We (referring to my sister, mom and I) queued under the sun just to get a general admissions ticket. It's a ticket worth £20 and allows you to enter the All England Lawn Tennis Club and watch any match you want occurring in courts 3-12. Though, it wasn't easy at all. You will have to give all the patience you have in exchange of that ticket. The queue was 'the' queue, bear in my mind that we were the 8000th people in line. We had to wait in the field for almost 3 hours for our turn to get in. Within that 3 hours I have realised some things that I would do differently the next time I am watching Wimbledon again.
Here are tips for queuing:
1. Arrive at the venue as early as you can. I mean early, if you don't want to be the 8000th person. 6am early.
2. Bring a picnic blanket or anything that's comfortable to sit on. You don't want to be standing the whole time in the field for 3 hours
3. Bring packed food. If you're willing to splurge on overpriced cheeseburgers that literally just had cheese in it, then you might not want to do this.
4. Put on some sunscreen, wear a hat and sunglasses. Girl, you'll be under the sun for hours. You don't want to be toasted.
5. Go to the toilet whenever you can. The hardest thing is having the need to pee and the toilet is too far away and you might lose your place in line.
After the waiting game, we finally had our golden tickets. As we entered, there was a swarm of people holding drinks, and walking in circles trying to figure out where to go. To be honest, we were clueless ourselves. So we just entered the first court we saw that had available seats. The first game wasn't that bad. Though, we didn't know the people who were playing.
Another tip: look up who's playing in that particular court just so you have an idea
And then. I had this idea to monitor the scores of the games online just so we have an idea of when the game will be finishing and when will the next one start. This worked as we were able to get to the next court on time for the match of Victoria Azarenka. But as we got to the next court, there was another queue to get in. Because our ticket was only £20, we had unreserved tickets which meant we had to wait (again) for seats to be available.
Tip no. 2: If you can afford it, buy reserved seats. Saves you so much trouble. And queuing.
When we finally had our turn to get in and have a seat (mind you, I was seated far away from my sister and mom #loner), it was time to just sit back, relax and enjoy the game. But NO. There were things that annoyed me a little bit that distracted me from the games. These were my thoughts:
1. Dear someone who is sitting beside me, how dare you just use your phone and not even watch the game. So many people are waiting outside just to have your seat
2. Dear someone who is sitting in front of me, do you really have to have a huge hat?? I can't see the whole court and the players because your hat is blocking my view
3. Dear someone who is eating while watching the game. You're mocking me as you take a massive bite on your sandwich while here I am starving.
4. Dear someone who feels like they're the commentator. Please just stop commenting on the game, and act like you know everything
The last game we saw was a doubles match played by the Williams sisters. I would say that was the highlight of my day. And in that match I was finally seated together with my mom and sister and we were able to sit at the front row!! Aaah, silver lining.
Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time. At the end of the day I realised how good it feels to experience something new. The three of us still couldn't get over it. We couldn't get over the fact that we saw some of the best tennis players in the world and watched them play in person. I guess the little mishaps, all those waiting and resisting to go to the toilet, made the experience even more fun and memorable.
