I don’t now why you would like to do this. Trains are boring. The seats aren’t that bad in most of them, but not really comfy either. There is always either someone yelling in his phone, playing loud music through the crappy speakers of his cellphone or laughing way too loud or a kid screaming his lungs out. You have to hop from one into another because they never seem to go directly where you want to go. And if they run late, like they do most of the time, chance are you are going to miss that connection as well wasting even more time than usual. If you don’t have a car though, here in Belgium they are the only way to travel fairly cheap over large distances. So if you’re like me you’ll end up in one at least once a week. While it’s obvious I found out this method by accident, and there are a million other ways, I’d like to share it with you.

I’m very sorry if this isn’t going to work out for you. There are some very specific requirements that I’m sure not all of you will be able to meet. First of all you need to have a, if possible a twin, brother who has more or less the same taste of music you do and will keep you posted if he is going to a concert he thinks you might be interested in. If he does, take his offer to go with him. Get your ticket and put it in a place you know it is safe. The day of the concert remind yourself when you get ready to leave for the concert to put it in your wallet, but go to the bathroom first. When you get back and head for the door, leave it there in that safe place. Go to the train-station, get on the right train that is perfectly on time and go find your brother who is already on it. Then when you, more than an hour later, are about to arrive at your destination, suddenly realize you left your ticket at home and won’t get into the venue where the concert is about to start in less than half an hour. Then go back for it…

When I finally arrived at Trix, the venue in Antwerp, that last day of september, I had already missed Of Mice and Men and Blessthefall‘s performance, but ended up catching most of August Burns Red‘s. Which was awesome by the way. It was a shame though I had to stay out in the back, away from the raging madmen in the pit, to make sure I didn’t rip my arm out a second time. It felt wrong to try to stand still when this kind of music is blasting your ears off, but I had to because my right shoulder hurt like hell every time I bumped into someone. On the other hand this did give me the chance to take my camera out and snap a few pictures and they turned out pretty well I might say considering the conditions. Believe me when I tell you though, I’ll never forget my ticket ever again from now on and hopefully can stay uninjured as well once this shoulder has healed.