BULARIA - MY BIRTHDAY & 10 YEAR DJ ANNIVERSARY @ COMICS CLUB, VARNA.

15th OCTOBER 2011

Ok so it’s been a long time since I wrote a tour diary but I just had to write about my recent gig in Bulgaria. For the last 3 years I’ve celebrated my birthday in Bulgaria and it has always been fantastic, this time not only would I celebrate my birthday but I would also celebrate my 10 year Dj Anniversary. I cannot believe I started Djing in 2001 and 10 crazy years later here I am still Djing!

I really wanted to make this a special party, I told Balthazar the promoter of the Comics Club in Varna, Bulgaria that I wanted to play a long set… 5 hours… playing the best music from the last 10 years… my favourite tunes… I could not wait. I can honestly say I’ve never prepared so hard for a gig in all my life and man, burning all my old vinyl to mp3 just brought back sooo many memories. Listening to tracks I hadn’t heard for years certainly gave me goosebumps and had me jumping around my studio. So many amazing memories flooding back like the first time I heard a Dj play that track or the first time I played that track… parties, atmospheres, people… I just can’t describe it. Anyway I was determined to make this party a night to remember and make it my way of saying a big thank you to all the support and love I’ve been given especially in Bulgaria over the years.

So as usual playing abroad involves a load of travelling and this gig was no different. I had a 6am flight from Heathrow to Vienna, then had to get a connecting flight to Varna, only Varna airport was shut for 6 months renovation so I had to fly to Burgos instead which was over 2 hours away and then get a bus to Varna! …phew… so I had to get up at 3am and was waiting for my taxi by 3.30am…. but of course there was no sign of him, after calling the taxi company again he finally turned up and brought me to Heathrow. So I’m sitting on the plane at Heathrow… and I know I have a really short transfer time of 25mins in Vienna to get my connecting flight to Burgos. I know it was a very short time but I had done it before. 6.15am we are still sitting on the plane at Heathrow due to the airline… ok so I’m really getting worried now, even though we have now taken off the 15 minute delay has only given me a 10 min transfer time which is impossible, plus I had to pick up my new boarding card at the transfer desk! So I speak to the flight attendant, explaining that I have such a short transfer time and would it be possible to radio forward to Vienna explaining that the plane was delayed and if they could hold my flight… the lady looked at me as if I was crazy, she said there was no way of radioing though, only the pilot can do that and only in extreme emergences… she then proceeded to tell me that I should have booked a much longer transfer time that I would never have made it in 25mins anyway… (cheers lady, I didn’t book this myself, I don’t need lecture right now and you shouldn’t be chewing gum!). So then I got an idea… maybe they could radio through when we actually land the plane as it was the same airline if they couldn’t do it while we were in the air. Again the lady looked at me like I was crazy and said no! What the...??? Ok so now I am really stressed… heart broken thinking I’m going to miss my connecting flight and miss my party that I was sooo looking forward to playing. I was trying to keep positive thinking at least I have all my music with me, I can run for my life when I land and as long as I make it I knew my check on luggage never would. Anyway during the flight I noticed lots of other passengers were starting the get stressed too as they were also on short transfer times… So lady was under a lot more pressure now…. Haha… people started to move seats to get nearer the exit. I had already moved seats. Then I was talking to the people opposite me and they told me that when we land we still have to board a bus to bring us to the airport… “Are you serious???” a bus? Well that’s it then… no way would I make my flight… Then when we landed the crew finally made an announcement that people on short transfers were to see an attendant on the ground. So a very nice guy on a walkie talkie had my details and asked me for my boarding card… “um I don’t have one…” “what?” ok so he called on his walkie talkie and got my new seat number and told me to get into the van, along with another guy who was going to Minsk! I asked the guy about my check in bag, he said he couldn’t guarantee it. So he hopped in the van and drove me directly to my plane which was waiting for me! I asked the new flight attendant about my bag and he said don’t worry that it was here before me! I couldn’t believe it… I’m sure the guy was telling me fibs or they had someone else’s bag, but anyway at least I was on my plane! Yeah! Thank you Lord! I couldn’t believe it and big up to Austrian Airways for being so efficient. It took about 5 minutes from the time I got off my first plane and got on the next plane. Whoop! Fantastic service!

So about 90minutes later I land in the remote airport of Burgos and guess what… my bag arrived too…. Double yeah! I was soooo lucky, I couldn’t believe it… lady luck was finally on my side. So after a 30 minute wait I boarded the bus to drive me the 2 hours to Varna airport, which was deserted, I waited another 10 minutes for my driver to arrive, grabbed some food and finally arrived at my hotel… 11 hours later… I’d been travelling non stop since 3.30am and had a 5 hour set ahead of me. After a quick snooze, I started to get ready for my set, I was super excited but also nervous. I really wanted a good crowd there… what if no body came?? Eeeeek! Ah well I was determined to enjoy myself.

Balthazar told me that the club would close at 5am so I should start playing around midnight. So I got to the club at 11.30pm and walked in… there were about 5 people in there… I was like…. Oh shit! Seemingly the club had just opened… Oh my God I hope more people come and luckily they did… yeah… by the time I started playing my set at 12.15am the dancefloor was full… I couldn’t believe it… wow, amazing… now to let the fun begin… yeah baby… 5 hours later, it was like I had been in a trance… 5hours of pumping, jumping, shouting, cheering, ENERGY BABY>>> so amazing… aaahhh I get goosebumps even thinking about it. At 5am I looked at Jackrock(the other promoter), the dancefloor was still full and pumping… I said, man, there’s no way we can stop at 5am…he said ok, keep going… so I did for one more hour… until 6.15am... 6 hours of a fantastic amazing dream… THANK YOU SOOO MUCH BULGARIA!!!! You made it a dream come through for me… What a way to celebrate 10 amazing years of Djing and making it the best birthday ever… THANK YOU< THANK YOU< THANK YOU!!

Also a huge big thank you to the crazy crew who drove 7 hours from Sofia to come to the party, it was sooo good to have you there Yana, Michael, Andrey & co., big thanks to Korio for my beautiful painting , to Geri for my lovely gift and the crew who gave me the Birthday Raiki!! Also a huge massive thank you to Balthazar, Jackrock, Yavor and the Comics Club Crew for looking after me so well and making the party so amazing!

After the party I got 1 hour sleep then got picked up at 8.30am to start my big journey home again, driven to the Varna airport, get on the bus for over 2 hours to Burgos airport, fly to Vienna, no stress this time with a 2 hour wait in Vienna, then fly to London, get on the tube for over 1 hour then a bus for 20 mins… needless to say I was totally exhausted when I finally got home but man was I happy… ecstatic… Looking back on the photos makes me grin ear to ear… I’m the happiest girl in the world…

Until next time beautiful Bulgaria… one last thank you… xxxx

PS. Check out the photos here....