Number 30: Stay in the Best Suite in a Five Star Hotel

Completed 29 December 2011

Executive One Bedroom Suite - Marriott Hotel - Brisbane

In the December 2011 Christmas break, with the office closed I didn't really have any plans or much to do so I decided to tick of the things from my bucket list. So since I was in line for a bonus in December I picked something that cost a pretty penny.

So I started searching for local 5 star hotels and enquiring as to their most expensive suite and I must say it was an odd experience to ask about available rooms and responding with “Do you have anything more expensive?”

After calling around most of the 5 star hotels in Brisbane, I ended up deciding on the Marriott’s Executive One Bedroom Suite via Lastminute.com.

Yep, $785.50 for one night. 

So around 1:30pm on the day, I ventured into the city to check in and get sorted. I checked in and went up to the room with no plans to leave it for the entirety of my stay.

While I was there I spent a nice afternoon in the Executive Lounge eating and drinking while reading, watching movies, sleeping in and ordering room service for dinner and breakfast the following morning. The highlight by far was the bed; I have never slept in such a comfortable bed before. 

Mark 30 as done.

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Number 29: Meet Your Idol

Completed 3 December 2009
Dream Theater - Original line-up

I've always loved Dream Theater and had seen them live once in Melbourne a couple of years earlier. However at that stage I didn't have the opportunity to buy the meet and greet package so when the chance came up in 2009 tour, I ( along with the wholehearted support of my then girlfriend) went for it.

So the tickets were booked and a few days before the event we got the laminate, the ticket and the instructions for the meet and greet, now was the time to get excited.

Like I'd be late to this...

The "Black Clouds and Silver Linings Tour" setlist was mainly from the album of the same name, which I really liked, one of their better albums of recent years had the set list as follows:

A Nightmare to Remember

A Rite of Passage

Hollow Years

The Mirror

Lie

Wither

The Dance of Eternity *One of my favourite DT tracks of all time*

Solitary Shell

In the Name of God

Encore: The Count of Tuscany

And on Support was Pain of Salvation with the below setlist and I was really looking forward to seeing these guys live as they are quite a good band. But whoever managed their balance levels was having a bad night and the bass was terribly overpowered.

Falling

The Perfect Element

Fandango

Ashes

Linoleum

Conditioned

Disco Queen

Dream Theater, an amazing progressive metal band from the US and why do they get the honour of being classed as my "Idol"? Simple, as I mentioned to the band when I met them... They were the band that introduced me to good music. Meaning prior to discovering DT I was just an annoying little teenager that listened to the "Top 40" style charts and without them I would not have discovered other great bands like Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend, Pain of Salvation and X Japan.

Mark 29 as done.

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