Greece Part 2

This post is Part Two of a series about my trip to Greece. Check out Part One first if you haven't already.

Before I jump right into specifics about my time at each destination, I want to cover a few general things that were true of everywhere we went.

The Cuisine

First, there are tavernas everywhere. They're these open-air traditional Greek restaurants with little tables and woven chairs spilling out into the streets, the tables covered in half a dozen mouth-watering mezze dishes being shared by families and friends. There's probably music playing, and maybe even a live band. No matter where you eat or what table you choose, the person next to you will be smoking. And when you manage to flag down the bill, they'll rush over a free dessert or free drinks that you forgot to factor in back when you were hungry and over-ordering seven dishes, but you're going to consume the freebies anyway. The restaurant options are endless, and I really liked that even in the busiest areas, there were enough tavernas in close proximity that there was never a long wait.

I've probably mentioned this before, but I love trying new foods and will eat just about anything. This trip I was accompanied by three fellow foodies, which means we ordered a variety of dishes for every meal, shared everything, and came pretty darn close to trying every food we laid eyes on. The more exotic or obscure, the better. Never heard of Porgy fish? Let's order it. Stingray salad as an appetizer? Score! I didn't even know they were edible. I don't like licorice or shots, but I didn't go all the way to Greece to turn down free ouzo. I can't read this label on the dessert aisle, but I'm intrigued by the picture on the package. (We later dubbed that one "furry jello" and did not go back for seconds). 

And then there were the standard Greek staples I already loved at home and couldn't wait to try on their native turf. Big juicy olives. Dozens of honey varieties indistinguishable to my untrained palate. Feta cheese on everything. I tried so many different dishes with feta that I felt like Bubba from Forrest Gump listing off the many ways to serve shrimp: Salad topped with feta. Spicy feta dip. Deep fried feta covered in honey. Pan fried feta topped with lemon. Poached eggs in tomato feta sauce. Breakfast crepes filled with feta. It was an endless journey of delicious cheesy goodness and all superior to the dry feta crumbles I thought I loved back home.

The Cats

Second, there are cats everywhere. By our fifth or sixth cat on day one, we started referring to Athens as "Cathens." I honestly feel lied to by such a big omission in mainstream information about Greek culture. I grew up associating Greece with blue domes, white buildings, beautiful water, donkeys, and feta cheese. Greece had all of these things, but there are far more cats than blue domes or donkeys. (There might be more cheese than cats, but even that is debatable). They were friendly and not a problem at all, just a total shock as not a single person or video prior to this trip alluded to the overwhelming cat presence.

They roamed the sidewalks freely and were staples in and around shops. It wasn't uncommon to see one curled up asleep in a basket of souvenirs or cozied up on top of a sweater display. We met one named "Simba" brushing against our ankles in a grocery store mini market in Crete. Most of all, they were at the tavernas. We joked about using the number of cats present to pre-judge the food quality when choosing a restaurant, but it was never clear to us if a higher concentration of cats meant the table scraps tasted better, or if it meant the food was worse and they showed up because people were more willing to part with it. The only clear fact was that the only restaurants void of cats were also void of patrons.

Athens

Of our several destinations, Athens was the most metropolitan city of the trip. One of the most fascinating things about Athens wasn't just seeing the ruins, it was seeing the ruins elevated on a hill above a bustling city full of people casually commuting past pieces of ancient history like it's no different than my own work commute past approximately twelve Dollar Generals (not one of which existed before the birth of Jesus). It's hard to imagine that beautiful architecture just becoming part of your daily routine.

We bought 8:00 am tickets to see the Acropolis--the earliest time slot of the day--and it felt like the right decision. Crowds were minimal, the way the sun rose through the columns of the Parthenon was gorgeous, and it began pouring almost immediately after we left, so we timed it just right. I know the Parthenon is the most iconic structure of the Acropolis, but my favorite part was looking down into the Theatre of Dionysus. As a former English major and avid concert goer, I can certainly appreciate the beauty of an ancient performance venue.

The Acropolis museum was also interesting and worth the entrance fee, and I took at least 50 photos before spotting a sign that said absolutely no photos. Oops! Opa! There wasn't enough time in the day to read every plaque explaining every piece, but I got an unexpected laugh out of what looked like a basic marble slab with messy writing scribbled on it. With so many other more impressive relics, I don't even know what made me stop to read this one.

The caption below it read:

Hekatompedos. Fragments of a metope
The love inscription Auoia, kalós meaning "Lysias is handsome" was added with red paint in the middle of the 5th cent. BC, when the metope had already been discarded.

In summary, it was a discarded piece of building that someone graffitied with "Lysias is handsome."

Modern Translation: Think "Taylor is hot" scrawled across a middle school locker, but make it ancient Greek. Our lovesick fangirl predecessors were alive and well in 530 B.C. 

Beyond the ticketed historic sites, we spent time just wandering through the streets and walking everywhere our feet would take us. We explored the Plaka, Monastiraki, Anafiotika, and Psyri neighborhoods, though where one ends and the other begins, I could hardly say after so much wandering. We saw local homes and playgrounds and infinite cats and souvenir shops. We got our first glimpse of the olive trees and bougainvillea that we would continue to see all over Greece. We window shopped and made mental and physical notes about where to return if we didn't find better by the time we were back in Athens after visiting the rest of the islands.

I took a photo of a dress I liked in Plaka for 50 euros knowing that I might find one I liked better later, or hopefully a better price. When we made our way back to Athens on the back half of the trip, I was still dressless and prepared to go back for it, but on our final day, a quest for fish soup took us off the beaten path and down a side street past an Indian Bazaar full of dresses (the same styles that were 50-70 elsewhere) that were 10 euros each. I bought two and patted myself on the back for waiting.

Athens also  held a couple of my favorite food stops of the trip: Stani, a dairy shop that opened in 1931, and Diporto, a literal hole in the wall basement with no sign and no menu. I ordered a big bowl of "cream" for breakfast at Stani based solely on the fact that it looked like it was topped with cinnamon. It ended up being sweet, not tart like yogurt, and it was the consistency of an airy pudding. My only regret is not having time to go back and try the chocolate version.

Diporto is a place we came across while researching restaurants online before the trip. It was tiny and we knew we might not be able to get in, but we got lucky and found only two groups ahead of us when we stopped by for lunch. We camped out on the basement stairs for maybe 15 minutes before a table cleared, which seemed like nothing when we saw the line up the staircase and out the doors as we left.

