So a few tips for travelers who read or listened to all the wonderful Gally coverage both here and on other sites, and have their sights set on next year. These are by no means MUST DOs, simply observations from a first timer who plans on going back:
1) BUY EARLY – Gally accepted memberships all the way up through Sunday of the con. But if you know you’re going, buy the membership as soon as they are made available (usually mid March) for the discounted price. Even at full price Gally memberships are a steal ($90 for a whole weekend!?!) but if you know you’re going, why monkey around with paying more later? That’s an autograph right there!
2) STAY WHERE YOU PLAY – The Marriott sold out this year, it looks to do so again. Get your hotel reservations made, and made early. Yes, there are other hotels within easy walking distance. But the convenience factor AND con discount more than make it worth while.
3) BRING FRIENDS – The con discounted room price was about $100 a night. If you cram four people into that room and split the costs, you can stay Thursday through Monday (enabling a lobby con experience) and pay a hundo a person. Worth it.
4) BE PICKY WITH FLIGHTS, BUT NOT TOO PICKY – Mel and I had a great rate on air fare, and waited for the tax return to come in to pay for it. When it did, the rate had jumped up to FOUR TIMES what we thought it would be, enough to put the kibosh on the trip all together. We wound up getting last minute tickets booked five days out for LESS than what our original price would have been. BUT, we had to fly into another airport and rent a car. This added to the over all cost, but it still wasn’t nearly as expensive as flying into LAX. While that would have simplified things, you can be picky on how you get to Gally. LA has like four major airports and a slew of ways to get around. They may involve taxi cabs, shuttle busses, rental cars, LA traffic and accidental side trips to Pasadena, but if the cost factor makes up for it, don’t rule it out.
5) PLAN TO BUY FOOD – Every trip we think we can scrimp a bit on eating out, by doing the PB&J thing, or only eating two meals, Breakfast and Dinner. The second one works fine (and really, when the con is in full swing, you won’t want to stop and eat anyway) but the first is an unrealistic pipe dream. Bite the bullet and plan on spending some dough on food. The Marriott has a decently priced restaurant, sports bar and a swank steak house, and there are several fast food joints within walking distance (Burger King, Subway, Carl’s Jr.) along with a smattering of restaurants like Denny’s. This is the airport, after all.
6) MAKE A LIST FOR SOUVENIR SHOPPING – Mel and I did pretty good in the dealers room, and only bought a few things that we really wanted. But that was because we had a list of items we were looking for, and stuck to it, buying for us and gifts for friends. The more time you spend IN the dealers room, the more tempted you are to purchase things you may not really want or need, but are dazzled by in the moment.
7) BE SMART WITH DEALERS ROOM PURCHASES – This goes without saying, but at every con, there’s a dealers table with DVD copies of Doctor Who. REALLY?!? You know you can get that on AMAZON and have it delivered to your door right? For less money? From OUR store? Buy things you can’t get at home.
8 ) BUDGET FOR AUTOGRAPHS – This is the toughest one to do. Mel and I again had a list of people that we knew we wanted, but once we got there, wound up getting several more we had no intention of, but everyone was so cool to talk to! Plan on an average of $25 a pop, (Some were $30, some were only $15) but that includes the photo. Leave yourself a bumper, so that if you wind up going a little overboard yore okay. After all, THESE are things you CANT get at home.
9) GOT A PHOTO IN MIND? BUY EARLY – The way Gally is laid out, you are entitled to a free autograph from certain people. BUT, YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE THE ITEM FOR THEM TO SIGN! So if you walk up to the table and purchase an autograph, sure, they’ll sign it, but you just cost yourself the cost of the photo, when you could have had one free. (Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT begrudging the talent’s option to make money. They have to buy their own head shots from the studio, those are not provided free. So it only makes sense for them to sell them at a con to make up the cost.) Because of that, if you go up to the table to purchase one, you are at the mercy of whatever the star brought with them, and they may not have the character / show / outfit / pose that you just have to have signed. Or worse yet, they may run out! (Remember, over 3000 people attend this year). If know a star is going to be there, and you know what you want them to sign, my advice is to buy it early and bring it with. My William Russell autograph is not on what I would think of as a true “Ian” photo image. I still treasure it, but I look at it and go… if only. Some stars will charge you less for the autograph if you brought your own photo, some stars are free, and some are the same price. But your happiness should make up for the few extra bucks you spent to get the right item to them, and you could conceivably defer that cost over the course of the year before hand.
10) BRING CASH – Most of the venders / autograph situations at Gally required greenbacks, even in the dealers room. We made four separate trips to the ATM by the time the weekend was over, (two of them at another hotel because the Marriott one ran out of money by Noon on Saturday). Firstly, no one wants to pay all those extra nickel and dime ATM fees, and secondly, having the cash forces you to stick to your budget a little bit closer than just pulling more money out of an already tapped checking account. You still have to get home, remember?
Hope these thoughts help, but even with them, make sure you have some wiggle room. There WILL be unexpected expenses, opportunities and things to buy. And if you are serious about going, Mel, myself and the Vortex Boys would love to cram 15 more people into our room!
