GenCon is next weekend! Have you made your packing list yet? While everyone and their grandma will remind you to shower daily and remember your dice bag and extra socks and underwear, I’m going to take it one step further. These are things you may not think to pack, but will save your game – and possibly your dignity.
1. Writing Utensils
For some folks, this is a given. They’re in your gaming bag. Done and done. But how many KINDS of writing utensils do you need? Turns out, four.
- Mechanical pencils with erasers: For most RPGs and other games. Mechanical is important because sharpening is annoying (and requires bringing a sharpener).
- Pens: For when you’re sitting at a table for twelve at The Ram, getting separate checks and paying with credit cards. Just like every other table.
- Black and silver Sharpies: The best options for getting books signed by your favorite writers, especially if you catch them at a time when they’re not at their booth.
- Wet erase marker: For D&D companion character cards. The glossy material is impossible to write on with anything else.
2. More Than One Pair of Shoes
I made this mistake at Origins. I thought, “I love these shoes! They are so comfy!” By Friday night, I was ready to lop my feet off and crawl around Columbus. It is tempting to free up real estate in your suitcase by wearing the One Pair of shoes for the weekend, but do yourself a favor and pack a second pair of footwear. Swap out your shoes every day. It’ll combat sweaty foot odor AND make your ten little piggies happier.
3. Toilet Paper
I’ll wait until you’re done laughing…
Are we good? Hear me out on this one. In the travel aisle of Target, you can get a little individual roll of toilet paper. It’s about the size of a toilet paper tube and in a plastic case. Slip this in your purse or gaming bag. You probably won’t need it.
But… big con, lots of people. You rush into the bathroom. IT’S A POTTY EMERGENCY! You sit, you ____, you reach for the toilet paper and… it’s all out. You could ask a neighbor if they can spare a square, or you can reach in your gaming bag for your personal stash and think, “THANK THE GODS GEEK’S DREAM GIRL TOLD ME ABOUT THIS!”
Note: As much as I love success stories, please don’t share these particular success stories with me. Thanks!
4. A USB Hub
How many people do you cram into your hotel room?
How many electronic devices does each person have?
How many electrical outlets are in a hotel room? 2, 3, 4? Maybe, if you move the furniture and unplug the lamps.
Bring a USB hub and you’ll be the hero of your hotel room. Everyone can charge up! No more fighting for outlets, angering the hotel staff by shoving desks across the room, or running out of battery just before you could snap that awesome photo with Wil Wheaton.
Note: A power strip works just as well, but get the ones that allow bigger AC adapters to hang off the edge rather than take up two spaces.
5. Copies of Your Identification, Kept Elsewhere
Make a copy of both sides of your driver’s license or state ID and/or your passport picture page and keep them in a place other than your wallet or purse. Just like toilet paper, you probably won’t need it, but if you do, you’ll want to kiss me. If your wallet is stolen by an industrious pickpocket or you leave it on a table somewhere and it vaporizes, you are pretty S.O.L. when it comes to flying home, at least not without a heap of trouble. Having a copy of your ID makes it much easier to explain to the friendly TSA agent that you really are who you say you are, just sans wallet.
How About You?
What other surprising or weird things do you find indispensable for cons?
See you in Indy, geek friends!
About e
I don’t know about GenCon, but at the conventions where I’ve worked as a volunteer in registration, anyone who isn’t obviously 18 or older has to show an ID with proof of age (and they do get minors trying to use the “I lost my wallet” line). If you really are over 18, having backup ID will help you avoid missing a whole convention experience of people telling you how young you look.
A few other tidbits:
1) Bring quarters and try to poach a locker early. There are banks of lockers in several locations throughout the hall, and they take quarters for the key. If you can get one, it’s the best investment you can imagine, since it’s allows you to drop off purchases, swag, umbrellas, emergency supplies and anything else you would otherwise have to tote around the floor all day.
2) Cough drops. Especially if you’re presenting, manning a booth or really just talking to people. By late in the con, you may be living on them.
3) The phone number to your hotel and to a local cab service. Odds are good you’ll need neither (and it’s faster to flag a cab than call one, even in the middle of the night) but there are situations where it can be a lifesaver.
4) Someplace to put your keys. Odds are they open nothing useful at the convention, so why keep them in pocket and worry about what may happen to them?
And one last tip – not something to bring, but something to look for.
5) Check the gencon badge holders at the gencon booth. It may seem like useless decoration, but (provided they’re still using the same ones) they are actually incredibly well designed to serve as a wallet around your neck, with space for money, pens, paper and business cards in addition to your badge. I wear mine to every convention I go to because it lets me operate with empty or near-empty pockets, and that’s super convenient.
-Rob D.
While I completely agree that it’s a good idea to bring a copy of your ID, I’d like to dispel the myth that you must have ID to get on an airplane. You’ll want to show up at least an hour earlier than you normally would, just in case. Check in at the counter, and let the airline agent know what happened. Then when you hit the security line, be polite and cheerful. The TSA agent on duty will call their supervisor. You’ll get patted down and your bags will get more attention than usual. You may also have to answer some questions about your background; apparently there’s a big database of details about your life for just such an occasion.