There were maybe nine tables total in the basement, and when three of us sat down to eat, they began to seat a random solo Greek man with us. We were ready to let it be part of the experience, unaware that space was so limited that they would seat strangers together, but at the last moment the server pulled him away and directed him to a different table full of men. There were no menus or questions asked, no prices to be found, simply sheets of wax paper at each place setting and random dishes brought to us throughout the meal. At Diporto, you're served whatever the single chef/owner cooked for the day, and that's that. It's not a place for the picky or the special requesters, which can lead to mixed reviews.

We were told what each dish was, but with the thick Greek accent and a moderate level of ambient noise, I was eating blindly. And I didn't care, because all of it was delicious. Once we realized we were only being given shared dishes (as in no individual plates, so we all ate directly out of every dish on the table), I was grateful that our potential table guest had been relocated. I was prepared to welcome a stranger to our table, but I don't think I was ready to welcome him into my bowl of mystery beans. I also wasn't ready to down two glasses of wine at lunch, but when that's all they serve you to drink, you roll with it. At least I certainly wasn't drinking on an empty stomach. 

The yellow pureed...split peas? Soup?--I feel like I should have coined the term UFO for "Unidentified Food Object" during this trip--Whatever it was was the best of the bunch, but garnishing anything with olives and a lime wedge will give it an unfair advantage. At the end of the meal, I headed outside while one of my friends paid because there wasn't room to stand around. The next thing I knew, they were calling my name and telling me to come back. I had clearly missed something, because when I got to the bottom of the stairs, other Holly was holding a metal pitcher with an amused look on her face, and the owner was corralling us all in for a photo. Since I was wearing my handy dandy phone lanyard and not carrying unexpected kitchenware, I caught on to whatever was happening just enough to extend my arm for a group selfie. A nearby tourist got up from her table and offered to take it, only to receive a brusque "no" and shooing motion from the owner.

I'm still a little unclear about how we wound up with a group photo initiated by the chef when I've seen comments suggesting that they frown on photos being taken period, but I kind of love the accidental M&G. 

Our final meal at the rooftop restaurant atop the Neoma hotel deserves an honorable mention. It had an amazing view of the Parthenon illuminated at night, and an even better beef tartare.

This post has been more food talk than I ever intended, but hunting the best foods ended up being a bigger part of this trip than I expected, and there were so many more great dishes that I didn't mention. "Cathens" might have been the more obvious wordplay, but looking back on the highlights I chose to share, perhaps the more fitting joke is you can't spell "Athens" without "Ate."

To quote a vendor sign I read in the Athens airport, "I'll be back when I'm back," aka Part 3 will be ready when it's ready.

Greece Part 1

Though I've always considered this blog's content to be a mix of travel and music, it's obviously mostly a Hanson fan blog. And while you'll find several posts related to a song or an album that have zero to do with travel, I haven't had much of an opportunity to explore the travel side separately because 99% of the time, if I get on a plane, Hanson is at the destination. Welcome to the outlying 1%.

If you're here for the Hanson content, here's the extent of the Hanson connection to this post: three Hanson fan friends invited me to join them on a girls' trip to Greece during a non-tour year, and I said yes without hesitation. I've always wanted to go, and some part of me always thought Hanson would wind up there and give me an excuse to plan a trip. But with Hanson showing signs of slowing down and me showing signs of not getting any younger, I gladly chose a Mediterranean island-hopping adventure over a casino-hopping one this fall.


As someone who has always planned vacations around Hanson tour dates and lived a very "pick the destination and I'll pick the road" existence, having free reign over travel details felt absolutely unhinged. You mean normal people just pick a city in any country on whatever date they feel like going? If flights are too expensive on a Friday, you can just decide to go Tuesday instead? If the hotel you want is sold out, you can go another week when it isn't? And I don't have to factor in a minimum of six hours of my day for line/show/bus time? The open-ended options were almost overwhelming.

So we channeled our usual expertise in finding hotels walkable to music venues and securing front row tickets into researching which islands we wanted to visit and how to get there. We landed on a two week fall trip starting in Athens, with three nights each in Paros, Santorini, and Crete, then back to Athens before heading home. We chose October because while hitting the beaches during prime summer weather seems appealing, a quick TikTok search will scare you away from even looking at Santorini in peak tourist season, and climbing hilly cobblestone streets in 100 degree weather held zero appeal. The weather felt perfect with an average range between 60-75F, and I can’t imagine doing everything we did but 30 degrees warmer surrounded by triple the tourists. Yeah, the water was cold, but I stand by our timing 100%. 

Packing

You are almost definitely not here for my packing list, but I put a lot of work into this one and am going to proudly display it anyway. I'm that person that's happy to spend a few hours down a rabbit hole reading about the best waterproof travel shoes and the most packable jackets, so I choose to believe there is at least one person out there who will appreciate this journey into my suitcase.

I've already survived two weeks each in Australia and Brazil with just a carry-on suitcase and a personal item, so this was not my first rodeo. It was, however, my first time attempting to create a capsule wardrobe and truly weed out all extras. I realize the concept of a capsule wardrobe is choosing versatile neutrals where everything can mix and match, but then I accidentally found a mint green Eddie Bauer windbreaker that turns into a fanny pack and decided to build my capsule wardrobe around pink and mint green instead. I have no regrets.

pattern dress | blue dress | jumpsuit | windbreaker | rain jacket | pink cardigan | eyelet crop top | white gauze top | black skort | black joggers | ecco sandals | teva sandals | white vessi sneakers | black backpack purse | white backpack purse | phone lanyard | turkish towel

I used the Freeform app on my Macbook to upload photos of each piece I was considering packing to create a virtual closet, then made a chart listing out each day of the trip and its main activity. I created mock outfits for each day- a top, a bottom, a layering piece, shoes, and a purse. Then I looked at the finished product and weeded out anything that only made it into one outfit. The cute new mint green and pink sneakers that I realistically wouldn't wear more than once? Gone. The black shorts that looked a little too much like my black skort and served the exact same purpose for outfit matches? Bye. Basically any item that I could drag over to another day and mix into 3 or 4 other outfits made the cut. Anything that could be replaced by something else on the list didn't. It all felt so extra, but seeing everything laid out visually made it easy to identify what pieces were the most useful, what pieces were a waste of space, and I did most of it without ever opening my closet or suitcase. 

