I'm flying from India to Singapore with a friend to catch my first Taylor Swift concert. We've spent $1,700 on the trip so far.

02.03.2024 - 14:31 / insider.com / Taylor Swift

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Swaksha Krishnakumar , a 28-year-old Swiftie based in Bangalore, India. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified her expenses.

The first Taylor Swift song I heard was "Love Story" when I was 14.

I started listening to her more during her "Red" album era and was a proper Swiftie by 2014, during her "1989" album era.

When Taylor first shared the US dates for her Eras Tour in 2022, there was a lot of chatter online about the possibility of a world tour, too.

I'm very active in the Taylor Swift fandom, especially on X and Instagram. I had notifications turned on for almost every major social platform in case she dropped her Asia tour dates.

Mentally, I was already prepared to travel to see her.

When Taylor finally announced the international dates last year, she only had Tokyo and Singapore in Asia. Tokyo is too far, so I decided I'd try to catch her in Singapore instead.

My friend and I weren't able to get tickets through Ticketmaster, so I started looking for alternate ways.

That's when I learned that Klook, the booking platform, was launching an Eras Tour experience package that included two concert tickets and a one-night hotel stay.

The sale went live on the Klook mobile app during Singapore time, and due to the time difference, my friend and I had to wake up early for it.

After clicking on the link, I was immediately sent into the waiting room. I think I was 9,000 or something in the queue. It was a long shot, but I moved up the queue quickly.

My friend and I had looked through the packages prior, trying to see which would fit our budget best. But when I finally got to the page, the cheapest package was already sold out.

At that point, the concert date and the seats didn't matter — I just wanted to get tickets.

I ended up getting category six tickets to Taylor's last show in Singapore. I paid 52,675 rupees, or about $635, for two concert tickets and a one-night stay at Capri China Square, a four-star hotel in Singapore.

I think we got a pretty good deal with the package, especially after we divided the cost between the two of us.

We're nowhere close to the stage, but it doesn't matter to me. Our seats are at the top of the stadium, slightly toward the middle, so we'll get a good view of the stage and the screens.

We booked a direct flight from Bangalore to Singapore. We paid 56,335.80 rupees, or about $680, for return tickets for two people.

This will be my first time in Singapore, so we extended our stay by two nights. We booked a hoteloutside the city center and paid 30,063 rupees, or about $363, for a two-night stay in one room.

When she was on her Reputation world tour, I was doing my masters in the UK. Some