• Nonperishable food for lunch-skipping purposes: granola bars, jerky, peanut-butter-esque sandwiches/crackers, 17-course Michelin-star dinners, raisins, or other "Googies" as Mom's aphasia put it
  
• A picnic basket; just EMPTY YOUR PACKET DRAWER INTO IT, YOU KNOW THE DRAWER.
  
• I bought a wheeled cooler last year and by bringing it with actually good stuff inside it may have paid for itself in reducing my temptation to get take-out twice a day
  
• Dice
  
• Chargers for what ails ya (phone, laptop, tablet, tableau, plateau, mesa, fjord)
  
• Batteries, failing to remember your chargers
  
• iGizmos/Phones/Pacemakers/Whatever
  
• Hand sanitizer IS MORE IMPORTANT EVERY YEAR WOW
  
• Notepads(tm) (hey, I take notes on my phone too, but sometimes paper comes up)
  
• Pens, pencils, black AND silver/metallic(!) Sharpies for autographs on light or dark surfaces(!!!)
  
• Meds/painkillers/bandages/black market insulin/Zombrex/Ivermectin/LITERAL URINE
  
• Insoles or gel inserts or foam blocks to walk on or whatever
  
• Collapsible/lightweight water bottle With flavored beverage pouches
  
• TRAVEL CUTLERY KIT!!!!! or at least some disposable silverware you have probably been hoarding anyway
  
• ONE Protein Bars (Maple Glazed Donut tastes the most like its claimed flavor of anything I have ever eaten)
  
• Quest Nutrition Bars (Their HERO line is amazing; Blueberry Cobbler is MY JAM)
  
• THINK! Lemon Delight bars (obviously only if you are into Lemon Sugar Things like I am but their other flavors are fine too in my experience)
  
• GUM?
  

• You will probably end up walking at least 5 miles a day at the convention. If you are not used to walking, oh boy, this will suck. I still remember my feet feeling like they were on fire by Sunday my first year.
  
• It gets less pertinent every year, but BRINGING CASH will still potentially save you some money, especially if you buy things from the Auction or any of the other few vendors where they add credit card fees to the total if you pay with cards. Plus even in the era of Venmo, CashApp, and Heroinstr it is sometimes hugely helpful to be able to toss your share of the cost of dinner down and run to your next event
  
• Also your cards may well be locked for fraud when you purchase things from vendors located on three different parts of the country in a span of ten minutes, so you might need to tell them you are travelling.
  
• Some variant of the 5/3/1 or 6/2/1 or whatever rule, where you have to sleep 5/6 hours, eat 2/3 meals, and take 1/1 showers every day in order to stay sane and keep those around you sane. I usually skip lunch and just stuff myself with granola bars to avoid spending 90 minutes in line at a food truck missing valuable Exhibit Hall time
  
• If you are the kind of person who ever gets cold in air-conditioned spaces, you will need to be prepared for that. During the day it is usually a little warm in the convention center, but both at hotels and in the evenings when the herds thin out and the air conditioning can actually keep up, it can be a little cold, sure. SURE.
  

8one6 fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Jan 30, 2022