What I could have left behind:

• I never wore the tan cardigan, the dressy sandals, or the green tank top (which clashed with my rain and wind jackets and therefore had no business coming in the first place). 
• I only wore the black sneakers once outside of travel days, so I probably could have cut them, too.

What was worth the packing space:

• The windbreaker that turns into a functional fanny pack with storage was insanely useful and easy to carry all day.
  
• I wore the Turkish towel on the plane as a scarf so I wouldn't have to pack it, used it as a blanket on the plane and in hotel rooms, and used it as a towel at the beach. I bought a second one in mint green and pink in Paros (how could I not?) and never left the room without one. I would wear it as a scarf or pack it in my purse, then whip it out and use it as a blanket when it got chilly at our outdoor dinners. It ended up being an invaluable accessory.
  
• The white gauze button down top was a whole $12.99 on Amazon and arrived the day before I left. I wore it as a swim coverup with shorts and as a layering piece over every dress. It was the perfect essential that worked with everything.
  
• I originally ordered a phone lanyard just for my outfits without pockets so I wouldn't have to keep digging it out of my purse to take photos. It did so much more than that. It kept me from dropping my phone over the side of various cliffs and boats and also served as an anti-theft device. I wore it as a crossbody rather than a traditional neck lanyard, and if it was fashionably acceptable, I would start wearing this thing to work daily. It was so convenient and is absolutely coming with me on every trip from this point forward. Welcome to travelingphonelanyardfan.com, folks. I'm in love; 2/2 Hollys agree.

Bonus shoutout to every single pair of shoes that I actually wore. They were all waterproof, gave me zero blisters after miles of walking, and had sufficient traction on rainy cobblestones. Also not pictured and definitely not getting its own paragraph: a $10 travel bidet. I know it's an overshare and that I'm saying the quiet part out loud, but I'm also not going to gatekeep such a useful item. This was my second trip where you can't flush toilet paper, but my first to a destination where bidets aren't standard in hotels. Let's just say my $10 gamble was worth it. I will not be taking questions at this time.

Getting There

With everything finally nailed down and booked, the final step was just plain getting there without any complications. My three travel companions all booked flights connecting through NYC on Delta, and while flying together would have been the most convenient plan, there were two things working against me. 1. I have an American Airlines credit card and can generally earn a lot more useable miles for myself by flying AA, and 2. AA had a flight that would get me home the same day I left without sticking me with an overnight layover on the way home. I adamantly did not want to take an extra day off of work just to not sleep before a jetlagged 6am flight out of NYC, so I opted to fly AA alone and meet up with my friends in Athens. The plan was to land at 9:15am on October 1st, take an Uber to the hotel, and meet them after they landed at 1:20pm.

Except a few days before we left, the area where I live on the east coast was threatened by a hurricane. I spent the final days before leaving obsessively watching weather forecasts in fear of a canceled flight. Then two days before we left, Greece announced a nation wide travel strike for October 1st that would shut down all public transportation and also threatened to include air traffic controllers, which could mean grounded flights for all of us.

The morning I left home, Greek courts finally ruled it illegal for air traffic controllers to participate. Our flights were saved, but all public transit would be halted at 9:00am. By some miracle I landed early, cleared customs quickly, and ran outside with my bags to the ride share pickup area and frantically tried to book an Uber at 8:57 to no avail. I accepted my fate, gracious to have made it to Greece at all, and camped out in the airport with my first freddo espresso and a giant sugar donut for a couple of hours until my friends arrived. They had booked us an expensive private transfer as a fall back plan the moment we learned of the strike, and I'm not sure what we would have done if they didn't. I remember commenting that there shouldn't be another strike in the next few weeks and at least we wouldn't have to deal with it again on the way home.

Two Weeks Later: 

TL;DR we somehow managed to book all of our flights to and from Athens on days they had transportation strikes. The moral of the story is always book a private transfer in Athens (though I also sincerely hope they come to an agreement about reasonable workday hours). Natural disasters, national strikes, and aftermarket toilet accessories aside, the trip was a truly amazing experience worth all of the minor hassles along the way. Stick around for Part 2 and I'll tell you all about it!

Part Two

Snoqualmie & Ribfest

The day I bought Snoqualmie Casino tickets feels like a hundred years ago now. I'm sure it's a long-forgotten detail at this point, but the tickets for this show went on sale just days after that email went out. Emotions for some of us were high, and at the time, it felt more important than ever to take advantage of some random casino show on the other side of the country because it felt like there might not be much else coming our way for a while. Pair that with the fact that this show fell on my usual travel partner's 40th birthday (happy b-day, Rachel!), and I knew I needed to be there. Scoring good seats sealed the deal. 

And in true "If you give a fan a ticket..." fashion, if you attend the first show with a friend that lives in the city of the second show, and she invites you to just fly back to her house for the next one...you're going to want to add that glass of milk, er...plate of ribs? Also, traveling fan math: when you're flying cross-country to see a show, technically anything in between is on the way home.

Seattle/Snoqualmie

I've been to Seattle once before back in 2013 for the Anthem Tour, but all I really saw was Hanson and a sidewalk. I was excited to fly in early with friends this time to become full-blown tourists for a few days, and we took advantage of every free moment. While there, I visited:

-Pike Place (Where I had smoked salmon mac & cheese at Beecher's, seared scallop chowder from Pike Place Chowder, and a turkey sandwich from DeLaurenti's. I saw the original Starbucks from outside because I didn't want to spend 3 of my 4 days in line to go in)
-Starbucks Reserve
-Underground Tour
-Jacob Two Trees troll
-Space Needle Tour
-MoPop
-Kerry Park

I'll share a few key takeaways with you.

1. If you ever visit Seattle in a car, pre-book parking downtown. We thought we were being smart looking up the location of a nearby parking garage; we did not realize that when we got there, every garage in the area would be full or that we would pay $81 for 3 hours when we finally found a spot. We learned from that mistake and pre-booked a space for 9:30am-3pm when we returned two days later for a grand total of $13.99. When we got back to the car to leave, there was a sign out front advertising $100 event parking. Maybe Ticketmaster dynamic platinum pricing is exploring the parking industry. 

