Here’s a scenario: you’ve found a {convention|hamfest|trade show|conference} you want to attend, have a hotel picked out, and have your method of transportation picked out. What you don’t know, though, is if you want to leave out Sunday evening or Monday morning. This was the scenario I ended up with in 2005 when it was decided that my group was going to get a room for Anime Weekend Atlanta.
I made reservations at the Renaissance Waverly earlier in the year and decided to go from Thursday to Sunday in my naïveté. As we rushed to exit the room Sunday morning, I decided that next year I would reserve from Thursday to Monday. I think that the tremendous crowd at the front desk Sunday morning was enough to dissuade me from booking for Sunday departure the next year. Furthermore, the rush to exit conspace to take a friend to the airport to catch his flight home wasn’t fun either.
I do a small amount of travel for my job, attending hamfests throughout the Southeast. In every case, we’re checking out of the hotel early Sunday morning to work the day and go home. This is to streamline the “putting the store back together” process.
In 2008, I went to three out-of-down conventions: Anime Boston, A-Kon, and Otakon. In each of these, I chose to fly home on Sunday. At AB and Otakon, I had access to public transit, so getting home wasn’t too big of a deal. At A-Kon, I had to rely on a longtime friend of mine to get me around. Fortunately, we decided after checking out that the con wasn’t worth staying at, so we dropped his wife off at their house then went and hung out for a bit before I departed.
All in all, I’ve determined over the past few years that whenever it’s feasible financially to stay over an extra day. I especially see this at AWA as I get to hang out with both my out-of-town friends and local friends at the same time. This leads to much random awesome that usually ends up with us being up half the night. Therefore, waking up at 8 or 9 on Sunday only to rush like madmen to get out of the hotel is usually deemed a bad idea.
As September rapidly approaches and this year’s plans for AWA continue to be set in motion, I prepare myself mentally, physically, financially, and emotionally for that weekend. I will definitely relish checking out on Monday instead of Sunday this year yet again.