Darlene's Digest

Boskone 50 is a regional SF convention held in Boston in February. If it wasn't for this being such a fabulous convention (and the opportunity to see my sons who live up North), I can assure you I would never board a plane to leave Florida and go into Nor'Easter country in winter. But I've been doing it for ten years now, and even with the occasional blizzards and travel delays, it's still one of my favorite trips. I flew to NYC and took the Acela train to Boston, as usual, and marveled again at how comfortable train travel is these days compared with flying.  The conference was at the Westin Waterfront, as it has been for most of the past decade and will continue to be in the near future. It's a nice hotel, a short taxi ride from South Station. In fact, last year the weather was so pleasant that I walked, rolling my suitcase behind me. I didn't have any panels scheduled Friday night so I got my credentials and hung out with people, catching up on gossip, t...

Image via Wikipedia Boskone 47 Got my Progress Report for Boskone 47 , a delightful regional SF convention in Boston this February. I'll be there, along with an amazing array of talented writers, editors, artists and fans. It's a mix guaranteed to produce a lively weekend. Only a group like this could convince me to fly to Massachusetts in February. Fortunately, I have a return ticket that says "Florida".

Image via Wikipedia My first year at Boskone I got snowed in. That wasn't so bad. I remember standing on the 15th floor of the Sheraton at the Pru, sipping single malts in a nice, warm hotel room with other refugees, knowing that the attached mall had everything a human being could want (other than a flight home). However, it made me conscious of the risks of February travel in the NE. That's when you're likely to get the heavy, wet snowstorms that shut things down. I plan accordingly now. I pack overnight gear in my carry-on, and make sure that I don't have anything important scheduled the day after I'm supposed to be home. Just in case. This year's weather report looks good though. Cold (by my standards), but no big storms in the forecast. And the cold is tolerable, as long as it's in the pluses and not the minuses. Of course, now that I've blogged about it I've put a curse on it and I'll get snowed in.