We got together a year ago to get Taylor Swift tickets and signed up for every pre-sale available. With a lot of luck one of us four girls was able to get Hot Seats for the Eras Tour in Vienna on August 8, 2024 for all of us. Immediately we booked an Airbnb as the rates increased drastically for every hotel in the city. We bought outfits, planned our trip and as I had gotten tickets before, for her Lover tour in Berlin which got cancelled due to COVID back then, I was extra excited to finally see the Eras Tour.

We landed in Vienna and the first message we received was that our Airbnb was cancelled. Apparently the host had sold the apartment and informed Airbnb but Airbnb didn’t think of informing us as well. My friend started panicking and we went ahead to call the customer support. And let me tell you, that was the worst customer support I have ever talked to. We ended up trying to get ahold of someone to help us for fucking 4 hours straight. Each person reassured us that we have finally gotten to the right person to speak to. Yet we ended up getting ghosted and there was no help in sight. I went full on Karen but that also didn’t help. We ended up getting a refund but that’s about it.

So there we were. Homeless in Vienna, with no place to stay.

Mind you, at this point we were still able to laugh at our situation. We made jokes about going to a rave and staying up all night until the concert while searching through all the hotels and hostels we could find. But they all seemed to be fully booked. After all around 200k people were visiting the city to see Taylor. Our last resort ended up being one of my co-workers (who I am not that close to) who offered us her flat to stay. We were beyond grateful and bought her flowers and also a gift card to express how thankful we are for her kindness.

Finally we went to eat our first meal of the day at 6 PM and let me tell you, it was the most delicious pizza I have ever had.

We also managed to find an overpriced hostel to stay in for the next two nights and were relieved to have found a solution.

As we didn’t want to bother my co-worker and go to her place that early, we proceeded to grab a beer and coca cola and sat on some steps that led to an old building. We exhausted but still kind of laughing about the whole situation and our mood started to increase a little when we thought about the upcoming concert the day after.

Then the news broke about a planned terrorist attack on the venue and that they had to cancel all three of Taylors concerts in Vienna. The authorities had caught the first suspect and were still looking for the others.

This couldn’t be happening.

One of my friends started to get a panic attack, the other one was lying on the asphalt of the sidewalk in front of us. My third friend started to get teary eyed and I felt dead inside.

After all of this? We all immediately agreed that we wanted to leave Vienna as fast as possible. We didn’t feel safe and we were tired. The thought of spending another day there, going to crowded public places with an ongoing terrorist threat aimed at Taylor Swift fans just didn’t feel right and we were all scared. If we had stayed, we couldn’t have gone anywhere where crowds were located as we would always wonder if one of the terrorist was there, ready to attack.

Sidenote: Looking at footage of Swifties coming together and singing together now, it makes me so unbelievably angry: How can people be so stupid? The terrorists literally admitted to wanting to target Taylor’s fans in front of the stadium where they would gather in public. Don’t people realize how dangerous and serious of a situation this is? Someone on Tiktok commented “They are like sheep.” I find that very fitting.

So we called the airline, trying to change our flight but it wasn’t possible. Our friend that had a panic attack didn’t want to use the train as she feared there would be more criminals on a run. Renting a car didn’t seem to be an option though, as I was the only one that didn’t drink any alcohol but I didn’t bring my license with me. So booking a train back home was the next best option after all.

We ended up booking the next upcoming train journey which took us 12 hours (instead of 6-7h) as we had to change trains 2 times and had to wait 1-2h each time for the next train to arrive.

To make things worse, the first train ended up having some sketchy looking people and one of them ended up being held up by the police. When we saw that one of my friends immediately panicked and started crying as we were all wondering if it was one of the terrorists. It ended up just being someone without a ticket. Scared, tired and disappointed we continued our journey and at one point during our ride they announced that another one of the suspects had been caught.

Finally back in my home town I took an Uber home because I couldn’t bring myself to step foot into another form of public transport. When I got home I took an everything-shower and slept for 11.5 hours.

I didn’t cry and I didn’t panic, but still I feel sad and empty. Although I am grateful they cancelled the show and prevented a tragedy, I am disappointed that once again I was robbed of an experience I had been looking forward to for an entire year.

I don’t know if I can still call myself a Swiftie at this point. I don’t blame Taylor at all of course, however at this point I associate her and her music with this dreadful experience and all those negative emotions.

Hopefully I can get over all of this.