Welcome to tickets to travel the business of travel experiences and today we are kicking off a brand new series called fan Travel stories because let's be real fans go to the ends of the earth or at least across the ocean for the experiences they love Our first guest, oh they understood the assignment alright, meet Mary and Janine, two Swifties on a mission, taking their bucket list trip across the pond to see Taylor Swift's heiress tour in none other than Edinburgh, Scotland.
And did I mention that all of this coincided with Janine's 60th birthday? Because honestly, what better way to celebrate a milestone than with thousands of screaming swifties, a stack of friendship bracelets, and of course, some good old Scottish haggis? Now why did we launch Fan Travel Stories? Because post COVID, travel isn't just about destinations, it's about the experiences.
And what better example than two friends navigating the wild world of international ticket sales, snagging an Airbnb in historic Stockbridge, and braving the cold in their finest Swifty approved layers. But here's the kicker. This entire trip, including flights, accommodations, sightseeing, and two concert tickets, Cost them less than a single VIP seat at a U.
S. show. While some fans were forking over thousands just to sit in the stadium back home, these two were living their best lives in Scotland for much, much less. Who knew the best ticket hack wasn't a pre sale code, but a passport instead. And for those in the travel and ticketing industries, here's the real takeaway.
Fans are thinking differently about live events. With rising domestic ticket prices, more people are looking at international travel as a viable, even cost effective way to see their favorite artists and have a full travel experience. The demand for seamless booking, verified resale options, And destination driven event packages is only going to grow.
If Taylor Swift can turn an entire city into a temporary fan festival, what does that mean for the future of travel, ticketing, and hospitality? From booking strategies that would make Wall Street traders jealous to the magic of meeting fellow fans, shout out to Isha, their honorary Scottish guide. And of course, the electric energy of the concert itself.
This is the kind of travel story we all love here at Tickets to Travel. So grab your passport, pack some glitter, and get ready for a tale of music, adventure, and some questionable Scottish stadium hot dogs. Before we dive into Mary and Janine's Taylor Swift adventure across the pond, Don't forget to follow us on your socials at tix2travelpod on YouTube. And of course, subscribe wherever you get your podcast because Tickets to Travel's Fan Travel Stories starts right now.
Welcome to Tickets to Travel, the business of travel experiences. My name is Mario Bedouin. I'm launching a brand new series that we're calling Fan Travel Stories. And today I have Mary. And, Janine, and Janine, who happen to be big Taylor Swift fans. So on a scale of one to ten, what would you rate yourself as a Taylor Swift fan?
Let's say I'm a strong eight, eight to ten. Eight to ten. So were you guys always huge fans of music? What was the first concert you ever went to? I went to C E L O. Ah. My sister took me to the E L O concert. Where was it? In Philly. Yes. You might be an Eagles fan. I am an Eagles fan. Oh boy. Go Birds. Yeah, we might have to talk about that.
How about you, G? I want to say Bruce Springsteen. Yeah. In Saratoga. Okay. Okay. And what do you remember about that particular experience? I remember getting caught in parking lot with the traffic and trading beers with someone to get out of the parking lot at the end of the, sorry. That's that's how you get out of a parking lot.
Yeah. Yeah. You get a beer. Yeah. You get a beer. They let you out. A lot of what we've talked about here at Tickets to Travel is how the behavior of fans has really changed post COVID where it used to be about the destination. I'm going to take a vacation. I'm going to go see a particular area and experience all the sites and everything around it.
But more and more what we're seeing with people in general is going to a live event. And the reason why you're here today is because you travel to Edinburgh, Scotland, Edinburgh, and you live in the New York City area. Yes. And the two of you went together. Yes. That's very interesting to us in the online travel and ticketing entertainment world.
Obviously, Taylor Swift, The Heiress Tour was a monumental hit. It injected 5 billion into the U. S. economy, but you didn't see it in the U. S. Why didn't you go to a show here? The tickets were too expensive. And we were new fans as well. My daughter was the big fan in the family, and then the movie came out, and we decided to go see the movie.
And that's when I started getting familiar with Taylor Swift's music. And then I really got into it and then I decided maybe we should try to see Taylor Swift. Janine and I work out every week, three times a week. We do a Zoom workout and I would talk about it and I needed somebody to go with me and she was all in.
