Jun. 8th, 2012 04:29 pm
Brief trip/con report
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textualdevianceFinally getting a bit of bandwidth back, though I think I picked up a cold somewhere, so I'm still quite tired and hurty. Meh.
Anyway ... So: the big reason we decided to go back to London is that I wanted to finally meet my lovely Famous People. They really don't do the con thing at all, so when I heard that two of them were doing this one, I had to. I knew my chances of meeting them in the future were otherwise next to nil, so this was pretty much my one shot. (Two of them--Ben and Hannah--are doing a play right now and are thus a bit more accessible, but the third--Andrew--is very elusive, and only signed on to the con at the last minute. Had to grab him!) And yes, we loved London last year and wanted to see more of it. And did--though I wore myself out with excitedly overdoing it the first couple of days. Oops.
Not really much to say about the non-fan touristing. 90% of it is evident on Flickr. We hadn't planned to be there for the Jubilee stuff, and actually avoided as much of that mess as possible, but it was still kind of amusing to see the city so hardcore decked-out for it. Union Jacks everywhere. Didn't do much beyond generic roaming, but it was nice to get a closer look at things. We'd considered hopping down to Paris for a daytrip on my birthday, but that proved too expensive, so we hit Brighton instead.
Then there was the Big Stuff. The first was the play: One Man, Two Guvnors. The original cast for this is now on Broadway, so this is the second version of it. The two lovelies in question were indeed lovely in their roles (as was another gal I like--Gemma Whelan, who's on Game of Thrones.) When it was done, we went around back to the stage door, and I managed to (politely) snag Ben to get his autograph. (Hannah had family there, so I didn't bug her--knowing I'd be seeing her at the con anyway.) It was a nice little encounter. He figured out the spelling of my name, and talked about how much he loves doing comedy (v. the Shakespeare he did last summer) and that was that. Didn't want to keep him from being able to get home.
Then on the weekend is when things heated up. Turned out that another of my fave FPs--Finn Jones, also from Game of Thrones--signed on to the con about a week before, so we went on the Saturday (as well as the Sunday we'd intended) and I had a fun little convo with him. He recognized my Twitter handle (that's three who have, for those keeping score at home!) and we giggled a bit about his co-star/on-screen boyfriend. Fun, and I really, really like this guy now. He's a squirmy little puppy and hilarious.
The next day, I was first in the autograph line (thanks to a special pass thingy) so I got to see them come in. They were a bit late, and I said something to Andrew about whether he got enough sleep. He threw me a sly grin and said, "Why, do I look tired?" Oi. The remaining 15 seconds of our banter was similar, and also included him asking if I wanted him to sign in the same color as Ben, and then stopping and asking me why Ben was in the middle of the picture, between the other two. Um. Ack? I gave him the gift I'd got ages ago (a chewtoy for his adorable little dog), which he loved. Then I waited for a few to talk to Hannah, and got her part of my three-person autograph, and that was that!
Next up, a couple of hours later, was the photoshoot, which also went well, and included getting a wink from Andrew (long story as to why.) And then there was their little panel talk in the afternoon, in which I got to sit in the front row and ask a question (If you want vids/transcripts of that, see my Tumblr.) It was all over with very quickly, but it was nice. Nothing truly earth-shattering about any of it, but it did go as pleasantly as any of these things ever do (and even more so, since this con is about a 10th of the size of the big US ones.)
Quite tickled that I finally met all three lovelies, and got all three to sign the same pic (and also had the bonus-FP encounter, too.) It kind of feels like I've unlocked a fandom achievement or something--like how it was for me when I finally got all four hobbits' autographs (also on the same photo.) I feel a little guilty for spending so much money on what was more or less a big autograph hunt, but hey, ya only live once. I could certainly spend my money on worse things. :)
Sadly, as mentioned before, this is probably my last shot at London. I might get to go back someday if I can manage the physical/temporal/financial bandwidth somehow, but practically speaking, I'm basically done. I think the UK treated me very well both times I went, so I'm content. Bucket list items checked, and the next big travel we do--if we do anything at all--will probably be on the other end of the world (Oz/NZ.) So, farewell to the Isles, with fond memories.
