I went to the desk this morning, to ask about the convention center shuttle. The clerk didn’t know, as the hotel had not “partnered” with Comic-Con this year.

I had info that it was on a nearby street, but arriving there and walking down a block, I saw no signs indicating where. Also, no one else was standing anywhere, so no one to ask.

I still had time, and I was hungry, so I walked up to a Von grocery store, that I had seen the night before and bought a couple of bananas, that were eaten before I got back to the pick up street.

Again, I see no one around. I pull out my iPad and start a search, to verify. As I am doing this, a man comes up asking me about the bus, but also has knowledge of where a stop is.

It isn’t too far, about a mile, at another hotel. He even offers to give me a ride, since he is going anyway. Super!

We find the right spot and the bus comes in few moments.

This is the first pickup area, so we have to go through the rest of the route before passing right by the pickup again. Better than being the last to be picked up, only to have a full bus, I guess.

The bus drops us off rather far from the convention center, as the road in front is completely closed. I don’t know why the buses can’t go through. I guess I got more walking to do.

It is just after 9 and they open at 9:30, so I pick a doorway, with less of a crowd, and wait for the doors to be opened.

Even though I see attendees inside, they are not opening the doors, not until almost 10.

I was systematic, I went straight to the back and then to one end of the hall, then went front to back down each aisle. I stopped occasionally to browse the wares and to try to cross the river of people.

It took over 3 hours to make my way through to the far end of the hall, just once!

Spiderman costumes were popular, as well as various Harley Quinns, Fantastic 4, princesses, and Star Fleet uniforms. Some people just had store-bought masks (lame), while others had elaborate hand-made costumes and colored skin.

With the sheer number of people, it was impossible to even think about photographs.

It was now definitely time for lunch, so I went to the back aisle of the hall, where the food sellers were.

Well shit, every one of them had signs specifying they were cashless. I don’t want to pay interest on food, so I skipped them. Maybe something outside the hall would be ok.

I went upstairs, to where the panel rooms were. Everyone had a line. But I did see a large open area and there was food being sold.

I found a nacho/taco place that didn’t have the cashless sign, so I got in line. I ordered some nachos, as the tacos had onions already mixed in and I didn’t want to fart.

As I get to the end, I got to hand over my money, but the clerk stated they could not accept cash. I lied and said I was from Europe and my credit card wouldn’t work here. Surprisingly, he let me have it, even refusing my money. Wow, I thought I was screwed, but got free food.

Unfortunately, all the dining tables were full of attendees just resting, so I ended up just sitting on the floor against the wall and ate. It was quite good, but now I can’t go back. 🙁

I then headed over to the panel rooms, each had a schedule near the door, but nothing seemed interesting. Mostly a bunch of comic artists I had never heard of.

Getting tired and sore from walking, I went back to the hotel and crashed out for a couple of hours.

Upon returning, I went back up to the panel room, as there was one I wanted to check out, the Worst Cartoons. The room was full, so I got in line, hoping someone might leave. Maybe 5 minutes later, I was led into a very dark room where a large screen was showing some crap cartoon from the 60’s.

People laughed at the cartoons, just out of sheer idiocy of the story and dialog.

Others shown were a Popeye episode with Olive was a beatnik, and a truly low budget short, that didn’t even get “inked”, just the original pencil sketches.

There was another panel after this, in the same room, so many of us stayed in there. Which I think is one of the problems with getting into the panels, too many people are “squatting”.

The panel was called “Klingon Lifestyle Presentation”, which I thought was going to be about theoretical societal norms in the Klingon homes. Instead, it was a skit play on a fan-based storyline involving Klingons, Ferengi, Orions, and Star Fleet officers.

It started out as a video, onboard a couple of ships, but then it went “live” when the crews went to the planets surface.

It was rather funny, even if the acting was hammy, but then again, so was the original Trek.

Once it was over, the convention was basically over for the day, so I headed out and went back to my room.

As I reach it, I remembered I wanted to go back to the market to get more stuff, but it would have been a tight race to get there before closing. Never mind that, I had found a Denny’s on the map nearby, so I went there.

Unfortunately, I was near the shuttle stop, so I then had to back track. I saw there was a Ralph’s market across the street and someone I asked said they were open until 1am. Awesome.

I went to the Denny’s first, I was hungry, after all, but I went to the market after, to get a half gallon of milk and juice and some more bananas.

There is a mini fridge, but no microwave, so I can keep it cold, but can’t heat anything up.

Walking count: Hard to say really, but at least another 8 miles (mostly inside), total so far 14.