We both turned 60 this year, so we decided let's treat ourselves, let's go. And then when we looked into it, the tickets were just way too expensive. When you say way too expensive, though, what was the sticker shock? When you, were you trying to go to the Meadowlands, or? I think we were looking at, I think it was too late for that.
Yeah. By the time we started looking into it, the concert, I think the U. S. tour was just about complete. So, I think Europe may have been our only option anyway. Yeah. Except for Miami, which was 6, 000 ticket, which wasn't gonna happen. Yeah. Miami was a big ticket just to get in the door. It was like going to the Superbowl.
So when you finally decided to go, what made you choose Edinburgh and instead of any other destination, we were looking into Dublin and then I realized or learned from doing research that our only option would be to buy a StubHub or some kind of reseller. And that in Dublin, they're very strict about allowing people in.
And so. Decided that wasn't a good idea. So then I guess Scotland was the next. Actually, you and I talked about Dublin, right? We did. And I had just gone to Dublin about six months earlier, so I didn't want to go back to Dublin. So there were many reasons to not do to not go to Dublin. But then I was it your idea?
I can't remember. We kept looking at what were those May, June dates. Right. And right. Edinburgh came up. And it was, we both had some family obligations we had to work around. And these dates in June, which happened to fall right on my 60th birthday. There you go. These tates worked out. And so we were like, we're going to go, we're going to celebrate Taylor.
We're going to celebrate my birthday. We're going to celebrate Janie. You said early, you're a strong 10 Taylor Swift fan. Is there a particular lyric or song that just resonates with you where you're going to sit there and just, you know, friendship bracelets go crazy. Uh, the song lover. Okay. It's a.
Beautiful. It really is. It's just a beautiful song and she sang it right in the beginning of it, like three or four songs in. She sings it in the beginning of the show. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. And I was very introduced me to Taylor. So I was late in coming to Taylor too. And then I just dug in and just started listening.
To everything. The full catalog. The full catalog. Watched the movie a bunch of times. And we were very lucky because we got to see her new album came out. So she had those songs, Tortured Poets, part of that concert. So we got to see a whole new section of the concert that wasn't in the movie. And it wasn't in the U.
S. because that's where they, that's where they filmed all of it. Wow. What a treat. It was. And so to get to Scotland, obviously this is tickets to travel. I want to understand your ticket purchase, but before that, because that was the driver of the travel, obviously, Taylor, but where did you stay? What was the thought process?
Did you stay in a hotel? Did you find a villa rental? Where did you end up? The accommodations were booking very quickly because of the concert. As they do. Yeah. Yeah. So we started digging in really fast and we were focused on Airbnb. Okay. Cause we wanted two bedrooms. We wanted a kitchen. We just wanted those, that type of accommodations.
And so we kept digging and then we were also trying to figure out something that was semi close to the venue and not on the other side of town. And we were both searching every day and then this place popped up. And also with the Airbnb, we were looking for cancellation that we had canceled two weeks before.
Got it. Just in case. something happened. You were covered. Yes. And so what type of Airbnb was it? So that's the beauty about Airbnb, right? And I always say this to people in that the way that travel or online travel has shifted over the last 10 years or so, if you went back 20 years, there was no Airbnb.
It wasn't really an option. And so I'm always interested to see what type of product people book on Airbnb because You can get a corporate apartment, you can get a home, you can get some of these really cool tree houses and things that they have on the site. What type of Airbnb did you book? It was in an area called Stockbridge, which was very historic, very beautiful, and we were on the second floor of this Townhouse kind, kind of building with stores down in the, the lower floor.
Nice. And it was a two bedroom, one bathroom, had a living room area, dining area, lovely kitchen. And it was very comfortable. Was thing that was happening in Edinburgh during that time was, it was early June, but it was about 40 degrees out during which, chilly, like it's today, like it is today here in GR, Connecticut.
What? Yes, it was cold. And so we had heat, which we needed as they typically have heat in Europe. It's air conditioning. They don't have, right. That's when it gets really hot, everyone like freaks out because they're like used to American standards of having air conditioning, but they don't have that there.
Okay. So that's key. You have a very comfortable stay in a great location, fairly close to the venue. Were you guys going to drive to the venue or could you walk it? We could walk to the venue. It was about 40 minutes. Yes, and what was the waterway? I can't remember the name of it. I can't either. The Leaf?
