Life Update! Laptops, Concerts and Exams...

Hello everyone! 

Award for most imaginative blog post title goes to... 

Apologies for being away from the blogosphere for so long, but my personal laptop unfortunately had to be sent to the computer hospital (and by that I mean the shop in my local high street) last month - I switched it on one day over my Easter break and nothing happened. I did get it back yesterday, after the broken motherboard was replaced with a new one, but then I had to send it back again because when I switched it on and logged in I barely had a chance to do anything before a notice came up saying there was an error and then it restarted itself. Needless to say I was not happy...

Anyway, enough tech-y jargon, I have something much more interesting to talk about! During my absence, I went to see a certain supergroup, you may or may not have heard of them...

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, I WENT TO SEE MCBUSTED!!!!

I bought the tickets way back in November for the 24th April, the boys' first show at the O2 Arena in London (after much disappointment the first time round), and although we ended up near the back on the top level we had an excellent view of the stage! This was also my first time actually inside the arena - I've been to the shops and exhibitions around it but now I can safely say I've seen all of it! I always think of it as a Tardis - from the outside it looks pretty average, but whenever I visit I think "You can fit hundreds of shops, restaurants, bars AND a 20,000-seat arena in here?!" 

When me and my friends first heard about the formation of McBusted, we knew it was going to be epic - all of us had grown up listening to McFly and Busted (I've loved them since the age of about 6-7 - that should give you an idea of how big a fan/how old I am haha) so when they announced a tour it was a no-brainer that we should try and get tickets. We were stunned when we realised we'd got them! 

Up until this point I'd never seen McFly or Busted live before, so you can imagine how immensely excited I was (we all were) about seeing both of them (minus Charlie) together on stage! The months leading up to the day were filled with fangirl chats and emotions and just general excitement!

And at last the big day came... We went into school and nobody could have a serious conversation with us, we were that hyped-up! We got there pretty early so we bought merchandise (I bought a tour t-shirt, a wristband [which I am currently wearing] and an OMFG tin containing signed drumsticks, signed guitar picks and a poster, though sadly not a pair of surprise OMFG zone tickets) and then mooched around for a while. At one point we heard them sound-checking and we all freaked out! 

Soon it was time to go in, so we queued up, went through the gates and found our seats. As the support acts continued (we saw EofE, VIX (Danny's sister Vicky) and The 3 Dudes), more and more people filed in until it became jam-packed ready for the main event. 

I have posted pictures and a few videos of that night on my personal Facebook page, but I have to say that the introduction to the setlist was possibly the best I have seen, and probably will ever see - Matt and James ACTUALLY arrived in the DeLorean (the car from the film "Back to the Future", where McFly got their name from... just in case you didn't know) and every time I watch the video back I get goosebumps and butterflies and an overwhelming urge to do it all over again! 

Here are a few photos of the night (the quality isn't great, I do apologise): 

The arena just before McBusted came on

Bit blurry, sorry! This is when they sang "You Said No (Crash and Burn)"!

This is "Britney"!

Again, rather blurry, but this was "Five Colours In Her Hair" - a personal favourite of mine, and it's even better live!

The guys singing "Star Girl"... And yes, they did come down on a giant UFO in the middle of their set! It was brilliant! They also had colour-changing guitars, which were just awesome!

Performing "Nerdy"... After this song, Danny stepped to the side of his microphone and bent down, encouraging fans to come closer to the UFO for when they climbed down and RAN THROUGH THE AUDIENCE and out of a door to get back to the main stage! Being a Danny girl myself, you have no idea how frustrated I was that we couldn't get down there! 

This isn't a very good photo, but you can just make out the McBusted logo in fancy flames at the back of the stage (the DeLorean had been removed by this point, don't worry haha!) 

(Spot the "Year 3000" reference) Because of where we were stood we hadn't seen these until we went down the stairs to get out. It turns out they had been inflated while the guys performed their last song of the night, the notorious "Year 3000"! 

I honestly have no words to describe just how insane the concert was. Once we got outside it just hit me that I had seen my idols (and believe me, McFly in particular are my idols) live and I felt a little bit shell-shocked. I'm still struggling to believe that I was actually there haha! 

Danny always says that his favourite part of being in a band is getting to perform live, and that comes across so strongly when they're on stage - they have a bond like no other band, and the sheer amount of energy they put into their performances is absolutely incredible! It was worth waiting over 10 years to see them! I love them even more now, and I just wish that I could re-live that night over and over again. It will definitely be one of the highlights of my life! I'm so proud to call myself a fan! 