Anyway ... So: the big reason we decided to go back to London is that I wanted to finally meet my lovely Famous People. They really don't do the con thing at all, so when I heard that two of them were doing this one, I had to. I knew my chances of meeting them in the future were otherwise next to nil, so this was pretty much my one shot. (Two of them--Ben and Hannah--are doing a play right now and are thus a bit more accessible, but the third--Andrew--is very elusive, and only signed on to the con at the last minute. Had to grab him!) And yes, we loved London last year and wanted to see more of it. And did--though I wore myself out with excitedly overdoing it the first couple of days. Oops.
Not really much to say about the non-fan touristing. 90% of it is evident on Flickr. We hadn't planned to be there for the Jubilee stuff, and actually avoided as much of that mess as possible, but it was still kind of amusing to see the city so hardcore decked-out for it. Union Jacks everywhere. Didn't do much beyond generic roaming, but it was nice to get a closer look at things. We'd considered hopping down to Paris for a daytrip on my birthday, but that proved too expensive, so we hit Brighton instead.
Then there was the Big Stuff. The first was the play: One Man, Two Guvnors. The original cast for this is now on Broadway, so this is the second version of it. The two lovelies in question were indeed lovely in their roles (as was another gal I like--Gemma Whelan, who's on Game of Thrones.) When it was done, we went around back to the stage door, and I managed to (politely) snag Ben to get his autograph. (Hannah had family there, so I didn't bug her--knowing I'd be seeing her at the con anyway.) It was a nice little encounter. He figured out the spelling of my name, and talked about how much he loves doing comedy (v. the Shakespeare he did last summer) and that was that. Didn't want to keep him from being able to get home.
Then on the weekend is when things heated up. Turned out that another of my fave FPs--Finn Jones, also from Game of Thrones--signed on to the con about a week before, so we went on the Saturday (as well as the Sunday we'd intended) and I had a fun little convo with him. He recognized my Twitter handle (that's three who have, for those keeping score at home!) and we giggled a bit about his co-star/on-screen boyfriend. Fun, and I really, really like this guy now. He's a squirmy little puppy and hilarious.
The next day, I was first in the autograph line (thanks to a special pass thingy) so I got to see them come in. They were a bit late, and I said something to Andrew about whether he got enough sleep. He threw me a sly grin and said, "Why, do I look tired?" Oi. The remaining 15 seconds of our banter was similar, and also included him asking if I wanted him to sign in the same color as Ben, and then stopping and asking me why Ben was in the middle of the picture, between the other two. Um. Ack? I gave him the gift I'd got ages ago (a chewtoy for his adorable little dog), which he loved. Then I waited for a few to talk to Hannah, and got her part of my three-person autograph, and that was that!
Next up, a couple of hours later, was the photoshoot, which also went well, and included getting a wink from Andrew (long story as to why.) And then there was their little panel talk in the afternoon, in which I got to sit in the front row and ask a question (If you want vids/transcripts of that, see my Tumblr.) It was all over with very quickly, but it was nice. Nothing truly earth-shattering about any of it, but it did go as pleasantly as any of these things ever do (and even more so, since this con is about a 10th of the size of the big US ones.)
Quite tickled that I finally met all three lovelies, and got all three to sign the same pic (and also had the bonus-FP encounter, too.) It kind of feels like I've unlocked a fandom achievement or something--like how it was for me when I finally got all four hobbits' autographs (also on the same photo.) I feel a little guilty for spending so much money on what was more or less a big autograph hunt, but hey, ya only live once. I could certainly spend my money on worse things. :)
Sadly, as mentioned before, this is probably my last shot at London. I might get to go back someday if I can manage the physical/temporal/financial bandwidth somehow, but practically speaking, I'm basically done. I think the UK treated me very well both times I went, so I'm content. Bucket list items checked, and the next big travel we do--if we do anything at all--will probably be on the other end of the world (Oz/NZ.) So, farewell to the Isles, with fond memories.
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