Imagine me, on a train in January, awake since 5 am, knowing I will reach my accommodation at 11 pm, seeing a reel on Instagram (no space on my phone for TikTok, that is what 40 GB of videos do to a person) about a Chance Atlantic concert. I look out the window, see the vast fields with cows from the Dutch countryside and make a spicy decision (I do not call them bad decisions anymore, they are just spicy decisions now). I look up resale prices for Chase Atlantic concerts. Manchester was my first choice because I have a friend who lives there and I wouldn’t have to pay for accommodations but they were during exam season. So I cut it off the list. And this is where 

Anastasia’s rule number 1 comes in:

Always do a lot of research, assess ALL options.

I continued scrolling through Ticketmaster and comparing all the available dates with my exam periods. And then I see the perfect combination: Brussels, Belgium, on a Saturday in the middle of my block, so way before midterms.

I click on it and behold: Resell tickets for 44 euros. That’s 3 days of groceries-ish. I don’t rethink my decision that much. And by the time the train goes past the next farm with cows, I am 44 euros poorer and with a ticket to see Chase Atlantic in Brussels. 

To be honest, another reason I chose Brussels is that some of my mum’s friends live there and I could stay at their place.

Anastasia’s Rule number 2:

Take into consideration first the cities where you know you can sleep over at someone.

It’s easier from more points of view, free accommodations, possibly free food and local recommendations. Now I know this is a privilege, to know people in so many random cities, but I am sure that everyone knows SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, you just have to start small- cousins oversees and if you are too afraid to message them to ask to sleep over on their couch just think that people are always willing to help, if you offer to get them a bottle of wine or pay for the bag of groceries they will be more than happy to host you a night. 

For the concert, I took an overnight FlixBus from Groningen to Brussels. I left Groningen at 1 AM and was in Brussels at 7 AM, so the drive itself wasn’t that long.

Now, some tips for the FlixBus:

• I try not to drink so much water, because the bathroom on the Flixbus isn’t the best
• Even if it is a direct bus, it still has stops along the way and during the stops, lights turn on and the driver screams into his microphone, so usually I wake up during the breaks. 

From Groningen to Brussels, I think there were like 5 or 6 stops and at every stop, you waited like 20 minutes. Overall, I like using FlixBus; if you buy the tickets ahead of time, they are also pretty cheap. To go and come back from Brussels, it was 60 euros for me. I also had 10% off because of an ESN card. It’s not a big deal, but if you buy tickets for a bigger group of people, then it adds up.

Now imagine the situation: me in Brussels with a backpack at 7 AM, underdressed and there was no sun yet, so I was freezing. And you would think 7 AM is a reasonable time to find the city at least a bit moving. Well, you are wrong. The fact that it was a Saturday probably was not helping my cause, but on the street, there was only me, together with the cleaners and their little cleaning cars. There was only one decent cafe open from 7 AM that was half hotel. It’s called: Lloyd Coffee Eastery- Grand Place. I went to the cafe and got an oat milk coffee. I do not remember how much it cost, but for 7 AM after a night of sleeping on a chair, I would have paid quite some money for a coffee. I ordered via a QR code, so not much human interaction from my end. And then I started walking around the city.

Things to see in Brussels:

• Grand Place (it is a Plaza, impressive buildings all around, aesthetic pictures if you go early, so you miss all the people)
• Manneken Pis (It is the smallest statue I have seen in my entire life, no offence to anyone, but it was underwhelming. I expected something bigger, it is 55cm tall and at the top of the fountain, with mountains of people in front, I barely saw it)
• Palais de Justice (it was undergoing renovations when I went, but it is a very impressive building)
• Parc du Cinquantenaire (very cute and relaxing park)
• Autoworld (it is inside Parc du Cinquantenaire, I am a car enthusiast, so anytime there is an opportunity for me to see cars, I will take it, nice collection with some older models)

Food:

• Green Mango (burger place, very good, they have a huge burger like 7 slices of meat called the Burj Khalifa and I heard that if you finish it in under an hour, your picture is taken and put on the wall of fame, ask before, I am not 100% sure)
• La Belgique Gourmande (the absolute best place to get chocolate, you pay per 100 grams, a bit more expensive, but that chocolate melts in your mouth, it does not compare to any other experience I had)
• Honestly, any type of waffle place, not sure which one I ate at, but it might be Belgian Waffles (Rue du Marche aux Poulets 51) or Obe Belgian Waffles, both in the city centre next to the Grand Place plaza.

Now, the concert itself was very amazing. The first big-name concert I went to and I went alone. I took public transportation there. I boarded the bus at the first station, so it was empty, but it filled up very quickly with a lot of people going to the concert and some of them didn’t even have space to get on and waited for the second one. So either you take it from the start of the route, where not a lot of people board it, or go earlier because I saw a lot of people even walking the last few stations because it was physically impossible to get on the bus. The opening act was very cool, I sang along, I am pretty sure that next to me there was another girl who was alone and I could have started a conversation, but my social battery was not there that day, but I did feel better that I wasn’t the only one alone. To be honest, people did not care; everyone was busy signing along or just dancing to the music, so even if it was a bit awkward in the beginning for me, the atmosphere picked up and I had a lot of fun. 

After the concert, my mom’s friend came to pick me up. I slept until 11 AM the next morning because I got home at around 1 AM. And the following day, I stayed with my host, we talked and then I slowly made my way to the Flixbus station.

So, for anyone going to a concert alone, remember why you are there: to enjoy the music and consider what the other people are there for, too: to enjoy the music. So why would they take time away from the concert for which they probably paid a lot of money to judge you?

Have fun and go to that concert!