Hey everyone! In case you haven’t guessed, Caine and I have returned from EuroFurence 20! We actually got back from Berlin on Sunday. We were so exhausted that it wasn’t long before we went straight to bed. THIS POST IS SOOOO LATE!! I'm SORRY!! DX

First off, let me say that I’d been looking forward to EuroFurence since I first attended last year. The Furry Community is the only place where I can completely be myself and I haven’t been very involved due to my job’s high demands. That is soon to change though, and I’m looking forward to it.

For those of you who don’t follow my FaceBook and Twitter feeds, let me give you a summarized version of my time in Berlin.

My mate, [Caine], and I traveled to the Estrel Hotel by train. It wasn’t bad except for the fact that both of us had about 3 bags apiece and that made passing through the train cars difficult. By the time we arrived, we’d both mutually agreed that we were driving to the convention next year.
As we were entering the hotel, we spotted a couple of our friends. We soon found out that almost everyone had been there since the beginning of the week or so (yet another thing that Caine and I will do next year). Caine and I quickly checked into the hotel. After dropping our bags off, we headed downstairs to the Main Stage for the opening ceremony. I was very happy that we arrived in time to attend this year (last year, I arrived late in the evening). After that, we went back upstairs and started planning out what we were going to do the next day. That evening, Caine received his fursuit (Thrae) from [Faruku] and tried him on.

My man objective for the first full day was to get a commission done by [Wolfy-Nail]. I was a SuperSponsor this year, which meant we got dibs on the first hour of the Dealer’s Den. Regardless, I planned on being first in line. The next day, Caine and I woke up early, had breakfast with [Dima] and his mate, Obsydian, then we showered and headed down to the Dealer’s Den. We were down there by 09:20 (the Den didn’t open for us until noon). I wound up not first but third in line. I only planned on getting a commission from Wolfy-Nail. Instead, I wound up getting commissions from him and 12 others. And that was just the first day. :P On the second day, I bought commissions from 4 more Artists. They’ve all been posted to my gallery for your viewing pleasure. I was very excited to see my main Fursona (BoKo) in all their styles, especially on the badges. I was in the Dealer’s Den so long that I missed “Erotic Cupcake Hour”.
After the Dealer’s Den, I helped Caine suit up for the FurSuit Parade (which started over an hour late). Thank you, Dima for guiding him while I ran around taking pictures and videos of the parade. Since the parade was pushed back, so were the events we wanted to attend after that. Caine and I got in line to see “Unkle Kage’s Story Hour” at 18:00 (to begin at 18:30) only to find out that it was the line for “The Magic World of Sardyuon” (originally supposed to start at 17:30). Even the Fursuit Group Photo was pushed back from 20:30 to 22:20. So Caine and I left “Kage vs. 2 Gryphon” (the event after “Unkle Kage’s Story Hour”) early to help him suit again. Apparently, we missed [Snowee] getting up on stage with Kage and 2 for a drink of wine. I’m sure there’s a video of that online somewhere. I must find it! After the group photo, we had dinner at Portofino.

On the second full day at the convention (after the Dealer’s Den), Caine and I attended “Enter the Arena”. There were some really good performances this year. It’s a shame [Faolan] wasn’t able to make it this year. The day before, Caine had checked out the Art Show and placed bids on the pieces he was interested in. [Today] the Art Show was closing. So, after “Enter the Arena”, I accompanied him to the closing. I will say that it was very exciting. It’s the first time I’ve actually participated in a bidding war outside of “Spiral Knights” or “World of Warcraft”. :P Caine won 4 out of 7 pieces. 2 of them went to Live Auction and the other one went to a very determined older gentleman who “really liked tigers”.

The third day of the convention was pretty chill. Caine attended the Live Auction while I attended “Doing Comics with Ursula Vernon”. We both attended “Scary Fursuit Acting” a little while after that. It was our last night there at the Estrel. We both wanted to dance at the Big Blue Dance. But it was pushed way back to somewhere around 2 in the morning after the “Keepers of the Light” pawpet show was delayed by almost 3 hours. We couldn’t stay up that late since we had a train to catch in the morning.

The trip back home was much easier (despite the fact that we had much more to carry).

I will say that, overall, I had an amazing time at EF. We were at a new hotel this year. I can’t really say it’s “new” to me since the one in Magdeburg was also “new” to me. However, this was the first time that I stayed in the same hotel that the convention was being held. I noticed some things that I wasn’t very happy with.
For instance, I notice that the level of service from the hotel staff that tended the bar at night decreased each day. I bought hot chocolates every night before we went to bed. On the first night, I got my hot chocolate in a glass cup on a little ceramic plate with a spoon, sugar and one of those little cookie things on the side. On the second night, it was just a small ceramic cup on the little ceramic plate. On the third night, it was a friggen’ plastic cup.
For breakfast, I enjoyed getting scrambled cheese eggs made fresh. First to mornings were fine. Third morning, however, my eggs were drooling. And we were allowed to eat breakfast on the higher level every morning except Sunday morning. Where, for some reason, they directed us elsewhere. There were still people up there eating so…
I received glares and looks from some of the regular people staying at the hotel. One woman glared at me all during breakfast. Another gave me a look and pulled her child away from me. Like I was gonna snatch it up or something. In the area surrounding the hotel, the locals were just rude. Caine and I were walking to McDonalds and there was (yet again) another female and her child walking behind us. She began walking faster, tugging her daughter so she could keep up, trying to pass us. Caine and I don’t walk slow and we weren’t taking up the entire sidewalk like most people tend to do. So I have NO idea what her problem was.

I can complain all I want. But I know not everyone was on their best behavior. The Estrel hotel staff had their hands full dealing with us. In my opinion, I don’t think they knew what they were getting themselves into. It makes me wonder what their biggest “convention” was before EuroFurence. Anywho, I understand that they had to deal with a lot. Like people breaking the elevators, holding loud room parties, and that’s just a couple of things off the top of my head.

Ah well. Lessons were learned all around. I’m sure it’ll all make for a much better experience next year. Looking forward to it!
One more thing: I just wanna say that I'm really happy I got to see the folllowing Furries while I was there:

Friends: Boardmaker, Dima, Obsydian, Drias, Francis, Hutz, Lagan, Luna, Leeuw, Matt_Husky, Snowee, Tero, and SchwarzeMoor

Celebs: Skrat and Sparky

I wish Faolan could've made it this year. But I look forward to seeing him next year. :3
Thank you all for reading!

~ BoKo

P.S. - This post will be edited!