2. Also pre-book any tours or paid sightseeing you want to do. We missed out on the underground tour we really wanted because we waited too long and it sold out, and we missed visiting the aquarium because we failed to realize even that needed timed tickets. 

2. You can mobile order Pike Place Chowder to cut the ginormous line if you don't care about sitting inside.

3. Probably just don't go to Pike Place period on a weekend in the summer unless you love unnecessarily giant crowds, long lines, and touching a minimum of three strangers at all times.

4. If you eat an overpriced hot dog from the stand outside of the Space Needle, don't skip out on the free plums even if grabbing a plum out of a communal watery bowl of ice at a hot dog stand sounds like a risky choice. I can now say with confidence that the best plum I've ever eaten in my life came from a hot dog stand in Seattle, and I'm hesitant to admit that it may have been the best thing I ate in the whole city. Who knew?

Snoqualmie Concert

The show was technically at the Snoqualmie Casino, but really it was outside in the parking lot. For someone escaping 110+ degree heat indeces at home, wearing long sleeves to an outdoor concert felt like a luxury vacation, and watching the sunset over mountains during the show was a much better backdrop than a smoky, carpeted event hall. A+ for location. There was an older man in the front row center section who I assume got his seat by being a high roller casino member, and he was clearly enjoying his luck. He was clapping along with the rest of us and thrusting his cane into the air on beat, and at one point, loudly exclaimed something along the lines of "That was pretty good!" Hanson heard and joked back "Hear that? This guy says we're not terrible!"

The setlist was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be (though we were "robbed" of TBS), but it just felt good and right to be there enjoying a bunch of songs I know in my bones. These days, acoustic "Madeline" is becoming a mid-set staple and a new favorite for me. The harmonies never disappoint. I got to celebrate Rachel's 40th side by side with her in the front row, and while we weren't all next to each other, the rest of my friends all had great spots, too. I really couldn't have asked for a better night.

Minneapolis

We put the phrase "Sleepless in Seattle" into effect when we went to bed at midnight and set an alarm for 2am to get up and go to the airport so we could drop off rental cars and check bags before hopping a 6am flight to Minneapolis. I think every person that was parked at Pike Place all weekend was also at SeaTac when we got there, because the bag check and TSA pre-check lines were the longest I've ever seen (our international friend without pre-check actually beat the rest of us through security). Things moved quickly enough once everything opened, but for once I'm glad we showed up cautiously early. I love and support my bag check friends for knowing their own travel needs, but standing in that line for a change definitely made me thankful that I've gotten used to traveling carry on only.

The show in Minneapolis was at Mystic Casino's outdoor Ribfest, and long gone was the chill in the air and the need for long sleeves. I felt right at home in the 90+ degree humidity and opted to enjoy a shaded spot in the bleachers rather than braving the sunny asphalt on no sleep. I don't regret my choice, and while I love front row more than anything, I also enjoy the occasional chance to sit back and soak in a giant crowd rocking out to Hanson.

I was happy to see Plain White T's open and thought they did a great job putting on an upbeat set and pumping up the crowd. If you think you vaguely remember their name from "Hey There Delilah" fame, odds are you probably know a few more songs than you think. Hanson's set was pretty similar to the one in Snoqualmie with a few changes and felt like a hit with the crowd.

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It didn't hit me until after the show that for the first time in forever, I don't know when my next Hanson show will be. For years now I've had a minimum of two guaranteed Hanson trips per year with BTTI and Hanson Day. With BTTI on a confirmed pause for next year and Hanson Day in some sort of silent limbo, this is the first time in at least 15 years that I don't 100% know when I'll be seeing Hanson again. It's a first world problem for sure; poor me, I don't get to see my favorite band five more times this fall because I'm taking a different trip in October, and they're probably taking a well-deserved break of some kind after that. I think I'll survive, and anyway, isn't a big part of the reason we all go to so many just living in the moment because the next one is never guaranteed? I'll hop back out of my feels for now to say I had a genuinely great time at these shows, and while I don't know what's next, I'm sure it'll be worth the trip--even if parking tries to cost as much as the flight.

P.S. Shoutout to Yelena's mom's homemade borscht for being even better than the hot dog stand plum🤤

Hanson Day 2025

The Wordy Intro

Greetings, friends!

If you're like me, you've probably spent the last few months on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what is going on with our favorite band. I know some are more removed from fan chatter and maybe haven't kept up with all the latest reasons to overreact, so just to make sure we're all up to speed, pretend you're back for a new episode of your favorite show, and here's a recap of what you missed last week. Previously, on "Hanson fans have a wide range of perception and reading comprehension": (see my previous blog post about that newsletter if you haven't already.)


The gist is Hanson kind of dropped a bomb on us in March and then went silent, and reactions ranged from totally missing that anything was out of the ordinary to being convinced the band is breaking up. As you can see from my previous post, my initial reaction was pretty serious, but with time and other factors that have popped up since (like heavily hinting that BTTI will return), I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. If you think it’s business as usual, your head is probably in the sand, but if you think the band is completely done, I don’t think we’re there yet, either. So this was my headspace as I headed to Tulsa: I got on a plane hoping for the best but also knowing there was a chance that it could be my last visit, at least for a while.

If you’re a regular here, then you’re familiar with my usual Hanson Day review format. First I fake-whine that it’s hard to write about an event that always sounds the same on paper, then I struggle to come up with witty new ways to describe similar experiences while somehow reiterating that it’s a welcome familiarity rather than a chore. Karaoke is karaoke is karaoke, but I still enjoyed it for the 8th time this year, you know?
But my struggle this time isn't with sounding fresh and original with stale content; it's with finding the balance between "Look at this baseball I caught! Don't you love my 80s dress? Everything's fine!!" surface level commentary and not going too melodramatic. I probably leaned a little too hard into my feels, but that's just the kind of trip it was for me.

So I’m not going to give you a neat linear list of facts like “Mac co-hosted Karaoke” or “I’ve never felt older than when I watched Isaac’s adult(?!) son perform an original song” or “a bird pooped on me on our walk to lunch.” Instead, I want to give you my totally biased account of what Hanson Day 2025 felt like to me as a fan showing up with a lot of questions and uncertainties.