Right, enough gushing haha. Just one last point before I leave you lovely people. I'm currently in the middle of my exams and they are very important and I won't be posting again until after they are finished, so the next post you can expect from me will most likely be about my birthday.

Once again, apologies for being so useless at blogging, I hope you enjoyed this post (let me know in the comments or on Twitter etc. if you like McFly/Busted/McBusted and we can fangirl together haha!) and I shall see you after the dreaded exam period! 

Lots of love,

Fliss xx

I went to New York!

Hi guys! Today's post is extra special (and extra long... sorry!) because you will get to see what I've been getting up to... Only visiting NEW YORK CITY!

Okay, calm down...

As I was saying, recently I went with 40 other people from my school to the Big Apple. The trip had been a year in the planning and I actually can't believe how quickly the time went leading up to the whole event (as well as how quickly the actual week went past... that's not fair!). On Monday morning we all got on the coach  at 4am (ugh...) and headed to London Heathrow Airport.

After a 7 and a half hour-flight (and a rather rough landing) we landed in JFK Airport and once we got through security, we boarded the coach that would take us to our hotel. When we arrived and checked into our rooms we were fairly disappointed, but were reassured somewhat by the fact that we would spend minimal time in these rooms as we would always be out doing something.

After a couple of hours we went out to dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, which was pretty damn good if I do say so myself! Then we headed back out onto the streets and made our way to the Empire State Building, and as it was St Patrick's Day (and boy do the Americans love St Patrick's Day) the top was all lit up green! We also got the chance to go up to the viewing platform on the 86th (yes, really) floor, where the view of the city was spectacular.

The last two photos are probably my favourite because you can really see the beauty of New York when it's all lit up!

One of the weirdest things that I noticed while being up so high was that all the buildings seemed to block out the noise of the traffic on the ground, so it was almost silent up on the viewing platform. I guess this was a really good thing as it created a very peaceful atmosphere in which to view the beautiful city below.

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early (i.e. up, washed dressed etc.) by 7:30am, and we headed to a cute little café where we had breakfast every morning.

That morning I chose to have pancakes with scrambled eggs. This is before I drizzled maple syrup over them (which tasted amazing!):

Then we went to Grand Central Station (I couldn't help but think of the scene from Madagascar when we went in there haha), where we caught the subway to Bowling Green and got on a ferry to take us to Staten Island and... the Statue of Liberty! It's actually considerably smaller in real life, but it was a magnificent specimen nonetheless and we had a great view of the New York skyline.

Interesting little anecdote for you: not long after we'd walked into the station, a man randomly came up to some of us and said "What do cows do at the weekend?" After some very confused looks amongst our little group we turned back to him and he said "They go to the mooooovies!" We all groaned, but I guess it's nice to have some bubbly people like him in a world that is becoming increasingly negative!

 I am wearing:

Coat - Asda

Snood (just seen) - Primark

Jeans - New Look

Gloves - Asda

Bag - Courtesy of my mum!

We also had a brief exploration of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which taught me a few things about the history of America's people and how they lived.

(I didn't want to post too many photos of what was in the museum in case you guys got bored!)

 When we got back on the ferry to go back to mainland Manhattan, I paid a visit to the little gift shop on board and bought a Statue of Liberty duck! How cute is that?

Once we were back on the mainland we walked to the financial district of New York - Wall Street. On the way there we saw these memorials to honour those who lost their lives in the devastating events of 9/11.

As we walked further we saw the skyscrapers that had been built to form the new World Trade Center, and then, after giving a donation, we visited the 9/11 memorial.

This church was the only building in the area that wasn't even slightly damaged by the falling Twin Towers - perhaps those affected believed it was a sign that religion would always be there to help people through times of hardship.

When we got into the memorial site it became clear that it was a place for quiet reflection and there was a very peaceful atmosphere. It felt very surreal to actually be at the same site that experienced so much devastation not so long ago, and reading a few of the hundreds, if not thousands of names listed around the edge of each of the pools really brought home how many innocent people lost their lives. It's certainly a part of the trip that I know I'll never forget.

On our way out of the site we got talking to some of the police officers who were on duty, and they were really very lovely... and funny - they had us in stitches on more than one occasion! Once we'd finished there, we headed back to the subway to travel to Times Square... all I could say was "Wow!"

