My Joe adventures in Ireland.

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[Hubz]

My Joe adventures in Ireland.

So much has happened in the last few days I am not even sure I can or will remember it all, one thing is for sure, it’s been eventful, never in my life did I expect to step foot in a place like The Kremlin, have coffee with Joe McElderry or get stranded at Belfast airport. I am expecting this to be my longest review so far, so right back to the beginning I go.

Friday 17th December 2010

Dublin – The George Bar:

I got up fairly early got dressed and on my way to London Bridge where I got a train to Liverpool St. At Liverpool St there were delays and cancellations on the train to Stansted, this was the first of many delays I was about to face this weekend haha. I stood waiting for ages for the board to say my platform and hoping it wasn’t delayed, then it disappeared off the board altogether, I was getting worried that I wouldn’t get to the airport in time, but then my train suddenly appeared on the board and the platform was up, so I ran to get on the train and I made it *yay*.

The train was around 30 minutes, and then I arrived at Stansted. I was looking around trying to find the Ryan air check in to check if my bag was ok for hand luggage and see if I needed to do anything else as I hadn’t checked in online before. It took me about 15 minutes to find the Ryan air counter, even though the airport is pretty small I was quite proud of myself lol. I needed help opening my ball of clear plastic bags for my make-up which was a bit embarrassing, then I was all set to go through security. I always feel guilty going through the security belt thing like I have something to hide, not sure why haha.

When I got to the other end without beeping, I saw my flight on the board, gate 14, it told me to wait, but as I saw a sign saying it was 12 minutes to each terminal I decided to make my way down and by the time I got there I was able to wait around by my gate. Then they announced my flight was delayed by about 20 minutes, so I was fiddling about on twitter and saw that Joe would be landing not too long after me, ooooh what if we see him at the airport I thought! By the time we got on the plane and set off we were delayed by quite a bit and we got in around 40 minutes after the scheduled time, which meant Joe’s flight was landing even close then we first thought.

After a quick think about whether I needed to go through the exit or flight connections, I went for exit and hoped for the best. Was happy to see Jenni and Joanne (currentmrss) waiting for me at arrivals, *yay I went the right way*. We started chatting for a bit and could see the flight Joe would be on the board and it landed. A girl next to us must have heard us mention Joe, or we have Joe McElderry fan printed on our foreheads, either way she said she was waiting to see Joe and recognized me from my picture with Joe, it feels a bit odd when someone recognizes you and you are thinking, ahhhh do I know you, must be what it’s like to be famous haha. I saw a small guy who could be Joe walk out of the doors with a group of people, then I noticed Eileen and realized it must be him, I turned around and noticed the girl had sprinted quicker than you can say Joe McElderry, so we walked round to Joe and he was having a photo with the girl.

Joe said hello to us, and I said my signature line of “hi Joe”, Jenni started chatting to Joe and told him we were going to Belfast too, he said, yeah if you can get then, Jen replied, Joe if you can get there, we can get there lol, we all laughed. Jenni got a hug from Joe and so did Joanne, I stood there like a lemon not knowing what to do, I wasn’t sure about giving him a hug as I didn’t want to give him anything (that sounds like I’m contagious, I just mean my cold).

Joe said he would see us all later and said his goodbye’s, I said “bye Joe”. I was a bit annoyed with myself that I had only said hi and bye to him and why I get so tongue tied around him, Jen could talk for England to him and I struggle to say a word.

Me and Jen were planning on getting some toiletries from a shop at the airport as we didn’t have any for 100 ml to travel with us. However meeting Joe distracted us slightly and we ended up going outside and getting a taxi to the hotel. Unfortunately Joanne had booked the wrong hotel, she thought it was the same as ours but there were two different branches in Dublin, so we said we would meet her later on.

By the time we got to the hotel it was about 5pm, me and Jen were staying a room with Roec and Anne and Eva (DS) were staying next door. After chatting for a while we got changed and then Anne and Eva came to have a chat in our room.

At around 8pm we met Tascha (Hunneyt) and Michelle (Addicted2Tea) and went off to find the bus stop to get into town. The bus stop was only about 5 minutes up the road, but it took me and Jen a while to walk up, I would like to say I was helping her walk along, but in reality I needed to go as slow as a tortoise too, I fall over all the time let alone when it’s snowy, icy and I’m in heels. A few buses went by, but they were all out of service, then finally one came along. He said you could only pay with coins and we only had euro notes. Just as we were about to get kicked off the bus and back onto the freezing street, he let us on. We were on the bus for about 20 minutes before we got off in the city and off to find The George bar, we met Joanne there. We went up to the bouncers to collect our tickets, the bouncer commented on Tascha’s camera, and said, it’s only Joe McElderry you know, THE ONE AND ONLY Joe McElderry, exactly, no-one else would make us travel from all over the UK to Ireland. The bouncer couldn’t believe that we follow Joe all over to see him perform.

