Author: rphbaker

It seems as though we have survived the day mostly unscathed. Now just to find some petrol for the car and then return the rental. Should be SO easy.

I was able to map to a shell station and found our way without any issues. I pulled up and wasn’t sure how to actually get the gas though. I’m so out of practice here.

Their pumps are “pay at the pump” so I walked inside first to see if I needed to somehow prepay for a fill up. She kind of looked at me like I was pathetic when I said the pumps aren’t like the states, do I pay first? She’s like no you don’t. Go pump and come back. Sure, no problem.

I had looked for a gas release in the car and didn’t see one. When I opened the door to the tank I definitely wasn’t expecting to see that the actual key was required. So, I can just pump my gas and you trust me but yet y’all put key locks on your car gas tanks? I’m so confused.

Back to the drivers side to grab the key, now to just figure out which gas. I knew it was unleaded, Maddie and I had triple checked that after Greg’s gas mishap in Scotland that will go down in Baker Family History as a top 5 core memory. But why are there so many options.

I picked the E10 and then second guessed myself and grabbed the E5 but the pump wouldn’t turn on. I had heard something when I grabbed the E10 but wasn’t sure if it was my pump or the guy on the other side of me. I was trying to figure out if i flip something up.

In the meantime I second guessed my second guess and went back for the E10 and it pumped just fine. Literally no clue but I’m thinking I activated the E10 when I first grabbed it and they don’t let you change your mind.

Tank is full, now to return the rental. This is where things get dicey. I’d been using Apple Maps to map to the general airport. Guess I pulled Google maps up for Europcar. I got confused and followed Apple and I ended up driving to passenger pick up/ drop off and there was no turning around. We ended up in a queue from hell with no way out. After lots of back and forth in the car in tight spaces and ensuring we had only one map on I put Europcar in Apple Maps. It took me to a complete dead end where I had to turn around.

After dropping more F bombs in the course of ten mins than I’m proud to admit to, Google maps correctly mapped us to “car for hire” which is English for car rental return.

After leaving the hotel at 7:45am, grabbing only one small meal as well as one bathroom break it’s now 2:30pm. I am hangry as hell and about to lose my shit. I just need to get to the airport, get through security and find some food.

Before that though I heard the magical sound of the ice cream man in the car for hire lot while sitting on the bus. I cannot imagine what Mr. Whippy was doing in that lot but if I wasn’t concerned about potentially missing our flight I’d tear some Mr Whippy up.

We made it to the airport with no issues. Because our Oakley backpacks exceed the size for a normal personal bag on Wizz we had to pay for carry on hand luggage which got us priority screening. That’s lucky because the regular line was a disaster.

Security was much line TSA precheck. Everything stayed in our bags and we didn’t have to take our shoes off. Mine and Maddie’s backpacks did get tagged for extra security though. Not exactly sure why and I don’t feel that confident with the additional screening. On mine she asked if I had liquids in a side pocket. I said yes and pulled them out. She asked if she could test one and I said of course. She said which one can I test? Ummm any? She grabbed my toothpaste and put it in a machine they seemingly did nothing.

Similar question for Maddie. She asked if she had liquids in the side pocket. Maddie said no, but I think I know what it is. She pulled out the light up bracelet from the show last night that is still lighting up. Maddie had said they would probably think it was a bomb. I’m convinced they have seen several of those today. Maddie showed it to the agent who was like no it’s not that but you’re fine.

We ran to a store to buy prepackaged sandwiches to inhale before our flight. I got chips too because I’m hungry and love trying all these ridiculous flavors.

Also because I’m hours past due with eating I made the solid decision of grabbing Krispy Kreme donuts. Unfortunately for me, by the time I’d gotten then they had announced our gate and we had to hustle to get in line. These will end up being a bedtime snack.

Maddie and I were back on the road around 11:45 to continue toward the airport. It was mostly enjoyable drive with pretty views with the exception of a few stressful moments of missed turns and pumping myself up before roundabouts with an “I can do this.”

Everything was going okayish until some stupid tractor that was not Jeremy pulled out doing a max speed of 28. I was thinking he was going to just drive to his next plot of land but he literally drove for miles and through the town.

Maddie did a phenomenal job of helping to navigate as well as confirm I could indeed do it until the last 20 mins or so when she fell asleep.

My goal was to find a DHL shop to mail back our Taylor Swift hoodies, Diddly Squat goods and whatever else we were tired of carrying after two days.

