Back in June I had the distinct privilege of traveling to the world’s most beautiful and miraculous city, London. If you know me and followed my trip at all you know it was the experience of a lifetime that I had always dreamed of, but there was a part of the trip that stood out above the rest of the memories my best friend and I made that time we were there. We attended the One Direction concert at the iconic Wembley Stadium. I know what you are thinking…are you 15 years old.. To answer your question, no..I am not. I am actually 21 as is my friend. Now I have zero shame about attending this concert. It was the experience of a life time, but attending a One Direction concert as an adult is a completely different experience, especially when you are in a totally different country for no more than about 3 hours before being dropped off at a venue that is quite overwhelming. Here is a synopsis of that evening.

 

Let me start with this. We traveled a total of 5,000 miles and around 16 hours of travel time from Odessa, TX to London, UK. We ate one meal during our layover in Dallas. And neither Paige nor myself had slept the night before.

We arrived in London. After getting ready in the bathroom at the Heathrow airport due to the fact our driver decided not to show up to pick us up and rushing straight to Wembley stadium, excitement was the only thing keeping my feet moving.

We arrived at the stadium at 12:30pm. The concert did not start until 6 pm. Because of the seats (or correction standing room) we had to arrive early to get in line to give ourselves the best opportunity to be close to the stage.

Jet lag is a very real thing. 15 year old Nichole could have handled this with no problem, but 21 year old Nichole decided to take a nap on the concrete. I can’t say this was a high moment of my life, but hey when you are tired you are tired.

Currency is an issue. Unfortunately due to the driver’s lack of punctuality the time to exchange currency was gone to the wind…and well food was no longer an option. By this point I am starting to question if this whole thing was really worth it….

After waiting…and waiting…and yep, some more waiting…They finally start to let us make our way into the stadium. But oh no, they do it differently here in the UK. I felt safe the entire time I was in London, actually safer than I do in the states at times, except at this concert. Fear will strike anyone the moment you see the crazed look in that young teenager’s face. Those crazy eyes reading “I will mow you down just so Harry Styles can blink in my direction,” will scare just about anyone. Because of girls like this we were ushered into the stadium and not in the nice sweet “oh let me help you down the stairs” kind of way. Oh no…10 GUARDS linked arms and slowly walked us down the stairs as we followed in behind them.  The only plus side to having the large men yell at us, “If you run or push we will send you back outside” multiple times was that it was in that heavenly British accent.

I am not going to lie to you. The overwhelming feeling of being in Wembley Stadium, seeing the impressive stage, and realizing I was front row for my favorite band was more than I could handle. I started squealing like the girls surrounding me. I was in London, England TO SEE ONE DIRECTION. It could not get better than this…

Those happy thoughts started to fade about 2 hours into standing. I thought it was the end. I was tired. I was starving. Little girls were pushing me as were the huge dads. I tried to distract myself by conversing with the some precious british girls who thought I was insane for flying all the way to London to see 1D. I would just like to put it out there they are not the reason why I went there….they were just a major bonus.

Then Hunger struck. Paige became faint. She turned so pale she started to match the actual complexion of the Brits and then she decided to go on a hunt for food and find someone who would accept her debit card. She left me there. BY MYSELF. By this point there was a sea of people for miles behind us. I was sure I had just lost my best friend in London never to be found again.

She is my sister. This was the lie I had to tell the angry mob as  Paige pushed her way back to the front as I yelled let my sister through in my obnoxious and loud american accent. She brought over what she thought was a hot dog. It was not. In the UK they don’t exactly have hot dogs. Instead they are actually sausage in a gross bun. We split the bread, threw the sausage on the ground and prayed God would rain down Rosas Cafe at any moment. After the death stares subsided and our new little British friends told us how one of them was Liam Payne’s actual cousin, music began to play.

5SOS started their set. They were amazing but they aren’t that important to this story. I was ready for 1D and no song they sang would make up for the longest day I had ever experienced. Only One Direction could.

And then we wait again. For another hour we wait for the set change. They tease us by playing One Direction commercials and such. What amazes me is that those commercials probably played about 20 times over the course of the evening. THE SAME COMMERCIAL. And each time almost all 100,000 girls screamed as if Niall had just asked them to get married. It was slightly annoying…Okay it was very annoying.

THE LIGHTS AND THE MUSIC. I have been to several concerts over the past 3 years. If you ask my mother that is all I did during my time at the University of Texas. One of those concerts even included One Direction a year earlier. Nothing topped this though. The music started. The lights began dancing, and their intro video began. All the girls screamed each time their favorite member was shown and I would like to say that I did not partake in this but there are videos to prove otherwise.

Midnight Memories. The opening song began to play. Harry Styles started the show singing his solo and my actual mind was blown. I lost it. I knew for a fact our new friends thought that I was insane but I didn’t care one bit.

WE WERE SO CLOSE. The whole night was perfection. Minus the fact that all of my favorite songs were sang on the other end of the stage so I couldn’t see very well, but we were so close to them. So close I could see Harry taking his inhaler between certain songs and read their lips as they would converse on stage. It was magical. I even have proof that Harry Styles and I made eye contact. JUDGE ME but there is a pretty good chance that if you are reading this you can’t say that!

It ended. The concert ended with Best Song Ever and our London adventure had officially kicked off the right way. We still hadn’t seen our flat that we had rented for the week and more importantly WE STILL HAD NOT EATEN in what was around 24 hours now. Our lovely driver Zara, who I will befriend one day, took us all over the city to find food. Funny thing about London (or not so funny really)…everything closes at 9pm…Late night drive thru was non existent.

But overall it was a night we will cherish forever. Even though we were tired, starving, and overwhelmed with the new culture I would not have wanted to start my trip any other way. So thank you One Direction. I am glad to say you were actually all worth it.