Then we went off to find somewhere to eat, we ended up in a kebab place eating fish & chips, classy eh. We found something to talk about, can’t think what ………… ummm. Then realized it was 10pm and made our way back round to The George.

The place looked quite nice inside, nice sitting area around the bar. The stage was small but looked quite good. We were walking around trying to figure out where we would have the best view of the stage. Once we found a good spot, we saw a few people from twitter and had a little chat, then The George version of The X Factor started, a girl could Jess and two guys, Darren and Billy, there were I think 4 judges giving comments who then had to decide which two went through the the finals and who won. Jess got kicked off first and it was out of Darren and Billy, they were both really good but I preferred Billy and we were standing by Billys family, his dad was in the seat in front of us and couldn’t stop cheering, “Go on my son”, it was lovely to see how proud they all were of him and they were so happy when he won. Joe congratulated Billy in his performance too which was sweet.

The lady sitting in front of us who was Billy’s godmother offered Jen her seat, the people in Dublin were really lovely actually. Then the stage area was cleared and people started to hover around the stage, we were not sure if you would be asked to move
when Joe came on stage as it seemed to close to be true. Jenni asked Billys dad this and he said, I will find out for you and went off in search for a security guy, he came back with a security guy in tow he then walked us to the stage, Jen sat on the corner of the stage. I went round to the front of the stage to stand with some of the others, Jen came over to see if she would have a better view, but wasn’t sure she could stand for that long. The security guard then came over and whizzed her to the corner and sat her on a chair, there were two chairs, and I started shouting, if I have to move from here can I sit with Jen, I’m her carer haha.

The smoke machine started and all of a sudden Jen disappeared in the smoke, we couldn’t stop laughing. Jen was then moved from the corner of the stage to the back where she wouldn’t be lost by the smoke. Proper VIP treatment there, Jenni needs to say more about this as it was her sitting there.

We didn’t have to wait too long before Joe came on, in the meantime they played some music and I was having a little wiggle to it, then the host came on to introduce Joe.

Joe sprinted down the stairs and burst into Feel The Fire, DSB, Real Late Starter, SWMU, The Climb, UTSRO, Ambitions. Joe sang one note in Feel The Fire different I think, one of the end ones, anyway I loved it. The crowd reaction was amazing, one of the best receptions yet, they were going wild for him. DSB and The Climb got a lot of audience participation, everyone was singing along, the women that screamed, IT’SSSSSSSSSS THEEEEEEEEE CLIMBBBBBB after Joe said, it’s the …. And handed her the mic was hilarious. Some of the other songs the crowd were singing along too, which was brilliant to see and hear. There was an mature lady at the side of the stage who I thought was really sweet, Joe went and sang to her a few times and she was crying after his set she was so happy, bless.

Even though Joe didn’t do Real Late Starter as encore, I was glad he did the song again as it went down really well at Nightingales, I also just love Joe doing as many songs as possible and to have a longer set. Joe slapped his bum in front of me twice, and a look down my camera, so I was pretty happy. Tascha got a wink, he sang to Roec and Joanne I think, so we all got a bit of Joe time. Jenni, well Jen got laughed at by Joe, I’m sure he was laughing with you Jen rather then at you haha.

It was quite difficult to film as Joe was just soooo close, easily could have touched him, but I would just think he would think, why is Hayley stroking my leg? So I kept my hands to myself and on my phone, my arms always get tired record and I do record off focus at some times his face is out of view haha.

Joe was interacting we the audience quite a bit, he looked up onto the balcony a few times and around the audience on the floor. Like someone else mentioned his set seemed a little longer then some other times and I think he spoke a bit more than usual, which is good, I think he was feeding of the crowd reaction, because it was crazy.
When it got to Ambitions, I noticed many people around me doing the dance; Anne mentioned people were at the bar by the bar too, which is brilliant. All the time Joe was on stage, I was unfortunately getting strangled by some maniac drunk women, she started off putting her arm around me calling my babe which was annoying, then in the end she called me a b*tch to her friend and said that he couldn’t get to the front because, this b*tch is in the way, oh charming love, I have come all the way from England for this sweetie pie.

