Theme: Millenium
Location: San Jose McEnery Convention Center
We were lucky that our flight which was originally planned to be at 10:00 was moved to 15:00, this allowed at least me to catch some sleep before the trip. I think Henrieke got about an hour of sleep. We were well on time and grabbed some lunch at McDonald's.
Sadly there wasn't enough time to have a nice coffee at the really nice Starbucks in the international terminal. We made a detour through the Rijksmuseum exhibit, which is one of my favorite things at the Schiphol airport. After boarding and getting in the air, Henrieke dozed off after pulling an all-nighter before to finish some work.
Since I still had some work to finish, I pre-paid for "high-speed" in-flight internet. The actual downstream bandwidth was around 6 MBit, with 600ms ping, on the Inmarsat network. SSH was a bit tedious, but it worked surprisingly well. I finished up work, and later we watched Knives Out, which we've been meaning to watch for a long time! Great movie!
Once we arrived we had almost no wait and the smoothest entry to the US we ever had. No customs check, no intrusive questions, the guy just asked jow long we would stay and waved us through.
We took an uber to Tachi's place, chatted a bit with him and went to bed.
Despite the time difference, I managed to sleep until 8. I went to Neighbor Bakehouse and picked up some very expensive breads. San Francisco ain't cheap!
Then we went to meet uo with Jeff Pidgeon. We took the new T tram line, which was a big mistake. The tram was delayed by 20 minutes, and then took about an hour for about 5 stops. I later checked and we would've been faster just walking. We made a stop at the T-mobile shop to pick up SIM cards first so we'd have some mobile internet. Luckily we found out that Jeff was a bit late too, so he hasn't been waiting too long when we finally arrived at the Ferry Building.
Henrieke, Jeff and I wandered around, looking for a place to sit down and eat. The only real option was a pizza place, where we ended up getting a table after some waiting. We chatted about all kinds of comic-related things and sketched on our placemats while having tasty cheese and mushroom pizza. Eventually we felt like we should get out of the restaurant, but since Jeff still felt like hanging out, we sat down for a coffee. Henrieke and Jeff still chatted about Carl Barks for a while, and Henrieke made a duck drawing for Jeff.
After hanging out for well over 5 hours, we said good-bye and walked uo Market Street. We needed to pick up an extra pillow, so we went to target and also stocked up on some snack and Almond M&Ms. We also picked up some tacos at Chipotle and once agian made the mistake of taking the T line, which was 25 minutes delayed this time.
In the evening we hung out with Tachi. I passed out at 22:00, Henrieke still worked until 3:00.
We got up at 7 and had some breakfast. I went through my e-mails a bit and wrote one to Stewart Cheifet in hopes of meeting up. At 11:00 we went to the Hilton with an UberXL.
Right at the entrance of the hotel we ran into Vee and MrGreenface! Inside, we also met Zahzu and Muse, who were nice enough to let us dump our luggage in their room since we couldn't check in yet. I went down to the lobby to meet Kilmo and hottapwater, who joined us on Zahzu's room.
Since we were all hungry, we went to the SoFa food court, which all these years we somehow missed. It was in the block across the street from the Mariott. We had some tasty hand rolls there.
Tachi and Scruff also dropped by. We then went on to 7-11 to get some snacks and breakfast supplies. It was a bit sad to see how downtown San Jose became a lot more run down in the past 3 years. Many of the stores we used to go to were deserted.
Back at the hotel, I picked up our roomkeys from Byte. We once again roomed with Byte and Eligecos. We unpacked our things, and I asked Kilmo to come by and gave him Austrian stuff I brought (Mozartkugeln, Manner Schnitten, Almdudler and a book from the 70s with photos of Austrian sights). Lockheed also dropped by and we chatted for a whole. Eligecos and Byte eventually came back to the room too, and we chatted about hyenas and a cute rat that lived in Daan Jippes' art studio.
After that we went down to get our badges and then looked where to have dinner. We met SlyCat and decided to check out a nearby place having cheese-steak hoagies. It was pretty good, and we chatted about theme parks.
At around 20:15 we went back to the hotel and met ZotCoon at the entrance of the Mariott. We also ran into Paco and Koidel. After chatting a bit, we went to our room with Zot. He asked us to bring cheese as well as a lot of Cup-A-Soup instant soups from the Netherlands. We rested a bit and chatted with Zot, then Zot and I went downstairs again. I wandered around in the lobby a bit, and met AvWuff and Vexit, who both just had moved to Seattle. Thumper also showed up.
Walking around more, I met Tachi, Scruff, Kaycee and others, and we sat down at the downstairs tables to art-jam. I did a trade with Zahzu.