Something? Yeah. But there was a waterway that would take you directly there. But we did check out. When I went the first night, we took the train there. Yes. And then we walked back. And that kind of relates to the young woman that you sold the third ticket to for the first night. Let's back up a second. So let's get to the ticketing portion of this.
So obviously you've got a nice Airbnb. It's lovely. It's by a waterway. You can get to the venue. What type of tickets did you purchase? How did you go about doing it? Did you go to a StubHub? Did you go to Ticketmaster to do that? So the first set of tickets, because I bought two sets, the first set I bought on StubHub and after buying those tickets, I was on a Facebook page as Taylor Swift, Scotland, Edinburgh Facebook page.
Okay. And people were. Saying how sometimes these tickets aren't verified, you have to be careful with StubHub, so I got a little nervous. And then I watched the resale on Ticketmaster and bought another set just in case anything happened with the StubHub tickets. You need a little insurance. Right. Go all the way to Scotland and not see Taylor Swift.
Wait a second, did you end up going two nights? I did go, I went two nights. Amazing, okay. I went two nights. And the tickets compared to the U. S., they were cheap, but they weren't 6, 000. Okay, so where did you purchase again? First I purchased on StubHub, I think that was a Friday night, might've been a Friday night, and then the Saturday night tickets I purchased through Ticketmaster resale, because in the UK, or, they do that resale where you can, and I think they're starting to, are they doing that now?
I'm not sure if they're doing it now, okay, yeah, they were doing it back then, I don't think, but, They probably just weren't available, maybe, so people were holding on to tickets until, But two popped up. Okay. And I grabbed them and I had to get a pair of tickets. So then I could relax because we would definitely make it to the concert.
Those were verified tickets. So if things, if something went wrong on Friday, we could go on Saturday and we could deal with getting the refund on Friday. But that meant we had extra tickets because Jeanine only wanted to go one night. And I had a third ticket for Friday, you had three tickets for some, I think you could only buy them in the block of three.
Yeah, maybe that's so I think that's what, you know, and they were in a spot that we wanted, yeah, and then I sold my extra tickets to college students and I took a hit. Definitely. People are going to want to understand this, like. When you were shopping in the U. S., it was like 5, 000 per ticket? I would say it was at least 2, 000, 3, 000, but I also think it was too late.
You're reminding me now. I think it was too late for us to get anything in the U. S. We have to wait until she came back after the European. And that didn't line up with our dates, which was That was the only time we could travel. Elevate your travel business with Victory Live, the platform featuring six billion dollars in professional sports, concerts, festivals, and theater inventory, including Broadway hits, Las Vegas shows, and top events like Coachella and the Super Bowl.
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Now, Scott, Lynn, what was the per ticket price? They were thousand, 1200, something like that. Not too bad. I think we could have done better, but we wanted decency. Yeah. So, so you're talking like 60 percent off? Yeah, it was, I felt, I felt good about it. Mary, I felt like you got those Friday night tickets for 700.
Did we get them for 700? That's the thing, we should have checked. I think, I know, we should have checked in advance. I feel it, because I was shocked when you found those. Yeah. Do we need to know that for the podcast? Well, exactly how much? No, because what we're going to do, what we're going to do at the end is like add it all up.
Okay. And say, okay, this is what it would cost you here versus staying at home. And then you still had 10, 000 worth of tickets to go see Taylor because all of these things factor into the experience itself. So you're in Scotland, you got an Airbnb, you got tickets. You sold one and you had to hang out with a student.
Is that what you said? I wouldn't put it that way. She was lovely. We weren't advanced PhD level Taylor Swift fans. So she helped us with the chants at the concert and it was, and she was just lovely. But she came to our Airbnb and helped us get out to Murray Field. So then she, we met her at the Airbnb. We worked on our Taylor Swift's outfits with her.
Of course. So it was 40 degrees out, so I had so many layers on. You had to go for like a hoodie and, uh. Just sunglasses. Okay, yeah. Thank God I put in a little hat and gloves. It was so cold. Then she planned out how we were going to get out there. So then we followed her to the tram. Which was covered with all Taylor Swift.