Other than that it was brilliant, you can just see how much he just loves to perform, Joe wished us all a Merry Christmas and said goodbye. I noticed in a thread yesterday, someone asked if Joe ever thanks the dancers, I don’t think I have ever said in my reviews, but he always says, give it up for the dancers, just before Ambitions.

After Joe’s performance I went upstairs to grab our coats from the cloak room. I passed a women screaming I f*cking love Joe McElderry, she was very drunk, but has good taste, her friend said, what about Olly Murs, isn’t he better and she said Joe McElderry all the way, then he said again, isn’t Olly better, I turned around and said NO, haha.

I saw Brian Dowling walk in and up to get his coat, I really wanted to say to him “My mum loves you” but didn’t quite get the chance too, I would have also liked to know his take on Joe’s performance, wonder if they met backstage, oooh maybe.

Anyway, Jen then came upstairs and asked if I wanted a drink, I did as I was thirsty, my throat was sore because of my cold and the smoke don’t help, then Jen said, it’s Joe’s. Huh, I then gulped lots of it down, Jen then explained the security guy had given Jen the water after Joe had left the stage, the same one Joe had opened and drank out of after DSB, well it had been blessed by the gorgeous lips of Joe and now I was drinking from it, OMG woop! That’s not creepy at all right? ……….. On second thoughts, don’t answer that lol.

After we had got our coats we headed out of the venue and were standing around the road chatting about the performance of course. A mini bus style car pulled up and Joe got into it, he had a few pictures with fans on his way out, we didn’t go up to him, it’s nice to know some other fans who hadn’t seen Joe before and wouldn’t have the same chance as some of us could get the opportunity.

The car windows were blacked out, but we could see Joe through the driver’s window as they drove off and Joe was out of his seat waving at everyone, ah bless him waving through the blacked out windows.

We then trotted off to flag down some taxi’s to get back to the hotel. Tascha and Michelle went to bed and me, Jen, Roec, Anne and Eva all chatted for a while before getting ready for bed. I was uploading my videos on to youtube, but kept getting messages saying I had used my data allowance out of the UK, silly me I didn’t even realize I was out of the UK lol. Fire The Fire and DSB uploaded though.

We ended up going to bed at around 4am, which is an early night for these Joe adventures haha.

Saturday 18th December 21, 2010

Belfast – The Kremlin:

We got up and went down to breakfast; Anne and Eva met us down there later. Michelle and Tascha had already gone on their way on the train to Belfast.

Anne was using the hotel computer and wifi to print off some directions for the journey, and had some extra time left on the internet, so I quickly posted on here then watched my videos, must have looked weird if anyone walked past and say as jigging along and singing to a Joe video on YouTube.

We finally hit the road to Belfast and were commenting how the weather wasn’t that bad, there wasn’t that much snow. Then as we got closer to Belfast it looked more snowy and icy. All of a sudden a sheet of fog cover us and we couldn’t see, it was like something out of a movie where you go through a time machine, like in the S Club 7 film LOL.

We got to Belfast safe and sound, although it was a bit of a mission to find the hotel. We met up with Tascha, Michelle and Joanne at the hotel and checked in. Me and Jen were sharing a room and it was very nice and spacious.

I met Roec and Anne downstairs to hit the shops. I haven’t mentioned until now, but I moaned all day long in Dublin about having no toiletries, no deodorant, no tissues (and I was going through tissues like it was out of fashion). It was quite hard to walk even just 5 minutes away to the shops as it was so slipply. Roec and Anne started having a snow fight at one point, and I kept shouting NOOOOO, don’t throw b*lls at me! Lol. Roec got a perfect hit on Anne’s back, there was a snowball mark on her coat for ages afterwards. I also kept screaming each time Roec or Anne nearly fell over, well Anne only tripped slightly once, Roec slightly more often haha.

Got some money out of an ATM which was Irish money, but Bank of England, I started shouting at the machine for giving me euro’s until I realized it wasn’t haha. I had actually changed up too much money into Euro’s thinking I would need them in Ireland, until my mum pointed out Northern Ireland is English money as it’s not in the Republic of Ireland, oh yeah duh.

We found a Boots and I got all my things including cold stuff, ended up to be £30, don’t you just hate it in Boots, you go in for one thing and go out with 3 bags and a receipt for £50. I think Jenni must have been so glad I finally got the toiletries so I could shut up bleeding moaning about not having any.

