This is part II of Chit Chat #25

Our backdrop got soaking wet too and needed to dry in the sun the morning after.

During out taxi drive from the plane to the bagage claim I continued to help the mother with her children. The bus was filled to the brim and the little girl couldn't see anything, nor did she have anything to hold onto. I lifted her up and sat her on one of the higher parts of the bus and made sure she would't fall off.

The mother asked me to help her get her luggage, but when we arrived at the baggage claim, we were welcomed with an 'EPICA' sign and I couldn't join her.
There was no official goodbye and no thank you either. She must have forgotten because of the stressful flight.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We were taken to one of the lounges where they would take care of our immigration process. We were hoping that it would speed up the whole process, because we were running out of time due to the delay.
This ended up taking so long that we were the last ones to go through immigration.

At the baggage belts there was no sign of any suitcases, it was utter chaos.
With the long drive to the hotel and venue, we were really afraid that we might miss the show. Our crew still needed to prepare the stage. The clock was ticking. The crew went straight to the venue and the band to the hotel to freshen up and have a quick dinner.

Our hotel was gorgeous. Unfortunately, there was only little time to enjoy it. We ordered some room service and had to eat quickly because we had an 'early' lobby call to drive to the venue. Rob's dinner came so late that he had  in the car on the way to the show.
On our way to the venue I thought I saw planes descending, but it turned out to be thunder....

Police men, driving on motorcycles were escorting us to the venue. It felt like we were in a movie. It was so surreal!

Our backstage was lovely decorated, we had plenty of snacks and a coffee machine we didn't know how to get working haha! I was in desperate need of some coffee to keep me going after a short night and long travel day. My energy level was non existing at that moment.

Then it happened, the rain came pouring down the skies. It was bad luck. The only time it rains in Bizerte was 30 minutes before our show. All of the equipment got soaking wet and the organization decided to cancel the show. Everything stopped working. Electrical devices don't do well if they get water on them.

All of us were standing in our stage outfits, ready to go on stage. When we heard the bad news it felt like the ground was pulled from beneath us. We worked so hard that day despite of the huge delay, our exhaustion to make the show happen, but it was not meant to be.

The least we could do was walk on the stage to tell our fans in person that we were forced to cancel the show and that it was out of our hands. We really wanted to perform and have a good time with our fans from Tunisia. Arien tried to talk to the crowd, but was struggling a bit without a mic. I admire his courage, I was at a loss for words.

I want to thank the fans for being so understanding and hope we will see each other really soon in Tunisia again!

At this moment we are looking for a new date to come back and we WILL play.


xo


Simone