The myth is that Brits love to queue. Truth is, we're just like the rest of the world, who don't enjoy standing up for hours at a time, slowly losing feeling in their legs and speeding up the development of varicose veins. The people who spread that damaging rumour no not what they speak of, anyway, because they're used to your garden variety lines. Standing behind a couple of people at an ATM? Piece of cake. Got to stand in line for five minutes before buying your groceries? What is this, amatuer hour? Only a fool, or somebody who has never been to a comic convention (which is essentially the same thing), could possibly suggest that a queue has the possibility of being an enjoyable experience. It's certainly an experience, but more one of endurance, of necessity. You're not gonna get a good seat, or even get in at all, to those essential panels unless you're there a good three hours in advance. And sitting down isn't an option. People will just walk over you. You know what they're like. You're one of them.
14. Finding Somewhere To Sleep
San Diego is infamous for how quickly all of the hotel rooms in the city sell out as soon as the convention schedule is enough. After the staggering number of exhibitors, guests, and people who get paid to dress in novelty costumes outside and hand you flyers, there's scarcely enough room to house the swarming tide of actual fans who are going to descend on the city with their carefully selected outfits, bottles of water and leg braces. Not that it's any better at smaller cons. Forget finding the hotel when you get there, how about figuring out beforehand where the closest hotel to the con is? Is there even one? How about if the convention is in a hotel, are you gonna manage to get a room and would you even want to, considering the amount of parties and lack of sleep you'll have to contend with? And that's all assuming that they'll actually honour your reservation once you manage to find your way there.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