Back at the hotel we were chatting away at a table in the bar before deciding to go up and get ready and meet back downstairs in an hour.

I think it was about 9pm we arranged to meet and we went off in search of a restaurant. We past where The Kremlin was and there didn’t appear to be any restaurants around, we grabbed a taxi and told him to take us to where the restaurants were. He dropped us off where there were some pizza, fish and chips places etc and a KFC, which is where we went in the end.

They were trying to pack up as soon as we sat down, and collected all the chairs, it got rather strange when the put the shutter down right beside us, felt like we were being closed in. One lady told me the toilet was closed, then they let me and Jen go in, when coming out, we couldn’t open the door and I thought we had been locked in so started banging on the window, then the lady opened the door from the kitchen and told me I had to press a button, which in my defense wasn’t very obvious, it looked like a light switch and I wouldn’t want to be locked in and in darkness.

After we got out of there we got a taxi back down to where The Kremlin was. As soon as we got into the club we didn’t have a great feeling about it, not sure I can explain why. We got some drinks and hung around where the entrance to the room where Joe was performing.

We were let in the room about 10.30pm and went up to the front of the stage. The stage was small and I wasn’t sure Joe and all the dancers would really fit on it and be able to do the routines without bumping into each other, it didn’t look like the safest stage either. A bouncer came and stood in front of us and told Jen Joe would be on at 12am, when it got closer to 12 the security started to clear the people at the side of the stage, then they allowed people to go on stage to dance, I was a bit confused by that, Joe’s set has dramatically changed haha. Security afterwards said Joe would be on at 1.15am.

I couldn’t wait for Joe to come on and just get out of there tbh, it just wasn’t a nice atmosphere, there was something aggressive about the crowd, if they weren’t high they were hammered and I wasn’t too keen on Joe being that close to the stage either. I thought it was just me to begin with, but talking to everyone else during and after the gig, it was clear it wasn’t, there was just something about the place that made us a little comfortable, and to be frank I was fuming that Joe would be playing in such a low class venue, he deserves so much more.

As people have commented, you can’t really tell the difference between the venue’s on my video’s, which is a good thing, it shows how professional Joe is, I think the problem was more what was going on before Joe came onstage.

Joe was introduced by a drag queen and he came on full of energy as normal. Joe did the same set as before, I was originally in the front row, but ended up pushed behind so my view wasn’t the best. A few people in our group got waves, thumbs up and words sung to them which was good. The crowd reaction was good, not as good as The George, but that was a pretty amazing crowd, just felt a bit out of control for some reason. Joe was fantastic as always though, can’t fault his performance, the audience were singing along to The Climb, DSB, Ambitons. Joe’s set seemed slightly shorter this night and he spoke a little less.

After Joe’s set we rushed out of there quicker than you could say Joe McElderry, as we were on the stairs in the queue to get our coats I saw Joe’s dancers and mum walk back in, I didn’t even spot Joe he must have rushed in so quickly, but others did see him. Joe was meant to be doing a meet and greet in the cocktail bar, we decided not to go up to that though, I wasn’t expecting it to be very well organized and knew you wouldn’t really be able to chat to Joe, I was just glad to be out of there tbh.

[Hubz]

After the gig we went back to the hotel and whinged about the venue and how Joe being the winner should not be playing at a place like that. I think we all needed a stiff drink to get over that experience, although I did say, it’s one for the review haha.

After some time moaning and me going off on one of twitter we decided to call it a night. We planned to get up quite early the next morning to go for breakfast before Michelle and Tascha got their train back to Dublin.

By the time we got to our room and ready for bed it was around 5am, I only ended up with 1 hour sleep.


Sunday 19th December 21, 2010

Coffee with Joe & Coming Home.

I would like to say I was bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning, ……. But I would be lying. I forced myself to get out of bed and to get dressed. And we all headed down for breakfast, bar Anne who was still sleeping, she was driving, so didn’t want to be falling asleep at the wheel.

