While the fabulous four (Caleb, Meryl, Michael and Victoria) are touring Europe, they’re sending us daily reports. Read up on how the tour is going and what they fab four are getting up to…
Friday 1st February 2002
Had a nice long lie-in and breakfast in bed before going to meet the Tribeworld.com and Atlantishigh.com competition winners, Calissa and Ben.
Planet Hollywood was buzzing and it buzzed even more when we arrived because we had such a great time! It was awesome to meet Ben and Calissa and two other fans, Laura and Andrew who had also been invited along for the day.
Lots of hugs and laughter and huge amounts of food. Had a look around the place at all the memorobilia and generally had a smashing time. We were really happy to meet such lovely people.
We were then whisked off to do a telephone interview for the Channel 5 website and then we were let loose around the shops! We shopped until we dropped and then went back to the hotel, our little sanctuary, for some dinner and we all piled into a room to watch a movie before getting some rest.
Saturday 2nd February 2002
Up early? Yes indeed, we were up before the birds started singing and bundled into the cars for the drive up to Birmingham. Managed to just doze off again as we arrived at a service station for a much needed cup of tea before we set off again.
A cold wet and rainy day soon made us nod off again in the car. By the way, it’s amazing considering how small Meryl is that she takes up so much room in the car! She gets herself all snuggled up on someone’s shoulder and stretches her legs out on somebody else!
Anyway, arrived at Starcity in Birmingham to find that a couple of hundred people were alrady lined up and that some of them had been there since 4am!
We were taken upstairs to get ourselves into costume and make-up and we then gave an interview to some teenagers who write for a teenage paper.
Then it was time to go downstairs and meet the fans. We were surrounded by about 10 burly security guards and it was a weird feeling. Here we are, 4 kids from New Zealand being screamed at by hundreds and hundreds of fans! What an amazing experience!
We sat on a stage in the atrium and fans came up in small groups to get a signed picture and to take photos of us. It was great to meet each and every person but we felt so sorry for them that they had been waiting in line for so long.
We wished that we could have stayed for longer because we wanted to give everyone the opportunity to meet us but we had to stop eventually and hope that not too many of you guys missed out.
We want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to al the fans, their mums, dads and grandparents who made the effort to come and see us and wait in line for so long. We were blown away by the amount of people who came to see us and the gifts that we were given, the hugs and kind words and letters. Thank you all so much! You’re awesome!
We were all pretty tired after the long day and got back in the cars for the drive back to London. Stopped off in a village for a curry before heading back to the hotel and crashing.
Sunday 3rd February 2002
A day of rest! A massive lie-in followed by watching The Tribe in the girls room. Then took part in a live Channel 5 chatroom before heading out to the shops. Caleb met up with some of his family who live in Enngland and Michael went to an Eastend pub to watch a football game on the big screen.
In the evening we caught up with the wonderful Ashwath Sundarsen who played Dal. It was great to see him again and we teased him about the British accent that he has picked up since moving to the UK.
Went out for pizza with Ash and Caleb’s family then headed back to the hotel for some zzzz’s.
Monday 4th February 2002
Up, up and away to a photo studio to do a photo shoot for Channel 5. A full day of posing in front of the camera with an awesome team of people and a good time was had by all.
Everyone was pretty tired by the end of the day and went out for a pasta dinner for a carbohydrate boost.
Then it was off to see the Phantom of the Opera which we all loved. It was great to see a real London theatre show but we all drove each other crazy by humming the songs for the rest of the night!
Tuesday 5th February 2002
More radio interviews all around London followed by an early dinner at the hotel and bed, ready for an early start tomorrow.
Wednesday 6th February 2002
The early bird catches the worm as they say. All we had was a train to catch but we still had to be up before dawn! Hopped on the train and went under the Channel Tunnel and into France for a day at Disneyland Paris!
Arrived after lunch, threw our bags into the hotel and ran (literally) into the theme park.
Luckily it was fairly quiet so we got to go on all the big rides, caught the amazing Electrical Light Parade and generally had a whale of a time! We all walked around with huge smiles on our faces because we were filled with the magic of the place.
Caleb had never been on a rollercoaster before but by the end of the day he was addicted and we couldn’t keep him away from some of the more thrilling rides!
We all unanimously agreed that Big Thunder Mountain was our favourite ride and we went on it several times, posing differently each time for the photo that they take of you.
Went into Disney Village for dinner and then back to the gorgeous hotel and fell into bed, exhausted after an amazing day.
Thursday 7th February 2002
Another early start so that we could make the most of our time before catching the train back to London.
Did plenty of shopping before heading into the park. A busier day there, with lots of school tours so we got recognised alot in between jumping onto the rides.
The time to leave came all too quickly and we reluctantly boarded the train, humming Disney tunes all the way home.
What a fantastic experience and we have so many happy memories of our time spent there.
Friday 8th February 2002
Day of the tour! Spent our time doing some last minute shopping in the city and then started to pack. What a task that was! We had to buy some extra cases to cram everything into.
Went out for dinner with some people from the London office and had a lovely meal.
Talked about the tour and the highlights of it. Couldn’t believe that it had all gone by so quickly.
Everyone agreed that the highlights had definitely been meeting all the fans and getting their feedback on the show. It felt so good to know that the show has touched so many peolpes’ lives and that so many people of different ages are hooked on it!
Saturday 9th February 2002
Had our last breakfast together and then it was time to say goodbye to the boys. Caleb was staying on to spend some time with his family and Michael was also going to catch up with relatives.
Felt really sad saying goodbye to them and waving them off.
Spent the rest of the morning packing and then watched The Tribe and Atlantis High.
Checked out and made our way to the airport for the long flight home.
A lot of mixed emotions. Sad to leave because we’d had such an awesome time. But looking forward to seeing our families again and getting back to some sunshine!
And we’re back!
Thanks again so much to all the fans who made the effort to come and meet the cast and the rest of the travelling team in Germany and the UK. We hugely appreciate all the goodies we were given and all the good feelings you gave us!
We really hope that we (or other members of the cast) will be able to meet more of you in the future, so don’t forget to email your broadcasters to let them know that you’d like there to be a Tribal tour to your country. Let’s work together to keep the dream alive and bring it to the world!
If you have any photos of you and the Tribe 2002 tour gang, please feel free to email them to us at tribetourphotos@entercloud9.com
Wear my jacket!
Keep checking out the club competition page over the next few weeks and you could win one of the exclusive Tribe Tour 2002 jackets that were actually worn on the tour by Meryl, Caleb, Tori and Michael! And we haven’t even washed them!