I was nervous that since we were so close to the airport, where I had mapped us was just an airport location with no counter service. Maddie convinced me to pull in and sure enough she was correct. We walked in to a mostly empty store with two gentlemen (customers) sitting on a couch. We saw no workers and stood awkwardly for a few moments before one of the men said asked if we were picking up a package. I said we are trying to mail something out. He said, “they should be able to help you. He’s a lovely chap but we have been waiting 20 mins to mail those on the counter.”

I was nervous but definitely didn’t want to haul that stuff with us (which really wasn’t even an option due to space issues) so we waited just a minute or two.

A worker appeared and asked the men if they had a screwdriver in the car. I was so confused and just watched it unfold. Customer “no”. Worker “the gentleman that has one has left at half past one for the day.” Customer “i will come back tomorrow.”

He picked up some boxes that I’m guessing needed to be opened with a screwdriver for them to inspect what was inside.

Our turn. We want to see about shipping some things to the States (as we stand with random bags shoved full with random shit.) He said no problem. What size box do you think you need?

Maddie guessed between a size 4 or maybe 5. That kind soul squished and flattered our stuff in the smaller box to save us money on shipping. He was indeed a very kind chap and I didn’t even need a screwdriver to get the job done.

Ok back to me and Maddie. We couldn’t really figure out why we were one mile away but the map was saying we had 20 mins left.

Once we saw the giant line of cars not moving it all made sense. Doubly stressful was that I wasn’t sure where to wait to turn in. I swear a car was motioning for me to turn into next to some other cars to wait to get in line but it felt like that should be the oncoming lane. Not that really anyone was coming that way.

I assumed he knew more than I did (which didn’t take much) so I pulled in and some nice man let me in the line.

Up a small hill we went and we could see everyone was turning into a field on the left. Diddly Squat was farther up on the right. I’m not taking any chances, overflow lot it is.

For those of you who have seen the show, remember when he opens up the farm store and the traffic is insane? Well yeah, it still is.

I had these very naive thoughts of seeing Jeremy, or better yet Lisa, and getting a pic with them and telling them how far we had come.

Things seemed ok with the first sign welcoming us to the farm.

And then I saw the giant line of people waiting to get in the farm store. Unsure of what to do we hopped quickly in line. After waiting for 5 mins maybe we passed a sign that said 15 min wait from that spot.

Doesn’t seem terrible. Except they lie.

20-25 mins since we had jumped in line and we were almost up to a sign that said 30 mins wait from here. I was running numbers trying to decide what to do when a man came and told a lady a few people up that the store didn’t have any T-shirts. Greg had seen one he wanted which seemed so easy before we arrived.

I had Maddie wait in line while I went to explore around the back where there were some picnic tables. I thought I’d heard the man say he bought some things around the back. Sure enough there was a small stand set up selling a few things…tea towels, candles, aprons, mugs, cutting boards, etc. I had Maddie get out of line because there was just no point in waiting all that time. Especially since I wasn’t confident we had the time to wait.

I randomly bought a few things for gifts, while trying to buy the employees sweatshirt off his back. Maddie said shed’s kidding which brought some relief I think to him even thought I wasn’t necessarily kidding. I would have paid him for that sweatshirt. Not that I have any cash with which to actually buy a sweatshirt.

A few photos to document that we actually made it there.

We decided to use the loo before we got back on the road. They had a pretty pathetic set up of only two stalls, one of which wasn’t exactly working properly. One lady said she could see why the locals were upset and that she didn’t understand how he could get by with two tiny restrooms.

There were two other women talking about where they were from. One was from Australia and the other was from New Zealand. Confirmation that I’m not special to Jeremy or Lisa.

Upon leaving I realized that all the posted signs were lies. This chalkboard was facing away from the onslaught of cars.

We did walk past the RV park that was briefly in the show (at least what I’ve seen so far.)

Greg and the boys had left around the same time as Maddie and I. They were taking a two hour ferry ride to Tallinn.

The boat was crazy nice with a grocery store, Burger King, restaurant, bar and more. Their seats were all you can eat and drink included with their tickets. They said some lady definitely got her money’s worth with a new drink approximately every 15 mins to include two bottles of champagne and a bottle of limoncello.

Looks like they had a nice relaxing trip. Same same for me and Maddie…or not.

