DDub Bus - We Gonna Ride!

Getting to the bus

I headed to the airport Saturday night to fly into Boston. I would arrive at 1am stay with a friend, than meet the others at our designated location by 7am for check-in. I was about to embark on the maiden voyage of the DDub Party Bus from Boston to Montreal, hosted by none other than Mr. Donnie Wahlberg (@DonnieWahlberg). At 5am, I got up, showered and got ready. I wasn't sure where we would get ready once we arrived in Montreal so wanted to do as much as I could to be ready and just freshen up in Montreal. I dressed casually and decided to take my dress in a bag. I figured at the very least, I could find a public bathroom to dress in. I leave at 6am, with the intention of finding an open CVS and Dunkin Donuts. I didn't find the CVS as I was hoping to get some wrinkle release for my dress for later. I did find a 7-11 and a Dunkin Donuts and got my coffee. I was initially lost in Boston because what my GPS says a name of a street should be and what Boston actually has posted, did not agree. I finally found my way and the group of blockheads in the area confirmed this was the place.

I parked my car, I mean pahked my cah and headed to the meeting spot with some blockheads I just met in the parking lot. Donnie's assistant Johnny and Streetlight Music CEO Flossy had just arrived in a shuttle bus as we were walking up and were making their announcements. We huddled around Johnny as he explained to us how this was all to go down. They are going to start checking us in, give us a wristband and we need to put our luggage under the bus and get on. We were to sit anywhere after the first four rows.

We fill out our forms that said we have no police record, we will behave, we are 21 or older, we have passports, etc. I had a hard time reading it (due to news I had just received) but that was the gist of it. As we fill it out, Flossy introduces us to our new mantra for the bus. He announces "What happens on the bus, STAYS on the bus!" And has us repeat it. I joked in a tweet that he made us sign a contract that said this but it really was not a signed contract, but a verbal agreement. He did say we could tweet Flossy approved tweets. That's all I will say about that. ;)

It starts to rain so we huddle under a cover to keep from getting wet as the guys call our names one at a time. We show our passport and get a wristband and board the bus. I got on and most people were sitting closer to front, or right smack in the middle or at least aisle seat. I just saw this one seat in the last row that was in the middle at the end of the aisle and said I want THAT one. I didn't even think about how it affected my facetime with Donnie since he was supposed to sit up front, just wanted to be in the back so I can see everything going on in front of me. The front of the bus didn't seem so far so didn't think it was a problem so long as I witnessed all the bus happenings.

Bus loaded up and and Johnny gets on the bus to explain Donnie is just waking up and will be leaving to join us soon. We all know what Donnie-time soon means, but it didn't really last that long. He arrives in the shuttle while blockheads who were not going on the bus stood outside. Roscoe, DJ Jeff Barringer and the dancers all get out of the shuttle. I was in back where the shuttle pulled up so I was able to see everyone as they got off. Than finally Donnie came out and the excitement can be heard both inside and outside the bus. Donnie greets his non-bus ridahs and stays to talk and take pictures with them for awhile. We all watched from the bus window. I was in no hurry, I knew we had him for the next 6 hours and if he needed to spend a few minutes with those outside, so be it. I smiled as I watched how he brought sunshine on this runny day to those standing outside. Such a beautiful moment and for most it would be their first time. Many aww's were heard from inside the bus so I was not the only one enjoying the love fest going on outside. Meanwhile, boxes of Dunkin Donuts were being passed around the bus as the guys brought us donuts - all together now AWWWW!!!!!!

Bus Ride to Montreal

Donnie finishes up outside, says good-bye and gets on the bus. Everyone cheers as he goes down the aisle giving us all hugs. He gets to the back and sees a empty seat between me and another (@dannystrouble). He wonders why no one wants to sit in the back and takes the seat. As we pull off, he gets up on his seat to look back and wave good-bye to the girls outside. Of course, Donnie cannot sit for very long and is back up and walking down the aisle to see everyone. I think he is still wondering if he's crazy for doing this. He seems to make it a point to stand in all spots on the bus so that everyone can get a chance to see and talk to him. He sits on laps, or takes someone seats who offers it up as he tells random stories. At the same time, Flossy and Johnny kept us entertained with their stories. They really did keep us distracted as we waited for Donnie to make his way towards us and it was fine. I really got to know these two men and Donnie and love them all. Poor Roscoe was so tired so he mainly slept up front. We met the dancers as well, sweet ladies but they also mainly kept to themselves up front. DJ Jeff Barringer, I didn't even realize was even on the bus, he was the quietest of them all.

