USA with Basti and Björn
After a couple of Premiers in Europe, it was time to fly over the Atlantic to be part of some of the "Overseas" viewings overseas.....
Not even really back from Zürich, I convinced Björn to come with me. So a day later, big up to Noodle from Salomon in Austria making this happen for Björn, Björn and me met on the Airport in Munich to fly to Portland.
Good tip to everybody, if you can afford it fly business, or just don´t pick United as your flight company......the flights were horrible.....
Once in Portland, after one Stop in Washington for customs and another stop in Denver, I picked up our rental car for the next days and waited for Björn. He had another connection, which he didn´t get in Philly, so I had to wait until the next day.
First stop after getting Björn the next day was a quick visit to the Bonfire/Salomon office in town. Saying hallo to Amy, Hava, Rian and the rest of the stuff there. Bonfire is organizing the tour in the US, so Rian explained us where the Premier gonna be at and that she had booked a room in the same hotel. The "Ace Hotel". Nice place, each hotel room has a different interior and style and the people working there are super nice....
So we went for some Mexican food and then checked in. Brisse gave me a call telling me that he is on his way, so almost complete for tonight.....
The Night started out with some signing session from Björn, Brisse and the Runway girls, that were in town to have the Premier together with us. After that the first movie to be shown was "What if" from the girls followed by "Overseas". The people really enjoyed both of the movies and a big up to the girls from my side here.....they sure know how to shred....
After a ruffle and tons of free stuff it was time for the free beer.....wich means in the US, please all the people out again, and show your ID on the way back in. 21 is the magic age there, if you were younger than that, the night stopped here....for all the others it just got started. Björn and me even met some Russian friends from Mitya and Osa, who showed us around town after the Premier, so it was a long one....
The next day we had to drive to Seattle, which normally takes 3 hours, but as lucky as we are it took us 6 hours with traffic jams and heavy rain all the way. Once in Seattle we made a quick stop at the EVO shop, where the Premier was going to be the next day, to say hallo and find a hotel close by. Stuff there was super helpfull and half an hour later we had already checked in and waited for Justin Turkowski, one of our filmers in the US to arrive. We been to tired to drive to the Airport picking him up ourselves, so we let the hotel take care of it with their shuttles.....sorry for already sleeping....
Gigi flew in the next day as well and as soon as Brisse arrived with the car from Portland we were complete and ready for some tourist activity before the Premier. The spaceneedle in Seattle was really close by to our hotel, so it was kind of obvious that we had to get ourselves up there. It turned out to be so nice up there. It rained more or less the entired time we been in the US, except the 2 hours up there on the Spaceneedle. So we had a nice sunset with a great view over the bay and downtown from Seattle. When we arrived at EVO after that, a lot off people had shown up already and it was time for meet and greet. Tarek, a Baker local and good friend of Turkowski and Gigi, had rolled into town with a crew of friends; Scott Sulivan gaves us the arner; Blue from Capita and George from Union stopped by; Eddie and Kelly from Ally distribution were there and even Jamie Lynn was spotted. The movies were shown and tons of beer were consumed. After free giveaways and another ruffle the crowed slowly moved from EVO to close by bar called, High Dive were the Afterparty was at. People in Seattle sure know how to party......WE ended up visiting the Ally office on the way home for some boozed up Billiard, and I don´t remember how long we been sitting in Tareks room before falling asleep.
The following day was a prime example for a good hangover day. To my surprise Gigi was still there when I woke up (he managed to check his departure time wrong on his ticket, so he thought all night that he has to be at the airport at 8 in the morning, wich he didn´t...)so we went all together for a walk, trying to find the best hangover breakfast place......didn´t find it so we had once again some mexican. In the afternoon we checked out the public market and drove Gigi to the Airport. Mellow and nice day.
Before driving back to Portland, I had to make some visits at the Capita/Union and Ride office in town the next day to say hallo and then a quick stop at the Airport to bring Turkowski to his flight. After that we were on our way back to Portland, bring the rental car back and fly out the next day.