Maddie and I had a stressful start to our day. After finally getting into the drivers side we headed out. The only problem is that my phone didn’t have a great signal so the map wasn’t mapping us. I ended up missing my turn and we found ourselves in a dead end. I’m sure people were like oh cool, another Taylor Swift fan trying to leave town.

After a few more missed or early turns we pulled into Starbucks for some breakfast and caffeine. I also love see the different options at Starbucks. Somehow I did not go for the Marmite.

Here you chose your sandwich and took it to the register for them to ring up and then warm. Ham and cheese croissant for me, Beyond Burger sandwich for Maddie.

All I wanted was to get to the Motorway so I didn’t have to work so hard to drive. I was so excited to make the turn onto the on ramp when we hit standstill traffic.

Our ultimate destination today is the Luton Airport where we will catch a 4pm flight to Tallinn, Estonia. First though we are planning to stop at Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswold’s. Anyone who has watched Clarkson’s Farms will know what I’m talking about. Anyone who doesn’t and has free time will want to check it out on Amazon Prime. Admittedly I haven’t watched all three seasons. Greg, Brooks and my mom are all huge fans and since it’s basically on the way to the airport we’d might as well go check it out.

We have about a two hour drive. Maybe longer since I legit just pulled a Big Ben/Parliament in a round about by being in the wrong lane and missing my exit.

It’s not entirely my fault. That round about was giant and had stoplights in the middle of it. I’m sorry but doesn’t that defeat the point?

The drive for the most part was uneventful. Mostly two lane narrow roads through the countryside. I passed one time and almost sh!t myself because that Citroen had zero pickup so I decided passing wasn’t my thing. I was happy to just poke along.

The speed limit would alternate between 20 in towns to 70. I never know how fast I was going but generally the actual speed limit of 60-70 felt so fast.

At one point we passed a police officer going in the other direction and I said “well I definitely won’t be getting a ticket since I’m not even going the speed limit!” Approximately 30 seconds later that police officer was behind me with what felt like a million lights flashing. My heart literally almost stopped and I said “omg Maddie I’m getting pulled over.”

False alarm thankfully. Not sure where he was headed but he went past me as I pulled toward the shoulder.

After close to two hours we were nearly there…but yet so seemingly far.

All Bakers are on the move. Maddie and I are leaving Cardiff to head to London at 7:45am after a late night of singing and dancing. Greg and the boys are leaving Helsinki for Estonia.

Not much to report as of now.

Wish me luck on driving! Gonna be a long one!

Not off to a good start. Got in on the wrong side of the car. Maddie said “you were confident though! I like that!”

I don’t even know how to put into words how the last five hours of my life was. It was like being with 67000 of my friends…most of who were much younger. But who’s counting.

Maddie and I left the hotel around 4:40 to go grab dinner. We ended up at Shake Shack because it was on the way and obviously I love me some SS.

From there we walked to the stadium expecting long lines to get in per the article as well as reading about previous concerts. Cardiff either has things down to a science or we got there earlier than we needed to. We were there maybe 15 mins before Paramore came on as the opener.

On the way Maddie and I traded friendship bracelets with some police officers and a little girl. I love that the police were into it as well.

People watching was ah-mazing. The concert truly draws people from all ages.

The people next to us was the cutest couple from Bristol. Maddie made another friend in Emma who was 29. Her boyfriend had a friendship bracelet that said “help me.” He was such a good sport. I was positive that he was going to drop to one knee during Love Story and I was so ready to film it but he let us all down.

I don’t even know what my favorite part was…honestly just being there. So freaking fun.

The one crazy thing was how many people needed medical assistance. There were several time when Taylor would point out during a song someone that needed help and tell them where they were. This concert was inside. Maddie and I were freezing but Emma and her boyfriend were boiling. I do think the Europeans are heat intolerant compared to us. I still remember being in Ireland and the radio saying they were having a heat wave at 70 degrees.

We saw several people taken out on stretchers. One seemed to be an actual emergency as they moved with urgency. Others looks just dehydrated. Still so sad and scary for them.

A mom and young daughter started next to us until Emma and Joseph switched so the little girl could see. Before the moved the mom looked at me and said the things moms do. Little did she know I was more excited maybe that Maddie was to be there but I just agreed with her.

Maddie and I danced and sang our hearts out for 3+ hours. A night I will truly never forget.

We have an early start tomorrow to head back toward London to catch an afternoon flight to Tallinn Estonia where we will meet back up with the boys tomorrow night.