Henrieke joined after midnight. We went back to the room at 0:40, met Dade, Kilmo and Maple in the elevator, and went to bed at 1:10
We got up at 10:30. I went downstairs to attempt to exchange the milk I bought at 7-11 yesterday, since it turned it it was spoiled. It rained way too hard however so I skipped that. In the lobby I met RedWulf, who had just arrived. I went to Starbucks in the Marriott to pick up some coffee and breakfast and met Tachi and Scruff there. I got some coffee, muffin and an emergency Red Bull and headed back to the room with Tachi and Scruff. Tachi stored his new fursuit, Torchi, in our room for now as his hotel was across the street and the forecast looked like it would be mostly rainy for the entire con. We chatted a bit while we had breakfast. I also bought a Wacom PL-400 that had just appeared in a saved search on an Austrian marketplace site, can't miss out on that! At around 13:00 I went downstairs and checked out the Dealers Den. I met Jill, Drex, Kodi, Peche and Kilmo. So many great artists there! I chatted a bit with Marymouse and then checked if there were any food stalls inside the convention center, like last time.
Sadly that wasn't the case. I met Chorca and Kanu however, who told me about a good gyros place nearby. I went to meet Henrieke and ran into Procyon on the way. Henrieke and I, as well as Zot went to Nick the Greek to get some gyros. The gyros were indeed tasty, and the froyo with baclava was great too! We picked up some food for Zahzu and Muse and went back to the hotel. Then we went to the Furry found Footage panel, which was kind of like Everything Is Terrible, but with furry content. It was pretty fun!
Then we went to the downstairs are to see if there was any art jam going on. We met Walden there, also Dax and Latte! We chatted a bit and made plans for after the con. Sadly Dax would likely be in Seattle when we would be in San Jose again.
We saw Torchi roaming around in the lobby and sat down with RedWulf and Auggie. I chatted a bit with DavidGA on Telegram, whom I met through the Computer Chronicles Metadata project, and found out knows a whole bunch of people at the convention. I went to the Dealers den at 17:00 and chatted with Jay and JilDuck.
I also went up to Kyell Gold and took a selfie to send to DavidGA. Since Zot had to leave already, we said bye to him, then we went to Lobito's table and chatted about fursuits a bit. We also hung out at Kipper's and Drex' booth a bit, also Shannon's table. After that we took a short break in the downstairs area and met Brok and Deezlberries there.
After that we took a break in the room. Byte was there and completely worn out from suiting. Back downstairs I met RedWulf and did a trade with her. Kai dropped by, who I met via Twitter since we're both into SGI computers. We nerded out about SGI for a while! JordanRhinehart was also there and recommended me Gameshop Downstairs, a nearby video game store.
Also at the table were Rod O'Riley and Mark Merino, two of the founders of the first furry convention. We chatted a bit, I gave them one of our new year's cards and they invited us to the saturday morning cartoon breakfast on Saturday.
Henrieke also joined us, and we did an artjam Koidel, Drex, Kipper, Auggie, RedWulf and Paco. Keel also dropped by. After a short break on the room, I went back to the artjam and asked SlyCat to drop by, since he'd been having a not so great day. We chatted a bit about cartoons of course.
Later Geekfox, Tachi, Kaycee and Scruff joined. I traded with Koidel. We hung around until 1:00 and decided to see what was up at the convention center entrance before going to bed. We met Kilmo, also Syd, who we didn't realize was at the con!We never met in real life, so that was a nice surprise. We made some plans for March, when we would see him again at KSC! I also met Foxo, Weasely and ZenFetcher. After chatting a while, we went up to our room and went to bed at 2:00.
We got up at 9:00, and I decided to give UberEats a try for ordering groceries, since there was no supermarket within walking distance of the convention center. I picked it up at 9:30, it all worked out well. I went straight to the saturday morning cartoon breakfast, which Mark Merino organized. It was basically people hanging out and watching cartoons, sounds like my kind of party!
I chatted with Joe Bear, Sysable and Rod O'Riley. Henrieke arrived just in time for the TMBG Tiny Toony episode. We had some Cheerios and stuck around for a while. I took a Polaroid of the Skiltaire puppet they had, then we left at 11:00.
