Part 1 of 3 in my Europe travel series. Part 2: Lomochrome Purple Film at the Palace of Versailles | Part 3 coming soon: Junk Journaling Through Europe
I've wanted to tell this story for a while. Not just because it's wild, but because of what came out of it creatively. This is the one where the concert got cancelled, an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack was foiled, and my junk journal became a little funeral.
Let's back up.
Munich First
My friend Kristin (yes, the Kristin who collaborated with me on sticker sheets!) and I planned this trip to Europe specifically to see Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in Vienna. We were lucky enough to catch her on the US tour in Denver, and were so stoked to snag tickets for one of her shows in Vienna!
We built a whole trip around it. We flew into Munich, where we planned to spend one night before taking the train to Vienna.
Munich was beautiful and slow and relaxed. We wandered, found some gorgeous park steps, and pulled out our junk journals right there. One of my favorite things about traveling with junk journal supplies is how grounding it is — you sit down somewhere beautiful, you make something, and you're suddenly really there instead of just passing through.
We grabbed pizza, and I wound down with a 30-minute meditation. When I came out of it, my phone had completely blown up.
The Text That Changed Everything
My sister had texted: "I'm so sorry the concert was cancelled I just saw."
I knew immediately she would never joke about something like that. I opened my phone and confirmed it within seconds: all three Vienna concerts had been cancelled.
What had been thwarted was serious. An ISIS-inspired plot, targeting the stadium specifically during her shows. A 19-year-old had pledged allegiance, U.S. intelligence caught wind and passed it to Austrian authorities, and the whole thing was shut down before it could become something unthinkable. 65,000 people per show, plus tens of thousands more gathered outside.
It was horrifying and shocking and sad all at once.
These were only the second concerts Taylor Swift has ever cancelled. And all three were gone at once.
The Funeral Spread
I sat with that feeling for a bit, and then I did what I always do: I made something.
The very second spread of my junk journal became what I can only describe as a little funeral page. And, honestly, I love it so much. It captures exactly how that night felt: grief, surreality, and still somehow beauty.
I thought about adding a "1" before the "3" (a nod to Taylor's number, 13) — but I left it as just the 3. It felt right to let it represent the three cancelled shows.
The Train to Vienna
The next morning, we took the train from Munich to Vienna anyway. We were going.
I had made special collage kits for Kristin and me before the trip. I curated junk journal supplies with a specific vintage European flair: architecture, ornate details, old furniture, and different imagery that would feel at home in a centuries-old city. Putting together travel collage kits ahead of a trip is one of my favorite things to do. It's like pre-designing the mood of the whole journey.
My absolute favorite hack for junk journaling while traveling? Staying organized with a little storage clipboard. It's a game-changer. On a long train ride through a gray, rainy, impossibly beautiful European countryside, I had everything I needed right there to pull out and create for hours.
I pulled two tarot cards on the train, The Magician and the Nine of Swords. I had to laugh. The Nine of Swords is the anxiety card, the nightmare card, the one where you wake up at 3am convinced everything is falling apart. And The Magician is about having everything you need already in front of you. All the tools, all the power.. it's just about what you choose to do with it. Together they felt like a pretty honest summary of the last 24 hours: something truly terrible almost happened, the grief was real, and yet here we were on a train headed toward Vienna anyway. Still going. Still making things.
Cornelia Street, Vienna
We had originally planned to stand outside the stadium Thursday night to soak in the atmosphere before our Friday show. Instead, Swifties gathered on Cornelia Street — and it was one of the most moving things I've witnessed.
I took just a few shots on my Olympus Stylus with Lomochrome Purple 35mm film while at the rally. The rest of the photos I took were polaroids.
I left feeling deeply in love with women and girls and humanity, and also a little heartbroken. There's something about a crowd that has no aggression in it. No hostility. Not even that low hum of tension you feel in most public gatherings. Just people who love the same thing, being soft and generous with each other.
The trees were filled with friendship bracelets. Signs everywhere. But my favorite thing we saw was the girl with the wedding dress, inviting strangers to write their favorite lyric on it.
This Vienna night will stay with me for a long time.
This is the first in a three-part Europe series. Next up: Lomochrome Purple 35mm Film at the Palace of Versailles → And stay tuned for Part 3 — a deep dive into junk journaling through Europe from start to finish.
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