On October 13, 2022, my hubby and I set out to attend our first convention together. We had been planning things out in advance to attend. This required boarding animals and planning with my parents to keep my son. When the day came, I was anxious and tired. I could not sleep the night before. Also, we had to be at the Texarkana airport early.
We went through a shorter version of what a lot of travelers’ experience with this small airport. We had one of the few flights going out that morning. It ended up being a good flight. There was a bit of a delay putting us on a time crunch since we were to meet a group of my friends from Go Indie Now for dinner, but we made do. It was after we landed that, things got crazy.
First off, neither my husband nor I had planned out transportation. I also failed at looking up how far the hotel was from the airport so low and behold, we were left with only the ride share options. We would brave the transportation crisis with Uber. This was crazy. Picking the ride and setting it up was easy but we found out that we were not in the right spot. Atlanta had recently made a new section for ride share individuals and we were not in that spot. Trying to get there was hectic and the Uber driver said he was swinging back around but ended up canceling us. We were miffed but not to upset. We get it and the amount of traffic there was overwhelming. Uber driver number two took a couple of minutes to reach us, but she was great. We were headed to the hotel without a care in the world until we hit traffic.
Now originally when we decided to do Uber on the plane, I popped some Dramamine to prevent getting car sick. Anytime I have to ride in the back of a vehicle I get car sick and holy cow did the medicine not work this time. The stop and go traffic was insane! I did everything I could to keep from hurling all over this sweet girls car. Finally, I asked if she had a bag or anything and thankfully, she did. I kept my head down and focused on my breathing which helped me successfully make it to the hotel. I had the shakes terribly though that lasted until a little after dinner.
We had dinner as a group at the amazing El Azteca. Literally my favorite place to go in Atlanta now. Fresh food that tastes amazing and also because I absolutely love anything Mexican food. We had a great time there the night before the con.
Now to the main part of this blog, what you all are waiting for, Multiverse Convention. How was it?
With this being my first convention, I wasn’t sure how it would go. The day of traveling made me very tired, so the day started of groggy. Opening ceremonies was interesting. They had great music and it seemed mostly organized. Everyone had to wear a mask which made understanding others difficult at times, but we managed.
The con was very well organized though when it came to panels, events, and meet ups. Each track was labeled and there was time scheduled between visits to allow attendees to grab food if needed. All of the con took place next to the café where coffee was served in the morning and then late afternoon. There was also a bar.
Something I loved about how they had things set up was that they had a sensory room for anyone who needed it available. If someone felt overwhelmed or needed a break they could go to this room and relax. I used our hotel room the few times I was overwhelmed but not all con-goers were staying at the hotel. They did a fantastic job of trying to include everyone.
The consuite was another interesting one where they had food for everyone attending. They had gluten and vegan friendly options. I found that I really enjoyed trying some of the foods made there and others I wasn’t so sure about. It really helped because the café was most often closed at lunch while we were there. It kept weird hours.
Something else I loved was getting to meet many authors I’ve chatted with online in person. It was as if I were meeting an old friend when we met. It makes me extremely happy to have some of them in my writing world.
The panels were all interesting and educational. I wish I could have attended more than I could, but I would have needed several clones. I hit up a lot of the writing and business related panels since that is an area I’m weak in but there were several fantasy and learning track panels that caught my eye. I would have loved to see urban fantasy, dark fantasy, or even romance panels available. Maybe they will have them added in the future.
It was weird when the con ended, but I was also glad. I was ready to go home. This was also the first big trip away from my son.
The hotel the con was at definitely needed some improvement. I’m a frugal person so it bothered me quite a bit that I literally had to pay for everything. My hubby still gives me crap because of my obsession over not having caffeinated coffee available in the room. I mean who does that? I’ve traveled a lot in my life and never have I had an experience where there was only deaf tea and coffee in the rooms.
It was a great set up for the con since all the rooms were clustered together downstairs, but I think in the future I’ll stay at another within walking distance. The hotel did have a great view but having to pay for everything was a lot on me and my wallet.
Overall, I really enjoyed attending my first convention. Multiverse was inclusive and fun. It wasn’t huge but it was big. I would absolutely attend again and look forward to doing so next year.
Oh, and our live show went swell. We had a ton of fun pulling people in as they passed and just chatting overall. If you missed it you can watch it here.
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