The Hanson Day Experience

The setlist for the first show was actually really good, which made it all the more offensive that I kept getting emotional during songs that normally wouldn’t have affected me that way. I had a lump in my throat for most of the night, and “Make It Out Alive” kept punching me in the face with lyrics like “we’re just holding on/ just bracing for the worst” that weren’t supposed to be about the uncertainty of the future of this band, but sure felt like it in the moment. I felt irrationally sad during “Cut Right Through Me.” “Better Days,” of all songs, was the one that finally got me to crack and shed actual tears. And as soon as I started crying, I began hysterically laughing at myself while crying, because who cries over a song like “Better Days” that isn’t even sad?


I couldn’t tell you when the realization hit, but I had a moment of clarity that night when I realized exactly why I was feeling so choked up over every minor detail. For the last 18+ years and 200+ shows, Hanson concerts have been my escape. They’re my safe space and my comfort zone. They’re the place I run to for a guaranteed 90 minutes of stress-free happiness that feels like home, no matter what other challenges are going on in my life. And for the first time ever, my beloved happy place wasn’t a place to hide at all; it was the thing causing me stress and grief. I wasn't crying over "Better Days," not really. I was grieving the sudden loss of something I hadn't expected to lose.

If you're ready to change the channel and escape the downer vibe, don't worry, that's the worst of it. Fortunately, I didn't live the entire weekend in my feelings. They played "I Was Born" shortly after, and I still swear that song is like chocolate after a Dementor visit. After several lengthy talks with friends and a few conversations with members of the band, I managed to find an upswing on the emotional rollercoaster, and those were the only tears I shed all weekend. I didn’t walk away with any solid answers and am still convinced that the ongoing silence is because Hanson doesn’t know what the future looks like themselves, but I did come away with a sense of hope that I didn’t have before. My takeaway from this weekend is that the band has reached a period of necessary transition, and while we may not know what that looks like just yet, I respect the fact that they seem to be putting in the time and effort to figure it out.

The Rumors

As I said above, I didn't walk away from this weekend with any solid answers to share, and Hanson made no official announcements to the class at large. That being said, they did have conversations in smaller settings, and naturally fans asked lots of questions. This information launched an unofficial new Hanson Day event: Fan Club Telephone. To be fair, some people got actual video evidence of their interactions and shared willingly, so bravo to them for not spreading misinformation. I'm not saying that every person sharing information by word of mouth is sharing misinformation. I'm just saying that some people will tell you "Taylor said ____" when what they actually mean is "I struggled to overhear the stranger two people down from me in line saying that Taylor said _____", and from a fact checking standpoint...those two things are not equal.

The bottom line is it can be fun to share our experiences and trade stories, but it's also important to be conscious of how you both share information and consume information shared with you. It's not worth panicking over hearsay that might be completely wrong, and I definitely heard a few details that were laughably incorrect being shared as fact. Use good judgment out there!

Better Days

I may have gone into this trip uncertain and a little bit wrecked during the first show, but I'm coming out of it with hope that we do have better days ahead. Change can be terrifying, especially to a fan like me who has made visits to certain Hanson events as routine as trips to the dentist. If we're being honest, maybe there's something a little bit wrong with the fact that Hanson Day has gotten to that level of routine anyway (if you heard me shout "YES WE DO!" when they sang "Don't want a ticket to the same routine" at the first show, no you didn't). I can remember back when I was the fan club reporter at a show approximately three zillion years ago, The Walk album was new, and one of my questions was "What is the 'it' that you're tearing down?" They told me that "it" isn't the important part; "it" is almost irrelevant, and I remember Taylor in particular saying it's not just about tearing something down and destroying it, it's about tearing it down so that you can reinvent it and figure out how to rebuild it in a stronger way. I think that's where the band is at right now, and maybe that's not such a bad thing. 

To my fellow fans: I hope you are well and that I haven't sounded like too much of a drama queen with this post. Feel free to roll your eyes and continue not crying over "Better Days," but know that if you are in a weird place right now, you're not alone, and there's a song for that and a crowd full of us looking for a blue sky together.

To my favorite band: I'm sure you won't read this, but just in case you do--I'm proud of you for recognizing that you needed a change and for deciding to do something about it, even if it scares some of us to death. Even if it scares you to death, too. I hope you find the right path for your next steps and that whatever that looks like, you'll bring us along for the ride. We may have strong opinions and lofty expectations and big feelings and far more feedback than you could ever want from us, but at the end of the day, we're here for you. And I hope that when you have more figured out, you'll feel comfortable sharing it with us. We're always listening. 💙

Big Changes For travelingfan.net

This year is the 17th anniversary of travelingfan.net. When I first launched this blog back in 2008 after my 11th show, I never could have dreamed that I'd still be here 17 years later writing about my 245th. What began as a way to document my journey for myself and my closest friends has grown to reach an audience of fans all over the world, many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and befriending in person. Through so many life changes, this blog has remained a constant space of comfort and clarity for me, and through it all, you, dear readers, have sat in the passenger seat along for the ride. Thank you for trusting me behind the wheel!

One particular staple for this blog has been my annual HANSON DAY reviews. For 15+ years, HANSON DAY has been a landmark gathering of the fan community in Hanson’s home town featuring special activities, concerts, and other chances for members to connect with each other. I dove in from the very first one and have continued to report back, year after year, always looking for a fresh spin on how to share the true HANSON DAY experience with fans far and wide.



Today, I’m sharing my official plan for covering HDAY 2025 and beyond.


travelingfan.net HDAY coverage is going to change.

Given the annual challenge to create fresh, new ways to review an event that is so similar from year to year, and the current uncertainty of the future of HDAY as a whole, I have decided that the best way to continue providing quality content is to fictionalize this event. The idea was born when the 2020 cancellation of in-person HDAY had me joking that I could still write a plausible in-depth review, even without the actual event. I’d like to test that theory. It was a tough decision, but after months of consideration, I believe that I can create an exciting new experience for all of us, perhaps even better than the real thing.


travelingfan.net's genre is going to change.


I will continue to share my usual HDAY coverage and any other shows I may attend through March 31, 2026. After that date, the current non-fiction format of this blog will conclude. This will allow me to continue to create content while the band embraces their own year of reflection, regardless of any decisions they may make that do not align with the future of this blog. That’s right, I’m going independent. Rest assured, the longevity of this blog and, by extension, your ability to live vicariously and experience a show without ever setting foot at it will no longer be reliant on Hanson.

