Jan 30 A long, long journey, and we are now in Cannes!

We left home it was 3:00 in the afternoon. Ok, it was 3:30 in the afternoon, and we were late already. But you have to understand that packing is always an adventure. There’s the easy part: the music equipment. Everybody knows what guitar to bring, they all have their own special cases for transportation, same thing for the different pedals that need to come with us. It’s a done deal, and besides one exception this time (a new pedal for Sef’s spaceship), we always bring the same equipment. What we don’t bring with us we pick it up at John Henry’s. Then there is the other part, our suitcases. We are leaving for 2 months, and we wanted to make sure we wouldn’t forget anything… Maybe that is why Moose brought with him 4lbs of shampoo, stating that he needed all the family-value sized bottles for himself, absolutely. After a lengthy explanation, he decided he could buy some when he would eventually run out of it.

We arrived at the airport after enjoying Montreal’s weekday traffic, a little late on our schedule, but still on time for our check in! Thanks to being faithful travelers (and maybe because they feared the long hair, the beards, the tattoos and all the heavy cases we were carrying with us), they opened a counter just for us so we could enjoy a quick and smooth check-in! We then went into a kind of exclusive lounge, where we had a toast to the adventures to come, knowing that the only limits there would have would be the ones we would impose ourselves. And then it was time for our plane! A flight that we all welcomed as we knew it would give us a few hours of sleep. After 2 days without sleeping on what Alex calls “beat the clock YFE’s way”, it couldn’t be otherwise!

We landed in London at 7:30 in the morning, welcomed by a day on which the sun had not yet risen… Everywhere we looked outside, it was pitch black. But by the time we cleared customs and picked up our suitcases, we recognized London as we know it… Gray and rainy! Yes, this is it, this is the London we know and have learned to love despite her character… 🙂 Being back here for the third time in such a short time, seeing places we know, coffee shops we have been to, venues in which we played or seen shows at, wandering its streets, we really felt like we were home, as those places are alive from the moments we have shared with people who are family to us. We stopped first at John Henry’s, where we picked up all the gear for the upcoming shows, where we were welcomed like longtime friends. To be honest, they were all a bit disappointed to see that YB wasn’t wearing his wonderful and now worldwide famous short shorts… 😉 A stop at the grocery store, and another one at St. Pancras to get a Starbucks, and we were on our way to the Westbourne Studios!

The Westbourne Studios is a lovely place, where creativity and artistic spirit overflow. We met with 2 wonderful teams, people we are working with in the UK and the people in charge of the Coffee House Sessions. We were there to record 2 acoustic songs we will be playing during this university tour, one of which is Where Did We Lose Each Other (you were able to listen to a part of it in the 20th edition of the Bla Bla Bla: The Live Show, rerun online on Feb. 2nd!). The other song, for now, will have to remain a secret, I guess 🙂 It has been a very meaningful moment, soulful and deep… One of these moments where Your Favorite Enemies make time and space disappear before your eyes, as your spirit flows with every note that is being played and sung… We then ended it all with an interview, talking about different aspects of the band!

Even though we would have been supposed to be exhausted from the previous days, from the flight and from driving all across the city all day long, we were all super excited! Excited of what had just happened, but also of those crazy adventures we knew would find their way to us throughout those 2 months on the road! It was then time to leave London, direction Dover, where we would catch the ferry that would take us to Calais, before we embarked on a 12-hour drive to Cannes! Some of us took the opportunity to sleep, others to eat licorice (a must every time we are on the road!), while others worked. It is at that time too that Ben told us he was disappointed to have forgotten the gift Jeff has given to him, a small jar of Marmite. Believe it or not, he says he likes it… (and let’s be honest, we don’t believe him at all 😉

And then we hopped in the ferry. It was the first time we didn’t have any problem at all, and Matt even made the custom officer laugh! It was the first time we didn’t have to wait an extra hour before catching it! We entered the ferry super excited to find the huge comfortable couches on which we could sleep, only to find cafeteria chairs and tables all over the place… Except in one place! After some reconfiguration on the ferry’s interior design, we decided that this is where we would spend the ride!

We were woken up by a high-pitched shrill voice who lovingly told us we had arrived to Calais, all while clapping her hands… Yes, good morning to you too, lady! We got in the van and decided we would watch a DVD… Glastonbury, directed by Julien Temple, who Alex really likes. After several long minutes of having only the sound working (birds chirping and cows mooing), we managed to get the image to work, too! But only on one of the 2 screens, as one kept becoming blue all the time… So much for entertainment!

The road to Cannes was long, very long… And while we were expecting to be greeted with warm weather, azur ocean and white beaches, we arrived in a gray and rainy Cannes… In fact, it was raining so much that we couldn’t even go out and walk in town… So we opted for a cozy little dinner in our big, luxurious room! Ok, it’s not exactly big, and it’s not exactly luxurious either! But this will be our little home for the next few days, and we like it already! As long as we are together, nothing else matters! So it’s with a French TV playing in the background that we shared dinner… And let me tell you, French TV is very, very entertaining!

– Stephanie

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