Oh, so they themed the tram. So the entire destination got into this. Yes. You would say. They, they, because they're talking about that. Storefronts, everything. Was Taylor Swift, the whole city was, yeah, they're trying to move. There's a new movement of which on the entertainment side for live events, where they would do basically many residencies in each city.
So imagine going to Atlanta and for a full week, there's a number of different performances by Taylor. Everything is themed Taylor, like it's Atlanta, Taylor destination, which is a sales point, right? For the, for people to come and enjoy it, because even if you can't get in the building. You could still get a little piece of Taylor.
Yeah, that sounds fun. Yeah. It's interesting that Enberg did the same thing. And we missed this. We somehow didn't make it, but they had a bracelet making workshop that we signed up for. We didn't go, but so they had all these different things going on around the city to prepare for the concerts. That's wild.
Yeah. Yeah. That vibe is so sweet. It's just so sweet. Yeah. So great. The Swifties are very welcoming, right? Oh, and we got to the tram stop and it was all Swifties and we all went on the tram together out to Murray Field. Got it. Once you get there, you got your tickets, you got your Airbnb, you got your friendship bracelets.
We got our college student. He got a guide. University of Edinburgh's Howardson. It is. And what's her name by the way? We were just talking about her. Probably Esha. Esha. Esha. Shout out to Esha. She'll probably hear this. But once you got to the venue, which venue, what's the venue called there? Murray Field.
Murray Field. And so is it outdoors? It was outdoors. So almost like a festival setting. So, the moment you zap your ticket, what was the feeling like walking into the venue? It was a good feeling when we walked into the venue, it was an even better feeling when we saw our seats. Oh. They were really good seats.
So explain to me, where were you, but like, how close to the stage were you? Oh my gosh. This is a gigantic stage. It's hard to describe. Yeah. It's hard to describe how close we were. We were on the lower level, but elevated enough so we could see. So we weren't floor level. Oh no, how close, how many yards do you think we were?
I don't know. It's hard to. We were pretty close. There's one section below us. Then there was the area where people stood. Okay. Right down on the field. And then there was the stage. Oh, so you had a very nice view straight away. Very nice. This stage is, it's massive, right? It's got video screens and other things that are happening.
What was the first song she, she opened with? Miss Americana. Your recall is very quick on this one. Okay. And it's been a long time coming. Opening is, and her dancers are amazing. They're so fun. They're so fun. I'm following all of them on Instagram because they're just so interesting to follow. And they're so a part of the whole experience along with her and the band and the backup singers.
It's really, so a lot of people, I don't know how many, but a lot of people in the live events or operational space also listen to the show. And so from a venue perspective, what type of food did you order? Oh, did we order food? We did. I went to the, I went to the stand. It was, it was hot dogs and French fries and fried, but not memorable.
No, it wasn't great. No. But we were okay with that. Yeah. We were okay with that. You were in Scotland for how long a week? So you had enough time to take in some of the cultural sites and go to restaurant and other places there. So the experience itself, amazing viewing, obviously the show's incredible. The fans, the vibe was really great.
Can I comment on the fans? Oh, of course. That's what we're talking about. It's so lovely. Majority women and all ages. And dressed in all the different eras of Taylor's films. And so then you look at someone, you're like, that's, that's red or that's the folklore. And so you just, so it's a, there's a total feel.
And even being 40 degrees out, those young women. We're wearing her body suits. Really? With the boots. Oh, that sparkly volume. Fearless outfit. Fearless, yeah. They were dancing and it was so much, it was just so much fun. It was such a a, a wonderful travel experience. Yeah. Really was. Travel experience. That's exactly what it is.
The fans obviously create the vibe, the venue, and obviously the stage show the production was top notch. If you had any critiques about it though, was there anything negative about the, I don't even like to say the word negative, but things that you thought could have gone a little bit better in the venue itself?
I can't. For me? More bathrooms. Hot tip, if you think you have enough bathrooms, double it, get more. Especially with all these women, right, in line, and the guy's line was probably pretty short. We were going into the guy's room. Oh, so shout out to security for not taking Javeen away. Blast. Take her anywhere.
Yeah, so how long was this show? Three hours. Did you feel like it was three hours? It was so cold that, to be honest, the cold did get to us, but She was so great. The performance was so great. The experience was so great that we managed to get through it. No problem. Yeah, no, it's But we were pretty cold. We were pretty cold, yeah.