Other benefits of a fictionalized travelingfan.net:


-I will be able to put out content more consistently without the constraints of a tour schedule or a budget

-I will have the creative license to bring you more exciting and eventful “trips” and “encounters” than ever before.

-Fans who have been begging Hanson to visit their hometown can finally have those dreams realized. Leave a comment with what city you’d like to see Hanson “visit”!

 

2025 Show Reviews

Show reviews are a key component of this blog. Because of the outpouring of love I have felt for so many of my favorite posts from past tours, during this year of reflection and transition, I have decided to share not just a new show review or two, but also 40 of my best non-fiction posts that have been edited and remastered, exclusively for my readers.




What is most important is that you know how incredibly grateful I am to YOU. Thank you for sticking with me through so many overly-wordy attempts at sharing my experience, including this one. I have been so incredibly blessed to have you as a reader and a fellow fan. What a gift it has been to be part of a community that has been shared by so many around the globe. I’m excited to see you in Tulsa this May and whatever destination you can dream up in 2026! Pick the destination, and I'll pick the road.

 

"Cause I've been raised on the open road, just spinning yarn and big fish tales."


P. S. we will be partnering with hansonstage to determine how fictional shows will be reflected in ongoing show counts.

Feels Like a Change Is Gonna Come

Full disclosure, this post went a little darker and more personal than I intended when I sat down to write it. It's the kind of thing I'd typically leave to a private chat with friends rather than sharing with the class because I'm all for speculating and having a passionate conversation about something you care about, but I don't like to stir the pot when I don't actually know anything. That being said, this blog has always been about sharing my experience as a fan and documenting that journey for myself as well. Even if I end up cringing over it later, this feels like a part of it.

So let's talk about that newsletter. Here's a copy of it for quick reference:

I probably don't need to tell you that a lot of big feelings were felt in the Hanson fan community yesterday. Maybe you had them, maybe you didn't, but there's no denying that yesterday's newsletter shook some of us. I've refrained from saying much while I try to wrap my mind around it and figure out what exactly it's saying and maybe also what it isn't saying.

One thing I know is there is a lot of speculation happening right now, and if you've read some of the hundreds of fan comments out there, you'll know there's a massive range of feelings from "I hope they bring back painting next year" to "Hanson just broke up." After having a day to process some of this, I wanted to share some of my own thoughts as I try to make sense of things. Words always help me do that, so first I'd like to share some of Hansons' own words to help navigate that newsletter and what I got out of it.

Things the newsletter says:
-The hanson.net fan club membership as we know it will end on March 31, 2026.
-They have put "months of consideration" into this decision.
-They will be using this year "to determine if there is a new model for hanson.net which aligns with [their] plans for the future."

Things the newsletter does not say:
-If hanson.net will continue existing in some capacity after this date in the event that they do not identify a new model that aligns with their future.
-That the band broke up.
-That the band didn't break up.
-That they are taking a break or hiatus.
-What their plans are for the future. 

That's it. Those are the facts. Everything else is fan interpretation, reading between the lines, and plenty of observation and intuition, any of which could be dead-on or totally off the mark. No matter how plausible any of our speculation may sound, we're simply not going to know what's going on until they choose to share more with us. I hope they will choose to trust us with more when they are ready.

What I think:
As for my own interpretation, I think it's all left very open-ended for a reason. I don't think Hanson is necessarily withholding all the answers from us; I think maybe they genuinely don't know yet themselves. As terrifying as that may be to some of us, I imagine it must also be scary territory for the band. It sounds like they've identified a need for a change and are giving themselves a year to re-evaluate, well, maybe everything? Certainly the fan club, at a minimum. But as a band that has largely considered the fan club to be their bread and butter and their target audience for the last quarter century, I don't take it lightly that we've been stamped with an official expiration date. They might be directly referring to the website, but this feels bigger than just a site revamp decision to me.

The profuse level of gratitude and thanks for our support as fan club members throughout the newsletter feels sincere, but ironically, I think it's the wording of that gratitude that leads to the overall ominous vibe that so many of us got out of it. "Thank you for sticking with us through so many seasons." "We have been so blessed." "What a gift it has been." Are you picking up on this English lesson I never wanted to be teaching? It's all past tense. There's no "thanks for sticking by us this year and onward as we figure out how we're evolving together," it's just...thanks for the memories. Maybe that wasn't their intent, but those are the words on the page. 

Believe it or not, I didn't set out to scare anyone with this post. I mostly wanted to draw attention to the fact that within the huge range between apathy and total devastation, there are a lot of conclusions being drawn, both good and bad, that aren't really supported by what the newsletter actually says. I'm someone that looks to words for comfort and clarity whether I'm analyzing them, writing them, or both, and I'm not sure I got either from this newsletter or from this rambling mess I've written. I hope in a year or a month or even a week I will be laughing at how intense things felt the day I opened that newsletter, and how putting an expiration date on a 25-year relationship with an invitation to re-evaluate it on April Fools' Day should've been the first red flag. The more I stare at the words on the page, the more I wonder if maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe my gut instinct is a little off on this one. I don't know what's next, and I'm not sure Hanson knows either, but for now I'll try to just let that door remain open and hope that when they choose to walk through it, the sign above it will say "sold out" and not "exit."

Back to the Island 2025

Greetings from my first day back to "real life" after BTTI 2025! I slept for 12 hours last night and currently feel like I got run over by a truckload of Nyquil after working Hop Jam. I'm not hungover or suffering some contagious illness I picked up while traveling, I'm just too old to live my best life jumping around in a pool for two hours and then travel home on no sleep the next day without suffering the consequences. As I write this, I am exhausted and sore and happy, and I have absolutely no intention of learning my lesson.

Full Band Shows

I always show up at BTTI expecting at least one show to borrow heavily from whatever tour Hanson just finished. It makes sense logistically; content from the latest tour is always going to be the most polished sound without a ton of additional rehearsal, and there will always be fans at BTTI that couldn't make it to a tour stop. It's a fact that I expect and am fine with, but I always secretly hope they get that show "out of the way" on night one so I can move on to more out of the box territory for the rest of the event. I'm happy to report that this year there was no overtly themed Underneath Complete show, just a few tour highlights mixed in. Gold star from me this year on the music assortment!

