Editing The Pen Addict 546/transcript (section)

== Pen show travel plans and pre-gaming San Francisco. ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Are we going to do that thing now where on every episode we talk about the pen shows you're going to, or is that going to be later on? I mean... Because we did that. Do you remember we did that for, like, it was like Orlando and one other? It was like every episode. It was like, don't forget.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we pre-gamed San Francisco very hard. That was the one. Yeah. For like a month. I was like, do you know? And do you know what I'm planning on doing? And do you know who I'm going to see? And look, guess what? I'm ready to pack, and I'm going to talk about that. And hey, I went to the show. Do you want to talk about that? And oh, we didn't get to this thing at the show. So let's talk about that. So it was like six weeks worth of San Francisco and right into Orlando and two more weeks of that. So yeah. I see what you're saying. Probably. It's probably going to happen again. Starting with Baltimore. So at the beginning of March, I have booked my hotel and flights and show tickets for March 10th, 11th, and 12th, the Baltimore Washington International Pen Show. I have been to the Baltimore show before. That was my last pre-COVID show before not going to show for a couple of years, two and a half years or so. So it'll be good to get back. I enjoy that show. So that, Myke, you have not been to Baltimore. And what I will tell you, Baltimore is like, it's like a bigger and better Atlanta show, right? Okay. But not to the overwhelming level of like a DC or San Francisco. But if you took Atlanta and, you know, like if you personally, like if you said, what would you do a little bit different in Atlanta? And I talk about Atlanta this way because it's my home show for those who are just, you know, new listeners to the show. So, you know, you'd put Atlanta all in one big room. Like all the vendors get one big room. And, oh, the hotel has, you know, a little bit more access. You know, it's closer to the airport and restaurants and things like that. And it has a really good, you know, class vibe and a really good, a little better evening vibe, right? That's Baltimore. So it's like Atlanta plus. And I'm looking forward to get back to there. It's one of my favorite shows on the calendar. And I'm glad to be able to go to that. Speaking of Atlanta, that'll be the next show. Like two weeks after Baltimore, maybe three weeks. So March 30th to April 2nd is the Atlanta Pen show. I have booked my hotel room for that. That is a show I just have to drive to. So I'm always going to go to that. And I'll stay a couple nights at the hotel. I'm not going to drive like back and forth to home. It's a little too far for like a daily trip. But, you know, all of these shows, I'm going to arrive Friday and leave Sunday. So that's a new thing for me. We talked about me not working shows anymore, not having to work for a knock booth. Right now, I'm not working for any vendors. You know, maybe I'll mix that in later in the year. You know, I definitely have some opportunities for that. But right now, if I'm just going for me and going to hang out at the show, I'm going to try to arrive the Friday afternoon, you know, early-ish to these shows and then leave, you know, late Sunday morning, right, and get home, right? I feel good about that decision for me not to – what I would do in the past, like if I was working, I'd get in on Thursday night and then not leave until Monday morning, right? So that just really extends the show. It extends your expenses, you know, all the things. So – but it was mostly because I had a lot more prep work to do. And then I was usually, you know, working the show until it ended on Sunday. Then I was just tired, didn't want to have to take, you know, like a late-night flight Sunday, so I'd just go in the morning. So all my shows, at least right now, I'm planning on going Friday to Sunday. So mostly be there Friday night, Saturday night, then leave Sunday morning. So that's the plan.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I wanted to get back to Chicago for a long time. So looking at the calendar this year, it works for me. So that is the first weekend in May, May 4th through 7th. So I have booked my hotel and booked my flights for Chicago. So that has been maybe five years since I've been there. I don't know. That's – it's been a while. I think – I'm trying to remember when we did Field Notes, the Field Notes event, if I've actually been to a Chicago pen show since our Field Notes event. I must – I certainly have. That was a pretty long time ago that you and I did the Field Notes interview.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Did you go to the Chicago pen show during that thing?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No. No, because it was a separate time of year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I was going to say, because why would you have gone but I didn't go? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That was a different time. Because I did a family vacation for the Field Notes thing. I took Mary Beth and the kids for that trip. We did a little extended stay thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Was that when we were doing the tour or no? It was a different time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That was a different time. That was a one-off. If you were – we planned it to where probably you were going to like Memphis or something like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I was in Chicago for a conference. That's what it was. That's what it was. Yeah, I was at the release notes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. So that was a long time ago. So I think I've been to the Chicago pen show since then, but I think literally it's probably been five years since I've been to Chicago. Chicago is along the lines of a Baltimore show. Really good medium-sized show, bigger than Atlanta. You know, really – like it's not in the city of Chicago proper. Like it's like I'll land in O'Hare, then you got to go like 30, 40 minutes out of the city. Like that's a little bit of an annoyance. But technically the hotel is in a good location for people going to the show to where you can walk out the door and get food and things like that. So like even though it's not in the city proper, which, you know, that helps keep the rates down. So like I'm okay with that. You know, if I wanted to spend extra time in Chicago, I could book a couple extra days and just go stay in the city and do stuff. You know, I'm not this time. I'm just, you know, again, Friday to Sunday. So I'm excited about having a full travel schedule this year, which for me usually entails like five to six shows. If I start creeping up into like seven shows, we're getting – we're doing a lot of travel and, you know, that's about it. But some of them will be flights. Some of them will be drives. So, you know, I try to mix them up. There is a pen show this weekend. Like I couldn't make the Philadelphia pen show. That's this weekend, you know, looking at the calendar. That just came up too soon, right? It's like I started thinking about this like a couple weeks ago. I was like, oh, when's Philly? Maybe if it's at the end of the month I could get there. And I looked and I was like, oof, it's like in 10 days from when I started looking at it and like the hotel was sold out and like other people are staying at like other hotels around. I prefer to stay at the show hotel. It's just easier, simpler.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, especially if you can do it and especially where like, you know, I was just like poking through while you were talking because you never in other locations. It's like the Chicago pen show is like it's one of those ones. It looks like it's just so far away from.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's in the boonies.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Philly's the opposite. Philly is smack in down. Philly is an awesome location show.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The one we're about to talk about, which I've not heard of before. We'll talk about it. That looks that's pretty decent.