But it was the three hours were and there was a wind. There was cold wind. And her hand cramped up, actually, when she was performing. Because it was so little, yeah, yeah, she's like, guys, I got to stop for a moment. You know, I think I saw a video of that and that performance where she had to stop because it was in like, she was literally flush red.
It was freezing. Yeah, I think that I remember that piece. And then the sun didn't go down until 10 o'clock at night. So a lot of her show, she's a light show. Yeah. That if you see the movie. You may want to see live, you're not going to see it live in Edinburgh because the sun didn't set until 10 o'clock at night, maybe, I don't know, 30 minutes before the show was over?
Yes. So it was all daylight, which was, I guess that's the only negative thing really that I can think of. So, was it just as cold the next night when you went? It was, but I was ready for it. You're, you, okay. So, you brought the parka and the scarf and you were ready to do it. Yeah. Got it. I was good. Okay. So, then you obviously had a good time.
You had mentioned to me that you had created the itinerary for Scotland. So, what did that entail while you were there? So, while we were there, we did the sites. So, we visited Edinburgh Castle. Ah, of course. You know, up on the, up on the hills. Oh. Yeah. Holyrood Castle, which is down at the end of the um, Royal Mile.
Thank you, Royal Mile. We did that too. I did a ghost tour one night, which was really fun and this old funky bus and they talked about the various cemeteries and, and the various plagues and that's true. Yeah. This medieval time stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And how did you book all of this? We booked through one of the ticketing.
Was there a pass in where it had three? Yeah. Wow. We got a pass. I guess a city pass. Yeah. And they had the Holyrood, the castle, and then Mary's Kinkless or was that separate? That was separate. And then the ship, the Britannia. Britannia. Yes. I've heard. And did you book that through a third party, like a Viator, a Get Your Guide or any of those type of sites?
Or no, we booked it through one of their local agencies. Yeah, that offered that and it was nice because you could go within a block of time and I think it was 48 hours and jump on and off their bus. There's a number of these different passes, whether it be CityPass or GoCity and then they have this sort of aggregation technology where plugs into each one of their ticketing systems.
That's the feeling. There are a few different companies in this world. That sort of, but they attach directly into these ticketing systems and can provide either direct access or create these different passes, which did you find that was a better way to experience it? Or would you have maybe, because there's only three of the five that were there.
Maybe you would have done more had you had the time. They offered the three and I knew we wanted to do those three sites and I wanted to have the tickets in advance because I knew there'd be so many people there at that time during that week. So that's where the peace of mind was. So that's how I went about it and I don't know.
And we found the ghost tour and we bought those tickets in advance. And we did this thing called Mary's Close, which Mary's King's Close, Mary's, yeah, Mary King's Close, which is a tour of underground. And I've never been, so that's why I'm, I'm truly asking like, yeah, we did that. So we bought those tickets in advance too.
So we had it all mapped out before we went. What was your favorite meal in Scotland? Obviously it wasn't the hot dogs at the Taylor Swift concert. We went to tea at the dome, which is a famous restaurant, beautiful location, beautiful building. The food was very good. They had gluten free options there and we celebrated your 60th.
It was on your 60th. That's right. We went there. That was a special meal. We went to a great place for breakfast that somebody from work recommended and I can't remember that. No, right off the Royal Mall, it was a vegetarian and it's really good. That was me. I thought we don't remember the name of the breakfast itself.
What do you remember about it? What was the food? Was there an authentic Scottish food? There was. What's it called now? It's terrible. No, you're just sounding very in America right now. It's all right. You're American. It's like a red blood sausage. Is that what it is? A blood sausage. Is that what that was?
That maggus? No, haggis. Haggis. Yes. And it was delicious. You know, I started vegetarian, but they had vegetarian sausage and they had a regular haggis as it wasn't totally vegetarian. Okay. So Scotland, Taylor Swift, now that you have done this. What's the next destination to see Taylor to see Taylor? Yeah, I wish I saw her in Paris I bet that was a great show.
But when is she gonna tour again? It's I'm pretty sure if you've got miss Beyonce who just has put her tickets out on sale for Cowboy Carter. I'd love to see her too. Yeah, it's it's probably gonna happen There's probably gonna be another one soon unless you know She gets engaged at the Super Bowl or something, that's a conspiracy theory that's coming out right now.