The first night probably had the most singles, but I loved that it felt like things leaned more into the SIO era with "Make it Out Alive," "Thinkin' 'Bout Something", "Musical Ride," and "Give a Little." "Make it Out Alive" was my favorite of the night, though "Island In the Sun" featuring Phantom Planet was a fun surprise since I fully expected it to be LWEO the moment I saw them on stage.

Night Two felt like fan club night with songs like "Down," "Sound of Light," "Somebody that Wants to Love You," and the forever impressive "White Collar Crimes." I enjoyed all of it, but unpopular opinion time: "Voice in the Chorus" was my fave.

Night Three was the best in my opinion, and I don't think I'm biased just because I lucked out and got a great spot that night. It was a good mix of throwbacks, fan club songs, and fan favorites. I honestly loved the whole thing. "Cried," "Great Divide," and "You Can't Stop Us" would probably top my list if I had to make one. Seriously though, look at this spread of all the content they hit in one show:

(thanks, hansonstage)

By the end of all of the main shows and solos, they had performed TEN songs from Shout it Out including one of the bonus tracks, so I'm considering BTTI 2025 the unofficial SIO year. 📣 🙌

Zac's Solo

Listen, I love Zac. He is definitely in my top 3 favorite Hansons of all time (a joke, obviously, but no I'm not giving a real ranking). The guy is so talented that practically everything he sings ever sounds flawless, and I am truly rooting for his solo show to be my favorite one of these days so I can properly fangirl at a level he deserves. That being said, this was still not the year. I loved hearing "Save Me From Myself," but overall I would say the show was enjoyable without any major "wow" moments. I tried to ask myself what a fangirl-worthy Zac set would look like to me, because it hardly seems fair to say I want something different without being able to identify what would get me excited.

So I went over to hansonstage and looked at the Zac leads page to try to answer that question, and it hit me that I always expect Isaac to have similar sets from year to year because he has the least leads, but if we consider how many songs Zac plays drums on, he might have even fewer options that wouldn't involve completely reworking a song so that he can do it on the piano or guitar. Looking at that list made me want to cut him a little more slack and give him more credit for getting up there and doing an entire show on his secondary and tertiary instruments. (Can you imagine if Isaac had to do an entire solo set without a guitar?) I'll do my best to be happy that he continues to do these shows that are probably out of his comfort zone, but here are a few cheat codes for how to get me excited next time just in case:

"Get So Low,""On The Rocks,""Reading Your Mind," "In A Way," "This is the Jam." Bonus gushing if he can turn "Joyful Noise" or "Wish That I Was There" into solos because I think he could do it and they would sound great!

Isaac's Solo

Isaac gave us the longest solo set with 12 songs, three of which were from his side band Mother Road Sons. Despite getting a couple of songs I had never heard, "Being Me" was still my favorite and reminded me that I don't always need to be chasing rares in order to be happy with the songs they choose. We all got a fun moment of comic relief during "Ordinary Words" when he kept pulling lyrics out of his pocket, eventually dropped them, and kept failing until one of their techs came out and picked up the paper and held it in front of his face to save the day. 

                                     

Taylor's Solo

I couldn't resist captioning an Instagram story I shared from Taylor's show with "Happy annual Taylor Hanson slays his solo set day!" By the third song in, he already had me going "How have I been sleeping on 'Cut Right Through Me,' this sounds amazing!" I got a little brave this year and made a song request during my M&G photo, which is not something I do often. I didn't end up getting "The Luckiest," but there was a brief moment where I heard the opening notes of a song and my stomach immediately jumped into my throat involuntarily. For half a second, I thought it was my request. My heartbeat sped up, and the million butterflies in my stomach alerted me that something epic was happening. A moment later I realized that I was hearing "Bridges of Stone," and that the fangirl part of me must be woven deep into my physical existence because my body recognized what was happening before my brain did. It's kind of wild to think that there were actual physical changes in my body before I even understood what song I was hearing. Music is insane in that way.   

Video courtesy of Yelena

Phantom Planet

I feel like I have sufficiently rambled about loving Phantom Planet in my posts about the Underneath Experience Tour, so I'm going to keep this short. They did a very short impromptu acoustic set on the beach by the bonfire on the first night. It was only maybe three songs, but it was such a great chill, laid back vibe that I wish it could have been longer or later in the week. Their regular show was a full-length set of most of the songs I loved on tour and several they never had time to include, plus a bonus appearance from Isaac. Alex told us a story about how he tried to crowd surf one time and immediately fell to the ground and injured his ribs, then trusted us to try it out and not do the same. Things ended well this time, but they totally planted a few guys in the area just to be safe. 

Here's a video of Isaac joining in on "California." No crowd surfing in this one.

Games

I am excited to report that this is no longer the segment where I try to politely express being a little bit over Family Feud and give suggestions for how to make it better. In past surveys, I have asked for:

-A game other than Family Feud
-Limiting teams to just one round instead of two so more people get the opportunity to play
-Consider having each brother be an actual part of the teams

I know I'm not the only one to give that feedback, but y'all, ALL of these things happened, and I was shocked. For the first time, we got Pictionary instead of Family Feud. Isaac and Taylor were team captains for opposing teams, and every time a team member went up to draw, they would take that person's seat and participate in guessing. I was there for the first night and thought it was a lot of fun and entertaining to watch, especially when Isaac and Taylor ended up drawing head to head to break the tie at the end.

If you haven't been before, the general vibe of any team game night can probably be summed up by the image of Taylor drinking a dirty banana but abandoning it, someone offering it to Isaac, and Isaac loudly proclaiming "I don't want Taylor's dirty banana" followed by 14-year-old-boy-level cackling from the entire audience. MON era me would be so scandalized.

I attended the second session of Mario Kart with Zac and was lucky enough to get to play (and lose). I had fun during my turn, but I do wish there was some way to increase the number of people who get to participate or make it a little more interactive for those that don't get the chance. Props to whoever thought he said "Favorite boyband" when he actually said "Choose your poison" and got him singing bad NSYNC while I was playing.