Breakfast wasn’t cheap £16.50, the beans were cold and they didn’t even have hash browns!!!!!!!!! Michelle and Tascha left to get there train and I was having a moan about the cold beans until something caught our attention, it was only Joe McElderry walking in for breakie, Eileen was with him too. We wasn’t sure where Joe was sitting and we didn’t want to disturb him if he was eating anyway, but we went up to get some juice and croissants/pastries and Joe was sitting right on the corner. He was sitting there with a green tea and turned and said hi to us as we were going to walk by. So we stopped for a chat, Joe first of all asked about our flights and said his looked ok at the moment, I could hear a voice in my head screaming for me to speak, SPEAK TO HIM HAYLEY, SPEAK, I thought it could be the best chance I ever get and said something about being worried I would get stranded at Luton, (my flight was to Gatwick, but I will explain that later). Joe said he was on the same flight as Joanne and hoped there wouldn’t be loads of delays. I can’t remember everything that was said, it’s all a bit of a daze really, Jen said something about me never being at work and Joe asked what my job was, I told him and he was like, ah that’s a good job, I was thinking, why does Joe want to know about my job haha? He spoke to all of us at some point.

Jen said she had the receipt for his present if he didn’t like it, Eileen said the top was really nice and similar to what he was wearing, (which it was), she described it too us so had clearly seen it, Joe said he was going to look through the presents properly when he got home and they were all back in Shields.

When asked about what’s happening in the new year, Joe stuck to the big meeting in January answer, of course we weren’t expecting that the would say anything more. Eileen asked us what single, if any, should be released next. Jen said to Joe, you know wherever you go and whatever you are doing, we will always be there supporting you, whether it’s England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Europe or America, we will be there. Eileen said, America? Really? She seemed a bit shocked by that and we were like yeah, Joe and Eileen said I think it’s amazing and Joe said how he appreciates all his fans and everyone’s support. We were probably chatting about 10 minutes before we went off to get our juice and pastries, didn’t want to outstay our welcome. I started having spasms of the excitement variety once out of Joe’s view and they repeated continuously for the rest of the day, I spoke to him!

Joe looked very relaxed, no make-up and I noticed how gorgeous his eyes are up close, he has the most beautiful lips I have ever seen too.

When I got back to the table I had a text from Tascha to say they had gone to the wrong train station and missed their train, and were on their way back to us, (too much time spent with me that is, he dopiness when it comes to travel rubs off). About 5 minutes later Michelle and Tascha arrived back at the hotel, they also spoke to Joe and Eileen. At one point Joe popped out to buy a newspaper from across the road and was reading it when we left breakfast, so he does read the press.

We then got our bags sorted and checked out of the hotel, meeting back up with Anne who had missed it all.

Anne drove us to Belfast City airport and it only took about 20-30 minutes which seemed too quick for an airport.

It must have been about 12.30pm and a bit too early for me to check into a 5.30 flight, although I thought my flight was 4.30pm, when I got my ticket out of my bag, I nearly had a heart attack when I realized my flight was to Gatwick not Luton and at 5.30pm instead of 4.30pm. I had printed out directions and a map to get home from Luton and everything, but I had slightly more things to fret about then getting home from Gatwick, which was the fact the airport had been severely delayed and had lots of cancellations for days, my only savior was that I hadn’t booked to go back to Heathrow. At the time I couldn’t even be bothered to worry, I had spoken to Joe at breakfast, so I wasn’t too fussed about getting home, I was on a high.

Anne and Roec stayed with us for a while chatting and Roec and Jenni went to buy a copy of Attitude mag. Not long after Anne and Roec left, Joe came through the doors with his snood on and up to check in. We decided to go through to departures.

While at the security belt we saw Joe come through and he went up to the same belt we had gone through, Jenni was still getting the search treatment as her leg set the alarm off, when Joe walked through, I was thinking, oh I hope he don’t see my trying to put my boots on, don’t know why but I felt a bit embarrassed. Joe walked through without his precious Joe boots too, I saw him coming over to us, but didn’t really think it was the time or place to approach him, but he came up to us and said hi again guys, we said hi Joe, again he said something about the flights looked like they were on time and it didn’t seem to be as bad or hectic as he thought. Eileen came over and I told her I was going to Gatwick not Luton and they have had a lot of cancellations, she said, I hope everyone’s flights ok. Joe started collecting his belongings, me, Jen and Joanne made our way up the escalator and stood at the top by a bar deciding whether to go for a cold or hot drink, in a bar/coffee shop. Joe came up the escalator a minute behind us, some guys in the bar shouted JOE, and he said hi and waved to them. Joe then came over to us and said, I should never take my mum to airports, she’s sooo embarrassing, she always has to get everything out of her bag, make-up, everything, we all laughed, Joe was so expressive saying it, with his hands and eyes. Jen replied something like, I’m the same. Joe asked us where the toilet was, I looked at the sign right in front of us and was like erm, over there *points*, Eileen and one male dancer, not Liam Luniss the other one came up the escalator, Joe said I will catch up with you just before boarding ok, ok we said bye. I was thinking maybe it was just a figure of speak or that Joe would come and say hi again.