Yeah. But, what other destination would you have liked to experience and then couple that with the Taylor Swift show? Yes, that's Our plan. We haven't told our husbands yet. Yes. Yeah. They don't need to. This one thing at a time. They're not going to hear what they're going to tell him. Yeah. Our trainer knows, but Hunter has this, but, but wait a second.
And Mario, my neighbor knows. Yeah. Four neighbors, by the way. You're also going to the Superbowl. You mentioned. I am going to the Superbowl. Go birds. Go birds. I'm a Niner fan, so I can't really support that, but still. I'm very impressed because you were actually texting me and saying, Hey, what do you think?
Where did you end up? Booking a hotel there, and then what part of the stadium are you sitting? So I decided to book everything through Amex. Ah, interesting. Amex has a hotel airfare deals. And so I booked something at an I water suite and that booked the hotel. The, the airfare and then on travel, I think it's the name of the place that I got the tickets from, and that was on advisement from Amex.
So they pointed me in that direction and just that's where I got the tickets. So there's a whole system behind Amex and their different ticketing partners. They typically get a little bit better preference in terms of inventory. I hadn't really spoken to anybody who's had a full Amex experience, but it's pretty seamless.
I've had good luck with them in the past. So I figured this is a bucket list experience and I didn't want to be worried like I was with the Taylor Swift StubHub tickets. So I just knew that. Every time I book through Amex, I've never had any problems. So I wanted to be sure I didn't have any problems with this because it's three days, it's going to be pretty intense, and I wanted to go while I'm taking my husband, and it should be fun.
No, it should be fun. Are you kidding me? It should be amazing. And by the way, Janine, how do you feel? She's going to see Taylor again in the same Oh yeah, we had that conversation, and she said But Janine, I am not going to focus on Taylor, I'm focused on the game. And Saquon. Yes. And Jalen. Saquon and Jalen are And my husband, of course.
Oh yeah, Ed. Shout out to Ed. He's, he's definitely in for a treat, that's for sure. But going back to Scotland, for the audience, putting it all together. And we're using the tickets for a U. S. show as a frame of reference, flights, hotel, tickets, activities. What do you put as the range of the total price versus having to have gone here in the States?
Like what's the total for the trip? Wasn't it five? I remember 5, 000. It was 5, 000. Wow. Yeah. So that's one seat. Yeah. The Airbnb was very affordable. Yeah. Yeah. And then the activities that we did in Edinburgh, they were all very affordable. And we're just, part of getting the Airbnb was like, we like having breakfast and groceries.
Lunch, we liked having groceries there. So you guys cooked while you were there too. Cook, but we toasted and whatever. Okay. Yeah, I don't know. Ray meal was out at a restaurant and yeah, it was pretty, we got takeout. Yeah, it was, it was, it was affordable, not bad. All things consider. And I saw her twice. So, Oh, so that 5k includes two shows.
Yeah. That's insane. That's literally one seat at one of the shows. Right. And a pretty good seat. Don't get me wrong. But you, uh, you flew over on miles. I did. Okay. I used miles. I flew business class using American airline mile. Okay. So you're an American person. I'm a Delta guy. So I was. Delta's so great. I started with American and then, so now I'm in it.
Okay. Yeah. And. I'm sorry. You know how it goes. Yeah. I do. When you have an expense account too, and I have to travel for work, I put it all on Delta. Oh, smart. Yeah. And my wife's, wait a second, how are you platinum, medallion, almost diamond? I'm like, don't get mad when I'm first class and the rest of the family's sitting back there.
But no, you have to understand how to game the system. And then did you, you didn't do it on points? No, I didn't do it on points. I wasn't into points a lot at that point. So I just threw economy over and it was, I had a Swifty sitting next to me. So we had a great chat and traded bracelets and. So that's okay.
So I'm not a Swifty. I probably shouldn't say that out loud all the time, but so what is the deal with the bracelets for all of us who are probably. Not going to trade bracelets with people like connection, just a really nice, just keeping the vibe simple, easy connection and you make these and usually you put the name or some lyric or an error name or some reference to Taylor Swift on the bracelet.
