TwitchCon Las Vegas was recently announced for this upcoming October, and with that announcement came a flood of users asking one question in particular: Should I go?
I can't speak for everyone, but I attended TwitchCon in October 2022 at the San Diego Convention Center. It was the first convention I'd been to, which can be the case for a lot of people! There's a lot to learn about the area it's in, what to eat, where to stay, how to get there, and then, of course, there's the convention itself. When it's your first time planning a trip for yourself, it can be overwhelming to start booking and researching, reserving and planning. In this post, I'll be talking about my experience as a first-timer when it came to the logistics of
The Journey
Before you can go, before you make restaurant reservations and plan your sightseeing - you need to figure out how to get there! Though it's not the case for absolutely everyone, flying is the most common method of transportation to the host city of TwitchCon. If there is one thing to take away from this section it's this: do your absolute best to book a nonstop flight. I was unlucky enough to deal with a delay that led to a longer delay, which led to a missed connection, which led to rebooking my flight for nine hours later and sleeping on the floor of the Las Vegas airport before finally getting to San Diego an hour before the convention started. If you can find a flight with no stops, take it. It will make your life so much easier. I booked my flights through Hopper, a mobile travel booking app. They offer multiple protections for your bookings (I was able to rebook my flight free of charge because I bought their Missed Connection Guarantee, which you can read more about on their website here).
Seeking Shelter
When it comes to where to sleep, you can get a hotel room (alone or with a close friend or two) or you can get a bigger group together and go for an Airbnb. I went with the latter; we were a group of eight in a gorgeous little house that was about a 15-minute drive from the convention center. Finding the right place for a group can be difficult - everyone has different wants and needs as well as price points. The first step should be a head count; once you know how many beds you need, the search becomes a little more specific. Next, try to figure out how far or close the group is willing to be from the convention. Someone from our group drove from Los Angeles and another had gotten a rental car, so we weren't concerned about needing to drive the distance. Using services like Uber is an option too, but can get pretty pricey if you're using it multiple times a day over the course of the whole trip.
Eating Smart
For meals, expect to be at the convention around lunchtime - there will likely be options there for food but your best bet is to have a decent breakfast before you go and then go to dinner when you leave the convention. Over the three days, I was at the convention, I'm pretty sure all I bought was a bottle of water each day (hang on to it for the day! Keep yourself hydrated and refill it at water fountains.) and a pretzel. My group, as well as other groups I knew, went grocery shopping on the first day since we were staying at places with kitchens; we saved money by making breakfast at the Airbnb, then going out in the evening. For going out, please make reservations. Especially in areas like San Diego or Las Vegas where everyone goes out at night, having a reservation makes your life so much easier. Don't be afraid to try new things when you go out; I got to try Korean BBQ for the first time and loved it (not even for TwitchCon, but if you haven't tried it before I highly recommend it). For those of you who are of age, if you're planning to drink during your trip don't be afraid to pregame... there's a specific kind of pain that comes from paying $17 for a 4oz. drink. Seriously, it made me miss paying $4 for a shot in Ohio.
Keep in Mind...
It's going to be such a weight off your shoulder with these things out of the way. Once you're there, it's going to be such a blast. The planning stage can be intimidating, but trust in the process and you'll find it to be easier than you imagined. Take a deep breath, make your to-do list and go plan the best TwitchCon trip ever!
If you'd like to see more about my experience at TwitchCon, you can check out my Twitter thread at this link.
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