While we sat I called @NKAirplayRadio to report live what was going on in the bus so far. Donnie was with some of the ladies a few rows up from me when he turned to me to ask who I was talking to and I told him. I was talking to DJ on air, Stacy and he tells me to tell her hi. I got off the phone shortly after hoping to get Donnie to call in later. At one point, we wanted to see how many ladies could fit in the bathroom, Donnie was near and one of them asked him to try and squeeze inside so he did, I snapped the pic and we had 5 ladies plus Donnie in there. He tried to close door to see if it would. Donnie continued down the aisles, talking to everyone. They had a microphone on the bus but for some reason, we got the ghetto bus. It only worked for a minute. Same thing with the DVD and CD players, only worked for a minute. We just had to entertain ourselves in other ways. At one point Donnie sings, "Don't be tardy for the party". I followed it with "ohhh ohhh ohhh ohhh" and he repeats "Don't be tardy for the party," and we all join in and sing together. Little moments like that is what filled our 6hr drive. Such the entertainer, our guy.

I was sitting near the bathroom and someone came out looking for toilet paper. Apparently, it was never stocked so we had to make a pit stop to get some. Every now and than we would hear Tony start yelling at Johnny for little things like that. Johnny was so much fun and such a good sport getting yelled at. He was blamed for the malfunctioning electrical equipment as well.

Than the world changes forever...

Johnny sets up his twitter account...

He starts urging us all to get everyone to follow him and join the World of Johnny. He wanted to hear us clicking and tweeting it out, dead battery was no excuse just do it. This was just the beginning.

So if you're not already go follow @WorldOfJohnny.

At noon, we make a stop for lunch at a McDonald's. We exit the bus and Donnie stands back to be last so that everyone sees him as we leave the bus, he gave everyone hugs. I didn't want McD's and I see a man set up nearby with his grill and a sign for BBQ. He said he had the best BBQ pulled pork and he gave us a sample. I don't normally do pulled pork but he was right, so good. We called Donnie over as he exited the bus to come try it. He loved it too and got excited about the fries as well. Before Donnie walked over, Dave, the guy selling the pulled pork, asked me where the bus was going. I explained we were a party bus going to Montreal. I said it's being hosted by Donnie Wahlberg and did he know him? He wasn't sure and I said, the actor. Because of his age I didn't think he would know his music career and bet on the acting career is where he would know him. I was right, he knew him and seemed to get excited. I said "Dave, do you want to meet him?" That's when we called Donnie over to try the pork. Poor Dave starts to look nervous that this famous celebrity was loving his special recipe of pulled pork. Dave threw down with that pulled pork. He's somewhere in Vermont, wish I knew where exactly. We get our lunch and are told to get back on the bus.

Donnie takes a seat up front, alone to eat and no one bothers him. That was pretty much the whole bus ride, we respected his time and never bombarded him. We didn't have to go to him, he had already given us all plenty of facetime and we knew he would come back when he was ready. When he finished his lunch, he announced there would be cuddle time, everyone will get a chance to sit up there with him and confess their sins. Johnny randomly picked the first person, and every additional person was picked by the last person to go. So naturally, everyone up near the front went first. Meanwhile we all had fun killing the time with Johnny and Flossy. I can't thank those two enough for the fun they had with us. Johnny continued his movement to get more followers. He had milestones and when he met them would run down the aisle giving us all high 5's. Flossy tried to play games with us and we got him to squeeze in the bathroom with several women as well. I asked Flossy to call NKAirplay and he did and gave an impromptu interview with Stacy.

One of the girls brought the Hangin Tough Live DVD and we wanted to watch it. The girls volunteered me to take it up to Johnny and get him to play it. Everyone said they wanted to see it, so I reached Johnny and asked he play it for us. Donnie looks up from his one on one and asks, "What is it?" Johnny holds it up and Donnie shakes his head no. I interjected, "Oh come on, we all want to see it, plus we outnumber you." He reluctantly let Johnny put the DVD in for us and we cheered. The DVD starts up, first song, "My Favorite Girl" and we sing along. Camera zooms in on Donnie, beautiful mullet and all and the DVD stops. A collective AWWWWWW! throughout the bus. We blamed Donnie and thought he sabotaged the DVD player. He gets up and swears he had nothing to do with it. So we give him the benefit of the doubt (but still what a coincidence.) Still love you Donnie. Johnny uses this as an opportunity to get more followers to the World of Johnny. He said when he reaches so many followers, we can hear the rest of that song. So now it's clear Johnny is the culprit and he dares to hold Hangin Tough Live hostage until he meets his follower count. Such is the World of Johnny.

