Amanda and Graham's Great Pig Adventure

It was a very long journey, starting on Monday 2nd February with a National Coach at 8.30am from Chesterfield to Heathrow. We opted for coach over train for ease and convenience, rather than having to cross London from St Pancras to get the Heathrow Express with all our baggage – and it was fine. Steve our double bass player was on the same bus, and at the Heathrow bus station we were joined by Lisa our horn player.

Then taxi to our airport hotel, the Moxy. Most of the rest of the orchestra joined us there – we didn’t want the risk of travelling to the airport on the day (especially given Graham’s luck with these things!) It was good to spend the evening together. All quite excited now!

Tuesday 3rd February – flight day. Virgin Atlantic at 2.30pm. The Virgin staff were all brilliant. When we got to the check-in area we told a member of staff that we were part of the Peppa Pig group booking and she got really excited. She knew all about us and took us for priority check-in.

Also when we went to the gate they took us for priority boarding to get the instruments on. All very smooth which was a huge relief.

The flight was less than half full and we were very well looked after. All our Peppa Pig mascots were a great source of amusement!

The next big hurdle was US border control, about which the whole company was very anxious, but actually we got through in about 5 minutes flat with no difficult questions. Phew!

After a long wait for another orchestra member on an internal flight, we had an hour’s drive to our hotel for the next three nights. We got to bed at about 10.00 local time (6am UK time) after a very long day!

Wednesday 4th – a full day of rehearsals in our first venue, Central Kitsap Performing Arts Center, Silverdale, about half an hour’s drive from the hotel. It was great to see the Peppa puppets and bring the show to life. Today was all about blocking the stage movements and technical rehearsals.

The orchestra players come on one by one and play a solo at the front of stage to introduce their instruments! There is quite a bit of interaction with the characters throughout the show for us to learn as well.

A long and tiring day with jet lag beginning to kick in too. We all went to the pub opposite the hotel for dinner (steaks all round) before an early night.

Thursday 5th – another rehearsal day. We are all feeling like zombies today so smiling and looking enthusiastic was a challenge at times!

Finally in the afternoon, two dress rehearsals which went really well. We feel ready to go now.

Into the pub again in the evening and we sat with Martin (executive producer) and Richard (director) and the lady from Opus who did all the tour bookings. Really nice to have the chance to talk about the show and give/get notes. Very positive vibes!

Another long day.

Tomorrow the tour starts for real!