The Beginning of My Solo Career...
April 2012 was the month I took a short two-hour drive to the best decision I have made to date. Let's rewind a bit though.
For this all to make sense here is a little back-story...I am Florida born and raised. In middle school, I began playing the trombone for the school concert band where I met my dear friend Anthony. Anthony and I in 2005 moved out of South Florida. Anthony left to Virginia and I came to California. Even though we separated at that young age where you start making new friends and forget the old ones, we found that our friendship was valuable and have remained friends until this day.
Fast forward to February 2012. During one of our many conversations, I asked him what he was planning for his 21st birthday. He told me he was going back home to Florida to visit his parents (he is stationed in Kansas; United States Air Force). That's when I said, “I am coming to Florida for your birthday!” At first he didn't really believe me because it had been so difficult to plan such a trip with our schedules and I admit, I didn't know how possible it would be either because it was only two weeks until his birthday keeping in mind the cost.
But I booked it in true Samantha fashion, with little time, but luckily I found an amazing deal! I think the round trip ticket from Ontario to Tampa was $250 total. Needless to say, the travel stars were aligning quite well.
So I flew off to Florida and spent a week with Anthony and his family.
There it was, my first trip, where my solo ways began...
The conversation began on April 7, 2012.
My motivation was very simple, I had to go; there was no question about it. The lineup was something that probably would never happen again and I could not pass up that opportunity.
The week leading up to that Saturday conversation I had been asking any and all friends on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr the infamous question, "Who wants to go to Coachella with me?"
To my surprise, no one wanted to go. No one was interested in the best Coachella Music Festival in the history of Coachella!
That didn't stop me though, at that point I decided that if I want to be happy with my life then I had to take action and not rely on anyone to stand by me while I take those actions.
My motto: Not everyone can handle your Journey, so keep calm and move on.
So, I went onto the Coachella fan page on Facebook and responded to a few posts of people selling their tickets. None were really what I was looking for until I messaged this guy Kurt who had a ticket for sale in Lake Eldorado. I didn’t think I could afford it because it's like a little village where tents and bedding are provided, which means $$$.
But I spoke to him anyway and told him the truth. Since the quarter had just begun I was tight on cash, but he was so understanding and agreed to sell me the ticket for his four person tent at a super low price!
Obviously I did a little recon and asked him lots of questions because I was taking a major (life threatening) risk by staying in a tent with COMPLETE strangers.
But I was still on the fence about going. I mean I was going by myself, to Indio, to meet three complete strangers (Kurt, male; Erin, female; and Keely, female) from Canada, who I hadn't spoken to on the phone or skyped with at least and stay with them in a tent for five days. All things considered, my indecision lasted until April 12th, the first night you can check into the festival.
I came home from school, debated a bit whether to go or not, had my parents lecture me on the risk I am taking and in the end grabbed my bags and packed!
I stopped at the bank to pick up the cash I needed for the weekend and I was on the road! Still a little nervous, I made it to the site around 11:30pm and met with Kurt, who was wearing a devil horned knitted hat.
That whole weekend was an unforgettable experience.
I saw most of my favorite bands, some I managed to squeeze my way to the front for. Enjoyed the outdoors where even phone signal was minimal. Saw some of the weirdest after hour performances by independent artists and I made friends that will last a lifetime.
titsay
tangentwithtanner
gummygunk
areudirty