We get to the Canadian border and Johnny goes inside. He comes back in 5 minutes and says we are all good to go, no checking or anything. Johnny credits the craze for World of Johnny, that has already reached Canada and apparently border patrol. Sure Johnny, that was it. And again urges us to tweet the world so he can meet his next milestone. And the madness continues (but I love you Johnny!! Now everyone, go follow @WorldOfJohnny)

Montreal Party

3:30pm we finally arrive in Montreal and head over to the club. Johnny explains what we are to do, that we have 2 hours of free time, meet back at the club by 5:30 for sound check. We are on our own and he has us practice the name of the club in case we get lost we can ask how to get back. As we reached the club, many fans stood outside waiting. Roscoe gets out first looking for a bathroom and greets the fans. Donnie gets out before us so that he has that much more time with the fans outside as we exit the bus. I see fans passing out water to us as we exit the bus. THANK YOU MONTREAL BLOCKHEADS FOR THE LOVE!!!!! I exit and see familiar faces. My TDOT girls! They let me come to their hotel with them to get dressed and ready. I shared our bus stories with them as we got prettied up for the night. I had to head out before them as we were told to meet at club early, but of course we are on Donnie time (you'd think we'd learn by now.) It wasn't until maybe close to 7pm before Johnny came for us. He said they just walked in the door and would get us as soon as they get setup. We chilled at sound check until they were ready to let in the people for facetime. We didn't get club facetime with the price of the bus ticket, it was only fair since we had more than our share on the bus.

Facetime seemed to last a couple of hours, meanwhile we hung out and danced. The show finally starts with JBR (@JBR1985), although I didn't know his name until later. I really enjoyed the show so I asked him later for his information. Second was Roscoe Umali. Finally, Donnie hits the stage. He does his songs but the highlight of the night is when he did the live back rub. He said he was doing things differently tonight, bringing up 4 women instead of 3. He randomly picks 2 women that speak French and the 3rd he seemed to know he would be bringing her up. By now, most already know the story. Her name is Brittany (@donbomb) and when he got to her he said he was not giving her a back rub, she looked shocked. Instead he said he was bringing her girlfriend on stage to give her the back rub. Her girlfriend Paulina (@nkotb_ottawa) came up and Brittany was shocked. Suddenly the speech about "when we first met" began and we knew what was coming. Then the proposal and she says yes!!! It was great, Donnie, the stinker, was in on it. Brittany was so cute with her big smile and her excitement. So he congratulates the newly engaged couple when Brittany asks him something in his ear. Donnie tells us on the microphone that she asked if she was still going to get her back rub. Donnie says he will but only if her fiance joins him. She said she would love a threesome. Donnie asks if they are sure because he has the power to turn a gay woman straight. They were willing to take their chances and so Donnie and Paulina proceed to give Brittany her massage. Best moment of her life, I bet. I loved every minute of it. I screamed so loud for them, so happy as if it was happening to me. Donnie helped facilitate that happy moment. He let them sit on the stage while he performed "I got it." They were not the only blockheads to have a memorable evening. After he sang "I got it", he said he was going to sing it again, but this time with some help. He invited Caroline (@MTL_Caroline) to the stage to sing Aubrey's part. I met her earlier outside and she was so sweet. She said she had horrible stage fright so when she hit the stage, I made sure to scream really loud in support of her. I was hoping there were no haters around to boo her and if there were, my screams would overpower them. She was one of the fans outside passing water to us on the bus and I was going to support her. When she sang, it sent chills, she's that good. I really enjoyed it, more than Aubrey even. Nothing against Aubrey, I like her as well, but Caroline was that good. Beautiful voice. Her performance with Donnie was so great, hope someone caught it on video for her. They sang to each other and it was so sweet when they looked into each others eyes.

