10 Things for Convention Travel

You did it. You have those tickets for that con sitting in your email inbox. No matter if this is your first convention out of town, or you have done this many times before, you still need to prepare. There is the actual logistics of traveling and getting to and from your home to the convention. Then there is also everything else that comes with being in a different city and being at a convention.

1. Budget

Before you do anything you kinda need to decide how much money you have, and how much you want to spend. Personally, like all things in my life, I have a spreadsheet for this. I copy them from trip to trip and add new things as I go. This is also the same spreadsheet I use for trips that aren’t convention related. Another benefit for having this document sitting in my drive is that I have the information on how much I spent on previous cons and I can go from there and decide how much I should be spending again on this trip. Really, I am a nerd and I could probably talk about spreadsheets and budgets for a real long time, so I am going to stop there. As long as you have a budget that works for you, great.

2. Plan Your Travel

Are you driving, busing, flying, or catching a lift a friend. Booking my flights for an out of province convention is the very first time I do right after buying tickets for a convention. I personally use https://momondo.ca to book my flights. I like that it gathers prices for me from all across different airlines, and I can sort it by cheapest, or quickest. After this, if you don’t have a friend’s place to crash at, do hotel bookings. Sometimes I will book my hotel for the actual convention weekend with my tickets if there is a deal with the organizers. After I have my flights booked I can then either change my hotel booking, or book an airbnb in a different neighborhood to explore before or after the convention.

3. Figure Out Transit

I generally do this at the same time as books hotels or Airbnbs. Because we don’t rent cars, we rely heavily on city transit and ride shares such as Uber or Lyft. In my bullet journal I write down my arrival time from the airport, the time it takes to get to my accommodations, and the time it takes to get to the convention center. Google Maps is great for giving you all of this information so you don’t need to hunt through multiple websites. Although I would suggest if using a city’s transit for the first time, take a peek on their website to figure out fares and how they work.

4. Get Travel Insurance

If this is your first time out of the country, I would take look into travel insurance. I am lucky enough to have travel insurance through both my work health plan, and my credit card. If you have either of these I would suggest checking with the first to see if you have some sort of travel coverage. If not, shop around for some plans. Travel Insurance isn’t that expensive, and often you can choose between single trip plans, or annual plans if you plan on traveling more through the year.

5. Check the Weather & Make a Packing List

These go hand in hand for me. Generally a couple weeks beforehand I will have my general list written out, and my travel toiletries packed away with my suitcase already. I probably do this earlier than most people, and earlier than really needed. I like to anxiously prepared though. This gives me enough time to also do an inventory of what I might need to go out and buy before my trip. A week or so beforehand I will see what the weather looks like, and start planning outfits and clothes to pack around that. Just keep in mind that weather is ever-changing, and if it says it will be super hot all week, maybe pack a sweater just in case.

6. Make A List of Nearby Interests

I mentioned google maps earlier and I shall do it again. Maps is my best friend on a trip. Before a trip I will mark interesting nearby shops or restaurants to check out. This really cuts down on the time wasted laying in your hotel room trying to figure out a place to eat after the con when you already have no energy. Just open up google maps, see the places that you marked weeks ago as interesting and pick one. I collect my list of places to check out by spending the weeks previously on Google or Pinterest, looking at other bloggers posts on places they enjoyed. Also put a call out on your twitter or Instagram to see if your friends have any places they would recommend.

7. Decide on Costumes & Make a Packing List

As soon as you can, try to make a line up of costumes you are wearing and bringing. When I figure out what I am bringing I write down a list of every single piece I need to pack. I get into really fine details personally. I also have these lists written down in a spreadsheet in my drive, so I don’t need to try to remember every single piece I need to bring every single time I want to bring a costume with me. Having it in drive also gives me the ability to add things as I need to, depending on if I redo, or do something different to my costumes.

I generally try to have a rule that I don’t bring costumes I don’t have finished yet to an out of town convention. If you do, it makes it even more important that you decide what to bring ASAP so you can figure out everything you need to get done. This brings me to my next point.

9. Make a Crafting To Do List

Whether you have a costume you are working on, or a costume is already done, make a to do list. Pull out your old costume and go over all the things you maybe forgot that needed to get repaired on it. Having everything laid out on paper in front of me also helps me realize how much I need to do however long before leaving for the convention, and how I need to spread my work load.

10. Keep Your Immune System and Skin Healthy

On a good day I suck at taking care of myself. The weeks coming up to travel though, I try to be better about it. I generally do a lot more in regard to skin care coming up to a con to make sure I don’t have any unwanted breakouts in photos. Face masks and moisturizing happens a lot more 2 weeks before a trip for me. Also remember to drink lots of water, and actually get a good amount of sleep before a convention as well. It sucks to be on your way to something exciting, only to realize that you have gotten sick.

Are there things on your list of preparing for con travel that I missed out? Let me know.

