How’s my ankle holding up before Tomorrowland….
This is Day 0 — right after a 1500-lb bull stepped on it: 
Day 8:
Day 4:
Day 17:
Not bad, right? Turns out I can be pretty decent at wound care when the stakes are high. Last year was cancer, this year would be a trampled ankle. But can I enjoy Tomorrowland just once without being injured or burnt out?
Yeah, so this also just happened.
Tomorrowland had the impossible happen with a fire breaking out and consuming the Main Stage a day before hundreds of thousands of people, including 10 of my monsooners, were supposed to arrive for Weekend 1. Meanwhile, I have been kinda nearby leading a trip across northern Spain.
But somehow, Tomorrowland pulled off the unthinkable. The show went on. And my monsooners? They had the time of their lives.
As far as I’ve heard, they’ll be coming back for more!
A couple days later almost still recovering from my finish in Melilla, I reunited with 28 other monsooners in Brussels to kick off Weekend 2, starting back again at the Invited Brussels pre-party.
If you want a rundown and full scoop of Tomorrowland, I already wrote about it 2 years in a row: 2023, 2024.
This year, we upped the ante: Instead of staying in Brussels at our hotel through Global Journey, 9 of us booked an additional Airbnb in the town of Boom (where Tomorrowland takes place), and only a 9-minute walk from the festival entrance. This was a game changer, especially for my ankle; that extra few hours of rest and less walking was worth every cent.
(The rest of the crew, 16 strong, stayed with the original Global Journey Hotel package in Brussels, while 4 others: Samantha, Amanda — and Tien and Josh for a night before joining us in the Airbnb — gave the party train from Amsterdam and camping in Dreamville a try).
But from the Airbnb perspective, instead of waking up and rushing to fit in the free hotel breakfast and catching the noon bus to the festival, every morning at the Airbnb started slow and sweet before the daily serotonin filled storm of bass, lights, and friends.
Tomorrowland also introduced a new “Belgian Classics” restaurant near the Freedom Stage. Naturally, I booked both that and the annual fine dining experience overlooking Main Stage; 19 of us at the latter, 29 of us for the former.
Thank goodness for that because we got all 29 of us in one place because of their new restaurant, and how much easier it was to book it on their website for the exact same entry time. That alone deserves applause.
And in what’s now becoming tradition, Priyanka and I met up at The Library stage for Lost Frequencies: same time on day 2, same place as last year.
Then in classic Monsoon fashion, Ashley Koide from my 2021 Yacht Week Sardinia trip 4 years ago would walk right into me while I was sitting on the field nursing my ankle. Of all the parts of this massive crowd to choose to sift through, she would happen to go through me while I was sitting down low enough to see her and all 5 feet of her.
And who’s next to me? Nishant, also from that same Yacht Week trip. Cosmic reunion unlocked.
On day 3, we tackled the Papillon food court (formerly Mesa Garden) as a group challenge: Order every fancy dish available. Highlights: Michelin-starred Chef Pam’s Thai stall, strawberry salad, and chicken thigh wings.
Our hot dog fingers became the inadvertent totem again, but now enhanced with literal finger lights on a 5-foot telescoping pole.
And for our final night? We landed a table at the almost-impossible-to-book Tomorrowland Restaurant overlooking Main Stage, to end right before the final set.
We closed it out with reuniting at the front of the main stage for Martin Garrix’s final track, and then sitting together on the sloped field, taking it all in.
The next afternoon, Tomorrowland hosted their wellness recovery day in Ossengem Park by the Atomium, complete with their usual unlimited food, smoothies, massages, and facials.
And then, because we weren’t ready to stop, 7 of us headed off to Amsterdam to keep the party going with Anthony Lui and his Dutch friends, while the rest flew home and braved the post-festival blues.
This is how I feel now: like Jean-Claude Van Damme holding it all together in the middle of the street. Yes, that’s real. Yes, it’s art. Yes, it’s Amsterdam (to be continued…)
- At time of posting in Boom, Belgium, it was 19 °C - Humidity: 89% | Wind Speed: 14km/hr | Cloud Cover: perfectly chilly and warm at the same time, with a dash of rain
