So a few weeks ago, I went to my first convention in Prague! I always love going to new events in new countries and this was definitely one of the good ones. Zibartas and I were both there as invited guests.

Sadly there were no direct flights, so we had to get first from mainland Denmark to Copenhagen with one plane, and from there to Prague. Thankfully all planes were on time and our luggage arrived safely with us. I had minor damage to my Astral druid, but we always prepare for such risks and were able to fix it at the hotel.

We arrived somewhat late, so we didn’t have time to go explore the city, but we did go to the nearby mall and got some thai food and sampled some local candy.

The first day of the event opened a bit later, since it was a work day still, so we had lots of time to sleep in and enjoy breakfast. We stayed at the hotel right next to the venue, so we walked over and got our badges and found our booth before the event opened, so that once we were ready, we could just go right in and find our table. There was a nice area for the cosplay guests right in front of the entrance to the main stage. There was also a smaller cosplay stage, which was mostly for panels and Q&As. I did a little Q&A session about cosplaying with my own (long) hair. I liked the little stage, because it felt very relaxed both for me on the stage, but also for the audience – it was easier to walk by and just listen in, without feeling a need to stay for the whole session. A nice way for people to discover a topic without planning to, since it was not hidden away in a separate hall. 

I wore my Barbie Rapunzel, and it was a bit big, since there was a lot of people, but it was fun and I was happy that many people recognized the character! I also had a small shoot with a videographer, but unfortunately forgot his name, so I hope eventually he’ll tag me if he posts it, haha 😀 

The first day was quite chill and it was nice to have some time to get to know the other guests in the cosplay area. The convention had made sure to have helpers at the cosplay area to oversee our booths if we went on walks and to help us get snacks and drinks and on occassion untangle my hair from various things like e.g. my own bag or my wings on sunday, when I wore Cornelia.

The one thing that was a bit intense was that we were asked to go on the main stage for the opening show. That on it’s own was ok, but we were the first to be presented, and then we all had to stay on stage while most of the other stars (actors, government officials etc.) were presented on stage one by one. I don’t think it was so much a problem that we had to be there, but a head’s up would have been nice. Zibartas wore a heavy metal helmet, and I am sure he would have not, had he known what the plan was. But in any case, it was kind of cool to see all the actors up close – and there’s a lot of photos of very famous actors with a random me looking slightly confused in the back 😀
The convention has a superhero mascot, and I really liked that they had a girl cosplay her and be part of the opening event – she was also just a really nice person and seemed to fit the role perfectly.

In the evening, the local cosplayers took us to a nearby restaurant with some local food. It was pretty good, although my food was a yummy steak drowned in sauce, served with a lemon slice, cranberry jam and whipped cream with soft bread on the side. All those things would have been delicious separately, but I am not converted to the lemon-jam-whipped cream combo, haha.

Saturday was the big day for cosplay, so I brought my Astral Druid – I thought about crunching to make my new druid wearable for the event, but I wasn’t sure how it would work, so I decided to go for tried and true. 
Zibartas and the two other judges (all guys – a very unusual lineup, since men are more rare in the cosplay scene) were busy most of the day judging the competition. It was live streamed on national television, which I thought was pretty cool! 
We watched it on our phones from our booths, since the hall where it took place was super full and I wasn’t sure I could sit for that long in my cosplay, anyways. It was a bit unfortunate that it was dubbed, because we couldn’t understand a thing. There were a lot of impressive cosplayers and I thought it was a great show! 

In the evening we were very tired, so we decided to try out the restaurant at the hotel for dinner. The food was great and quite cheap compared to the prices we’re used to at home. We had a comic con special menu, which was a burger, fries and a beer or lemonade for 333 CZK. I had a dessert also – I usually never get dessert at restaurants, but I felt like I earned it, haha.

Sunday was a chill day. I had my Q&A session, but other than that our schedule was free, so Zibartas and I had time to walk around the convention and see the other booths and exhibitions. We chatted with a lot of nice people and just genuinely had a nice time. 

In the evening we decided to go to the hotel restaurant for a second round of comic con menu. The staff was somehow not on their A-game. We all ordered at the same time, and the others all got their food… And I didn’t. We figured they’d come with it shortly after, but no such luck, and we couldn’t flag down a waiter, either. The others were half-way through their meal, and we had to get up and walk over to the waiters and point out they forgot my food, which meant we ended up being the last people before they closed. We still wanted to hang out a bit more, so we went to the hotel bar, which was open a bit longer. They also ignored us for almost half an hour before taking our drink orders. I guess we just didn’t seemed like big spenders or something.

We had some sad goodbyes and then went to bed, exhausted, happy and also a bit sad that it was over.

Our plane home was in the afternoon, so Monday morning Zibartas and I got up early and took the tram to the city center and did a bit of touristing. There’s so many pretty buildings and bridges there. I hope I can return again some time! Sadly, we only saw things from outside, since it was so early, everything was closed. 

At 12, our ride to the airport arrived and we had a smooth trip home with another overlay in Copenhagen. Our suitcases arrived with us and all worked out as smoothly as it could have.

All in all, it was a short trip, but very memorable. We met so many nice people, made new friends, tasted new foods and experienced beautiful sights. 

Thank you Comic Con Prague for the invite – hope to return some day!