Behind The Scenes – My Life On The Road!
Greetings!
I’ve been away a lot recently, playing at different events in NY, CA, PA.. Ohio next… so i thought for today’s Blog I’d show you some pictures of what it all looks like… Hope you enjoy!
Needing large amounts of gear is one of the challenges of traveling…. Here’s Road manager Matt taping things together to try and make 2 things count as one piece of checked baggage!.. And a competition to see just HOW much we can fit on one baggage cart! Getting the bags checked is the first part of every trip and once that’s done we all let out a sigh of relief and head through security and to the nearest Starbucks!!
Another fun part of travel is landing. I love watching the city beneath get closer and closer, looking at where we will be spending the next day or so. This shot was from last week, landing over San Diego which has to be one of the prettiest landing spots ever as you get the skyscrapers, the bay, the ocean and the city all at once!!
Before the start of every event, we set up the ‘merch table’. It all packs up into one big suitcase. This is what it looks like when it’s all set up… As you can see I”m proud to be British, hence the large amounts of british flags!! I love meeting people – thats one of my favorite parts about the road, so I love being by the table after we play and getting to meet local peeps!
It always makes my day when great radio folks come to the event and say hello! Recently, Heather Lloyd from station KPRZ popped in for a chat. She’s awesome!
Big crowds are great as its wonderful to get to impact lots of people and share Jesus with them…. but some of my favorite times are the small gatherings when it’s just a few people in a room with guitars, singing our hearts out to God : )
The picture above was 2 weekends ago in San Diego – we had a worship leaders night where we ate amazing Italian food then took it in turns to each lead songs….A big shout out to Buz, Marian, Beejay, Jung, Gene, Paul, Mary An, Jared and all who hung out that night and came to the weekend services : )
After a lot of busy travels hauling gear, one of my favorite ways to feel relaxed is…..
Yep.. I think every girl loves a good pedicure! So thats usually how I end my travels!! Got to keep my toes in good shape for all this journeying!
Question for y’all….
“Are you someone who loves to travel, or someone who loves to nest at home and be there as much as possible? Does your heart leap at the thought of living out of a suitcase for a year and seeing the world, or would you rather grow deep roots at home?”
I’m a mixture of both I think… looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Off to Ohio this week…. playing at a Vineyard event, which will bring back great memories of my Vineyard days in the UK, writing songs for the Hungry and Holy albums…good memories indeed!
Vicky
Thanks for sharing some of the road scene with us! Love the pictures of the luggage and the small room worship especially!
Good question. I love to travel! I love almost everything about it; the variety of seeing new places, meeting new people, taking pictures of people and architecture and landscape, hearing new music, tasting new things, hearing new ideas, and writing about what I’ve seen, what I think about it and how it made me feel.
There are downsides to travel though. You miss the people you love who aren’t traveling. Also, there are plenty of things that aren’t nearly as easy to do when you’re on the road as when you’re back safe and sound in your own home. And it’s always good to be back home.
There are more places in the world I’d like to see, and I’d like to take a couple of long-ish trips if I ever get the chance. I’ve yet to get to spend time in Asia, South America, Australia, and Antarctica… but I’ve still got plenty of years in me!
)
I look forward to settling down someday, but for now, I’m gonna work on wearing out my shoes.
I just love to travel , it’s awesome to this the world!
You know the answer. I love to travel. But the value of a home-base is huge. I’m eager to hear from people that don’t particularly like to travel. I feel like i have surrounded myself by fellow travelers. Who is on the other side?
Travel is hard on a family, but can be a great bonding experience when done together. Overall, I prefer growing deep roots with my wife and 3 daughters. We do like to travel but not a lot.
Those pics look like tons of fun.!
I love traveling, but haven’t done much of it since I moved to the US. I spend much of my traveling budget going back home to see my family once a year. And I’ve been pregnant or nursing for the last 4+ years, so that makes it difficult. I’m not big on tiny airplanes… that’s for sure.
I dream though of days in which I’ll be traveling a lot more. My heart is set in europe’s travels. So beautiful, yet things are close enough to be able to walk and bike around.
After about 6 months of traveling I need say a month or two to recoup and not feel like I don’t belong anywhere though.
My husband, on the other hand, is a total home-body, so we’ll see how that works out
Deep roots are good, but right now I wouldn’t mind being out and see more of the world. (as long as I could bring my computer I would be fine)
Great post. It probably doesn’t occur to us how many people it takes to make an artist. And you didn’t even have room to talk about all the extra stuff you do, like calling radio stations
Thanks, by the way, for making my day and for all you do with such excellence and heart to build people up and extend kingdom grace.
Oops. Forgot to chime in on the question. I used to LOVE travel… feeling of adventure, meeting new people, etc. Now it sometimes seems a chore. I’ll tell you what, though, business class really helps!
Truth is… I kinda want both. I have found in the last few years that home isn’t really a place I want to be as much as loved ones are who I want to be with. So I guess the ideal would be seeing the world with someone or someone’s that I love. That said… I also had a great upbringing being rooted in a community and close to my family, so if that comes about some day it won’t make me sad.
Well… how’s that for a definitive answer. lol
being on the road is fun, but I like being home more i guess. but if I lived on the road I think I would miss work more than anything… i <3 my job. tho i think it would be nice if I could travel and play music at different venues and stuff, that would just rock… and I think I could totally give up my day job in a hot minute for that.
Regarding travelling, it’s clearly a wonderful priviledge but the earth cost/carbon footprint is something we really should take very seriously.