The First Annual Hunger Games

Here's a new segment that I did not anticipate having to write, but here we are. If you've been to a few BTTIs, it's no secret that getting front row has become progressively harder each year. For a variety of reasons that I won't get into, this year Island Gigs/the hotel said no more waiting by the stage. We got a push notification from the IG app on the day of the first show stating that the stage area needed to be clear until 7pm (the show was at 9pm). I know there was a lot of general happiness over this decision and I have nothing against trying to make things more fair, but it felt like their plan started and ended with sending out that notification and no real strategy to enforce anything. They kept changing the times people could show up to each show, giving different instructions to different people because they kept changing what was happening, giving more information to people in person vs. what's being sent out in the app....the idea might have been solid, but the execution was not.

Island Gigs may know Hanson fans are next level after years of watching them camp by the stage, but to be fair, they've never stood in a GA venue and watched the stampede roll in at doors. Maybe they truly didn't think through how to actually enforce their vision or anticipate that telling us not to be there until 7 didn't mean people would go chill elsewhere until 7. It meant the usual crowd was just going to form as close as they were allowed, and people who may have naturally shown up a bit later are suddenly curious enough to be there before 7 to see what happens and if it might benefit them. It resulted in most shows having a semi-circle of fans lying in wait around the perimeter of the stage, inching in the closer it got to the time we were allowed to be up there. There were multiple stampedes that got sent back for running too soon, the front row lineup changing just slightly each time. I watched this all from the sidelines up until the final day when they changed the strategy and I found myself deciding I might as well try my luck.

For Taylor's solo show, they did a random drawing of numbers. We'd reach into a bag, draw out a number between 1-100, and be allowed to the stage area in that order. These were handwritten with no lines underscoring what was the top and what was the bottom. Did I have an 18 or an 81? Was that a 25 or a 52? 66 or 99? Not everyone got one, and not everyone knew about it. They were going to do it again for the last show, but then decided it wasn't worth the hassle and just let everyone cluster again.

I didn't win with the reaping raffle, but in a stroke of total random luck, my friend and I found ourselves in the right place when the IG staff member decided to allow people to start lining up for the final show. We went from not going to try to get into the cluster to well, if we're in the front and center of this mess, we might as well try. So I have to confess, I sat on the beach for two hours behind an imaginary line between two folding chairs in what turned out to be the weirdest game of red light/green light of my life. It was every bit as childish and arbitrary as it sounds. My final thoughts before being allowed to move forward was this is how Katniss must have felt when deciding if she was going to run for the cornucopia or run for shelter. The staff member stood directly in front of us and had us take one large step forward at a time until we made it to the stage, which wasn't foolproof but was way better than if he had just said "Go!" and let us run. In the end it worked in my favor and I got a great spot without putting too much time in, but man, I sure hope this was a unique experience. I assume there will be some more official system in place by next year.

Winning (with) The Stanley Cup

This year's 12 year repeater gift was a Stanley Cup, and as the last person on earth who did not own an insulated cup prior to this moment, my life has been changed. One day I used it to get a virgin strawberry daiquiri, drank half of it, left it in my room....and it was still frozen 12 hours later after the show. I had no idea these things worked so well and will absolutely be bringing it back. But the usefulness doesn't stop there, friends. My roommate Rachel walked into our bathroom one evening and walked right back out and shut the door. "There's a bee sitting on the counter," she tells me. We've been friends long enough that I know my role in this scenario. I'm removing the bee, or we're not using the bathroom for the rest of the trip.

I looked around the room for anything to catch it in, and my eyes reluctantly landed on my new Stanley (thankfully empty at the time). I managed to trap the bee under it successfully on the first try, but the catch and release portion of the plan went a bit sideways. I tried to slide the cup over a flat box so I could carry it outside, only to realize that the edge of the counter was slightly curved, so the bee escaped and decided to just hang out on the outside of the cup while I was holding it. I did not actually intend for the cup to become a murder weapon, but I suppose it beats sleeping with a live bee in our room and finding out once and for all of if my roommate who is practically allergic to everything can add bees to the list. Sorry, my buzzy little friend, but a million thanks to whoever decided this was the year for cups! I had no idea how many uses I was going to get out of it in a single trip.

It proved itself useful one final time as it came time to pack my extremely wet swimsuit from the pool party, and I realized I am apparently size 30oz Stanely Cup in swimwear. A+++.

The Pool Party

For this year's pool party, I got in the pool for the first time after years of standing around the perimeter. I expected to freeze, but it was actually a little warmer than in the daytime. Definitely not going to put a lot of extra thought into why. Anyway, I figured if it ends up being the final year at the Jewel, it could also be our last afterparty located by a pool, and I might as well experience it at least once. I combated the cold by jumping the entire time. It worked, but the muscles in my lower half have since filed a formal complaint.

Taylor jumped in at the end as has become the tradition, but he took his shoes off first and tossed them down ahead of him. Instead of landing conveniently next to the pool exit that I assume was his goal, I watched them land directly in the pool, followed by him profusely apologizing to someone. Apparently one hit someone in the head on the journey down, and now they can mark being nailed in the head by Taylor Hanson's shoe off their bucket list. He cannonballed in with a magnificent splash, and then it was all over. The cover photo up at the top is the aftermath left behind in a sad little pool of yesterday's news the morning after.

Until Next Time

As you've probably heard, it seems that this is the end of Jewel Paradise Cove as we know it. We found out about a week before the trip this year that the property had been sold, and we've since heard a dozen different stories about what the future holds for us. Maybe the new buyer will renovate, maybe it will be torn down and rebuilt, maybe it won't be done in time for the next BTTI, or maybe it will and the new owners won't want to take on Island Gigs as a customer. Maybe we'll be somewhere else in Jamaica or somewhere else entirely (*cough* St Lucia? I can dream). Maybe we'll be right where we've been the last three years but finally have working hot tubs (again, I can dream). It's not the first venue change we've had at BTTI, and it probably won't be the last, but the location has never been the main draw for me so much as the music and the people anyway. Cheers for 12 years, and here's to looking forward to lucky #13. I don't know where I'll be going, but as always, I can't wait to go back.

P.S. I know how much I enjoy being sent candid photos from fellow fans capturing a moment of me with Hanson, so when I found myself with a great spot during Pictionary Night 1, I tried to take at least one photo of every group that played. I do not promise quality or that you're not blurry or hidden in the photo(s) I took, and I can't swear I didn't get distracted and miss someone. I thought the easiest way to share was to put them all in this public album on my blog's facebook page. Feel free to save/use them if you find yourself!