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Vintage and Retro Portland

Portland Oregon is just full of really rad vintage stuff. From their old building, to mid century furniture stores, and so many vintage clothing shops. There are so many vintage shops that it is impossible to do all of them on one trip to the city. Here are 8 stores I got to check out on my 4 day trip to Portland back in March.

Classic Collection Hats. So this isn’t specifically a store that has to do with vintage. This Classic Collection Hats has so many styles of hats for a lot of different budgets. I loved that they carried a lot of styles that came in multiple sizes. Both my partner and I suffer from having larger than average heads. I walked out buying myself an olive green beret, and my partner a matching newsboy cap. They also had so many different sort of straw sun hats that I wanted to take home. Check this place out no matter the style of hats you enjoy, there will probably be something there you would like.

House of Vintage. One of the least curated shops on this list, you want to come in with a lot of patience and time. I came into House of Vintage with neither. We had gotten coffee at Tov just down the street and stopped in quickly on our walk back to our Airbnb. I can say that if you have the time though, I can see this store paying off. It’s set up in a mall style, with different vendors, so they have a vast range of really neat things, to shrug worthy stuff. Things seem to be organized within individual vendors and not eras, or type of clothing. So hence the need for patience and time to find the gems. With my 20-30 minutes in the store, I did walk out with a lovely mustard yellow wool blouse circa 1950 for I think about 13 dollars. It was missing the button, but nothing that I couldn’t fix. Just be prepared that if you are on the hunt for a specific era, they do have the whole range of stuff from the 20s right up to the 90s.

Red Light Clothing. A little more curated than House of Vintage, but expect there to be a little bit of everything at Red Light Clothing, and to do some hunting to find something neat. Things here are at least organized by pieces of clothing and size. So if you are only on the hunt for dresses, it’s a bit easier to work with than House of Vintage. I tried on a couple of pieces, and nothing either fit nicely or were super my style. Truth be told I could take it or leave it. A lot of their stuff is way more 80s-90s which personally isn’t my jam, if it’s yours go check it out. Just don’t expect to be swimming in mid century clothing.

Hollywood Vintage. I saw online that Hollywood Vintage was praised for having this huge collection of vintage eyewear. Seeing that I was considering picking up some new glasses myself, I figured this was a place I would have to check out and threw it on my to-do list. Unfortunately when I visited, a couple weeks beforehand they had a break in occur, which resulted most of their eyewear stock stolen or destroyed. Besides the very empty room that once held the collection of glasses, they still carried a variety of hats and a very small selection of vintage clothing. The rest of their store was a mix between thrifted house wear and knick-knacks, and old costume stock. Go if you want to see some neat things, not on the top of the list for some true vintage clothing items.

Hattie’s. One of the smaller stores that I visited, but it was pack full of really neat things. Hattie's had vintage ranging from the 30s to the 70s for both menswear and womenswear. Prices here varied from very reasonable to way out of my budget. I would especially suggest checking out this store if you are on the hunt for some gloves. I found myself a pair that fit my hands which never seems to happen. There was also a 50s crop jacket with embossed flowers in black that screamed my name while there, that I got to wear a couple days later for my anniversary dinner.

Simply Vintage Co. This is a store that I wished so very dearly was where I lived. I visited Simply Vintage after a sweaty bike ride (and getting lost) from OMSI. I am so glad I did. The person who ran the store was so sweet, and loved giving me suggestions of things to look at. It didn’t really take her all that long to figure out what stuff would look good on me. This is a person who obviously has a passion for what she does. The store itself is wonderfully curated with a mix of true vintage and newer reproduction stock. If you have any interest in 40s or 50s era of women’s clothing, you must go to this place. I walked out of there spending roughly $200 CAD for two vintage pieces. Probably more than I was intended to spend, but I wouldn’t even be able to get two repro pieces where I live for that price.

Magpie. I feel like Magpie is what I think of when I think of vintage stores. This place carries products ranging from the 20s to the 70s. Both quality and price points are seen on lower and higher scales. I walked out personally with a short sleeve green wool cardigan that very quickly made its way in my everyday wardrobe. I got a steal of a deal also on a 1940s felted hat with netting and feathers, albeit the deal was probably due to the fact it not being in the greatest condition. No matter what you are on the hunt for Magpie is a pretty safe bet on checking out if you are traveling through Portland.

Red Fox Vintage. We visited Red Fox’s Woodstock store on our walk around the neighborhood after checking out a pool nearby. One of those places that does a bit of everything, and seemed to work off of consignment, don’t expect this place to be stuffed with clothing. Most of the store had knick-knacks and housewares. A neat place to check out if you are in the area, but I wouldn’t say make the trip out of your way for it. I can’t speak to their other location though as I only checked out the one.

Are there some really rad places that I missed out while in Portland? Let me know and I will check it out on my next trip out there!

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