ConCarolinas Recap Part 1: Travels and Reuniting with the BWB

Nothing like a typical FanGirl recap that's over a month overdue. Anyway here is a look at my experience at ConCarolinas in Charlotte North Carolina.

As I live in Maryland, I really didn't feel up to the drive down to NC, although I do know some people that did do it. My mom picked me and Brian up and we headed to what was supposed to be a simple trip to the airport. That did not happen. There was a crazy accident on the interstate so traffic was backed up. What was supposed to take 35-45 minutes took two hours. The funny thing is our flight was barely two hours and we ended up being stuck in traffic longer than that.

Anyway we made it to the airport (and had enough time for food and a double shot of my amaretto sour) and our flight got underway. Once we finally got to Charlotte, it was a 20 minute long cab ride before we got to the hotel. The hotel was really nice and I was starting to get excited to see everyone from Capclave again.

Mascot of CapClave

*Short Aside*---err...or not, oh well!

Capclave is a small sci-fi-fantasy fiction convention. It's held in Gaithersburg every year, and this past year, George RR Martin was the Guest of Honor, so I obviously had to go. After looking online, I discovered that GRRM had an official fan group called the Brotherhood Without Banners that basically throws epic parties at all the conventions they attend. To join all you have to do is show up to an event. It's cool because you kind of become "vetted" with GRRM and he knows that you're a respectful fan that he can also hangout with (which we did!). I would describe the BWB as pretty "ride or die", meaning that they pretty much have a presence at most things GRRM goes to. Ta give you an idea I met one person from Portland and another all the way from Dublin, so the BWB pretty much has a fairly large span of members.
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So once we settled in a bit I nervously met with some members that I recognized (since I had only met them once before). We were planning on doing a group costume so it was fun to talk about it and make some plans for the first day of the conventions. We were going to become the (Not-so) Silent Sisters form Game of Thrones. They have actually featured in a few episodes but obviously had no speaking parts (ha!). They are a religious sect/order of women who travel Westeros collecting and preparing the dead. It sounds creepy and off-putting because they cover everything but their eyes and don't speak.

That was basically the end of the travel/preparation leading up to the convention so stay tuned for Part Two: Lunches and Costumes Galore!