Ten Things You Won't Miss at BEA!

I don’t know about you guys, but rocking my Armchair this year seems to be the way to go. Last year I went to NYC for the first time and did everything at BEA. When I got home I needed a vacation from my vacation. I slept for a week! Here are ten things you won’t miss while couch surfing the conference.

10. No wifi: The hotels in NYC either don’t have wifi or charge you a ridiculous amount to use it. Like $10 a day where I stayed last year. I am sure there are some exceptions to this but if a hotel is trying to pull in consumers with wifi when none of the hotels I know are safe have free wifi then I probably ain’t gonna stay there.

9. Eating out: I don’t know about you guys but three meals a day from restaurants just make me tired. You have to wait to be seated, you have to wait to order, you have to wait for your food and you have to wait for the check. You also haven’t seen anything while waiting for a coffee in a Starbucks in Manhattan. Could literally take an hour.

8. Traffic: Even taking the free shuttle from Times Square can be hazardous. Getting to Javits requires iron will and patience abound.

7. Personal Space: No matter where you are in NYC your personal space needs will be tested. Even in your hotel room if you are rooming with other people. I like a little bit of alone time each day. Even five minutes can make a difference and let me tell you; you just aren’t going to get any.

6. Decisions: Usually there are two or three parties per night. Six or seven signings you want to visit at the same time on the floor. So many people to have a coffee with or just say hi. Just making decisions on what to do and what to skip is enough to give you a coronary.

5. Boxes. I filled two huge boxes full of books last year. If going this year I really wouldn’t do that. I would grow some balls to say no to the stuff I really didn’t want to read, however each book found a forever home with some non-book blogger peeps.

4. Smog. NYC has this haze of lung filling smog no matter where you go. By day two my hair was in shambles. By day three my voice was completely gone. Go green NYC GO GREEN!

3. The sights. Unless you go extremely early or stay later you won’t be doing any of that sight seeing that you think you will in NYC. You are SO TIRED from BEA that you can barely make it through whatever dinner you have scheduled for the night.

2. Family. You will never have to be homesick or miss your family. I was so worried about how my kids and husband were faring that I spent a ton of my time just calling to say hi.

1. $1,500. Yup that is what BEA cost me but I admit I am a bit more prissy than most. Between shipping two boxes home, 3 meals a day and snacks, flights, hotel, drinks on the floor… you will spend more than your budget allows guaranteed.

So there is what you won’t be missing. What do you feel like you won’t or will miss?