To 10 Travel Tips for your First Convention

I offer ten tips for first time convention goers.

Introduction

Every year around this time I like to put together a list of tips, tricks, and advice for people attending their first convention. About a month ago it occurred to me that the first time I went to a convention was also my first vacation that I was in charge of. Up until then it was always going places with my parents who were in charge of everything. As such there were a lot of things I learned about travel the hard way.

It has occurred to me that some of you may be going on your first vacation and about to step into some of those same pitfalls. To this end, I’m going to give you some of the tips I learned that first vacation, the second one, and periodically over the next thirty years.

I will do another list later on that’s about specifically convention related tips about demos, how often to take a shower, and things to do at conventions. This list is going to cover the things you’ll need to know for the convention itself. This isn’t in any particular order of importance; it’s just numbered for a sake of tradition.

10: Choosing the Right Hotel

There are a lot of things to think about when choosing a hotel. Distance and price are the two most people think of. How close are you to the convention and how much is it going to cost you? These are both very important things to know. However, a couple of other things to think about that people miss are what the hotel includes. If you’re driving, does your hotel include parking in its price or is it extra and how much is it? Does your hotel include breakfast? Does it have accessibility options for you if you need those? Does it charge for the room as a whole or is there an extra cost per guest? A list of amenities on a hotels website will tell you all of these things. Always take a few moments to look at them.

9: Booking a Hotel Room

Getting a hotel room, on the surface, is pretty easy. Most conventions have a deal with a couple of local hotels and will offer a link or code for discount rooms through them. Absolutely, take advantage of those. However, they aren’t always the cheapest option. In my experience the AAA discount is always better than most convention discounts for rooms. When you get a room, it’s always worth checking what discounts you have and which ones will be better for you. A little bit of research ahead of time has saved me up to 300 dollars for the full trip.

8: Rebooking a Room

There are a lot of factors in the price of a hotel room. What will be occurring when you’re in the room is one of those things. Other things that effect the price include: how booked the hotel is when you make your reservation, how far in advance you make it, and any number of other events. How I take advantage of this is after I make my reservation, I check online with the hotel and see what it would cost to reserve a room once a month. If it’s ever cheaper than what I’m currently reserved for then I make the new reservation and then I cancel the original one. I once reserved a reservation in the same hotel six times to drop the overall price of my room. I don’t waste the time of the staff, I just do the entire thing online and it’s easily done.

7: Paring

If you can’t stay at a hotel connected to the con and are a distance away, visiting for one day, or live in the area. This route is usually a lot cheaper and becomes more attractive to lots of people because of that. One of the downsides of this is needing to park. During a convention parking rates usually jump significantly; I’ve seen upwards of thirty dollars a day and I’m sure there are more. It can also be difficult to find a good parking space near the con. You’re not likely to find convention parking rates ahead of time online, but you will be able to find locations. It can be easy to find paring locations in an area if you look online and sometimes be able to find smaller ones that get missed if you’re driving around the city watching for signs. Another thing to look for are lot hours. Not all lots are open 24/7 and some of them stop letting people out after a certain point. If you park in one of these, make sure you know what time you’ll need to get your car out so you’re not stuck.

6: Uber/Lyft/Taxi

An alternative to parking if you’re in one of the previously mentioned groups is getting a ride. It’s not unheard of where the services listed have discounts available in the towns where conventions are going on for people going to or from them. You can usually find coeds ahead of time and use them. They also have the advantage of getting you to and from the con by leaving/receiving you at the door to the con and saving on walking. Even their standard prices can be cheaper for two trips rather than parking all day in some cases. There are some drawbacks, such as not having ready access to leaving if you need to or staying at the con and having ready access to a room for small visits during the day are all great alternatives, but getting a ride can be a lifesaver.

5: Food

Before going to a convention, look online at the area you’ll be in and find a couple of places you can eat and how much they typically cost. I say typically because some restaurants will institute a convention menu that will have a reduced selection, inflated prices, or both. This is why it’s a good idea to find a couple of places you’ll be willing to eat in case one modifies itself out of your budget. Some fun options for this are to look at places Diners, Drive-Inns, & Dives has been to in the area. The Show the Best Thing I Ever Ate also has some good options for most towns. There are also convention staples, like Origins has North Market which is always a great option for food. Also think about when you want to eat. Noon at a convention is always busy, but 3 isn’t often as crowded.

4: Drive Time

I tend to drive to conventions. Most of the ones I visit are an hour or so from my house and easy to get to. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the time on the GPS and the actual time it will take you to get there are rarely the same. For every two hours you are on the road assume at least an extra half an hour. I once took a six hour trip, left at noon and arrived after midnight. This can be anything from traffic, stopping for food, bathroom breaks, and traffic. I say traffic tice because the number of times the highway into a major city turned into a parking lot is astounding. GPS today has some wonderful tools to warn you construction, speed traps, and all sorts of holdups with enough time to find an alternate route. But they don’t always give you enough time. Never leave your house assuming you’ll arrive when the GPS says.

3: Air Travel

I tend to drive everywhere I go, but I have flown a couple of times. Things to worry about here are parking your car at the airport, arriving in time, and booking your return flight. When booking flights you choose the times that you leave from the airport in both directions. Look online for your gate locations. It’s important to know this stuff before arriving, especially if you’ll only have a little time to find them. Additionally, Google Maps has airport gate locations saved and can be used in the airport to get you where you need to go. Additionally, I tend to do carry on when I do fly. Usually, it’s not a problem. However, I’ve never traveled with miniatures. If you are flying to a convention and are brining painted miniatures for an event, contest, or any other reason, check them. If you take a hollow object through airport security; such as your Le Man Russ, dragon, or large figure you put dozens of hours into they will need to see inside of it. This means breaking it open. If they’re nice, they’ll try and do it along a seam. Seriously, if you don’t want a piece of your soul to die a little, check them.

2: Tour Groups

One alternative to everything I’ve listed is a tour group. To be clear, I’ve not actually done this, I’d like to, but I haven’t. Friends of mine used Geek Nation Tours to attend GenCon some time ago and really enjoyed it. While not all of them, most tour groups include hotel, some food, entry to the event, and few other odds and ends. They don’t usually include travel to the event so be prepared to do that yourself. One of the things my friends spoke highly of is having a built in group of people to play games with. They are expensive, but if you can afford it, then this might be a great options.

1: Rest

One thing I didn’t think about the first few times I went to a convention was the day after the con. I cannot tell you how many times I went to work exhausted because I got home from the convention at 0 dark thirty. Even when I did get home at a decent hour, travel and everything else is exhausting. I have found that taking the day after the convention off of work is nearly mandatory. It gives you a chance to relax, do laundry, eat real food, and get back to a more regular schedule. Additionally, if anything unexpected happens you’ll have a one day buffer. I once went to a tournament where most of my group got into the finals. We ended up staying until six at night when one car of us had to leave because one of use had to be a work the next morning. We had to drive through the night and exhaustion to get this person home in time for work the next morning while trying hard not to pass out on the drive home. Give yourself the buffer, take Monday off.

Outro

There you go. Those are my 10 travel tips for anyone going to their first convention or vacation really. However, I know that I missed some travel tips. If you can think of any drop them in the comments below. I will be doing a more convention specific list later on for all of those of us who have been to on vacation and want to know what to do at the con itself.

If you want to find me on social media I’m on Threads and X, I share photos on Instagram. Meeple Gamers is on Instagram and we have a Discord Server.

Until next time, stay safe and be well.