It’s off to bed for me so I can be so ready to take on that stick shift tomorrow.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Cardiff has never had so much glitter and sequins in town at one time. Everywhere you look there are girls in sequined skirts and dresses decked out in glitter. We passed one guy on the street who was saying “she has proper hardcore fans.” He’s not wrong.

I read an article in the BBC (attaching some screenshot below) that has me so thankful that we decided to come straight to Cardiff and stay here until in the morning. I was nervous to wait and drive in the day of or to leave after the concert to drive back to Bristol or London where our flight is out of tomorrow. Per BBC I made the right choice.

Another decision that I made was to spend extra for tickets that are actual seats. The floor here is standing room only and those tickets were actually “cheap” compared to other tickets. After all the tik tots I’ve seen recently of Taylor stopping shows mid concert to ask if people are ok and if they need help I was pretty sure I’d be one of those people if I had to run into the stadium when it opened just to get my place to stand and then not be able to leave for fear of losing my spot. I’m not gonna lie, Taylor talking directly to me, even if she’s asking if I need medics was somewhat appealing, but I correctly realized I’m way too old for that. Sophie and Isobel confirmed that upon reading they lined up at 3:30am this morning waiting to be let in at 3pm for a show that starts at 5:45pm with the opening act.

This particular show (and possibly all of Europe) is my kind of concert. Taylor is expected to take the stage around 7:30-7:45pm and there is a curfew on the concert of 10:30pm. Considering my time hasn’t fully adjusted to the time change despite my almost 11 hours of sleep that’s an end time of 5:30pm.

Almost time to get my friendship bracelets out and start preparing for the show!!

First stop…TK Maxx! We visited our first TK Maxx in Munich where I bought a flat iron. I couldn’t honestly tell you why there have a TJ and a TK Maxx but regardless we are going in!

I did get a shirt for the concert which will be revealed later.

Next we decided to walk towards the castle and just take in the sights.

We came across a cute market that I thought was a grocery store but it turned out to be lots of separate stores selling everything from prepared food to cards to flowers. Why don’t we have anything this amazing in the states? Or do we and I’m just not aware of it?

Ok. Heading for the castle for real now.

Got distracted with a cute little “arcade”

Upon exiting the arcade we have arrived at the castle.

Or so we thought…again. We walked toward some gates that we thought would take us there.

Maddie saw Lola and stopped in her tracks. She wanted to go pet her so she went to ask the owner. Maddie asked if she was an English cream and the owner said she’s a golden retriever. 🙂

She couldn’t believe that we have two of the at the same time. Lola is 9 and was so sweet. The owner asked if we had seen the castle yet and told us how to get there. (It was the opposite way.)

But first, trees.

We finally made it to the castle and while we didn’t buy a ticket to go inside I was underwhelmed. And frankly confused.

The entire grounds were blocked off for concerts that they run all summer. Maybe if we had bought tickets to go tour it would have been more impressive. We just didn’t want to take the time to do that.

Time to head back to the hotel to recharge our phone batteries…by we I mean mine.

First stop…TK Maxx! We visited our first TK Maxx in Munich where I bought a flat iron. I couldn’t honestly tell you why there have a TJ and a TK Maxx but regardless we are going in!

I did get a shirt for the concert which will be revealed later.

Next we decided to walk towards the castle and just take in the sights.

We came across a cute market that I thought was a grocery store but it turned out to be lots of separate stores selling everything from prepared food to cards to flowers. Why don’t we have anything this amazing in the states? Or do we and I’m just not aware of it?

Ok. Heading for the castle for real now.

Got distracted with a cute little “arcade”

Upon exiting the arcade we have arrived at the castle.

Or so we thought…again. We walked toward some gates that we thought would take us there.

Maddie saw Lola and stopped in her tracks. She wanted to go pet her so she went to ask the owner. Maddie asked if she was an English cream and the owner said she’s a golden retriever. 🙂

She couldn’t believe that we have two of the at the same time. Lola is 9 and was so sweet. The owner asked if we had seen the castle yet and told us how to get there. (It was the opposite way.)

But first, trees.

We finally made it to the castle and while we didn’t buy a ticket to go inside I was underwhelmed. And frankly confused.

The entire grounds were blocked off for concerts that they run all summer. Maybe if we had bought tickets to go tour it would have been more impressive. We just didn’t want to take the time to do that.

Time to head back to the hotel to recharge our phone batteries…by we I mean mine.