We were gushing at WHSmith about how sweet it was of him to even come up to us, he didn’t have to, we had spoken to him at breakfast.

We walked on down and decided to get a hot drink at a coffee shop near the end of the airport, we walked past Joe trying on sunglasses at the duty free and talking on the phone, after Joe had a browse in a bookstore. We were just sitting down having our drinks, (I had a very nice hot chocolate), and chatting when Joe, his mum and dancer sat at a table at the far end.

Joe ordered his drinks and seemed to be hovering around us. Funnily enough we were talking about him at the time, well what are the chances, us lot talking about Joe haha. Joe came over once again and said hi, Jenni said, ooh we were just talking about you, Joe said oh what about. We started talking to Joe about The Kremlin, we said it was a bit crazy and he agreed it was, he said all he cares about when performing is that the crowd are loud enough. Joe said he didn’t get much sleep the last few nights as he is always buzzing after shows and wants to talk about the gig and can’t sleep, which is funny because that is what we always spend our time doing, while we assumed Joe would be fast asleep he is in fact often on a natural high like us.

Joe said a guy from last night at The Kremlin must have followed his van and back to his hotel and too his room as he kept knocking on his door asking for pictures, (don’t know if he asked for anything else ;0), Joe had to call security in the end.

While Joe was talking he was pulling up his top and showing his belly which was funny as he normally does everything he can to pull his top down, he did that on the last two gigs. Maybe it’s a sign he is comfortable with us.

The guy at the counter called him to say his drinks were ready, Joe took them over to his table. Then he came back with his coffee, grabbed a chair from the next table, and sat down next to us, (next to me), and said, I will have a coffee and chat with you. I was thinking whaaaat, Joe is not coming to sit down with us!!!! Oh he just did.

Joe was asking what our fave songs are that he performs live and which ones we would like him to do, and if there were any songs we didn’t like, he seemed really interested in our opinion and feedback, I also think from that, he is someone who would definitely listen to constructive criticism. Joe said the label doesn't like him adding new songs to the set without lots of rehearsal, but he likes to keep it fresh and exciting just tells them to add the songs, and he will sing them and do what he likes on stage, he doesn’t want to look like a over rehearsed puppet his words. Joe talked about how he loves to do sound checks to run through the set as he just loves performing so much, the dancers get tired of it, but "if you working for me you have to get used to it".

Joe then started talking about the X Factor tour, after Jen said she couldn’t’ make it cos she was ill, he looked at me and said, you went to the tour didn’t you, yes I replied, Joe asked where and I said two at the 02 Arena and one at Newcastle, as I am writing this I have suddenly thought, how did Joe know for sure I had been to the tour, I have never said that to him personally, umm. Joe was saying how he changed the set many times on the tour, he didn’t quite feel the order of songs was right starting with The Climb, so changed it. It was Joe’s idea to come popping up from the stage and at first when Joe said what he wanted to do the tour organizers wasn’t sure about it, but Joe persuaded them to give it a go and it worked. Joe wanted to test what worked best, what got the crowd going, something big and brilliant, he wanted a proper performance. When talking about doing big gigs like concerts he said, we would have to find the right venue, everything would have to be organized properly; I would want to put on a show, even the lights have to be perfect. There was more said, but I can’t remember it all now, but it was very clear that Joe certainly has visions for his career and would be very creative in organizing shows, from the song choices, dancers, choreography, outfits etc, I feel he would want a say in it all, I did say to him, that’s the sign of a true artist, it’s good it be creative. In fact I think he would like to have creative control in all areas of his career, it’s very much his passion.

[Hubz]

Jenni said to Joe, it’s clear you just love performing and he said, OMG yeah, I would perform every hour of every day for the rest of my life if I could, I love it, it gives me such a buzz. Joe’s whole face lit up just speaking about it.

Jenni mentioned following Will Young and Joe was asking what he was up too. We said I hope you don’t think we are all nutters, Joe laughed, of course you’re not nutters, he said again how he appreciates everyone’s support, he sometimes gets worried that some people spend too much money on him, like when they buy him presents. We explained it makes us happy and it’s what we want to do, and he said how amazing it is that he can inspire people and make people happy, Jen had mentioned how the first time she had travelled on her own was when she met me in Manchester for the radio tour, I think he finds it incredible that all these people have met through him.

