The official NMA board
General Category => On The Road => Topic started by: Amandistan on July 16, 2015, 10:01:33 PM
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I know that many of us travel to see NMA but what was the most tiresome, longest, remote journey you have made?
I mean like take a bus , then take a plane, then a train, than walk for half a mile, then a tram. Many modes of transportation for one gig.
I ask because currently I am doing on of those long journeys but am always in travel mode so it's not issue.
I took a 30 minute boat ride, then a 3 hour boat ride, then slept in Penzance, then tomorrow I take a train to exeter.
All for a music festival but I love it.
Any road or travel stories? I have many, the ones with other people are more amusing. A 12 hour train journey can feel like 3 when you play these road games like Changing a band name to involve food or Thinking of a band with the last letter of the previous.
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I enjoy the travelling, spending time with friends and NMA's gigs have certainly encouraged me to visit and experience places to which I would probably not otherwise have gone.
The longest I've been for a gig was New York for the 30th double header nights in Brooklyn. The journey itself wasn't particularly challenging or noteworthy however.
From recent memory, the snowy December journey between the Cologne and Amsterdam gigs was an interesting experience looking back. The fast train was cancelled and a large group of us managed to make it via a combination of local trains, taxis and lifts in pretty poor conditions. The gig itself (Melkweg big room) was much quieter than normal as many more local people had probably decided it was just too difficult to attempt to travel and others hadn't been able to make it out of the UK. At the gig, coming back on solo in encore, Justin sang North Star live for the first time one year after most of us had seen Tommy for the last time in the bar after the last Amsterdam gig. It was very emotional.......even thinking back and typing this now to be honest.
Scandinavia in 06 was good, including two gigs in one day with NMA on after midnight in Stavanger and then later the same day in Bergen.
Sorry, I've probably typed all this stuff here before over the years so I'll leave it there.
H
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Must have been the trip to a festival in Austria back in 97,98? Hitchhiked with a good friend from Bremen to Neusiedler See where we pitched our tent and had the glorious idea to rent a Mofa (= 25 km/hr) to do the ~ 40 km from there to the gig. Hilarious journey, including a raid for weed at a bavarian service station, a madman driver with a trailer (who we fled from after a few km in his death machine) and a freakingly cold drive back after the gig, changing the drivers seat every couple of minutes so we could warm up in the wind shadow of the other.
Good old times 😊
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Only within the uk, so London is probably the furthest I went.
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Nottingham the greatest distance 6 hour plus train journey the worst part changing at Warrington Its about a 15 minutes walk from bank quay to central and I only had about 20 mins between trains due to the first one running a bit late, no good when you have never been there before Will try and avoid that route this year. The way home was far less hassle but I felt really bad n the train went up the east coast main line so via Edinburgh took me nearly 8 hours to get home after just missing a connection back to Ayrshire at Glasgow central and having to wait nearly another hour there.
Oh well there's to 12/12/15
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Furthest to see the Army was Cesena in Italy - though that was relatively painless. In fact even when I used to hitch to gigs - I dont think I ever had too many problems (apart from the freezing weather & snow on the two dogs tour).
(Non NMA - furthest for a festival was Zambia for an eclipse festival - that was an adventure - 3 days drive from johannesburg. Most noteworthy journey was back from a big psy trance festival on a greek island involving police raids on the festival, cancelled ferries, arguments between coastguards & captains, 150 km taxi rides at 200kph and (fortunately) a delayed plane back to Manchester (as they only went once a week). And thats the edited version!
Furtherst I've seen bands is in Australia (incl Bad Brains, The Congos, Buffalo Tom & Mudhoney) but I was there anyway - so that probably doesnt count)
:)
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I am travelling from Melbourne in December and will going to Manchester, London Nottingham Koln and Amsterdam I am hoping there might be some more!
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I am travelling from Melbourne in December and will going to Manchester, London Nottingham Koln and Amsterdam I am hoping there might be some more!
Blimey, mate, I'm feeling like such a lightweight after reading that!
Be sure to check our pre or post meets for December. You will find us to be a jolly crowd... usually. ;)
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Hey all, first post. Only seen NMA once so 3 miles! But I've travelled to London, Glasgow, Brighton, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, NYC, Chicago, Vegas, San Fran specifically for other gigs. From Ireland.
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Hey all, first post. Only seen NMA once so 3 miles! But I've travelled to London, Glasgow, Brighton, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, NYC, Chicago, Vegas, San Fran specifically for other gigs. From Ireland.
Welcome! You sound like a serious gig-goer! Please post often!
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Blimey, mate, I'm feeling like such a lightweight after reading that!
Be sure to check our pre or post meets for December. You will find us to be a jolly crowd... usually. ;)
Yeah will be good to meet some people pre and post gigs
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The furthest I've travelled for NMA was M'era Luna in 2012. I live in Hertfordshire, so not that far as the crow flies, but it was quite a journey, involving a bus to Stansted Airport, flight to Hanover, train from the airport to the city, another train to Hildesheim and finally a bus which we got on because it was full of assorted goths so we assumed it must going to the festival. The whole journey took about ten hours.
The highlight was actually the first bus to Stansted at about five in the morning. I was travelling with my friend The Oaf Julian and he was convinced that he had to ring the bell so that the bus would stop. I tried to dissuade him, pointing out at length that the bus's destination was Stansted Airport and that everyone else on the bus had baggage and was clearly going to the airport and the bus wasn't just going to get there, turn around and head back without stopping. But he would not be convinced, and with Stansted Airport still a mere dot on the horizon, he pressed the button and rang the bell. The bus immediately swerved violently kerbwards and screeched to a halt at a bleak and windswept bus stop amid the desolate fields of west Essex. Two rows of heads turned and looked down the bus to see who was responsible. Julian apologised to the driver when we got to the airport.
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Travelled from Leeds to Berlin to see them during the 30th Anniversary gigs. Made it to East Midlands airport with 4 mins to spare as a result of the M1 being closed due to snow. Had a cracking weekend & met some fantastic people.
Cheers,
Zen
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I`ve never used a bike, but some hours in a car (5 or six to Köln for the christmas meeting) are normal ...
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Oh the furthest i did travel was from the states to Germany and to London and to Manchester on 4 different times just for an NMA tour.
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I life in Switzerland, but I don't know if Paris, Cologne, Budapest, Prague or Vienna was the farest...
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Berlin -> Cologne - same procedure every year, most times by car, but in the snowy winter in 2009 it was different, I travelled the 600 km by local trains only, starting 10 a.m. in Berlin and 9 or 11 changes of trains later I arrived just in time at warm palladium when NMA just enterd the stage...this was a romantic trip full of pleasant anticipation ::)
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I life in Switzerland, but I don't know if Paris, Cologne, Budapest, Prague or Vienna was the farest...
Cologne I guess, but if you want to know for sure just ask google ;-)
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Alaska ;D
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My main one is that I went to the Motocultor festival about 3 years back in a small French village called Theix - wasn't too many of the family that made it to there - it was part of my grand idea to learn the language and throw in a NMA to boot.
Small little festival which was good - slept in a field and had hitchhike down the French motorway the next day after seeing no sign of the festival minbus back to the nearest train station.
In the grand scheme of things the distance wasn't far - getting to Theix was another matter!
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Hi Paul. I was in Thiex too. And I think was terrible. In the middle of nowhere, impossible to come back to the hotel in the middle of the night, in the middle of the dark... I was in the middle of ... nothing.