This is probably one of the craziest things I've ever done, so I thought it'd be fun to write a trip report about it
Yesterday morning, I was browsing the internet somewhat mindlessly, when I came across an add for the London Film and Comic Con (LFCC) 2009, being held in - duh! - London next month. Now, I've never read a comic book in my life so I've never been interested in any type of comic convention per se. However, when I looked at the guest lineup, two names caught my eye...
1.
Peter Facinelli (aka Dr. Carlisle Cullen from Twilight
)
Very cool, as I am a H-U-G-E Twilight fan. Not "screaming 13-year-old girl" crazy but still a fan. I think the Twilight saga is a great love story, I enjoyed reading the books very much, and I thought the first movie was awesome. Plus, Peter Facinelli is known to be great when it comes to fan interaction. The LFCC also has two more actors starring in the Twilight saga: Justin Chon (Eric) and Alex Meraz (Paul in New Moon). So this sparked my interest, but it wasn't enough to make me take any action...
2.
Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson from Stargate)
Yeah baby! Now we're talking
My DH and I own every single episode of Stargate (and Stargate Atlantis) on DVD and have always thought that Michael Shanks is hillarious in it...
At that point, something in my head clicked. How much fun would it be to meet those guys in person? I mean, living in Germany, we're usually just so far away from everything - but London isn't bad! So I called my DH to ask what he'd think of a spontanious weekend getaway to London - and he immediately told me to book it!
Seriously? I mean, did you hear me, honey? That is so untypical for both of us! We're usually the type to plan our vacations months in advance
(as most of us OCD Disney-freaks do, right? ).
Everything after that went so fast, I'm still in shock (in a good way, of course). I booked us a flight to London for early in the morning on Friday, July 17th, 2009. That'll give us one full day to explore the city of London. We've both been there before so we'll concentrate of a few highlights that day. Then Saturday and Sunday will be spent at the convention, and we're flying home again late Sunday night. I also booked a hotel close to the convention center for two nights.
Afterwards, I went ahead and booked our admission to the LFCC online. But not before I did some intensive research first! At that point, I figured since this is such a whirlwind trip, I might as well splurge a little. So I bought two gold pass tickets for DH and me. The advantage of the gold pass compared to regular admission tickets is shorter lines (entering the convention, waiting for autographs and photo shoots) and priority seating for the talks that the guests give. It ain't exactely cheap, that's for sure, but since I have back problems and standing for longer periods of time is an issue, I thought this might be worth it. We'll see how I think about it afterwards.
What's left to plan is what to do in London on Friday. I already talked to Cheryl (chezp) and we'll most likely meet up with her and her DH Mark that night. Can't wait to see you guys again!
I'll post more details about our trip planning once I've done some more research and also once the convention schedule is published. There are almost 60 guests listed for the LFCC right now, most of which I have never even heard of, to be honest. But then again I'm probably not what they consider their "main target group". They have actors from Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Heroes, for example. I have no clue what to expect, really, but that's part of why this is so much fun for me.
Can you tell I'm excited?
Oh, I almost forgot the summary:
Who: Me (Sabine, 27) and my DH (Manuel, 26)
When: July 17-19, 2009
Where: LONDON, England
