SDCC Essentials: Tips for Staying Cool and Charged Up

While I’m waiting for my plane to board and whisk me away to San Diego for Comic-Con, I thought I would share with you a few essentials. Especially if you’re coming down for the first time. Don’t worry if you haven’t packed all you might need. Plenty of stores in the Gaslamp to stock up.

You may have heard that the weather is really nice in San Diego–in the 70s, when the rest of the country is blazing hot. That’s only partially true. Yes, it’s likely to be in the 70s.  But the high 70s forecast are this year. But what they don’t tell you is that in the sun, it’s much, much hotter. San Diego is down by the Mexico border, so the sun is scorching. My advice: walk in the shade as much as possible, or get a sun hat or parasol to keep you shaded and cool. You’ll also need to drink, and I mean water. Lots of it, preferably with electrolytes in it. Last year, I nearly got dehydrated.

This year, there are a few times in my schedule I have to walk from the Hilton Bayfront at one end of the Convention Center to the Hyatt Manchester, all the way on the other end. It’s not a terrible walk, but it can be hot, crowded and close. Did you know you can walk along the back of the convention center near the water? Much better!

Cell phone service is horrible (150,000 people all trying to tweet, text, and Instagram at the same time is a burden on any system). So that means your phone will eat your battery. If you haven’t already, get an extra power pack, a Mophie case…something. You’ll need it. There are vending machines in the convention center that sell them if you absolutely need to do it. But be warned.

Stay cool, stay charged, stay hydrated. That’s all I got for now. Make sure you stop by and say Hi Friday at 3:00 at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore booth #1119. I’ll be signing copies of my Bram Stoker Award-nominated novel The Apothecary’s Curse.