San Diego Comic Con 2016 Recap
August 22, 2016
Our travel cost breakdown
Food and lodgings, $200
Gas, $150
Parking, trolley: $100
Gifts and things, $150
Total: $550
I normally love San Diego Comic Con. Perfect weather, all geek all the time, lots of fresh air and walking and being surrounded by people who are just there to enjoy the goodness.
These days, it’s so much more fraught to prepare for. The lottery system for the badges. The lottery system for the hotels. The lottery system for the parking passes. Everything depends on luck and that has my insides clenched with worry that we’ll miss something this time. This year I did miss something. We didn’t get a slot in the lottery and forgot to secure parking passes after the lottery was over. I panicked, then a friend saved me with her extra passes. (They were pricey but uber convenient for our JuggerBaby needs.)
I found myself dreading the week, rather than anticipating it. I wondered if it was a mistake to go. By the time we were a week out, already having spent far too much time working and hosting guests, a probable panic attack set in and if I could have, I’d have cancelled the whole thing.
Thankfully, by the time we reached San Diego, most of that feeling had dissipated.
On food.
We have a tradition of staying with family friends – friends who have become family, over the years – and San Diego just wouldn’t be the same without staying with them. They’re not just good company, Mama S is an amazing cook and does a fantastic family dinner every night. I could eat that baked pasta and garlic bread for a week straight. I could eat the pancit and lumpia for a month. It’s probably a good thing that it’s not an option…
We packed our lunches and snacks, as always, to avoid the atrocious and overpriced convention center food and enjoyed leftovers for breakfast. Best week of eating all year long.
On having fun.
SDCC is just too big. It overflows from the convention center out to all the nearby hotels and their ballrooms. The whole area out front is usually packed with promotional booths for tv shows, with prizes and treats. This year it was an enormous Superman statue, the Batmobile, and a Kristen Bell show, with an ice cream parlor theme. The crowds and the lines and the noise and all of it don’t bother me. It should. I normally hate all of that. But for this? It’s just right.
The downside is that I logged far more steps than is healthy for me. We had to walk three miles to get to the Marriott to get our badges on Wednesday whereupon they insisted that JuggerBaby had to physically be with me to pick up zir badge. So that was a wasted trip and then we had to go back with zir on a busy Thursday, wasting precious time between naps.
We took it almost as easy this year as we did when I was pregnant, but this time we shared the extra load. JuggerBaby rode piggyback in our Craigslist-purchased ErgoBaby ($50!) with me in the mornings when I was fresh, PiC backpacked zir in the afternoons. We walked the floor together discovering all kinds of new cute things, and visiting old favorites. It was a weird year, we bought more art then anything else and that’s never happened before.
- The most beautiful greeting cards came from Nidhi Chanani of Everyday Love Art.
- We commissioned a teeny tiny painting of JuggerBaby and Seamus from Katie Cook.
- I couldn’t choose from the enfu stickers – too much choice!
I caught a couple of panels while PiC and JuggerBaby went exploring on their own. That always feels a bit luxurious because, though PiC is happy to give me a break, I always have a tinge of guilt that he’s doing all the heavy lifting whether I’m there or not so we tend to stick together more than not.
:: Do you have an annual vacation destination? What would it be if you didn’t?
Sounds like a ton of fun, if a bigger crowd than we usually do. We’ve been renting a beach cottage at a family beach on the Carolina coast each year, and love it. We go in either October or May, so we get off season rates but warm water. Mostly, it’s just a week of long walks, boogie boards, board games and reading on the porch.
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I love the sound of that vacation – off-season vacationing is the best!
What is that cute and scary little creature?
BF’s mother rents a beach house for two weeks every summer so staying with her for a week is typically our yearly vacation. I also fly home twice a year (once in summer, once during Xmas) but that is more obligatory family time than real relaxing.
I wish I’d written its name down, darned if I can remember it now!
Family time, for me, isn’t any kind of vacation either š Is the week on the beach relaxing, at least?
I like the idea of Comic-con, and have friends and family who go every year, but it just sounds overwhelming for me.
Our annual vacation spot is Santa Barbara. We’ve spent a week there each summer for the past six years, and have managed to find a rental that we really like–we’ve stayed there the last three years. Santa Barbara is a great spot for us. It’s easy to get to from L.A, it’s very kid-friendly, it has a very different feel from our day-to-day. And Baguette loves the zoo there!
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It can be overwhelming if you try to do it ALL. It’s simply not possible anymore and once you accept that, and just pick a few things to do, it’s much more enjoyable.
I might have to ask you for rental recommendations, we’d like to try Santa Barbara sometime, but it’s rather pricey.
I’d go to Japan annually š (I owe you an email on it).
That would be awesome š Eagerly awaiting the email!
I have a couple of friends of love going to Comic Con every year. My idea of a holiday though is more of hanging out by the beach, playing cards over beer. BTW, I loved how you described “family friends” as “friends who have become family, over the years”. So agree with that!
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It sounds like you had a good time! We tried to take the kid this year. We thought that with three of us we had a good shot in the lottery system for at least one of us to purchase the necessary badges. But they sold out before we had a turn. We gave it our best shot and will try again next year.
We did! Three chances used to be enough to get badges but it’s not, anymore. Better luck next year, hope you’re able to make it!
How fun! SDCC is definitely on my bucket list. I am always so jealous when people post Walking Dead stuff!
It’s even fun for people who don’t have badges, honestly, there’s a ton of cool stuff in the downtown area and just outside the convention center that doesn’t require tickets.