Tikka To Ride
"If you look to your right and to your left, you will notice there are no exits. In the highly unlikely event of the lift having to make a crash-landing, death is certain."
According to the itinerary and financial records, I did not go to Anime Expo during the July 4th holiday. What I did do was visit Victoria and we celebrated our first year anniversary together. Of course, what better way is there to celebrate our anniversary than to attend the very convention where we officially became a dating couple one year ago? As an anniversery gift (and to help my financial records prove that I did not officially go to Anime Expo), Victoria was nice enough to pay for my pre-registration of the convention and even arranged a Cosplay.com Private Photoshoot on the day of our anniversery.
Driving to AX was simple this year: I didn't. Last year I quickly (read: stupidly) decided to pack several costumes and random (read: unnecessary) supplies into my car and drove (read: sped) 6 hours to Anaheim by myself. This year the rising gas prices, the current wear and tear on my car, and knowing that driving 6 hours to Anaheim by myself is not what I consider "fun" made me consider a smarter way to get to AX.
After considering carpools and buses, I decided to book a flight. True, I haven't flown for about 7 years (Rollerblading down a flight of stairs last year doesn't count) and I'm sure there'd be all sorts of new rules, regulations, and red tape to make the experience less pleasant. But the round trip ticket would cost less than driving to and from AX.1 Of course, without the luxury of my own car to transport equipment, I had to reduce my costume load. But I still would be cosplaying to the best of my usual ability (15 characters planned with only two suits).
July 1st arrived on schedule immediately after June 30th and I was ready to go. Chibihiku was nice enough to deliver me to the airport. We talked of previous trips to cons and traffic problems on the way. We managed to miss my departure terminal despite the "Southwest Terminal" sign on the road and the giant "A" on my boarding pass telling me to go to Terminal A (we thought it was Terminal C for some odd reason).
I checked in my suitcase with no problem. I carried my carry-on bags with no problem. I got my boarding pass with no problem. I walked through the metal detector with one problem. It detected metal on my person. As it turned out, it was a large safety pin that was pinned onto my shirt that I had forgotten about. I didn't need it so I surrendered it before arriving at the gate. I ate my field ration while waiting to board the plane. I didn't have to wait long.
The flight was relaxing. No crying babies. No overly talkative seatmates. And plenty of free diet coke to intoxicate me throughout the flight. I saw one 13 year old kid reading the "Battle Royale" novel during the flight. He was reading the part where Zuki got killed before the caffeine took effect and I dozed off.
The sound of a plane landing woke me up. Fortunately, it was the plane I was in. I called Victoria to announce my safe arrival. 20 minutes later I had grabbed my suitcase and carry-on items and was picked up by the lovely Victoria. Instead of heading directly to Anaheim for AX, we decided to relax the night before by taking in a movie. I got to drive Victoria's Mercedes for the first time. It took a bit to get used to, but I enjoyed driving. We intended to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" but it was sold out at the theater. The only other movie played within our time frame was "Spiderman 2" so we opted to see that. It was a good movie. I liked it much more than the first one.
We returned home and spent the rest of the night making final preparations for AX. Reg printout? Check. Music? Check. Baggage? Check and double check. Once we finished everything, we called it a night.
Costume Count: 00
Total Costumes: 00
1: Assuming 5 fuel stops, an average of $2.50/gallon, and 8 gallons to top off the tank, it would cost $100 in fuel. But I would also have to include an oil change before going (always change every 3,000 miles!), additional money spent on food during the 6 hour drive, and the opportunity cost of driving 6 hours.