Sunday

After being up super late on Saturday, I decided to sleep in on Sunday. And by that I mean I forgot to set my alarm and woke up as everyone else was leaving the hotel to head to the Convention Center. I took my time getting ready and headed down to the front desk to try and find a place near by with true New York bagels. Let me stress again how cool the staff at The Jane Hotel is! I asked if they knew of good places to get bagels and both guys behind the desk started to tell me all about their favorite places to go and how I was doing the right thing by getting a true bagel before I left. Then when they realized it needed to be within walking distance they looked a place up online for me with good reviews and told me how to get there.

My destination was Hudson Bagels a few blocks from the hotel. Sunday morning in New York is very cool. People were out walking their dogs, playing with their kids, running errands. It was a little like walking around in a movie. The leaves were starting to change, and there was a nice breeze, it was again kind of magical. After a short walk I made it to the bagel shop and headed in. For those of you that are unaware there is a difference between New York bagels and the bagels in the rest of the country. Bagels in NY are boiled before they are baked. I know in Ohio they are usually just baked. I ordered an onion bagel with vegetable cream cheese and some juice.

I sat outside on a bench in front of the shop and ate my delicious breakfast and talked to my mom on the phone. Then grabbed a taxi and headed to the last day of NYCC. Walking into the convention center I saw Boba Fett playing “The Safety Dance” on the accordion, and I knew it was going to be an alright day. Sunday tickets had sold out before the show started and it was obvious. I think it felt busier than Saturday but I am not sure if that is true or not. I know trying to make it to the CR table was an adventure.

I spent most of Sunday away from the Comic Related table and infiltrated other podcasters. I hung out at the other end of our row with the guys from Comic Geek Speak and Indie Spinner Rack, along with Mario Gonzalez, Rich Miller, and Jeff and Charlie from H2Awesome. I believe at one point I also accosted Kirby Krackle. To the left of Indie Spinner Rack was Jimmy from Comic News Insider who had the coolest people at his booth that day. I got the chance to meet True Blood’s Carrie Preston, she was really sweet, and had on the cutest shoes!

Around 3pm I grabbed some lunch from a Greek food cart down the street. It was really good; I am a felafel junkie and cart felafel did not disappoint. Around 4:30 the convention started to clear out and people started to pack it in and start to say their goodbyes. Because my flight out wasn’t until Monday I parted ways with the rest of the CR crew at this point as they began their trips home.

The NY locals and the folks leaving Monday all got together to get dinner. We headed to someone apartment who lived near by to drop our stuff off. Rich had his bike at the show and let me ride it!Riding a bike through the city was really cool! Also on the way to the apartment we passed the studio for the Colbert Report, that was neat. We ended up eating dinner at a great Thai place called Pure. After a weekend of eating to much and not always the healthiest, and that hotdog still haunting me the Thai Beef Noodle soup I ordered was exactly want I needed.

After dinner a few of us headed out to a dead dog party for vendors, guests and press of the show to get together and chill after a crazy weekend. I think I stayed for about 25 minutes before I grabbed a cab back to the Jane to get some sleep. Dead dog is an accurate name for the party because everyone was dead dog tired. I finished packing and went to bed early hoping to be rested for my trip back to the airport Monday morning.

Monday

I got up around 9am and finished packing the last few odds and ends and head down to check out. Ashley who had been my front desk buddy got me checked out and let me know the directions I had to La Guardia were good. I headed out for my last trip through the city. I grabbed another bagel at a place called Bonsingore. And again it was great. I took my bagel to go and got on the E train for the last time. It was a bit bittersweet, but I was ready to head home and recoup after a great weekend. The trip was much easier on the return since I had some idea where I was going. The trip home was uneventful, especially considering I kept falling asleep as the plane was taxiing before take off. I got home safe and sound!

Thoughts:

I could totally move to Manhattan tomorrow and live there.

New York bagels really are that good and it seems like all of the OJ in the big apple is fresh squeezed.

Yes the city is big, yes it is loud, yes it is fast but if you are prepared for that you can flow right along with it.

The Subway is not as scary as I originally thought.

Yes, there are rude people in New York but no more than anywhere else, and there are some really great people there too.

I totally see myself as a New Yorker who happens to live in Ohio.

All that said, it is nice to be back home with friends and family, who are the reason I could never move too far away

Plans:

Definitely be at NYCC 2012