t able to sleep properly so woke at 4am and got another thirty minutes shut eye. When we were all ready to go, fuelled with food and drink, we walked to the stadium, picked up Simone on the way and joined the queue. There were eight other girls already in front of us. These were actually friends of friends who were staying with us in the house. Small world.
And so the queuing started. We kept ourselves busy talking, creating banners, eating, drinking and walking around Wembley Park. Thankfully the stadium was surrounded by shops so we were never going hungry or thirsty. One time when Simone and I went to Tesco to get more drink we missed Nicky passing the queue, rolling down the window to say hi because his driver went the wrong direction. As well as one of the girls in front of us going to the shop two minutes after that and when she came back Nicky stopped for her and she got her picture with them. It could have been us but it was not meant to be. lol
The queueing was actually not too bad only for the heat. The sun was moving around to our side by late mid morning and we had no shade. The only shade we could find was if we left the queue for a few minutes or the banner/flag above the head. We all got up around 4pm to get ready. The plan was to bring us to the gates to scan the ticket in group of 10s. We put our arms together and slowly made our way to the gates and it worked well. No one was pushing. Just a few minutes after 5pm we were allowed to go in. The process sounded easy but it was a bit stressful. The ticket had to be scanned and only when the green light disappeared you can scan your own ticket. We were then greeted by people who check your bag and give you the wristband. The guy who put on my wristband didn’t seem to know what he was doing because as I was approaching the gate for Gold Circle I noticed my wristband was gone. It fell off because the sticky part was not on properly. Back I went and then we were good to go. Luckily everyone went for the front stage. We planned to stay at the end of the walkway of the B Stage which worked out great.
Now we had time again for a last minute toilet break. I also picked up some nachos while up there before heading back down to my space. The waiting started again. First support act was on at 6.30pm, Sophie Ellis Bextor. 7.30pm on the dot it was James Morrison. We did think they should have switched them around as he mostly sang slow songs and it didn’t get the crowd going at all.
Westlife came on at 8:43pm. The concert was streamed live in cinemas all across the globe. It was a great concert as always and it was nice to sing along with friends who are sharing the same passion for this music. We even made it on screen on a few occasions. I mean, it was hard not to considering we were in front row. The camera man was passing by constantly.
Just during the second song which was “When you’re looking like that” Mark noticed my sign and he gave me a wink, smile and wave. The night was already made and it could only get better. We had the best spot to see them up-close. Definitely one of the best shows they put on. I recognised a good few friends and fans I know even from far away. The Westlife fan community can be so lovely and the amount of friends I made over the last fifteen years is amazing.
The next morning we had to check out by 10am. Everyone had different flight times and I had to say goodbye to a few people. Before heading back into London, we walked over to the hand prints of Westlife which are located in front of the Wembley arena. Then it was time to head to Victoria station and see Lilly, Jana and Iben off back to Gatwick airport.
Angela, Vicky, Simone and I had some lunch in Leicester Square. We decided on Five Guys. Afterwards it was time to say goodbye to the rest. My flight was not until 9pm that day, however I was pretty tired that day from all the queuing and it was really hot. I did not fancy walking around London with a backpack on doing some sightseeing when I have seen most of it anyway. Instead I spent a few hours at the airport having dinner, looking at my photos and videos which passed the time.
