Introduction
So, this post is going to be a bit different than my previous ones. Because of the way things worked out at Dragoncon I recorded some notes for myself to type out later into something more.
The Day Before Dragoncon
There really isn’t much to say, I spent the day at my friends house alone while he was at work. I must have spent a good 9 or 10 hours straight playing No Man’s Sky. I’ve begun setting up a base. Found a decent moon with no atmosphere and parked next to a couple of copper veins.
Dragoncon Begins
It was finally time for Dragoncon. Not long after my friend left for work I got up and prepared. I showered and packed my stuff up then ordered an Uber. Even with it being close to 10a by the time I headed down there traffic wasn’t great. I’m just happy I didn’t have to drive. Once I arrived at the Sheraton I made my way to the track room downstairs. After hanging out in the Atlanta room for a few Robotics and Maker panels I got some Nana G’s chicken and waffles for lunch. Love that food truck so much!
Eventually I got my stuff to our room once we were able to check in. My director had a bit of an issue because they tried to give her a room with a single bed. She got it worked out though so I didn’t have to crash on the floor. In the evening we made our way to Pho 24 for dinner. I miss pho, it would be nice if I could get it here somewhere. After dinner we headed back to the track room to lock up, turns out we only had the key to one set of doors for the track room but they were all unlocked.
Once we got ahold of security we were able to get the track room closed up tight for the night. After relaxing back in the hotel room we headed out to meet up with our peeps. Lots of friends here this year. The portable stripper pole was out in force. It was entertaining watching all the people (men and women) having a go on it. As always, there were some people who were overzealous and almost tipped it over. I retired “early” (around 4am) although I was up later than all the rest of the nights at con.
Saturday
It was nice to sleep in. It was nice to sleep in a real bed. I got up around 11a, the latest I’ve slept in a long time. This was a busy day. I had to escort guests to their panels. Ended up walking from the Sheraton to America’s Mart and back 3 times. It wasn’t really so bad, just 15 minutes each way, but the third time was wasted effort because the guest cancelled their panel because they weren’t feeling well and it was never communicated to us.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We did our usual thing after the panels were done. At one people we headed up to a new feature at the con, Volunteer Village. It was nice, they had snacks and drinks for the volunteers as well as a place to relax. We went out and watched people, the stripper pole was in action again. Lots of great costumes and entertaining people to look at.
Sunday
Slept in again, although not nearly as late as the day before. After getting up I wanted to get some Starbucks, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Unfortunately the line was seriously long, like a thirty minute wait just to place an order. I wasn’t about to do that so I headed up to the Volunteer Village for some free coffee and a Krispy Kreme donut! I was so happy they had donuts, although they could really do with some creamer instead of that powdered crap.
Between a few of our panels my director, her boyfriend, and I checked out the dealer’s room. Three full floors of dealers and exhibitors. Took at least two full hours to look at everything. We all walked out empty handed, but it was fun to look at everything there. Once again after all the panels were done we did the usual people watching. I think this was actually my earliest night of the con. Didn’t stay out much past midnight.
The End of Dragoncon
The last morning of the con was also the earliest. Had to get up and ready for Robot Battles. My director decided she wanted to go back to the dealer’s hall to pick up some dice she saw previously. I ended up picking up a set of dice too. Pretty frosted teal dice from Chessex. I figure I may have some use for them here on the island. We were fairly quick there because we had to get back for the beginning of the battles. As always they were very entertaining.
Once those were over we retired to our hotel room for a few hours to wait for the dead dog. They actually gave us a time this year! Usually it’s just a “it’ll be ready when it’s ready” kind of thing. The food was okay, not the best, but it was free which is always a bonus. Once I had my fill I just went back to my room and slept.
Heading Home
Such an early morning. Woke up at 6am and showered to fly home. Took another Uber to the airport, didn’t take very long. I never realized how close the airport is to downtown because I’m always coming from north of the city. Checkin and waiting went pretty smooth.
Of course, one again I had issues on the plane though. I don’t know what it is, but both the flight here and back I had problems with the wifi. I’d use my T-Mobile to get free wifi, but then it would require me to reconnect and when I tried it said the account was already in service or something and wouldn’t let me connect again. Not only that, but the damned in-flight entertainment kept stuttering. It feels like it’s just me though, every time I fly Delta this seems to happen, but only to me, no one else.
I had no issues connecting to my flight to Tortola, although once we landed my bag wasn’t there! Luckily I was able to get done with the paperwork quickly, and they should deliver it on the ferry to me. Even with all that extra hassle I made the earlier ferry, which was nice. Although, even with much warning my ride showed up late. I was left standing in the hot sun for 10 or 20 minutes waiting for them.
We went out to dinner at Bath and Turtle where I got a meat lover’s pizza, so delicious. I still have half of it left to eat at home. After we got back, I packed up what little I could and headed up the hill to another nearby villa to sleep.
Prologue
In the end, Dragoncon was an amazing experience once again. I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I’d have liked but I did post a few to Instagram. The whole weekend I was drinking Apple Pie that was supplied to me, but it seemed fairly weak because I never even got a buzz. I feel like next year I’ll have to prepare a bit more for the convention, but I also won’t be as rushed before hand.
