Bill Bodden's Blog - Posts Tagged "travel"

The author with Sarah Hans, author, editor, and all-around snazzy dresser

I just returned from Motor City Steam Con in Livonia, Michigan, and man, are my gears tired.
Motor City Steam is a first-year convention with a Steampunk theme. This was my first time taking my enthusiasm for Steampunk out of state, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The appeal of Steampunk for me is twofold. First, I love seeing the outfits people come up with. Steampunk is, at it’s heart, alternate history. Because of this, for someone (or a group) to say that something-or-other isn’t Steampunk is pure arrogance and elitism. On the other hand, I do love seeing people who make an effort, rather than just throw on their favorite renfaire outfit and go to town. Second, I’m fascinated by...

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This blog post originally appeared as a series of Facebook posts, cataloging my trip to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Grand Masquerade, a gaming convention focusing primarily on Live Action Role-Playing (or LARP, for short). I have collected these posts, edited them for clarity (and brevity) and present them to you here for your enjoyment.

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Day the First (Monday August 29):
After two different, wacky miscommunications left me wired and unable to sleep until late last night, I worried we wouldn't get far on travel day #1. We are in Blytheville, Arkansas now, and about to bed down for the night. My day went like this:

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/09/21/gran...

Day the Sixth (Saturday September 3):
Another dull day at the booth. Booth time was interrupted by a keynote address at noon. Since they closed the registration room and that's where the Onyx Path table was located, I was sprung to go listen. Big plans ahead for the World of Darkness, folks.
After we closed the booth for the day, Matthew Dawkins and I went in search of authentic Creole food, and man did we find some! RF's had delicious Po' Boys, Jambalaya, and Gator Bites, and we both ate more than we should have. At first we were concerned, as the restaurant was nearly empty and we'd had to pass by numerous places closer to Bourbon Street that were absolutely packed. Instead, we had a quiet, delicious dinner away from the "WOO!" crowd, and were much pleased.

To read more, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2016/09/26/gran...

As you read this, I'll be on the road to the PAX Unplugged gaming convention, taking pace at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia from November 30 through December 2. I'll be driving a van full of Onyx Path books and booth supplies to the show and back again next week, and it's an 1800-mile roundtrip -- not as long as my drive to Montana last month, but long enough to take two days without pushing too hard. This time of year in the north-central US there are always weather concerns, and that's the part that worries me the most about this trip: running into heavy snow. So we're leaving half a day early, just in case. MY kittens have been supervising me as I pack, and they seem particularly needy, as if they know what the suitcase means. I'll have to...

http://billbodden.com/2018/11/26/anot...

Just got back this week from attending PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia. My buddy Matt McElroy is employed by Onyx Path, so he and I took a van full of Onyx Path books on the road to stock the company's booth at the show. The weekend before we left, Chicago got hit with a decent amount of snow. All we really had to deal with on the way out was the aftermath: plows out salting, a few cars abandoned in the ditch, but nothing major, and really no active weather issues to speak of. Lucky...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/12/10/anot...

Having quit my part-time day job, I'm having to cut back on convention appearances for 2019. There are several favorites that I wouldn't miss, but I have to be a little more careful about money for a while. Also, Onyx Path is changing the way they attend the bigger gaming conventions, so they don't need my help covering the booth this year for GenCon. Being super-expensive -- and not terribly productive, professionally speaking -- not going to GenCon is probably a wise move for me.

January...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/12/17/next...

After we left Venice, we spent some time getting used to the ship. We found previously that the food in the buffet on this cruise line is adequate: highly edible, but nothing special. That conclusion was borne out again at the beginning of this trip, so we tried to eat most of our meals in the dining room, where the dinners are cooked to order from a limited menu and are quite good.
Our first port of call is Kotor, in Montenegro. We made the mistake of attending a "What to expect in tomorrow's port" lecture, which was more sales pitch about further things you could buy from the cruise line than actual helpful info, although there was a little bit of useful information sprinkled sparingly throughout. We did take...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/06/17/why-...

Wrapped up GameHoleCon https://gameholecon.com/ last weekend. My games went well. I was a little rusty running Pugmire, but my players had fun. My Scarred Lands D&D games went very well too, and of 24 seats sold, 20 people showed up which, considering the nasty weather we had on Thursday, is a highly respectable turnout.

Then Monday afternoon I started to feel...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2019/11/11/conv...

I've always wanted to go to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. For one thing, my dad and brother Tom had both been, and raved about it. For another, there's a distant (very!) family connection to the place, so as soon as we could afford it, T and I made the journey.

Since we live in a smaller city, there were no direct flights, but our transit was straightforward. Travel is always stressful, particularly with connecting flights, so even though things went smoothly, we were tired when we arrived. As we got close, I watched as the lush, green island of Cuba passed beneath us, and had those Cold War-related thoughts that only someone of my or the previous generation has stored away.

The welcoming committee outside the airport

Georgetown was hot and sunny that afternoon. We picked up our rental car, drove a few stress-filled, map-flipping, driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road miles to...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2020/09/15/adve...