Ever been to a drum corps show alone?

[Forevergreen]

I'm thinking about going to San Antonio for the show there in July. Since it's kind of a last minute idea and expensive, I probably will be coming alone and maybe even meeting up with a friend who now lives in SAT. Has anyone ever made a far trek to a show alone?

I guess I'm a bit nervous because I usually have someone with me. Oh and it'd be my first time flying in a regional jet... one of them small ones LOL.

More times than I care to count. My other half supports my interest, but does not go with me....I have been to so many drum corps shows by myself--both flying and driving. It wont be that bad because u have someone to meet up with when u get there.

[Quad Aces]

More times than I care to count. My other half supports my interest, but does not go with me....I have been to so many drum corps shows by myself--both flying and driving. It wont be that bad because u have someone to meet up with when u get there.

This. My experience too. The norm for me is going to shows by myself, both driving and flying. My wife supports my interest as well and has been to Finals with me before, but probably won't go again (not due to not liking it, but more as an expense issue) unless Finals changes to a destination where we can make more of a vacation out of it.

Some alone time at a show (or DCI movie event for that matter) isn't such a bad thing!

[glory]

Allow me to quote myself in response to the OP.

A friend dropped me off at the Rose Bowl exceptionally early before finals in 2007. Before the car door closed, he asked would I be alright with so long to wait before the show. I responded: "These are my people. It will be great."

It was. It always is. I've attended more shows solo than with friends. There's always someone to talk to, if I choose. There's always drum corps whether the faces are familiar or not. The genuine drum corps experience is too rare to waste on someone else's schedule. Go.

HH

[IllianaLancerContra]

I'm thinking about going to San Antonio for the show there in July. Since it's kind of a last minute idea and expensive, I probably will be coming alone and maybe even meeting up with a friend who now lives in SAT. Has anyone ever made a far trek to a show alone?

I guess I'm a bit nervous because I usually have someone with me. Oh and it'd be my first time flying in a regional jet... one of them small ones LOL.

I was stationed in San Antonio (Air Force) for 3 years, and have traveled back many times since then. Very user-friendly airport - even more-so than Baltimore. It is not a 'hub' for any single airline (unlike, for example, Atlanta), so you generally don't get a direct flight unless you are coming from an airport that is a hub.

I would have absolutely no worries whatsoever about flying on a regional jet. In fact, it will likely be a newer aircraft than one of the larger jets. Plus, you are pretty-much guaranteed either an aisle or window seat (or both!).

The stadium is on the 'other side of the highway' from the bulk of the downtown area w/ Alamo, etc.

PS - go to Taco Cabana - best fast-food Tex-Mex on the planet. Trust me on this.

[Tricia-A BD/BK Mom]

I've flown into San Antonio alone twice. I learned I had to drink lots of water as I almost melted from the heat and humidity. I met some people while in the stands watching practice but had to cut that short because of heat. The River Walk was fun and being alone didn't bother me too much. In San Antonio most corps have a "free day" on Sunday so if your going to see a person performing you can hang out.

I've been to Clovis, Stanford and Stockton performances alone but was delighted to meet several people from DCP at each show. The corps had a free day in San Francisco and that was a blast.

I went to finals in Wisconsin alone in 1999 and that was the best. I tried to get to as many of the different corps practices in the time I was there. It was beautiful country, the corps were great and I had a good time.

Don't worry about going alone it does have its perks. There will be a lot of people in San Antonio this year, we're going again and I'm sure many from this board are going. Try to meet up with someone for dinner or a drink it's fun meeting people in person.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Tricia-A BD/BK Mom

[TRacer]

True Story

I flew by myself from Connecticut to Orlando for the '97 Finals. Had a great time.

For the flight home I got on standby for the flight a couple hours earlier than the one I had booked. When I got to my seat there was a nice old lady who had taken my window seat so I sat in the middle of the row. On the other side of me was a Crossmen MM wearing her corps jacket and Finalist medallion. We spent the flight chatting about her summer, how much I had enjoyed their show, mutual friends from DCA, etc. At the end of the flight I asked her if she'd like to come to a DCA show with me the next week. We were married 3 years later and are coming up on our 13th anniversary. We have a terrific 3 year old son who loves drum corps. :)

Obviously your mileage may vary. You never know what might happen, but I'll bet at a minimum you have a great time going to Finals.

I'm glad that's working out for you. The FMM I met at DCI '90 turned into a long distance dating situation and we married, went to a lot of Finals and local shows together, started a family, had a kid who loves DC now, etc. That all kind of imploded when a good friend of mine who got me into the whole DC thing back in '79 (and later marched the same corps I did) tired of his third marriage and thought it would be okay to violate a "no fly zone" and start a new life with my son's mom in late 2010 while they were both still married to other people-- go figure.

Ah well, give a hoot, don't pollute!

Edited June 27, 2013 by TRacer

[bstar82]

Nothing to worry about flying to a drum corps show alone. I have flown to San Antonio, San Francisco, New York City (for Allentown), Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Dallas among others to see drum corps. I've made so many friends in drum corps, I usually see someone else I know on the plane or the airport for that matter. I've also racked up enough ff miles that almost all of my flights are free which allows me to stay at better places than I normally would and business hotels can be the best places to stay since they are usually fairly empty and really selling rooms below cost as a drum corps show doesn't really qualify as a big weekend to them unless it is a regional or finals weekend.

[The Other Mike]

There really is something about a train...............

