I’m going to Philadelphia, please don’t tell my mom.
In what is sure to be an adventure–and probably spawned from a need for youthful rebellion and most definitely from a love of great music–me and three others (Hannah, Dan, and Margaret) will be trekking our way from the midwest to the east coast for a weekend of non-stop travel and debauchery this approaching weekend.
We embark on this journey in order to attend POPPED! Philadelphia music festival, hosted at FDR Park in Philly September 23 and 24. Headlining Friday night will be the freshly reformed Shins, and Saturday we will be getting down to some Pretty Lights. Some of the other acts playing throughout the weekend include Foster the People, Girl Talk, Cults, The Joy Formidable, Cage the Elephant, Panda Bear, and Kreayshawn. It also features a comedy tent.
Pardon my French, but, I am pretty fucking excited.
Yet half of the weekend fun may be in the process of getting there. In lieu of driving a total of 32 hours over the span of less than four days, we diligently monitored plane ticket prices on airtran.com (a great travel website for any college student going to common destinations) until we could find a faster, affordable way to the Great Cheesesteak City.
Unfortunately tickets to Philly suddenly exceeded our price range as we waited, so we’re flying to New York! The travel breakdown goes like this (it gets long, I apologize):
Thursday: Depart Madison at 3:30pm after last classes and drive to the Milwaukee airport.
Board plane to LaGuardia airport New York, NY at 6:55 and arrive around 10 p.m.
And now we play the waiting game…
Next up, we will likely take turns napping in the airport while waiting for our 6:30 a.m. MegaBus that will take us to Philadelphia by 8:30 Friday morning.
Friday: Once arriving in the city of It’s Always Sunny fame, the plan is to figure out where we will be sleeping/stashing our stuff for the next two nights. Since forking over plane ticket money has left us broke-ass college students, we are trying our hand at Couch Surfing, the perks of which include it being a free place to sleep and that we could potentially meet some really cool people. Or creeps. Whatever, we’ll be in a group of four.
The actual purpose of our visit begins at 2 o’clock, from which point on we will be blissing out on new tuneage until at least the double-digits of the evening.
No actual plans have been made for any jaunts after hours, but my secret hope is that we will befriend a smaller band and party with them. Just saying, it could happen.
Saturday: The fun starts same time, same place. Although we will also be doing as much touring of the city as our tired bodies and time constraints allow prior to festing. I’m hoping to find a Flipadelphia t-shirt somewhere and sample a Philly cheesesteak.
Then it’s music music music, all day long. Post fest, I will be getting a venti coffee because we will need to stay up for our 2:30 a.m. bus taking us back to New York. That’s right, sleep is for the weak.
Sunday: We will arrive back in the Big Apple a las 4:30 in the morning. This time I venture to say we will simply count down the minutes until the first coffee shops fire up their morning brews. While we wait for our 11:45 a.m. flight back to Milwaukee, the ideal situation is that we get to site see something or at least buy some knock-off merchandise in Chinatown. Maybe we’ll pretend to be prospective students and tour NYU, the possibilities are–well, not endless, but there are a lot of them.
Once on our plane, we fly non-stop back to Milwaukee where we will pick up Leeroy (my Buick) and book it back to campus just in time to do all of our procrastinated homework and pass out probably at 7 p.m.
All I’m taking with me is a backpack that will at least contain my tickets, a camera, and a toothbrush. Hello, grungy. But no matter, it will all be worth it for potentially the most exciting and exhausting weekend of my life.
I’ll be doing my best to blog any crazy adventures while I’m there, and you’ll definitely hear from me once I’m back. Also, I’d love to hear recommendations for places to visit, things to see, or foods to try if you’ve ever been to Philadelphia!
What else do you think I just have to squeeze into my backpack? Get at me.
Wish us luck,
J
Story of my life. 