I spent more than $5,000 and traveled 24 hours to watch the Eras Tour in Vienna. I'm still in disbelief that the shows are canceled.

08.08.2024 - 10:41 / insider.com / Taylor Swift

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kayla Sommese, a Taylor Swift fan who traveled from Los Angeles to Vienna to catch Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified her expenses.

I've been a Swiftie for as long as I can remember. I first saw her open for Brad Paisley in high school, and I didn't even know who she was then.

Since then, I've been on every single tour. I've watched her live 13 times — twice at the Los Angeles leg of the Eras Tour last year.

When I saw that she added The Tortured Poets Department set to her latest shows, I knew I had to go. In May, I bought two lower bowl tickets for my husband and me from a Reddit user for $850 a piece.

I spent over $300 on two outfits from Etsy — a custom-fit body suit inspired by the Reputation Tour and a "Lavender Haze" inspired dress.

My husband and I decided to make a trip out of this concert. We budgeted and saved all summer for a 6-day trip — four in Vienna and two in Salzburg, a city in the Austrian Alps. Our flight tickets, accommodation costs, and rental car added up to about $5,200.

When I landed in Vienna last night, the news broke that two people had been arrested on suspicion of terrorist attack plans at the concert. Then, at dinner, Taylor Nation confirmed that the shows were canceled.

I felt my whole body go numb. I could not believe it was real. She's hardly ever canceled a show in her career.

I was in a group chat with Swifties from Egypt, Australia, Japan, and other states in the US. Fans had theories that she could announce something at the Vienna shows — on August 9th in particular, because she was born in 1989. They traveled from around the world for these shows.

I thought of sticking around for her London shows, but that's just not possible — we have cats at home that need to be taken care of.

Related stories

Our trip will continue. We have tours booked ahead and rented a car to drive to Salzberg. Funnily enough, the people who attended a wine tour we went on this morning were all Swifties.

Taylor will be back in the US to tour in the fall and winter, but it's so expensive to see her in the US that I'm not sure we will actually get to see the show again.

I started a fan project, and I'm trying to get people to write a little message about their story and how they're feeling about all of this.

Hopefully, Taylor will see how everybody is feeling for her. I know a lot of people are worried about how upset she is, and I'm sure this is devastating for her as well.