[NeutralNovice]

Coming from the west coast though, because of the way schedules work, I would want to fly Wednesday, not Thursday. O'Hare connections are always a gamble themselves--you don't want a tight one and especially not a tight one on Thursday afternoon. You could miss the show. If you get stuck at O'Hare on Wednesday, you could always rent a car and drive to Indy in about four to five hours in most conditions.

I always advise here that Thursday quarterfinals are the best buy in DCI because the performances are almost always as good as at Saturday finals for much less money.

Plus on Thursday, in the past, they have not enforced seat assignments. You can sit wherever you want on Thursday with any ticket, so just get the cheapest one you can find. If the person with the ticket for "your" seat shows up late, you just move over a few seats. This doesn't work well on Friday for the best seats and would only rarely work for any decent seat on Saturday when almost everyone with a ticket shows up. And there's no guarantee for Thursday--that's just how it's played out in past years. The hard part about going to quarterfinals, though, may be getting a reasonably priced hotel room.

Thanks! Actually, I will be flying in on Wednesday with an arrival time of 0130 early Thursday morning. My connection to Indy would be at 8:04am arriving 10am from ORD>IND. Hopefully that should give me more than enough time to get to hotel (hopefully with early check in) and relax a bit before heading to LOS. My only worry is that I might have to miss a few shows and I will probably get exhausted since it's going to be such a long show.

And yes, I definitely agree that QF will be the best value--you get to see all the corps pretty much at their best.

About their lax enforcements of seats, I'll keep that in mind though I am a type that loves to sit up top in an aisle seat so I'll probably just grab a seat there. Which brings up the question what level is the best to sit in to be high enough where you can see all of the formations yet not too high where the sound starts to be "weird?" This would be my first indoor show so I don't really know how acoustics are affected by height.

The hotel prices don't seem too bad--and since this whole trip would cost about $300-$400 out of my pocket, it's all a great bargain!

I once had a very bad experience on a regional jet flight from Riga, Latvia to Kiev, Ukraine. NEVER AGAIN.

I would advise that you go to Indy, though, rather than SA. For three days in August, downtown Indianapolis basically becomes drum corps central.

If you do show up, let me know... I'll buy you a drink or four. Actually, if ANY of you guys are going to Indy, let me know and I'll buy you a drink or four... unless we are enemies, in which case maybe only three.

LOL---I hope flying regional jets in the US is better. Someone else mentioned the drive, which I will definitely consider from ORD to IND. Its probably going to increase my costs a bit though and I know NOTHING about driving in the midwest and I'm actually a bit afraid to make the driving trek alone. I also get lost easily, despite my GPS so go figure haha! And yes, I might have to take you up on your offer for a drink! I'll be cheap too since my body can only take one glass or less

We were married 3 years later and are coming up on our 13th anniversary. We have a terrific 3 year old son who loves drum corps. :)

That's so awesome! For me, even making lifelong friends would be fantastic!

A six-hour layover? I think the drive from Chicago to Indy is only three or four hours. You might want see if you can get a better deal flying just to Chicago. Or Louisville. Or Columbus. Or ...

HH

Yeah, I looked it up on Google Maps and it seems to be 2-3 hours or so for a drive, which isn't as bad as I thought. All the major cities in CA and the West seem to be so far apart that I forget that things in the Midwest and East tend to be closer together. As mentioned above though, I'm a bit afraid to drive there. I can get annoyed easily while driving and the driving habits of people here in Cali are annoying LOL

Edited June 27, 2013 by NeutralNovice

[drilltech1]

Thanks! Actually, I will be flying in on Wednesday with an arrival time of 0130 early Thursday morning. My connection to Indy would be at 8:04am arriving 10am from ORD>IND. Hopefully that should give me more than enough time to get to hotel (hopefully with early check in) and relax a bit before heading to LOS. My only worry is that I might have to miss a few shows and I will probably get exhausted since it's going to be such a long show.

And yes, I definitely agree that QF will be the best value--you get to see all the corps pretty much at their best.

About their lax enforcements of seats, I'll keep that in mind though I am a type that loves to sit up top in an aisle seat so I'll probably just grab a seat there. Which brings up the question what level is the best to sit in to be high enough where you can see all of the formations yet not too high where the sound starts to be "weird?" This would be my first indoor show so I don't really know how acoustics are affected by height.

The hotel prices don't seem too bad--and since this whole trip would cost about $300-$400 out of my pocket, it's all a great bargain

Yeah, I looked it up on Google Maps and it seems to be 2-3 hours or so for a drive, which isn't as bad as I thought. All the major cities in CA and the West seem to be so far apart that I forget that things in the Midwest and East tend to be closer together. As mentioned above though, I'm a bit afraid to drive there. I can get annoyed easily while driving and the driving habits of people here in Cali are annoying LOL

i have done the drive from Chicago to Indy many times and make these observations for what they are worth.

Once out of Chicago, the drive is bland, boring, and for that reason at night perhaps dangerous for one driving alone (falling asleep, etc.) It is at the beginning at the Chicago end out of O'Hare that would be vexing as much construction and re-routing goes on at night. Indy isn't a problem once you managed to figure where you are on the series of interstates that circle the city like the stripes of a bullseye. Contstruction is also going on then, especially at night. If you find your hotel then, would you check in before breakfast, be charged for the extra day, or have to wait in the lobby until the room is ready?

Looking at the hours you cite, commuter travel patterns around Indy in the morning rush, and that you are driving alone, unless you were one who makes frequent long treks by car alone, I would catch some shut eye in the terminals between flights and fly. Nothing is going to be gained by getting into Indy pre-breakfast, tired, and from a different time zone bearing. Just my experience and opinion.

Edited June 27, 2013 by drilltech1