Over the course of their lives many spiritual people will embark on journeys of great personal significance, traveling far from their homes. In Islam such a pilgrimage is an obligation that every able-bodied Muslim, who can afford to do so, is expected to perform at least once in their lifetime. Though I would not presume to attribute to roleplay such far reaching spiritual meanings, it is an important part of my life and there has always been one gaming related pilgrimage that I have wanted to make: the journey to GenCon.

The first GenCon occurred in 1967 at the home of roleplaying legend Gary Gygax. This 20-person gaming get-together marked the beginning of an annual tradition that has lasted forty years, grown to more then thirty thousand attendees, and now includes conventions on three separate continents. GenCon is by all accounts the largest and most visible gathering of roleplaying enthusiasts in the world.

For me the lure of such a celebration has been powerful, however due to the costs of travelling from Canada to the convention, I had always believed it an adventure out of my price range. As this past summer drew to a close however, and as yet another opportunity to attend “The Best Four Days in Gaming” passed me by, I decided that the time had finally come to make sure that I didn’t miss out again.

My first step was to establish some hard facts and crunch some numbers. After doing some research on the relevant factors, I was able to establish that it would cost me approximately $2,000US to afford the trip. This budget included the costs of food ($150US), accommodation ($916US), convention registration ($150US), game fees ($70), and travel ($760US). Spread over a ten-month period this worked out to just over $200US a month. Though costly this was well within my ability to pay for. For the first time I had a clear picture of the expenses involved in the journey and they proved that I could actually afford to attend the convention. With my financial concerns allayed it was time to take the plunge and start making my expedition to GenCon a reality.

For both practical and symbolic reasons my first step was to book my hotel suite. I began with this as I felt it would represent a clear commitment to attending the convention; also I had been monitoring the available hotels for several days and had witnessed rooms vanishing quickly. Knowing that others were gunning for the same finite pool of hotel rooms, I felt encouraged to lock in my accommodations as quickly as possible.

I began my search for a hotel by using a link on the GenCon site. Here I was able to connect with the Indianapolis Convention Center, home to GenCon Indy, and there found a listing of hotels near the convention center (www.iccrd.com/conv/hotels.aspx). From this list I decided to focus on hotels attached to the convention center by skywalk. Having attended other conventions in the past I knew this would make the convention more conveniently accessible and allow for safer travel back from late night events.

By factoring in this criteria the initial list of twenty hotels was now cut down to eight: The Canterbury Hotel; the Conrad Hotel; the Crowne Plaza Union Station; the Embassy Suites Downtown; the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis; the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown; the Omni Severin; and The Westin Indianapolis.

With my field of search narrowing I now needed to check the hotels to see which still had suites available during the convention. Gathering information from the GenCon site and its previous year’s schedule, I knew that GenCon 2008 would likely begin at 8:00AM on Thursday August 14th and run until around 6:00PM on the 17th. Wanting to get as much as possible out of this experience I resolved to arrive a day early, Wednesday the 13th, and stay for the length of the convention.

Using the various hotels online reservation systems I was able to locate available suites at all the hotels with the exception of the Marriott, which was already booked to capacity for the dates in question. All the hotels appeared to offer amply comfortable rooms, especially considering I would be spending the majority of my visit at the convention itself. In terms of price they ranged from the very reasonable Canterbury and Embassy Suites ($209US & 194US a night respectively) to the higher-end Omni Severin ($399 US a night). Now applying my second criteria, price, I was set to choose between The Canterbury and the Embassy Suites.

The Embassy is 360 room hotel with modern style rooms and a traveller friendly layout. The Canterbury is a 99 room hotel with rich looking rooms and a luxurious feel. Feeling more comfortable with a smaller sized establishment, I chose to book with the Canterbury. Here I was also able to take advantage a “room inclusive package”, which provides daily breakfast and lowered the room’s rate to $199US a night. This package was not only a nice perk for the trip but would save me money on food and accommodation.

Now it was a simple matter of entering some personal information, including a credit card to guarantee the reservation, and the room was mine. I was issued an email confirmation and at last I could breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that I had a place to bunk come convention time.

Having accomplished my first task towards my goal, I now look forward to a year of preparations. Some will be the necessary nuts and bolts of travel, such as booking my flights and registering for the convention. Others however will take me beyond simply attending GenCon, such as submitting a roleplaying event and applying to be a convention volunteer. Over the course of it all, via this column, I’ll bring you along with me as I travel the road to GenCon 2008.

Next Month: A look back at GenCon over the last forty years.

Christian A.L. Wilson www.myspace.com/christianalwilson