This is my second year attending Dragon*Con in Atlanta, the biggest sci-fi fantasy convention on the east coast. It is also my last for several years to come as I need to divide my summer for my family. I had been hoping to spend time to make my costume but time was limited so instead of three costumes, I narrowed it down to 2 costumes.
The day started off cloudy with light rain over Newark, security went by smoothly but still slow. We grabbed sandwich from The Earl of Sandwich and coffee from Abica Coffee. They were good by airport standard, not stupendous or any sorts.
Our flight was delayed due to a broken chair in the back, which took about 30 minutes to fix. Our flit was planned for 2.5 hours but the flight crew announced it would be 1.75 hours. However, with the delay, the brought us back to our original landing time. Just over half an hour into our flight, we suddenly hear banging noises. It’s a small plane so there’s not much space. We were also in the front and to hear noises distant in the back, I thought someone was stuck in the cargo. Meanwhile, my boyfriend is calming me by saying it’s zombies from World War Z. Turned out to be an old man who got caught in the bathroom.
Flying into Atlanta, I could see the city but we were nowhere close and I was wondering, wait, why are the landing gears down? The city is that way! Then I remembered, oh, the airport is always further out from the city.
Landing, we found our friend and off we went to the Marta. Like most big cities, taking the cab can be up to $40 but the Marta is $1 for the Breeze Card and only $2.50 for one ride into Peachtree Center.
Since our hotel room wasn’t ready, we waited on the registration line that wrapped around the block of Sheraton Hotel. The line was an hour before we got out badge, booklet, and schedule. I am thoroughly surprised about how long the line was and it went on until 9PM!
I took my friend to one of favorite restaurants in Atlanta, Alma Cocina. It’s a lot like Dos Caminos but they have great non-alcoholic drinks. We ordered 2 types of ceviche, which our waitress had to warn us that it was sushi grade fish, which I thought was a given, guacamole and our drinks were pineapple ginger, cherry hibiscus, and honeydew mint smoothie.
After checking into hotel, I went back to the Sheraton Hotel where the line was still wrapped around the building, despite it being 6PM. I bought a red plush dragon for my dog to add to his dragon collection and a steampunk keychain for myself.
As with all vacation, rest is important and so is eating well. So after a short nap, dinner was finished at Pacific Rim Bistro. Yes, the jokes were aplenty but food was quite good, if only at the more expensive side.
