Tomorrow and all weekend long I’ll be a guest artist at Another Anime Convention, and with that my 2025 convention schedule is ending the same way it began… at a convention that is close to home. Very close. As in I’ll be going home every night to sleep in my bed.
As someone whose conventions usually take him several hours away into other states, where accommodations for travel and sleep must be accounted for, it’s weird to come home every night. Nice, but weird.
It’s somehow stranger than doing Anime Boston every year, which is also a convention weekend where I get to sleep in my bed every night. But I don’t live near Boston any more, so between driving to the subway station at the end of its line and then riding that subway all the way in to the city takes at least over an hour one way. It feels like a longer trip, and combined with Anime Boston’s incredibly lengthy hours, it all still feels like I’m further away than I am.
So when I have a drive that’s under thirty minutes to-and-from a convention, where I return to my normal routine once the show floor closes for the day, it’s pleasant but strange. It’s a combination of feeling like something’s missing and like I’m “abandoning” my con weekend to go home. While I doubtlessly enjoy sleeping in my own bed every night, there’s a part of me that misses the hotel experience, even if my wallet doesn’t.
But it ultimately puts me in a good mood. Travel can be fun but as I get older the process becomes more tiresome. So if you come to see me this weekend at AAC (and I hope you do!) you’ll find me in not only a good mood, but refreshed and more energetic than usual. Conventions that are close to home have that advantage.