Quote:
Originally Posted by Julie in the rv mirror
I think you're right on both counts, and some people get no paid vacation time at all.
Location does make a difference as well. I'm lucky, I live in a major city, so we usually get at least one show on any large tour, but in most cases, I have to travel if I want to see multiple shows. Milwaukee (which is 90 miles or 145 km one way) is probably the next major tour stop (and many times artists don't play both Chicago and Milwaukee on the same tour leg) that is close enough that I don't need to get a hotel for the night. (There are a few road warriors who will drive 5 hours to a show and back the same night, but I'm not one of them.) After that, the closest is probably Indiannapolis, which is about three hours one way. So now, you're talking possibly two days vacation for travel, depending on when the show falls. There's only another handful of cities past that before I pretty much need to get on a plane. And that's the Midwest- go farther west, and it gets even worse.
I know of Springsteen fans who have seen over a hundred shows and never had to take a day off from work or get a hotel thanks to where they live- I'm not so lucky. Last year, he didn't play any shows in New Jersey or New York City, and some of them were quite in shock when they had to get in the car for a few hours if they wanted to see him.  (The closest he came to Chicago was Cincinatti, five hours away by car.) |
Exactly. Circumstances change. When Meat did the Mad Mad World Tour here in the USA, I was extremely lucky that he did several shows on the East Coast (within 2 hours of where I live) and it was relatively easy to travel to them. Also, we still had our store, and I was essentially my own boss
I had more freedom than I do now and could have take 2 days to travel to places like Nashville or Boston to see his show because I knew my Mom could run the store while I was away.
Now that I've started working at Walgreens, I have to check with my Manager to see if I can schedule the time off before making any plans. It's our busy season coming up (with the holidays), so I was only able to schedule the time off to go to the show in Bethlehem, PA.
Fingers crossed things will calm down a little at work in the summer and I'll be able to schedule time off to see several shows if Meat tours again. I'm not complaining in the least ... just extremely grateful that I'm getting to see Meat again and I also have a great job that I really love
