Pro Tips: 2 weeks pre-con

honestly just bring a dollar gallon jug, either you will drink it all and be healthy or you will not be thirsty all day

Don't carry everything and your mother with you even if you ARE staying at a host hotel.  Especially not if you are NOT staying at a host hotel.  Three words:  SIX BLOCK RADIUS.  Just a small sling bag to carry your money, ID's, maybe some snacks in it, lip balm if you need it, camera and/or phone, charger for said phone, and medicine if you have to carry that kind of thing around.  THAT IS IS.  If you don't your back will hate you for it by midday and the walk and forth to your car and/or elevator is NOT worth it, trust me.

Is it too soon to start preparing tunes for your road trip, or is that a one week out thing?

And maybe start accumulating singles and fives; you will be tipping a lot of people.

Don't carry everything and your mother with you even if you ARE staying at a host hotel.  Especially not if you are NOT staying at a host hotel.  Three words:  SIX BLOCK RADIUS.  Just a small sling bag to carry your money, ID's, maybe some snacks in it, lip balm if you need it, camera and/or phone, charger for said phone, and medicine if you have to carry that kind of thing around.  THAT IS IS.  If you don't your back will hate you for it by midday and the walk and forth to your car and/or elevator is NOT worth it, trust me.

Use the hotel room safe if you have one. (not that I use it.  but I am a little paranoid)
Carry a battery charger for your phone. Discussed in other posts.  Ask Trathor or Basheesh if you need suggestions.
Carry Tylenol/Ibuprofen/Motril/Aleeve with you. Especially if you are not staying at a host hotel. 
Take Tylenol or Motrin before you go to bed if you have been drinking.
Drink a glass of water in between every beer/drink.
Wear comfortable shoes.
Eat at least 2 meals a day + snacks.

Stock up on meds- stuffs: Tylenol, antihistamines, tums, band-aids <--always need them, antiseptic wipes.

-- and any prescription meds you take, especially if you're from out of state.  The drugstores may not be able to fill an out of state scrip if you run out.

(And if you are seven or more months pregnant, check around for the local hospitals (NOT grady; emory is about a mile away)  just in case you find yourself bringing home a live souvenir from 'con. )

And one thing I added as an extra tip on the Podcast I recorded with the other Needless Things writers that you guys will hear next weekend...for you newbies...don't freak out over how laxed the celebrities are around you.  This is NOT your normal convention.  Other conventions the actors/singers/writers can't mix with us.  They have to hide behind masks to do so or can't even do it at all because people mob them and freak out.  At DC?  Well here are some examples of things that have literally happened to people that I know or to me:

Hanging out in the Martiott bathroom talking personal hygiene with Summar Glau because she was preparing to brush her teeth and she was completely relieved that I was too, and that she wasn't the only person that couldn't stand to let her teeth grow fur in between meals.

James Masters joining an impromptu fan gathering and hanging out drinking/talking all night at the Hilton Pool.

A fan and his wife joining John Glover (Lionel Luther from Smallville) to dinner after panels at a nearby restaurant at his invitation after getting in a conversation that just seemed to keep going.

A friend of mine having drinks with Alan Tudyk in the bar in the Marriott, who pointed out to him that yes, while his name was pronounced that way, he really DID only have JUST ONE of them.


They appreciate that they can be themselves around us and that we don't mob them or freak out.  They are normal people that have jobs just like we do; theirs just put them in front of a camera.  Not every celebrity acts above their station and like divas.  Many are completely normal and really REALLY love being treated as such.  You'll find that these kind of things will happen to you.  So as I say in the Podcast you'll hear:

"If you suddenly find that you wind up eating dinner at Hooters with Stephen Amell one night and you think to yourself "How on earth did I end up here?!"  Do NOT question it.  Just go with it."

^This. You will run into at least 1 or 2 celebs during your first DC. On my first day, I saw Gaeta from BSG in the Marriott and I was all "Wait. Was that Gaeta? Why is he walking around all willy nilly?" It was (and still is) absolutely amazing.

I haven't run into any celebrities at Dragon*Con yet, but that's pretty awesome!

I remember a panel where Jewel Staite said she was in a hotel elevator at Dragon*Con and someone told her that she did a really good Kaylee cosplay.  But that she didn't look exactly like the character, or something along those lines.    That was pretty funny.

To help prevent being infected with Con Crud and spreading it, don't touch the hand rails on the escalators with your hands. Use your elbows to steady yourself instead. And carry hand gel for when you have to touch door handles.

To help prevent being infected with Con Crud and spreading it, don't touch the hand rails on the escalators with your hands. Use your elbows to steady yourself instead. And carry hand gel for when you have to touch door handles.

To add to this...you can refill the sanitizer bottles in track rooms.  The Filk track for examples keeps a huge bottle of hand sanitizers in their room for con goers and they don't mind people refilling their little travel sized lanyard bottles with it.  They find it a smart idea actually.

You have two weeks: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BLUE POSTCARD IS?? Your spouse's? Your child's? The dog's? 

Omg, good one!  If you do not have it you can still get your ticket, but ALWAYS better to have it.

You have two weeks: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BLUE POSTCARD IS?? Your spouse's? Your child's? The dog's? 

Also great AT the con tips. Pre-con tip for me here now is to look for a hand sanitizer bottle.

Quote from: buzzard31581 on August 20, 2015, 12:02:57 AM

To help prevent being infected with Con Crud and spreading it, don't touch the hand rails on the escalators with your hands. Use your elbows to steady yourself instead. And carry hand gel for when you have to touch door handles.

To add to this...you can refill the sanitizer bottles in track rooms.  The Filk track for examples keeps a huge bottle of hand sanitizers in their room for con goers and they don't mind people refilling their little travel sized lanyard bottles with it.  They find it a smart idea actually.

i have usually found the little sample bottles of various things (toothpaste, shampoo, sanitizer etc) either at the ends of the cosmetics aisles in the grocery store, or in a section of bins in the big drugstores like CVS.

generally i would think now is the time to start idly browsing your local drugstore to make sure you have enough of your travel sized personal hygiene stuff.  there is a honkin' big CVS between the hyatt and the westin (and i believe it's 24 hr?) in case of emergencies.

and in case the crud gets the best of you, list of nearest CVS minit clinics; there's one in the GP bldg near 'con but it's not open on the weekend:

http://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/clinics/Georgia/Atlanta

i have usually found the little sample bottles of various things (toothpaste, shampoo, sanitizer etc) either at the ends of the cosmetics aisles in the grocery store, or in a section of bins in the big drugstores like CVS.

generally i would think now is the time to start idly browsing your local drugstore to make sure you have enough of your travel sized personal hygiene stuff.  there is a honkin' big CVS between the hyatt and the westin (and i believe it's 24 hr?) in case of emergencies.

and in case the crud gets the best of you, list of nearest CVS minit clinics; there's one in the GP bldg near 'con but it's not open on the weekend:

http://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/clinics/Georgia/Atlanta

What, you don't travel with a Dr. who can prescribe medications on the fly?