Joe also asked us about our families and what they think about us following him; I found it very interesting that he was asking about our family, he seems to genuinely care. He asked Joanne about her daughter, very random little things. I can’t really remember anything else; if I do I will add it in. We must have been speaking for about 15-20 minutes, perhaps more. Then Joe and Joanne’s flight was announced as boarding. Joe jumped out of his seat and said YES, that’s us he said to Joanne. He got up and gave me and Jen a hug and kiss and said he would see us soon, he walked off with Joanne, Eileen and the dancer, Joanne looking like she was part of the group haha.

After Joe left me and Jen just looked at each other like, did that just happen. Joe is THE nicest guy EVER, he did not need to do that, he could have just come over and said hi, or he could have gone and had his coffee with his mum and the dancer once they were ready, no way on gods earth did I expect to ever be having a chat and coffee, or hot chocolate in my case with Joe. To anyone who didn’t know us, it would have seemed like we were old friends. I think me and Jen were just in shock, we didn’t actually care if we got home or not haha.

Me and Jenni just sat there talking for hours on end before going to the café/restaurant to get something to eat, Jen’s flight had already been delayed and mine was saying next info update 18.00, I wasn’t really sure what that meant, so was thinking it could be announced my flight was boarding any minute.

While having something to eat Jen’s flight was cancelled, she had to go through to the help desk and back through security once booked on another flight. I met Jen round the corner in a wheelchair with a cup of coffee and was with her for about 5 minutes before she was whizzed off to get her flight.

Que’s music: ALL BY MYSELF, DON’T WANNA BE, ALL BY MYSELF ANYMORE!

I wondered around for a bit and went to sit down and watch the flight board, it was still early about 8pm but I was started to feel tired as I had only slept about 4/5 hours the whole weekend, as soon as I sat down I was nodding off, the closer it got to the time the next info was appearing, it would add another 30 minutes. I started to get worried then and was thinking, I really hope I can get this flight tonight and was worrying about getting home from Gatwick too incase the trains and buses would have stopped. I didn’t want to fall asleep there in case my flight was called and also in case someone stole my purse or something, you never know.

Then it was announced it would be an extra hour, to wake myself up I decided to go and pay to use the internet, my phone was practically dead and wasn’t getting a good connection anyway. So I paid £4 for a hour then about 5 minutes later just as I was posting on twitter I heard an announcement to say my flight had been cancelled. OMG I panicked and ran to the help desk and was directed back through to the check in section. I was hoping to be put on another flight that night, but I hadn’t actually seen any flights go to any of the London airports for the whole day, I also couldn’t’ see any on the board, I then heard someone say the first flight is tomorrow. I started to think, do they arrange a hotel or do I have to get one, I have nowhere else to stay, what if all the hotels are full up, do I have to sleep here, do I have to pay for another flight, I could have paid for it, but it’s not like I have the money to throw around. Then I heard the airport closes, great so I have to maybe sleep outside in the freezing cold??? OMG OMG and I started to majorly panic, then the tears started welling up, which is sooo embarrassing because I hate crying in public, but I have never been stranded before and have no idea of the procedure, I wasn’t even sure if they would be able to book me a return flight for the next day as the flights to Gatwick had been cancelled for days I thought others could be waiting for flights home before me. Everyone knows I am not a good traveler, I always have bad luck and going to Ireland was the first time I had ever flown on my own, I was really nervous the day before that something would go wrong and I would miss my flight or something. If I would have still been with Jen I would have been fine, but as soon as she left I felt a bit lost and worried, (god I sound desperate), what I am trying to say is, if Jen would have still been with me I would have been ok, but it was the being on my own in a strange city with strangers that scared me. I was imaging Christmas at Belfast airport with strangers a Christmas hat and a turkey burger.

The lady in front of me, Anne-Maire noticed I was upset and started talking to me, she lives around my area and I think she took pity on me tbh, we went up to the desk together and she asked if we could have the same hotel and a taxi together. Anne-Marie arranged to meet me in the morning around 5.15 to go back to the airport for the first flight back to Gatwick at 6.50am. We were given tickets to give in at the hotel to say that the hotel were paying and tickets for the cabs too.

