Let’s take a trip back to Anime Expo 2019. For those who weren’t there the first day of this event was absolutely miserable when it came to lining up to get into the venue to the point it was easily the worst line I’ve ever seen in all of the conventions I’ve ever been to. The line stretched for blocks and was a considerable distance away from the convention center itself. People waited for hours just to get in.

Now of course that alone is a horrible experience but then you factor in that this is during the summer in California. The heat was intense as it was barring down on the people wanting to get inside. My friend arrived at the convention later than the rest of us and wound up waiting about six hours to get in. Not only was his experience very short at the con as it was about to close by the time he got inside, but we later found out that his wait came with some serious consequences.

That evening we were sitting in our hotel and he was just in a massive amount of pain. We looked and his back was a very vibrant shade of red and looked like it was trying to blister. It was one of the worst sunburns I’ve witness, but that’s also not saying much as I do what I can to avoid them as much as possible. As in I wrap myself in as much SFP as I can like it’s a suit of armor as I hate sunburns. Sadly we didn’t prepare for this outcome when we packed our stuff as we honestly figured only a limited amount of time would be spent outside.

The burns were so serious my friend rarely spent time at the convention for the rest of the weekend as he was just in a lot of pain. He did wind up spending a lot of time in the hot tub which actually helped him feel a lot better while he was in it. The burns eventually healed but he was left with some scars which he still has even now.

So two lessons were learned that day. One was that Anime Expo really lives up to the reputation of being line con and two always bring sunscreen. We also now make sure to note any nearby Walgreens for emergencies after this because we quickly learned how much of a life saver they are in the convinences they offer for our travels. Especially when we fly and have to pack a limited amount of stuff.