Another little anecdote - while we were on the subway we stopped at a station and these four men got onto the train. They seemed fairly ordinary, until one of them started pretending that the pole in the middle of the empty space by the doors was a double bass (if you're not sure what that is, Google it - it looks like a giant violin) and we were then treated to an acapella performance of "Stand By Me". We thought they were great and joined in (we also tipped them at the end)!

For dinner we went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a restaurant themed around the film Forrest Gump. The staff were so nice and bubbly, despite being rushed off their feet, so I definitely recommend it if you ever get the chance to go there. I had the Southern charmed fried shrimp with fries, which was amazing! For dessert we had vanilla ice cream with cream on the top, served in the smallest bowl I think I have ever seen!

On Wednesday at the little café I knew I had to have an authentic New York bagel... and they didn't hold back on the cream cheese! In all seriousness it was delicious and set me up for the day nicely.

After breakfast we headed to Central Park... and yes, it really is as big as it looks on TV! Apparently it's 864 acres - that's pretty big!

 I am wearing:

Coat, snood, bag and jeans - same as before

Converse - Schuh

I also decided to treat myself to a horse and carriage ride around the park with a friend. We even managed to haggle the price down to $35 instead of $50! The ride was very pleasant, if slightly cold, and our driver was lovely, giving us some information about the history of the park. Our horse was called Harry and he was lovely too (you can see him in the picture above)!

 Shortly after I exited the park I saw this and had to take a photo... Your stereotypical New York transport haha!

After that, we went into Bloomingdales, although unfortunately I didn't buy anything because we had a fairly short time in there. On our way back we also visited the Cake Boss Café - I will point out now that I've never seen the show, nor have I heard of Buddy, but I can tell you that we didn't get to meet him. The cakes looked amazing though!

Once we'd finished, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Planet Hollywood. When we got there we saw the handprints of some of the celebrities that had been there. Here's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sean Connery's prints:

On our way up the stairs to the eating area, I spotted the dress worn by Morticia Addams in the Addams Family film. I'd love to wear it!

When we were sat at our tables I had a look around - I didn't expect it to be so big! The atmosphere was lovely though, and again I'd recommend it if you get the chance to go! I ordered a bowl of pasta and after that the waiters came round with plates of giant - and I mean giant - cookies, mmm!

For breakfast on Thursday morning I thought I'd go for something a little different: cinnamon toast. It was a lot tastier than I was expecting, although I did start to choke after accidentally inhaling some of the icing sugar, much to my friends' amusement (ahem...)

After breakfast it was back to the hotel to pack and check out. Then we got on the subway to Brooklyn Bridge (you can just see it through the trees in the picture below), where we walked to Chinatown and Little Italy.

 You can just about see them in the picture above, but as we were walking past we saw a couple coming out of the church after getting married. Aww!

To be totally honest I was a little disappointed with both Chinatown and Little Italy. I feel like they would probably come alive at night with all the lights and the atmosphere would probably be a lot better. Still, it was an experience to tick off the 'to-do' list I suppose!

Then we walked to the Rockefeller, where we had the opportunity to do some last-minute shopping or go ice-skating. I didn't trust myself on the ice, so me and a couple of my friends went along 5th Avenue and bought a few bits.

 I kid you not, this pizza slice was bigger than my whole hand! It was yummy though...

Once we'd all met back outside the ice rink we had some group photos done, including a group 'selfie' that would put Ellen DeGeneres and her Oscars buddies to shame. I'm at the back in both photos, but that's life I guess!

Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our luggage (we'd put it into storage while we were out) and onto the coach to Newark Airport so that we could fly back home. It was an overnight flight but unfortunately I had trouble sleeping whilst on the plane so I stayed awake for most of the journey.

Once we'd got through security at Heathrow we went to collect our luggage but then had to wait because one of the girls left her passport on the plane. However, our delay did mean that we got to meet Russell Brand! He's lovely in person, and was more than happy to chat with us and have photos taken for about 20 minutes, and his security team were very relaxed which was nice. I had a couple of photos taken but they weren't that great. Here's the better one of the two (i.e. I was actually looking at the camera haha):

Then it was back on another coach to take us home! I'm sorry this took me so long to post but I had a load of schoolwork to catch up on so I've had to put it back a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in New York and would go again in a heartbeat. It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if you ever get the chance to go, do it!

If you've been to New York, let me know what you thought of your stay as I love hearing other people's opinions!

Lots of love,

Fliss xx



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