I was so tired by the time I got to the room I wanted to just fall asleep, after texting a few people to let them know the situation and try and fail to update everyone on twitter I went to bed, not that I could sleep that easily. I lay in bed and thought, wow, Joe sat and had coffee with us today, what a once in a lifetime opportunity and experience, what an amazing guy he is.

Monday 20th December:

Coming Home (again)

I woke up at 4.30am, and met Anne-Marie in the hotel lobby, another guy who had ordered a taxi said we could share with him, there was a taxi outside but it was for Liam. When Liam came out it was only Joe’s dancer, so both guys must be called Liam. We all jumped into his cab and I felt slightly tempted to say, your Joe’s dancer aren’t you, but thought that might have set stalker alarm bells ringing so didn’t.

Once at the airport and after checking in, me and Anne-Marie went for a hot drink and something to eat, I hadn’t eaten since 5pm the night before and that was a sandwich, I was starving.

We were sitting there chatting for ages, Ambitions came on the airport radio once and I wanted to scream haha.

Our flight was delayed until 11am, then later moved to 12pm. The closer it got to 12pm the move positive we became and a the first flight to Heathrow had just gone out so we were hoping it was a good sign.
A few minutes after 12 we were called to board the plane, there was a 30 minute delay once on the plane, but I was just so happy to be finally sitting on a plane to go home. There was some turbulence and my ears still feel weird, but I was so happy to land at Gatwick.

My journey home from there was all pretty smooth, trains were running fine, although I didn’t actually get home until nearly 5pm, 12 hours after heading back to the airport. I was glad to have Anne-Marie with me for some company and I would probably have got lost at Gatwick without her, I think I need a guide haha.

So once back at home I still couldn’t believe the last 48 hours and how it had gone from an incredible high speaking to Joe for the first time properly at breakfast, having coffee with him, to crying over a cancelled flight. What a day eh.

But would I do it all again? In a heartbeat.

I knew this would be a long one, spent all day typing this at work. Hands hurt.

In short; 2 fantastic performances from Joe, one nice venue, one not so nice, 2 cities in two different countries, no sleep, junk food, amazing company and lots of laughs, speaking to Joe at breakfast, coffee with Joe at airport, delayed, cancelled, put up overnight, long wait for flight, HOME! – Now why does that take me so long to write up and 12 pages on a Word document?

What an experience, one thing is for sure, it’s one for the book!

The end of my Joe journey’s for 2010, what a year. I look forward to 2011 and hope there is plenty of exciting things in store and possibly some more brilliant Joe experiences for me and for you!!!


THE END!

My videos:

The George:

Feel The Fire http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988...13/q1BT1rIYIFk

DSB http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988...12/shfymsY-BKU

RLS http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988...11/p2t-9y5bohQ

SWMU http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988...10/VzeVu_TM1Tc

The Climb http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../9/HUG4ajGgmNE

UTSRO http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../8/WsU8P-Ws66Y

Ambitions http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../7/e2FAqHX_vmI

The Kremlin

Feel The Fire http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../6/rSLCJbqToAQ

DSB http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../5/Xrz5EXmx17A

RLS http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../4/AEvC9oqP0hA

SWMU http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../3/mcUckZ15aeE

The Climb http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../0/Psnv9nZY0zY

UTSRO http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../1/16ioRf9aGAg

Ambitions http://www.youtube.com/user/Hubz1988.../2/qgyleGMEcek

[susiej]

Wonderful reports Hayley - thank you for writing in such depth.  They made a very interesting read!  Considering all the hassle with flight links etc I think you coped amazingly - and the brilliant chat with Joe - fantastic        You're like our little roving reporter 

[Jen]

Thank you for the report Hayley
Ah transport can be such a pain can't it? But it sounds like you had a good times
We saw Joe when he came back to Newcastle from belfast to give him his present and stuff like that. It's amazing to think of all the joe times of 2010 isn't it hehe. :').

[hooly]

Hayley.
You brilliant, very lucky girl.
I am so envious.
My turn will come, someday (I hope)
I will always love and support Joe.
 think I have made that very clear in the past.
Love
Paul
xxxxx

[Hubz]

Thank you for the report Hayley
Ah transport can be such a pain can't it? But it sounds like you had a good times
We saw Joe when he came back to Newcastle from belfast to give him his present and stuff like that. It's amazing to think of all the joe times of 2010 isn't it hehe. :').

Oh yes I heard you were there at the airport.

It has been am amazing year, lots of memories of 2010, hope there are many more in 2011.