Trip to Austin Live Blog (updated)
I feel like a participant of a certain road trip movie. Destination: creator of a Star Wars Universe; time of departure: right about now. Comic relief best buddies and a potential love interest are missing because I am flying this one Solo (Millenium Falcon not included).
What sounded like a dream of a distant future is now a hard hitting reality and I am about to call a cab to take me to the airport, where the adventure called Fan Site Summit in Austin, Texas will begin. My journey will take me across 6033 miles (that is 9709 km for you metric people out there) and four airports (3 flights to get me from Belgrade, Serbia to Austin, Texas). Twenty hours later I will be basking in hot Texan sun with my family hopelessly far away and days full of wonder ahead.
This site was created with fans of the Old Republic in mind. We exist for this SWTOR community as part of that community. As such, I wanted to share as much as I can about this completely unexpected experience Bioware provided me with, hoping that, at least in some capacity, you will be able to live it with me. I will be updating this post through every leg of the journey up to the doors of Bioware’s studio. There will be impressions and images posted in this very post about anything remotely interesting I encounter on the way. Although I imagine the truly interesting stuff begins once I pass through those doors in Austin, as with every journey, there is a beginning and a path to cross and I want to share it with you guys every step of the way.
I left the house at 4am for the airport. Not a big deal for a gamer like me :). Not like its the first night I’ve seen dawn. Here are a few images from the departure:
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I slept through the whole flight from Belgrade to Frankfurt (it all just flew by – get it?). Frankfurt airport always impresses me with its size. Looks more like a small city than an airport. I tried locating an easy way to get online and share some images and tweet, turns out it is not easy to establish an internet connection while trying to board your next flight.
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The oversees flight was not an entirely unpleasant experience. Let me tell you, Lufthansa airlines has great food on these fights. Even the babies I sat next to (that cried from time to time) did not bother me. I guess getting closer to Austin is having miraculous effect on me. I’ve managed to read half f the second book from the Dune series by Frank Herbert. It’s been 20 years since I last read it ad I enjoyed it immensely. Luckily, I didn’t have to suffer the in-flight movies (Burlesque and latest part of the Fockers *rollseyes*).
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Arriving to Huston was exciting for me. The weather is beautiful, although the landing was a bit rough, but nothing to write home about. Due to my crazy flight schedule I have to wait for 4 hours till my Austin flight and I hope to report as soon as I get there. I stopped by the bookstore at the Houston airport to find Deceived and Fatal Alliance in the shelves :).
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I arrived at Austin on a shortest flight in history. The plane ascended to target height and then begun descending right away for landing. 24 minute flight ftw! Finally arriving to Austin, I was ecstatic and took in as much as I can. True to its ‘capital of live music’ motto, the baggage claim is decorated with electric guitars. Being in the USA for the first time in 15 years I was once again amazed by the vastness of space and size of the roads. Texas is just like I imagined it. Grass is all yellow like in a Western movie. Seeing a cowboy on a horse transporting a heard of cattle would not look out of place here. Luckily, the hotel we are in and the surrounding area is actually a shopping mall/center and everything is brand new. So are our rooms where I crashed for the night with dreams of what the upcoming days will bring.
 Austin Airport |
 Our room |
 Stalking Bioware offices |
This concludes my trip to Austin Fan Site Summit blog. I know it was more of a personal thing, but I wanted to share the experience with other fans of the game. We’ll continue our coverage of the event.
Make sure you follow me on Twitter, because I will probably be uploading pictures there first, before I get a chance to update this post.
4 Responses to “Trip to Austin Live Blog (updated)”
safe trip bro, be there soon! 🙂
Be safe! Remember to move around during those long flights, to prevent blood cots in the legs, and try to sleep if you can, so you are wide awake in Austin. I am *really* looking forward to the Crafting answers you can get us.
Stumbled upon this blog looking for SWTOR news. Im a born and raised Texan from Dallas and now live just south of Austin. I have to say it’s funny how many expect there to be that cattle drive happening when they come to Texas. Sad to say though it doesn’t happen much. I never rode a horse to school and surprisingly most of our cities aren’t decrepit run down western towns where the sherrif has been run out by outlaws. Anyway, I hope you have a good time in Austin as well as playing swtor.
ps. this was all in good fun
thank you for your thoughts Daelda, I appreciate your input for sure and I can tell you, you won’t be disappointed!
Creedants, thank you for stopping by, please be watching the site for future updates, if you are interested in swtor you wont want to miss out.
🙂