Thanx to everybody giving us such a nice time over there. Can´t wait to come back....in the winter.
Not even really back from Zürich, I convinced Björn to come with me. So a day later, big up to Noodle from Salomon in Austria making this happen for Björn, Björn and me met on the Airport in Munich to fly to Portland.
Good tip to everybody, if you can afford it fly business, or just don´t pick United as your flight company......the flights were horrible.....
Once in Portland, after one Stop in Washington for customs and another stop in Denver, I picked up our rental car for the next days and waited for Björn. He had another connection, which he didn´t get in Philly, so I had to wait until the next day.
First stop after getting Björn the next day was a quick visit to the Bonfire/Salomon office in town. Saying hallo to Amy, Hava, Rian and the rest of the stuff there. Bonfire is organizing the tour in the US, so Rian explained us where the Premier gonna be at and that she had booked a room in the same hotel. The "Ace Hotel". Nice place, each hotel room has a different interior and style and the people working there are super nice....
So we went for some Mexican food and then checked in. Brisse gave me a call telling me that he is on his way, so almost complete for tonight.....
The Night started out with some signing session from Björn, Brisse and the Runway girls, that were in town to have the Premier together with us. After that the first movie to be shown was "What if" from the girls followed by "Overseas". The people really enjoyed both of the movies and a big up to the girls from my side here.....they sure know how to shred....
After a ruffle and tons of free stuff it was time for the free beer.....wich means in the US, please all the people out again, and show your ID on the way back in. 21 is the magic age there, if you were younger than that, the night stopped here....for all the others it just got started. Björn and me even met some Russian friends from Mitya and Osa, who showed us around town after the Premier, so it was a long one....
The next day we had to drive to Seattle, which normally takes 3 hours, but as lucky as we are it took us 6 hours with traffic jams and heavy rain all the way. Once in Seattle we made a quick stop at the EVO shop, where the Premier was going to be the next day, to say hallo and find a hotel close by. Stuff there was super helpfull and half an hour later we had already checked in and waited for Justin Turkowski, one of our filmers in the US to arrive. We been to tired to drive to the Airport picking him up ourselves, so we let the hotel take care of it with their shuttles.....sorry for already sleeping....
Gigi flew in the next day as well and as soon as Brisse arrived with the car from Portland we were complete and ready for some tourist activity before the Premier. The spaceneedle in Seattle was really close by to our hotel, so it was kind of obvious that we had to get ourselves up there. It turned out to be so nice up there. It rained more or less the entired time we been in the US, except the 2 hours up there on the Spaceneedle. So we had a nice sunset with a great view over the bay and downtown from Seattle. When we arrived at EVO after that, a lot off people had shown up already and it was time for meet and greet. Tarek, a Baker local and good friend of Turkowski and Gigi, had rolled into town with a crew of friends; Scott Sulivan gaves us the arner; Blue from Capita and George from Union stopped by; Eddie and Kelly from Ally distribution were there and even Jamie Lynn was spotted. The movies were shown and tons of beer were consumed. After free giveaways and another ruffle the crowed slowly moved from EVO to close by bar called, High Dive were the Afterparty was at. People in Seattle sure know how to party......WE ended up visiting the Ally office on the way home for some boozed up Billiard, and I don´t remember how long we been sitting in Tareks room before falling asleep.
The following day was a prime example for a good hangover day. To my surprise Gigi was still there when I woke up (he managed to check his departure time wrong on his ticket, so he thought all night that he has to be at the airport at 8 in the morning, wich he didn´t...)so we went all together for a walk, trying to find the best hangover breakfast place......didn´t find it so we had once again some mexican. In the afternoon we checked out the public market and drove Gigi to the Airport. Mellow and nice day.
Before driving back to Portland, I had to make some visits at the Capita/Union and Ride office in town the next day to say hallo and then a quick stop at the Airport to bring Turkowski to his flight. After that we were on our way back to Portland, bring the rental car back and fly out the next day.
Thanx to everybody giving us such a nice time over there. Can´t wait to come back....in the winter.
