Mike and I enjoy sci-fi and fantasy in books and shows. In the past, I've made noises about visiting a scifi/trek convention but we've never gotten around to it. Mike has been to a couple when he was much younger but I've never experienced one before.
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| Looking up at the Marriott |
In the summer, there were a lot of news articles about ComicCon in San Diego which fascinated me, and I found that a friend of mine was attending ComicCon. I decided then that Mike and I would attend either ComicCon or some other big convention next year. I started doing some research and found Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA. It's one of the largest conventions not only for scifi/fantasy but also for skeptics, space nuts, gamers, writers, etc. Basically it has something for everyone. It happens during Labor Day weekend every year (Friday to Monday) with over 50,000+ attendees in 5 host hotels located in downtown Atlanta.
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| Not so crowded yet |
Dragon*Con sounded awesome! We immediately got tickets and looked for a hotel. Since we were so late signing up for DC, all the downtown hotels were booked; however we got crazy-lucky and must have snagged a cancellation. We were able to get a hotel at the Residence Inn only a few blocks from the host hotels for a pretty good rate.
We started our drive on thursday at 4am and made it to Atlanta by 4pm with a couple of rest breaks. We checked into our hotel and made it to the Hyatt for a newbie tour given by regular DC attendees who wanted to help out all the first-timers attending this year. The newbie tour was definitely helpful since we walked through the habitrails connecting the Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton. We also did some quick walkthroughs of each convention floor to be more familiar with the layouts.
After the walkthrough, we walked to the Sheraton to get our badges for the weekend. The line snaked around half a block but moved quickly (tip: bring your own lanyard, they only provide a clip for your badge. If you lose your badge, you are SOL).
Triumphant and with our badges in our sweaty little palms, we headed back to our hotel to unpack and get ready for the next morning.
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