I went to the room to dump the groceries, Henrieke went to the Dealers Den in the meanwhile. Duncan was on our room getting ready to go to the parade with Byte. I waited for Henrieke to help me with putting on wingy Baseball, this was the first time I brought the bodysuit with the giant wings. It was a bit risky since the inserts and Delrin rods were too long for the luggage, so I had to bend them to fit in the suitcase. It all worked out luckily and the wings had straightened out by the time I needed the suit. Eligecos also suited up, and we went down for the parade. The parade had already started at the time, so Baseball joined the in-progress parade only to find out that he joined only a few meters from the end. So he went upstairs to do the full parade, where he met Torchi and Cami. There were lots of people watching the parade and taking photos and videos. Baseball also ran into Foxo, who really enjoyed seeing him!
At the end of the parade the group photo was taken in the downstairs area, which was a bit of a tight fit for the huge amount of suiters! After the group photo, Baseball ran into Chorca, who helped him find Henrieke again. I took a break in the fursuit lounge, since the big wings are pretty exhausting to operate. I met Chipper there, who is also a really nice bat!
Baseball and Ciro went down, Henrieke took some photos outside, it was the first time the sun was out since the start of the con! We met Kilmo, who was suiting in a friend's suit, also Kipper's Possum, Dax, and Latte. Henrieke took a photo Baseball, Chipper and Glenn. JibKodi was also there! Baseball and Chorca went to the fursuit lounge and both Chorca and I took a break there. We chatted for a while about friends in Florida and made plans for our upcoming trip in March.
After a while we went back to suiting, this time with the small wings, which Henrieke already stored in the fursuit lunge for me. Baseball wandered around for a while and also checked out the Dealers Den. He ran into Bacon, who told hi that Croc was out suiting. Sadly he had no luck finding him. Henrieke was chatting with Bastek, and we got reminded that the art show would close at 18:00 already!
Baseball ran into Vee, and they went back to the Hilton together at 16:00. I took a shower on the room, rested a bit and went back to meet Henrieke in the Dealers Den. Lockheed was also there.
Henrieke and I went to see the art show at 17:00. It was a really nice seleciton of art, as usual more toony than at European cons! Once again we failed to put anything in there, but hopefully next time! There was a lot of art by Paco and Koidel in there.
After that we went to the Jazz Concert by the amazing Mascha and the Swinging Tails. It was great as always and we stuck around until the end, where we met Paco, Furahi, Croc and Bacon. We chatted a bit longer with Paco and Croc outside the ballroom. I returned Tachi's sketch book to him, we alsoran into Brokken. I went to the room a bit to lie down at 19:00. A bit later I went downstairs to check out the "Night Market", but the line extended all the way into the Hilton, I did not feel like waiting that long just to satisfy my curiosity.
I saw down at the downstairs tables with Sysable, Rod O'Riley, Byte and Eli for a bit. I also gave a christmas card to Sysable. A bit later it was time for the highlight of the con - Croc's 80s dance! I went upstairs to get Baseball, who was at the main stage just in time for Croc's dance! Vee, MrGreenface, Raucous and HiLite were there and all had a great time dancing on the stage and the dance floor.
After the set Baseball met Furahi, Yippee, Croc and Lucky outside. Also Draz and Buaya! Baseball checked out the next dance for a bit, then dropped by the downstairs table where Henrieke, RedWulf, Byte and Eli were artjamming. Baseball went up to the room and I took a very necessary shower and cleaned up a bit. At 23:00 I went downstairs again but I was very low on energy at this point. I sat together with Henrieke, Eli, Byte, Kipper, Drex and RedWulf. I made people try some pepernoten.
Croc invited us to a chill roomparty earlier, so we went to the 11th floor of the Hilton to a suite with a stunning view! It was Tiki themed, and Croc, Furahi, Lucky and Beetlecat were there! Bacon also joined later. Lucky fixed us up some alcohol-free Tiki drinks and we had a nice time chatting with some rainy Tiki room backdrop playing on the TV.
We went downstairs again at 0:45. Someone from the Tiki party joined and chatted about 3 Caballeros for a while with Henrieke. We sat together with Kipper, Drex and Geekfox. Later Vee and MrGreenface joined. I did an art trade with Vee, he was so fast that he drew me 2 sketches in the time I took to draw him one. Paco also joined, we talked about plans for Eurofurence, and he told me about his wedding plans!
We went to bed at 2:30.
We got up at 10:00, had some ceral for breakfast on the room and then went to the bat panel at 11:00. It was held again by Corky Quirk of NorCal Bats. The presentation was great as always, and we got to see some adorable Mexican free-tailed bats, little brown bats and pallid bats up close. Zahzu, Muse, Kipper and Paco were also there. Afterwards we chatted a bit with Drek and Corky Quirk.
After the panel it was time for the bat meet at the photo area. I quickly suited up and Baseball went there to meet with Drek, Ruckus and Glenn. It was only 4 bats, despite there being way more at the con. I guess it needs some more advertisement next time. After the photoshoot I took a break from suiting and Henrieke and I chatted with Deezlberries and Dom for an hour about fursuit building.
