The Importance of a Hiatus
Steve and I recently got back from spending eight days overseas, which included going to the Tomorrowland EDM Festival in Brussels, Belgium.
It was absolutely amazing.
But Before I Get Into That
To everyone who submitted stories to us that took 2–4 days to get published, we truly apologize for the lack of timeliness. Our hotel internet was not as reliable as we had originally assumed. But hey, you live and you learn! One of the main reasons we set out to start our own business was so that we could eventually work from anywhere in the world, so this was a great learning experience in seeing what kind of kinks we would run into. Now we know how to prevent this occurrence in the future.
At the same time, being forced to take a break from work was exactly what we needed (so I’m not that sorry). We didn’t catch up on sleep by any means. In fact we both came back with pretty wicked colds from how hard we pushed our bodies. But what we did need was several days to go nuts, blow off some steam, kill a few brain cells, and overall just enjoy and be. Our phones didn’t work over there either, which also turned out to be a blessing. I realized how much I enjoy not being at everyone’s beck and call, and to just be in the moment and take in your surroundings.
We came, we raged, we conquered
The first night we got to our hotel, we immediately slept for four hours and decided to venture out for dinner at 10 pm. As soon as we walked outside, I inhaled a big whiff and took the moment to notice what Belgium smells like. The kitchens were already closed everywhere we went, but restaurants were still serving beers, which was what we both really wanted anyway.
Thursday was the “Belgium Journey” part of our package (we were as touristy and tourism gets). We walked around downtown Brussels, knocked back a couple of Jupilers (Belgium’s version of Bud Light) and met up with a couple friends from Scotland. We finished the afternoon in the town square that looked like it was surrounded by cathedrals and Parliaments in what was basically a Tomorrowland pre-party.
The festival itself was out of control. I’ve never jumped higher, screamed louder, or had my mind blown by a killer combination of mainstages, sets, and pyrotechnics in my life.
As in true festival fashion, no matter where you were walking on the grounds, there was a stage with music blasting from it, crowds cheering, confetti and streamers flying over and into the audience. The ones on an acid trip were lying in the grass just enjoying the crap out of life, and at night the people at the mainstage were rolling and walking around giving you the best hugs you’ve ever had in your life.
Tip: If you ever get the chance to hug someone who’s rolling, for the love of god do yourself a favor and hug that person. You’ll never feel better about yourself.
One wonderful young man walked right up to me with the happiest smile and most dilated pupils I’ve ever seen, locked eyes with me in the most platonic way ever, shook my hand using both hands, and said “I’m happy you’re here” and proceeded to do that to every person surrounding me. Damn, was I happy he was there too. Nighttime at a festival, sober or not, just brings out the best in people, and it’s really something magical to witness.
From out-of-pocket to pickpocket
Steve brought his phone in on the first day, so we snagged a handful of pictures and videos throughout… and the pickpocketers were out in droves. We no sooner than got to our perfect vantage point when he felt someone’s hand in his pocket, at which point the dude almost had broken fingers. We each left our phones in the hotel from then on out figuring the content capture just wasn’t important enough to continue to have to deal with sticky fingers.
Pickpocketing aside, it was just so nice to not have the distraction of a phone for the rest of the festival. Everyone around me was so busy constantly filming, live-streaming, Snapchatting (Snapchat’s new CrowdSurf feature isn’t going to help that), that they weren’t giving themselves a second to be truly immersed in and amazed by what was happening around them.
Instead, they lived it through their screens like the rest of their friends who weren’t even there. Everyone would be going nuts after a drop, and the person next to me would be standing like a statue, furiously typing a caption across their Snapchat only to look up in time to have just missed the fireworks. I would say I felt bad for them, but they wasted thousands of dollars to bring that on themselves. So I didn’t and I don’t.
Back to the grindstone
We definitely came back worse for wear. I mean, no one goes to an EDM festival and comes back fatter or healthier than when they got there, right? We’re still coughing up smoke remnants (which, by the way, Europeans put Americans to shame in terms of the quantity + intensity of ciggies they can smoke), catching up on sleep, basically trying to get our pitiful little immune systems back to working order. But it’s totally worth it.
We’re done traveling for a while now. We blew off enough steam to last us for the next six months, so now we’re putting our noses to the grindstone and getting shit done. Our trip was amazing, and it also served as a reminder to give our brains a break from time to time and to not forget to look up and look around. Technology is important in today’s day and age, but still being present in what’s going on around you is more so. Especially if it’s something that took you a while to save up for. If your followers wanted to be there so badly, they really should’ve bought a ticket themselves.
