Monday October 29th
For the first time I actually get too little sleep on purpose! Not sure if thats progress or not. We pack out things and then its all going back home. First stop is dropping off Hamish at the Greyhound bus stop. Then we hit the Interstate to go back to Orlando. My plane is scheduled to leave at 2:30p.m., so our destination is the airport. Robert manages to find the worst bathroom at a gas station along the way. Said it reminded him of Trainspotting. I didn’t see it, for better or worse. Theres a big goodbye at the airport and I’m on the way home. At the Orlando terminal I make my standard “Its a long way back to Germany” – status update. I feel I’ve done this a bunch of times before.

I can consider myself lucky. My return flight has a changeover in Atlanta. Many others have stops somewhere further up north on the east coast, which means they are affected by Hurricane Sandy. I met quite a number of people who were stuck in Florida for a few hours or even days! I barely notice the bad weather, aside from a few turbulences before landing in Atlanta. All I see from Sandy is a wall of clouds while we fly over it.
The 9 hour flight to Düsseldorf is a lot better than the trip to the US. I get a few hours of sleep at least. They show “Battleship” as one of the in-flight entertainment movies. Its a big piece of crap, after like 40 minutes I stop watching. I wouldn’t have minded to sleep a little longer but the airline wants to serve us breakfast. pfft. Airline Food!! At Düsseldorf I wait for my backpack to appear on the belt, but it never does. They put it in with the special luggage. Thanks for making me wait and miss my train. The supermarket is out of croissants also. So I end up going to Düsseldorf central station first and the two chocolate croissants I pick up were fucking delicious! As I finally arrive at home I fall onto my bed and sleep for 7 hours straight. Back to the daily grind….

Summary and final words

Fest 11 was amazing! I had a great time. Almost everything went smoothly and without any troubles. I met old and made new friends, saw brilliant sets by some of my all-time and current favorite bands. 2012 was definitely an improvement over my 2011 experience. Guess being a Fest veteran makes all the difference! I’m sure I’ll be back next year!
Its time to say thank you to some people:
First and foremost to Robert, couldn’t do it without you! Thanks for accommodation, driving, food, and being awesome in general. I also couldn’t do this without Kendra! Thanks for making this possible for me, thanks for being so helpful and nice. Sorry about the broken stuff. A big thanks to Tony and the rest of the Fest crew for all the support and having us in the first place! Keep up the good work. Also thanks (and sorry) to all the bands who were cool with me standing on stages, next to, behind or in front of them and letting me flash them a million times. Special thanks to the security guys at Durty Nelly’s for being easy to work with! Thanks to Sheeny Ozzella for the Lemuria shirt. Hamish proved himself yet again to be a great Fest pal and roommate, lets do this again! Thanks to Craig as well, I guess. He only stayed one night at our hotel, but paid his full share. Thanks to all my friends for being so awesome!