"OH. MY. GOD. THERE IT IS," I yelled as I shot forward out of the backseat and pointed out the windshield.
My sister, her boyfriend, and I were in the parking lot of some random office near the airport, looking for U2's plane. As I told them earlier, we'd know their plane by the big "U2" written on it. Even with the distance, we could make out the "U2 360" logo on the tail of the plane.
I had heard through the grapevine the exact time U2 would be arriving in my fair city and with some deduction and a recalled story about a friend meeting U2 the LAST time they were in my city, I made my way to the airport hoping my guess as to where they would be landing would be right.
A fence, a field, and a hell of a lot of security were between me and U2. My sister's boyfriend, Sean, frantically tried to find an alternate route to the other side of the airfield while I was certain we were going to miss them.
We arrived in another parking lot and we saw the plane was still out of reach. "IT HAS SOMEHOW MOVED FURTHER AWAY!" I yelled like it was somehow Sean's fault.
We sped on, totally trespassing on private property and scanning the GPS every few seconds.
We found the landed plane behind a chain link gate with a few people already waiting, cameras ready. The doors to the plane were open and people were unloading. Not being a U2 fan, Sean drove as close to the gate as he could and dropped me off, telling me, "It's now or never!"
I got out of the car and ran for the fence. There were 15 or so people waiting, the excitement apparent on their faces.
My face dropped when I saw a few BMWs roll up, obviously to pick up the boys and to take them to their hotel/venue/wherever. I was mentally preparing myself for disappointment and sighed sadly as my sister walked up and asked what was happening.
Then Bono came out.
And he didn't look like he was heading for the cars.
I was the second person he talked to (after this cute little girl who's Dad kept trying to get her to say hi even though she kept shyly pulling away from Bono). Bono smiled brightly at me and said, "Hello."
And this is going to sound so lame but he looked so genuinely happy to meet me. I've heard so many people say that when he speaks to you, all his focus is on you. And it's true, he made me feel like it was just him and me and I asked if he'd sign my photo. We talked for a few moments and I just grinned like an idiot.
He moved on to the next people and totally stole my Sharpie.
I ended up briefly talking to The Edge and Adam Clayton. Larry didn't make an appearance. Edge spoke to my sister and me and we both told him how happy we were to meet him and how excited we were for the show. He shyly lowered his head. Adam came over and I held his hand through the fence and he told me it was very nice to meet me. I was too star stuck to speak as he is my favourite member of the band. My sister spoke to him while he kept his fingers on mine.
Adam and Edge slowly made their way to their cars while Bono continued to sign autographs and started to pose for photos. I quickly snaked my way forward to get a few more pictures and saw my chance to get a picture with him.
"Hey, Bono!" I held up my camera, "Is it ok?"
"Of course!" He put his hand up to the fence and I did so too. His fingers came through the holes in the chain link and rested lightly on mine.
AND IT WAS AWESOME.
Once I got my picture, I thanked him and turned on my heel with a huge grin on my face. My sister grabbed my hand and I started to laugh like a maniac and skipped down the walkway to find Sean's car.
You better believe I'm going to be bragging about this forever.