As of 2008, they have the right to refuse you travel at the discretion of the TSA agents on duty, but there are a lot of stories out there from people who’ve gotten stuck without ID and still made it on their plane. E.g.:
http://timgrey.com/blog/2010/flying-without-identification/
And some more details on the new procedure:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/07/flying-without/
All that said — make life easy on yourself and keep a copy of your ID in a separate location. I’m just showing off my anal-retentive libertarian streak.
I think that those are some great hints and tips for packing for GenCon. I can’t agree more with the badge holder that Rob suggested – I wore mine the whole time at Origins and it held my game tickets, some cash, paper, and a pen, pencil, and a sharpie. It was always within hand’s reach.
I highly recommend that you take your phone/camera charger to the con floor itself so that if your devices are dying, you can recharge them over lunch or during a game near an outlet.
Pack more than you would think you need. You may decide to go back to your room to shower, change, and recharge for the next portion of your day. A nice, hot shower and clean clothes do wonders for your energy, mood, and general disposition.
@ Rob – What, no footnotes?
The quarters/locker idea is totally a good one, especially for folks who get impulsive in the exhibit hall. (Which Dave and I would know nothing about…)
@Bryant – Yeah, that’s why I said “without a heap of trouble.” I had a friend lose his wallet on a business trip and it took him a LOT of sweettalking to get himself on the plane home…
@DGibb – Stupid phones and their lack of batteries. But YES, totally. Also, phones tend to lose signal sometimes in big convention halls, and while they’re trying to regain signal, they’re burning major battery life.
Midday shower and change FTW, too. Definitely gets you refreshed and ready for the evening activities.
The little portable chargers by Energizer (and a couple of others) that you can occasionally find that run on AA batteries and have various attachments for different cell phones can come in remarkably handy. That way you don’t have to find an outlet (and stick by it for however long). All you have to do is find another AA battery or two, and your hotel gift shop is likely to have those, even if they are at prices that range from a touch high to exorbitant.
I also endorse the badge holders idea. They’re also a lot harder to steal and easier to keep track of than a wallet in your pocket.
I’ve only been to smaller cons, but I think all the suggestions apply anyway!
I have a love/hate relationship with the badge holders. They hold a lot of stuff, so I packed mine full when I first got one – then promptly got a headache from having too much weight around my neck. So some stuff had to come out and go in my pockets.
In addition to writing utensils – something to write on! A little pocket notebook or business cards are great for writing down contact info, especially if you’re schmoozing.
Totally agree on extra clothes/toiletries for midday showers. And don’t even get this shoe salesgirl started on the importance of comfy shoes!
My husband and I both take prescription meds on a daily basis, and I always pack a couple days extra in case something happens (like car trouble) and we get stuck there an extra day. I can wear a set of clothes a second day if I have to, but if I’m out of my asthma meds, I’m boned.
Something I forgot to pack for our last con: snacks. Or at least we should have made a grocery run right away. When the hospitality room is closed and you’re starving (or worse, need to take meds that require food), you really don’t want to be left with no options but the nearly empty vending machine. Next time we’ll be taking a couple boxes of granola bars and some nuts to have stashed in our room.
And because there’s occasionally confusion from people who don’t travel by plane very often: Yes, you can typically pack snack food into your luggage and carry-on (check airline guidelines because they’re always changing, but I’ve never had a problem). What you cannot do is bring a drink from home in your luggage, but if you buy a water or something at the airport food court, you can bring that on just fine.
I tend to get queasy on long flights, and those coffee cookies on airplanes just don’t do it for me, so I’ll munch on either those Hostess (I think) mini-muffins (banana and chocolate chip for me) or Mint Milano Cookies.
As a diabetic, I’ll add to c’s prescription advice: get a copy of your actual prescriptions from the pharmacy or your doctor and keep it in your hotel room or somewhere safe. If my bag gets lost or stolen, I can go to the local pharmacy with a prescription in hand. It’ll probably take a lot longer than getting your prescription refills would at home, but waiting is a lot better than getting sick.
As an added benefit, I’ve never had a problem with the TSA or Canadian security (for those who don’t know, all of my meds – even liquid and sharps – can be taken carry-on with a simple verbal declaration) but if I do, a prescription would be a useful back-up.
Similar to your USB hub, I always pack a power strip for everyone’s many chargers.
One thing I always pack and end up using are scissors and tape. Invariably I need to cut a tag off or some packaging or something, these two items almost always come in useful.
1) Beef Jerky & Cheese and a Canteen. You never know when you’ll be stuck in line for hours without food or Water.
2) A backpack or messenger bag,
3) A couple of roll up cloth bags in your backpack, to carry all the shwag that does not fit in your backpack.