Later Baseball went to te lobby a bit with his big wings. He met Joe Bear and Sysable there and many people took photos. Back upstairs in front of the fursuit lounge, Corky Quirk was there and we took some more photos.
Baseball swapped out his big wings for smaller ones and went to the Dealers Den with Henrieke. He dropped by at Kipper's table, and Henrieke got mango-scented spray for Baseball at Lobito's table.
Baseball also met Ciro, and they went to the inflatables panel while Henrieke stayed in the Dealers Den. Lockheed and Ronin Foxtail were also at the panel, and Draz was DJing. Deezlberries took some photos of Baseball and Chorca. After sticking around for a while, I took a break in the fursuit lounge. I also said good-bye to Chorca just in case I wouldn't see him anymore at the con. I went back to the room at 15:30 to take a shower, then went back to the Dealers Den to meet Henrieke. Since we were starving, we went to get some pizza at Pizza my Heart, which was luckily still around, unlike many other businesses in downtown San Jose that did not survive COVID. They have pretty decent pizza!
Then we went back to the hotel to see if the Pokémon Go panel was still ongoing, it already ended though. We went past the Furality gateway, which was set up in the first floor of the Mariott on our way to the Dealers Den, where we went to hang out a bit with RedWulf, since she was about to head out.
We spent some time sitting on the floor at Kipper's and Drex' booth. Henrieke did a trade with RedWulf, Royce also joined. I went to see Keovi and gave her one of our New Year's cards and bought a sticker. I also met Lockheed again, and Srice was also there. The name Srice rang a bell, and after some digging, I found out that we roomed together at a previous FC, but neither of us really remembered it. We went back to the room at 18:00 to take a break. Eli, Byte and Ronin also joined and we spent a while chatting about old Eurofurences, Disney parks and other things. Ronin showed his convention photos on the TV. They all left for dinner and I took a nap until 21:00, then we went down to artjam. It was us, Eli, Byte and Kipper.
I had to go back to the room to get rid of my contact lenses, then we went to check out Keovi's party at 0:40. Keovi, Kenket, Sapphire and Koidel were there, artjamming. Dade was also there, so I took the chance to nerd out about our mutual favorite movie, Hackers. We stayed a while, then went down again and chatted with friends. I got some art by Lockheed and did a collab with Paco where we both alternated drawing every few seconds. The result looked like a Neopet for some reason. Paco also gave us a copy of his Art and Biro book, for which Henrieke and I made some drawings that were included.
I spent some time chatting with Selwyn and Foxo about Australia, and I gave Foxo a card to deliver to FlameDrake. When it was time to go to bed we said a sad good-bye to Kipper, Drex, Paco, Koidel and all the others and went to the Hilton with Zahzu and Muse. We ran into Zarafa and Eden nerded out with him on the way to the elevator. We went to Zahzu's room to properly say good-bye there and then dropped by at Keovi's party again. Keovi and Kenket were creating some drunk art, and Henrieke joined for a bit, making a beautiful collab with Kenket. Maple was there as well.
After a while we said bye to everyone and went to our room which was conveniently on the same floor, and went to bed at 4:00.
We got up at 10:00, and - as is tradition - frantically packed. Eli and Byte already left sooner, and at 11:40 we managed to stuff everything into our bags. We had to carry our luggage downstairs as the elevators were way too packed with people. I met Draz and Buaya in the stairwell and said bye to them. Downstairs we met Kilmo and Maple. Originally Croc was going to pick up the stuff we would leave in San Jose, but sadly his car windows got smashed in the BART parking lot. Luckily Bacon offered to not only pick us up, but also give us a ride to the airport. We said bye to Paco and Koidel, then we went on a quest to find Henrieke's water bottle which she lost the day before. No luck at the lost and found of the Marriott or the con. I stumbled into Dax'and Latte's coffee panel and said bye to them. We went back to the Hilton, and eventually found the water bottle at the reception desk there. Sadly we did not have time to attend the snack exchange panel as we had to leave to the airport. Bacon picked us up and gave us a ride to San Jose airport and we met up with Kilmo and Maple there.
Kilmo and Maple went to get some Tiki cocktails at Trader Vic's, we got some smashburgers, then we joined them. After a short flight, we took an Uber to their place and flopped onto our inflatable bed.
FC was amazing as always! We always love coming back, artjamming endlessly and meeting all our wonderful friends overseas!
Our trip didn't end here though, for all the things we did after, check out the following trip report here.
