Autograph Hound's Blah Blah Blog

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Josh Gates and LA Travel and Adventure Show 2019


This is a cautionary tale of a man greying at the temples (okay more than just the temples), growing at the waistline, and feeding his addiction.  A man, whose Wife you need to pity, that somehow allowed the evil empire of Facebook to track him to LA, California.  And worse, they placed an ad on this feed.   Yes, you are correct, he did the worst thing imaginable: he read that ad.

Okay, enough of the melodrama.


While I don’t check-in with Facebook, I’m sure the cell towers in LA told Facebook everything they needed.  While I was slightly irked that I saw a local ads while I was in LA for Gallifrey One, this ad was opportune. The ad was for the LA Travel and Adventure show. It just happened to be occurring downtown at the LA Convention Center the same weekend as Gallifrey One. It also just happened to have Josh Gates in attendance.  



I like Josh. I find him funny. I watched him on the SyFy channel’s ‘Destination Truth’ and I now watch him on ‘Expedition Unknown’.  I have wanted his autograph for years.  This was my chance. Facebook was feeding my addiction.

I stressed over about getting a photo printed for him to sign. But I figured there would be a generic stock head available. I also worried about missing Gallifrey One to attend a different convention. While the Fates like to toy with people, this time they were kind. Josh was at the show for Sunday only. I had gotten all of the autographs I need from Gallifrey One by Saturday. I would only be missing out on the Sunday panels if I changed plans.



I decided it was meant to be. I ubered to the LA Convention Center which was about 30 minutes away.  I wandered around and actually found a booth selling Josh's book and some photos.  I was happy. Then I relaxed and sat in on some travel panels instead of Whovian panels.

As I waited, I sat through Samantha Brown’s panel. The Wife and I have enjoyed her shows over the years. It was great to hear Samantha had a new show on PBS. She gave a great tip abut using the ironing board in the hotel room as a desk or as a storage shelf. After her, there was a short panel about visiting Korea and Japan. Both locations I want to see.  Then Josh took the stage. He was amusing as always. One of his themes for the panel was ‘taking a chance’ when traveling. his point was to give yourself some time to change plans and add something unplanned to the agenda after you ‘hit the ground’.

After the panel, I got in line for his signing. He had a long line. When I finally got to the front, I mentioned, I took a chance and came to this show. I told him I came from to Dallas for the Dr Who Convention. He paused and asked how I liked the new Doctor.  We exchanged a few words about Dr Who. Turns out he is also a Tom Baker fan.

After we were done, I headed back to the hotel. I called The Wife and explained how one convention full of autographs wasn’t enough and I HAD to go to another show. Yes, my name is AH and I collect autographs…

AH

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