After the show, Donnie announced he would be doing pictures and hugs if you didn't already get one in the back. He asked bus ridahs not to go and we understood it was only fair. The club moments were supposed to be about the Montreal fans that didn't get the benefit of the bus and we were not complaining. I set out to dance when it was announced we needed to meet the bus in 30 minutes. The bus arrives and we load up. Most of the girls changed into comfortable clothes. We say good-bye to Flossy as he will not be riding back with us. We drove to the hotel where Donnie and Johnny would meet us so they can get their luggage.

Bus Ride back to Boston

Donnie comes on the bus to say to give them 5 minutes. We all know what that means. It was actually 45 minutes and we go to leave when we yell out that we forgot Johnny, so the driver stops. Johnny gets on and off we go. Donnie asks who hasn't had one on one time and we raise our hands. He counts us out and gives us all numbers. As we drive away, Donnie gets on the mic and starts telling knock knock jokes, not very funny, maybe if a 5 year old told it, but we were cracking up laughing as if they were. We even admitted, we were laughing because it was Donnie telling them and because they were so stupid it was funny. He kept going too, back to back to back jokes, all the same stupid joke but we kept asking "Whose there?" Once he was done, the one on one sessions begin.

I won't get into detail on these because that's people's private business. I will just speak generally. Some people talked, others they just laid there together quietly, and since it was so late with some, they just slept. It was sweet of him to offer up his time for this. It wasn't even part of the deal that he ride back with us, he just decided that on the way up. That was more than generous of him. I dozed off for a bit and woke shortly before sunrise. It was quiet and much of the bus was still sleeping, but there was one person who was up. Donnie was going down the aisle checking up on everyone. He fixed blankets, pillows, gave little kisses and hugs, making sure everyone was alright. I said to him when we went for breakfast "I awoke to see an angel floating down the aisle checking in on his girls."

If anyone EVER says he does what he does for publicity, I want them to reread that last paragraph. Everyone was sleeping, I was supposed to be sleeping. Most people don't even know Donnie checked in on them. How exactly is that for publicity? Hard to report something when it happens as you sleep. I'm so glad I awoke to see it so I can tell this story that Donnie never expected would be told. It wasn't for a story, it was because he cares, he truly cares about his fans. He doens't just go above and beyond, he goes to infinity and beyond. Is there a word stronger than amazing? Because that's what he is, truly amazing to the millionth power, infinitely amazing.

Take a moment to really let that seep in.....

After enjoying a beautiful Vermont sunrise with Donnie, we stop for breakfast. Again, Donnie stands back and tells us each good morning as we exit the bus. Same McDonald's but no pulled pork Dave. Donnie was looking for him as he wanted his pulled pork sandwich. He would have to settle on McD's. We load up into breakfast and considering over 50 people were now in line, they were pretty efficient in taking our orders. Johnny is wide awake now and starts up again in McDonald's about hitting up the morning commute tweeters for follows. We asked Donnie to please save us from the World of Johnny at 6am. We get our food, get back on the bus and I hear Donnie taking calls from people's cell phones. I do believe he called into work for someone. Johnny continues his speeches for getting us to get him more followers. I get a call from my girl Rodelyn (@nkangel74) and I hand Johnny the phone who continues his speech for World of Johnny follows with her. My mother calls on the other end and Johnny answers, "Hello, mom? You need to follow world of Johnny." My poor mom, I was horrified for her especially since Johnny didn't know about my grandmother's recent death and my mom was just calling to tell me funeral plans (read next blog "Death of the Ego" for specifics). Donnie's one on one sessions continue until the very end. We fill the time with Johnny's pleas for followers and some random chants, most notably the Silo girls. We watch some videos and listen to some music.

Returning to Boston was sad. We had to say good-bye. Not only to an amazing man, Donnie, but his amazing assistant Johnny who took such great care of us. Say good-bye to a fraction of my million sisters who also looked out for each other. There was no drama, no fighting. We shared the time on the bus, respectful of each other. We took pictures of each others special moments so that we may cherish them forever. We made sure we each had our time with Donnie and supported each other the whole time. I will miss them as much as I miss Donnie, Johnny, and of course Flossy. But we shall see each other again.

We took one last picture outside the bus and said good-bye one last time. One last chant from our silo girls...

When I say Si you say lo... Si... lo... Si...lo

But before we went, the only appropriate chant left to say was....

When I say D, you say Dub.... D.... DUB.... D.... DUB!!!!

And if your not already, follow @worldofJohnny.

"If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes."
- St. Clement of Alexandra