It was the trip of a lifetime for Today reporter Andrea Crothers when she invited to Dubai to join the press pack covering the opening of a luxury hotel.

Better yet, US megastar Beyoncé was set to headline a private concert (her first live performance in five years) to mark the opening of Atlantis the Royal and Andrea would be there.

But she told Laurel, Gary & Mark the highlight was making it into the afterparty… even if the method was a little awkward!

“We made friends with a couple British and American journos and thought, ‘Why don’t we just try to go up to level 22, wouldn’t that be a laugh?’

“You can imagine by this stage, we uh, had a little bit of Dutch courage under our belts…”

Press PLAY below to hear how Andrea made it to the afterparty

Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal