Bronycon 2019 - I'm going, and looking forward to it. · 3:52pm Feb 26th, 2019
Just a quick note. Please encourage Raugos on his possible upcoming trip to the insane asylum we have every year, and I had a few newbie pointers to pass along on how to survive Bronycon and Baltimore. (experienced con-goers feel free to correct me)
- Take a cab from the airport to the hotel and back. The train is an... experience. Baltimore is not the nicest place. Cab fare is capped, and can be charged to a credit card while en route, including a tip. Give the guy a couple bucks cash anyway. He's got a tough job.
-Baltimore airport sucks. Get there early for your trip back.
-If you have a smartphone, get the Adblock browser and hit the Flightaware.com website. It tells you when your plane is going to show, where it is right now, all the wonderful things you need to know, only with enough popups to drive you nuts if you don't run Adblock.
- Introduce yourself to just about everybody. With luck, you'll get at least one "It's you! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" moment.
- Use your Fimfiction name. Honestly, I only know *one* of you guys by your real name.
-Don't shake hands very often (con crud avoidance) Wash your hands every chance you get.
-Feel free to geek out over the guests, other writers, artists you love, and make sure you have space to take back all the swag you buy. The *hardest* part to pack for me was the sticks in the wall hangings. They don't fit inside any luggage, and the airport peeps look at them funny if you carry them. You may consider just leaving the sticks with the artists and buying new sticks through Amazon.
I've never had an issue with the train. (Well, other than reserving a ticket for the right time at the wrong day and having to scramble for a one-way at the Baltimore station.) Mind you, I have a direct Amtrak connection. As long as you schedule it with an expectation of a two-hour delay, it's pretty painless.
Also, plan out what events you want to attend ahead of time, but don't be afraid to deviate from the schedule.
Also always remember to budget some time for Quills and Sofas, because that's where all the cool people hang out. Sometimes, I'm there, too.
Thank you so much for the tips! I, a total con newbie, will really need them!
I so want to go to bronycon, but money is tight and commissions take time to do, and me currently not having a day-job, it's going to be tough. Thank you so much for your tips, I'll be sure to look into them. any advice you have on the planning portion of going would be welcome (R&B, cheap airfare, etc.)
Nice reminders, Georg. I'm not sure if I'll be able to go—need the docs to give me the go-ahead—but if I can I'll be taking an Amtrak from the Northeast. That at least saves me the airport experience.
5020324
Hope to see you there, Dash!
All very good points, especially about speaking to everyone and saying hello. You never know who you'll meet and most everyone is so very friendly! Quite ironic, isn't it!
Be sure to show appreciation to the vendors and the staff. The vendors are fans too, but this their living. And the staff are there to help, so be nice and thank them.
And definitely make time for Sofas and Quills. It's a good place to meet your favorite authors and just be around some very cool folks.
Good info to have. I haven't been to a Baltimore convention since Otakon 2003, when I was 19 and too stupid to pay attention to such details.
5020318
The best way to economize is to talk to people on your friends list (and/or local bronies) about convention plans. Unless you're local, your biggest expenses by far are going to be travel and hotel. Planning ahead can really help with those by grouping up, if you're willing to have a bit of an adventure. If you're within road-trip distance and have more time than money, stuffing four people inside a car and driving to the con and back is potentially both cheaper and more fun than a plane ticket.
Air fare's a more complex topic than can easily be covered here. But if you're willing to depart or arrive at crazy hours, that can help keep the cost down. Start looking well in advance, get a sense of what the flight "should" cost, then grab the first deal you see that gives you a great price break. The weekday that you fly matters a lot, too, but unless you've got a free/cheap place to stay, tacking on extra days will eat up your savings with hotel costs.
And whether you fly or drive, if you go in on a hotel room with a group of friends, you get to split that ~$600 hotel cost four ways (or six, or eight, or…) Make sure you know what your comfort level is, though. The more people you sardine into a hotel room, the more people have to crash in corners and on floors.
The con badge itself is $70, but if you're willing to help work the convention (by joining staff, or serving as a "gofer" to help check badges at doors, etc) usually they will comp that or give you a partial/full refund. Check the Bronycon website for their volunteer policies.
Food is an unavoidable expense, but if you're road-tripping you can buy a ton of snacks up front rather than pay convention center prices. There are also a good number of nearby restaurants; getting a $7 Chipotle burrito is a much more filling deal than a $7 slice of on-site pizza.
Hope that helps!
Aye, thinking and more intensive planning on it seems to have been going around recently! I a few days ago took a look at the prices and my planned budget and decided to go ahead and extend my hotel reservation out to five nights, Wednesday to Monday.
(Two beds in the room, by the way, and I've not found someone(s) for the other one yet.)
"The train is an... experience."
Hm, really? I've only been a few times, but I didn't have any problems. Do you think I've just been lucky?
Though I've also been riding to and from Penn Station rather than the airport, so perhaps the routes are different too.
"Use your Fimfiction name."
Aye, I've done that before and plan to do it again.
"Wash your hands every chance you get."
I have a pocket bottle of hand sanitizer I've carried around with me, and it seems to have worked well.
"and make sure you have space to take back all the swag you buy"
I don't know if I'll have enough spending money for it to matter for me, but I'm slightly worried about that with the Bronycon Bookstore. Google Maps says that there are a few post offices nearby, but none really _in_ the convention center/hotel complex. But, yeah, keeping it all in one's luggage would be better, if possible.
5020300
Ah, hello fellow rider-of-Amtrak-to-Bronycon! Do you come in from the north or south?
"Also, plan out what events you want to attend ahead of time, but don't be afraid to deviate from the schedule."
Aye, seconded.
5020324
And hello to you as well! Good luck making it (and with your health in general, it sounds like).
My plan, as in past years, has me travelling between Baltimore and New York Penn, though I'm not yet sure exactly which trains I'll be on.
5020356
Thanks, and I would be open to talking about potential grouping (although I don't know about groups of 8+ people in a single room). I sadly do not live within driving distance, so plane or train tickets would have to be a necessity. I'm on the FimFiction discord channel, so if you knew anyone who was looking to split costs and stuff, just let me know. I-dee-aa! what we need is a group of bronies who have access to small planes like they do for some of the children's hospitals and the like. Brony-Air or something.
5020408
Same here, except I have an extra stop to make before getting to NY Penn. It's not terrible, the only problem is that sometimes there's an annoying layover. I've had to wait in Penn Station for an hour between the suburban ride and the ride down south before. Blegh. But then other times the same train just goes straight up to the burbs. Convenient.
Food wise, I can cram enough apples, tangerines and cereal bars in my duffel bag to survive the entire con weekend. And still have enough room for clothes, toiletries and loot for the trip back (said bag stuffed full still fits in Southwest's limits, who I primarily fly with). That's breakfast & lunch for the whole trip, I usually pig out on seafood while in Baltimore, I don't get a lot where I live.
What's everyone's thoughts on the light rail? Straight from the airport to the con hall
5020456
I've always had a good experience with it. Last year it was down for a while, but not during the con. It's much less expensive than a cab or uber but it takes about 45 minutes or so.
Well, I'm glad you and Biscuit are going! It's going to be so great!
i'm planning to cross half the world to get to USA for BC so..
Hey, maybe I'll see you there. Or you'll see me. Or both. Or neither.
Aaarrrggghhh I need to go!
I’m currently waiting on word about my wife’s Summer schedule to determine feasibility. But if I make it, I definitely plan to squee and try to get your autograph. 
(5020300 and 5020356 and 5020345 and doubtlessly many others, too.)
I'm taking my motorcycle. Making a trip of it and going to be riding from Ontario (that's in Canada, in case you didn't know, lol). See y'all there!
Edit: if any of you guys know of a good place to camp near Baltimore, let me know. I'm going to try to avoid hotels if possible (I'm a cheap dutchman... what can I say?)
FYI: Here's a taxi rate table for BWI to various places. Not sure how up-to-date it is.
5020536 You're crazy. That's not a bad thing, just saying. When I was a young pup, I rode my 250 across Kansas. Never again. :)
5020458
5020456 Baltimore has nice crab cakes. I reccomend Bubba Gumps' Shrimp place down by the Inner Harbor. Wife and I ate there on one of the "One-of-about-everything platters" Since we're from Kansas, it was nice.
5020431 5020408
5020356 I've already started stuffing an envelope with "If I don't do this, I can take this to Baltimore" money. Goodby Pizza Hut, so long McDonalds for a few months. It's good for me too.
5020345 That's the most fun time.
5020300 yeah, that's Amtrak. We flew into BWI, and... Well, let me detail this out.
Last Year's Bronycon Trip - BWI airport to the Inner Harbor hotel
We landed, deplaned, and had our carry-on luggage. Nothing checked, because we were cheap. One carry-on, one bag under the seat. Three days. Asked around for how to get to the Inner Harbor convention center, walked about a mile inside the airport to the visitor center, then about a half-mile to the ticket machine. Whoever designed them hates people. Then we boarded the train and rode to the hotel... Not.
Oh, it had rained, and since nobody thought about rain when they built the railroad, some of the sections had washed out. So we go out to the stop and wait on the bus which would take us to the next train stop past the washed-out section. And wait. About a half-hour later, the bus arrives. We board. We wait. About 45 minutes later when it was properly packed to the elbows, it starts to move. It *has* to visit all the closed train stations en route, plus every tiny little road with 90 degree corners and stop at every street light. After about 45 minutes, it pulls into a train station and we all get out, dragging our luggage. We still have the tickets we bought. We go wait on the platform for the train. And wait. About a half-hour later, a train goes by. And keeps going. Another half-hour later, the train shows up. Stops. We get on. About a half-hour goes by. Then the train starts to move. Then stops. More people get on. People that I really don't trust, and who don't trust me. Several stops later, we're elbows to elbows. I can see where we need to get off. We stop at the ball field. Twenty minutes later (I could have walked there by now) we start moving again and stop at the place where I know we need to get off. We do. Drag our luggage about a half-block to the hotel. Check in. Wife collapses on the bed. I drag myself to the con. Get second wind. Feel a strange empathy with Estee.
Last Year's Bronycon Trip - Hotel to BWI airport
We tell the checkout clerk we want a taxi to the airport. We go to the front of the hotel. A taxi pulls up. People get out. We get in. He drives us to the airport right to the gate we need. We pay him $35 dollars, plus a tip. We go through TSA.
We still have the train ticket. Nobody collected it. (although if we had *not* bought one, several of Baltimore's fine young men were standing around the train stop, selling what they said were tickets. Plus I've been told *not* having a ticket is a couple hundred dollar fine if the transit peeps catch you, and they target tourists before residents.)
Quick Compare and Contrast with my trip to Disneyland a few years ago. I had reserved a seat on something called the Purple Bus at LAX. Eight tired people get into the van. The driver has a cell phone, a GPS, and is driving twice the posted speed limit while using all of them. He's part octopus. We must have driven for two hours from the airport to the hotel, dropping off people here and there. I loved it because there was so much of LA to see. Like flat houses a few inches apart where in Kansas we have this thing called a 'yard' and something called a 'second floor' Or giant billboards on steel posts in the middle of the freeway with graffiti all over them, and about thirty feet of concertina wire below. (How in heck do they do that??) Or motorcycle lanes in that wasted ten inches of space or so between car lanes.
5020595
I may check out bubba gumps. Usually I grab some crab soup from the Orioles grill in the Sheraton, and spent $60ish at the rusty scupper on crab cakes
5020431
"Same here, except I have an extra stop to make before getting to NY Penn. It's not terrible, the only problem is that sometimes there's an annoying layover. I've had to wait in Penn Station for an hour between the suburban ride and the ride down south before."
Ah, same here there, too; NY Penn is where I transition between Amtrak and the LIRR.
(And aye, last year on the way out I got into NYP around 0124 (having gotten on the train at around 2322 the previous day), with my Amtrak leaving 0325 (scheduled to arrive in Baltimore around 0607, saving me a hotel night at the cost of a long day). I find I don't actually mind NYP nearly as much as a lot of people seem to, though, whether the few times I've been there at night or the even fewer times I've been there during a busy hour, so the layover's not usually that bad for me despite the length.)
"But then other times the same train just goes straight up to the burbs. Convenient."
Oh? Hm. Do you mean NJT, with the Regional, or whatever you're on, stopping where you want to get off in New Jersey? Or do you mean Metro North, and there's an extra step going between NYP and Grand Central when the Amtrak doesn't continue past Penn? If you don't mind me asking, of course.
5020661
Well that sounds like a fun red-eye trip. Yeesh.
And no, I think I worded that poorly. I come in from the NY 'burbs (so let's say we're taking the southbound ride). Have to get a ride to the station where Amtrak stops on the Metro North line (either south or north of me depending on the time of the train), then it stops in Penn Station before it continues going south, but sometimes it isn't the same train. Sometimes the Amtrak I take in from the burbs is the same one that goes south past Penn and I don't have to do anything, but other times I have to get out at Penn and then wait for a different train that's going to take me to the right destination. Did that ALL THE TIME when I was commuting between home and college at UDelaware.
And let's stop here so we don't fill up Georg's comment section with train directions.
You're welcome to PM. 
5020595
Hahaha, well, genius is often accompanied by insanity! Lol, but in all seriousness, I've done 13 hour days in the saddle, so I should be okay for the 9 hours or so it will take to get to MD. I've camped before on long trips, so I'm fairly prepared.
Got another question for yall. I'm assuming that the convention center has parking of some kind, but is there some type of parking fee? If there is, what's the rate, and are Motorcycles exempt?
5020729
Yeah, just a bit. :)
This year will probably be easier, since I decided to splurge a bit on the last Bronycon. Still hoping to be able to split the hotel bill, but I can pay for the whole thing with the budget I'd set... which opens up more options regarding travelling times. :)
Ahh, okay, thanks; that makes sense.
Hm, aye, might be a good idea.
5020754 I actually have no idea, but I'm willing to bet everything in a mile or two is pay by the day. When we drove the year before last, we had to pay to park in the hotel parking lot, something that my Kansas upbringing found remarkably strange.
5020729 5020661 Oh, I have zero problem with a bunch of train directions in here. Trains fascinate me, in the same way that running water fascinates a Martian. My public transit experience other than Bronycon has been two weeks in Washington DC (don't get me started) and a week in Disneyland (I can wax poetic on the Disney bus system for hours).
5020989
Oh, thanks. :)
Don't know if we'll end up bringing some conversation back here, but we might.
(And yeah, most of my growing up was also done somewhere with no public transit. Pre-kindergarten childhood had some trains and buses, but then we moved, and my next regular experience with public transit wasn't until I started graduate school, with buses. Didn't stop me from liking trains throughout, but it's nice that nowadays I can actually see them in person and use them more.)
5020989 5020995
I'm basically the opposite. Suburban New York has pretty easy access to Metro North that can get you to tons of places in the Hudson Valley. And of course, taking the Metro into NYC is a given. That and there are a bunch of bus routes around the burbs if you aren't going into the city.
5021015
Oh, sure, and there's plenty of transit here, as well, but I didn't grow up around here.
5020595
Oh right there was the dumb epic flooding what happened last year.
Yea if the light rail is out take Lyft, but if it isn't it's $3 and 30 minutes and you are there
5022129 yeah, if it had been *working* we would have been fine, like taking the parking lot shuttle in KCI. Corner me sometime in Bronycon and I'll give you my story about the Washington DC subway system, when I went there on work detail. It tried to kill me.
5022134
Hahaha. If I can. Or just come to the Maid Cafe one of the shows odds are I will be there :P
5020408
Doing a little necromancy -- you take Amtrak to the con? What's that like?
I'll be doing the same but it's been 20 years since I've ridden Amtrak. Kind of an experiment!
No I drove before and are going to drive this time. Lots to see.
5070830
Well, for me, it's just been the Northeast Regional to and from New York Penn Station, and I've found it good. Fine, at least; the trips home can be a bit rough, but I'd put that towards my own state rather than the train's.
Where would you be coming from? If just on the Northeast Regional, if at the very least from somewhere no farther away than NYP, I'd say go for it!
(Also, if you're going to be on the 93 Northeast Regional Wednesday (July 31st, that is), so will I and so were some other people planning to.)
If you're coming from farther away... the long-distance routes can vary in quality, particularly under... current management.
(And the only one I've personally been on (as a long-distance train; I rode the Palmetto as a corridor train when it happened to be running at a convenient time for the trip I wanted (thus of course demonstrating one of the benefits of long-distance trains, that they can also be used as corridor trains...)) is the Crescent; I've found that pretty good, though.)
...Er, trying not to get too NARP-member here. :D
But yeah, hard to say that much more about the trip without knowing where you're coming from. I've found Baltimore Penn Station pretty nice, though, and there's a light rail line from there that stops right by the convention center.
Let me know if you've any specific questions, though, and I can try to answer them!
5070842
I'll actually be on the Crescent! Coming up from down south. It's an overnight train and I have no illusions that it'll actually arrive at the time stated on the ticket, so I'm just kind of seeing how it goes.
5070852
Oh, nice! Aye, its OTP is terrible these days, particularly the northbound or south-of-Washington southbound, but I've found it a good train (though I've only been as far south as nearly-Atlanta on it; someday I'd like to ride it all the way to New Orleans, but time and money... (as it is, I've only taken then trips on it I have because family friends have paid so that I could use it to get to and from some family occasions)). And Anderson hasn't killed the diner on it yet.
Hope you have a good trip!
5070859
Thanks, you too!
5070877
Thanks. :)