There are letters and you. Sort them out, that'll speak to which era you like, and it's a reason to talk and it's something in common and it's just really sweet. This is just smart marketing. It really is. What do your friendship bracelets say, Janine? First I have the lover album one. I think Jordan gave me a red, I'm not sure.
Yeah, so the different albums, the same idea, this young woman that I sat next to on the plane. It was just, she had flown up from Florida to New York and then we flew out of New York and yeah, so she, to go to the concert in it. So are you still in touch with these Swifties? I am. I'm still in touch with Isha and Evelyn through Facebook.
Amazing. This is just genius marketing. So you guys have these friendship bracelets, there's some commonality and then there's some individual component of it, right? Because you have your favorite lyric or your favorite album and then you relate to everybody because of that. Because everyone's gotten really deep into the catalog and kind of understand the lyrics or that stage of her life that was happening.
So what do you think is next for Taylor Swift as a fan? I think the Reputation album, right? The new Taylor's version of Reputation. I think that's what we're waiting for. Right. Uh, yeah. I wrote about that the other day too. Yeah. And of course, a proposal. Oh. And an engagement. Hot, hot take here by Genevieve.
It's going to happen. Like I said, there's some Super Bowl conspiracy theories out there saying that this is going to happen. And I'd love her to sing with Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl, but I doubt that'll happen because the song Bad Blood is. Oh, that's true. A Kendrick song? No, that's probably, yeah, he's got a version.
He, no, he wept on it. Yes. She's the future on it. Would that be crazy if she came out at the halftime and they did that song? I'd be out of my mind. That would be so great. You might. Yeah. Like the Eagles win and Taylor sings with Kendrick Lamar. Oh, rewind. So you actually think the Eagles are going to win when Taylor Swift is playing for Kansas City?
She was an Eagles fan. She grew up in Pennsylvania. She is a PA. I think her, um, family definitely root for the Eagles when they're not rooting for Kansas City. We'll, we'll, we'll see if all this make, makes a whole lot of sense, but. Thank you for sharing your story about getting to Scotland and seeing Taylor Swift's era store out there.
Please tell all your friends to listen to Tickets to Travel on your next trip. Come back and see us and tell us about it. All right. Okay. Sure. So what did you guys think of the first fan travel stories episode? We dove into a fascinating shift in fan behavior, one that travel and ticketing professionals need to pay attention to.
Mary and Janine, two self proclaimed Swifties, face the reality that many fans do that U. S. ticket prices for Taylor Swift's heiress tour were astronomical, reaching upwards of 6, 000 per seat. Instead of shelling out that kind of money for a single ticket, they made a bold decision. Why not turn this into a full fledged travel experience?
So off to Edinburgh, Scotland, they went securing two nights of concert tickets, a charming Airbnb in Stockbridge, sightseeing, flights, and all for about the price of one premium U. S. concert ticket. So here's some key takeaways for all the ticketing and travel pros who may be listening still. Number one, fans are thinking globally, not just locally.
The demand for live events is stronger than ever, but with sky high domestic prices, international travel is becoming a viable alternative, not just for major artists like Taylor Swift, but across the board. Number two, event driven travel is booming. This isn't just about concerts, sports events, theater performances, and festivals.
They're all becoming the centerpiece of travel itineraries. How can the industry better package these experiences? I'm not sure, I have a few ideas, and I'm sure some of you do too. Number three, trust in ticket resale is crucial. Initially purchasing through a resale marketplace, Mary and Janine quickly learned that verification concerns are top of mind for travelers.
Platforms that prioritize secure, transparent resale solutions We'll gain an ed. Fourth, destinations can maximize fan tourism. Edinburgh fully embraced the heiress tour, from themed trams to bracelet making workshops. This model, destination driven fan engagement, presents huge opportunities for cities looking to capitalize on major events.
For the travel and ticketing industries, Mary and Janine's story is proof. Bundling experiences, offering verified resale options, And marketing international alternatives could be game changers. The modern fan isn't just buying a ticket. They're booking a destination and creating their own travel experiences.
So keep it locked here on tickets to travel, fan travel stories. We'll see you on the next one. Safe travels. Attention travel and ticketing innovators, whether you're a startup disrupting the industry or an established company ready to take your distribution strategy to the next level. Expo Travel is your ultimate partner in online travel and ticketing distribution.
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