Alana Paris is a self-described Swiftie whose commitment to the artist is impressive. She lives in southern Florida, where she works as a travel publicist for an agency called Quinn PR, and this summer she traveled to New Jersey to see the Eras tour. She travels occasionally for work, but she’s never been to Europe—and the Eras tour seemed like the perfect excuse to finally make it happen.
“When I saw she was launching all these European dates, I thought, ‘This is the perfect opportunity to go to Europe,’” Paris tells me. She and her friends pre-registered for tickets in several cities and they were able to get tickets in Madrid. So they’re now planning a nine- to 10-day tour of Spain ahead of the concert—something they’ve never done. The process for securing tickets abroad seemed easier than getting them for US locations, she adds.
While Paris is an avid concert-goer and has seen Beyonce, John Mayer, the Jonas Brothers, and many other major bands in live performances, she’s never traveled internationally for a band. Swift’s music just… hits different.
“When I got to college, my first semester, I was really, really homesick,” says Paris. Her dad sent her Swift’s Speak Now album in a care package, and “that was the moment I went from a normal fan to an obsessed fan.” She listened to it over and over again, and it got her through a really tough time. On top of that, she says the Eras tour really is just that phenomenal, calling it a “dream come true for any fan.”
Another Swiftie, Amelia Nelson, is a software engineer in Los Angeles who’s been a “super fan” since Swift’s first single. She met Swift once when she opened a George Strait concert, and this year she saw the Eras twice in LA. Now she also has floor seats in Vienna for next summer.
“The Eras tour feels like a walk down memory lane,” she says via Instagram DMs. “Each song/album/era is associated with different memories for me that span most of my formative years, so it’s very special to me.”
Nelson tells me she usually travels abroad once or twice per year, but she’s never done so for a concert tour before. Swift made it an easy decision though: “She is generous and humble while also being the biggest powerhouse in the music industry right now (male or female),” says Nelson. “Regardless of whether you like her music or not, you have to respect her and her songwriting, physical ability, talent, tenacity, and kindness. She does so much for her fans and I’m happy to be able to support her in whatever way I can.”
