So I left for LA after work Friday night. My roommate drove me to the airport. My flight left at 6:40 pm and my friend that was going with me, her flight left at like 7:50. She tried to get on the same flight as me but she waited too late to book her flight and wasn't able to. While I was able to get a direct flight, she had two layovers and three different flights. Which for her. 

Anyway, so my flight was okay. I ended up watching running man throughout the whole thing. It was only four hours. So I got to LA and got my bags and took a taxi to my hotel. I'd booked the hotel online and the online ratings were four stars. Well we get to this hotel and it is the shadiest, scariest place I have ever been to, and that's saying something because I have stayed in some pretty shady hostels while backpacking across Europe. Even the taxi driver didn't want to leave me there. But I already had a reservation and it was like midnight and I'd been up for like 20 hours straight and so I really had no choice. 

There were signs posted all over about no e, no drugs, etc. There was no office, just a window in the wall. You had to walk up and ring the bell and someone would come talk to you. But it was like a two-way mirror type thing. From the guest side, it was like looking into a mirror. I never ever saw the person inside the 'office.' And they used real keys, not electonic key cards. SCARY. So I got up to my room (thankfully it was an upstairs corner room) and immediately put the chairs in front of the door. So my friend Sarina (the one who was going with me to KCON) had just gotten to her last layover (which was a 6 hour layover in New Mexico) and so I called her and I was like bawling because I was scared and didn't want to stay in this shady hotel all by myself. So I ended up getting online and booking another hotel for the rest of our stay. I still had to pay for the hotel I was at, but I was okay with being out some money if it meant that I didn't have to stay there. So I tried to go to bed but you know that scene in movies where someone is staying in a hotel but they can't sleep because the people in the next room are having really, really, REALLY loud ? Um, yeah, that totally happened to me. I'm not even kidding. The girl was so loud I thought they were filming a o over there. It was ridiculous. There was one point where there was a really loud bang on the wall and the girl suddenly quit , and I seriously thought I'd just heard a murder OTL but then she started again. UGH. 

So Sarina got to LA about 7 in the morning and took a taxi over to the hotel to meet me. She dropped her bag off in the hotel room and we went right away to the convention. Though the convention didn't open until 10, we were told that VIP1 were going to be allowed in at 8. So we got in line - luckily we were near a bunch of really really awesome people. They didn't start letting people in until about 9:30, an hour and half AFTER they said they'd let VIP1 in. And I don't really know how they were running it because people in the general admission line got there after us and yet got into the convention quicker. It was a bit ridiculous. We didn't get inside until 11:30. All the VIP1 people seemed pretty pissed off about that. 

So we got our scratchers when we got our wristbands at check-in. Even though the scratchers were supposed to be random, they weren't. Both Sarina and I got 2AM. Everyone around us got 2AM as well. I was really, really disappointed. I don't like 2AM at all. They're super talented and all, but I'm not a ballad fan. Plus I think Jo Kwon is an . Anyway, so I was super disappointed. And neither Sarina nor I won a viewing session or a red carpet pass. I was super super frustrated. Luckily, one of the girls who had been standing near us had gotten an EXO viewing pass and since she only really knew f(X), she just gave me her EXO viewing pass! I almost cried I was so grateful! 

(exotic love while waiting in line!)

So we sort of wondered around the convention for a while, collecting free swag and spending too much money on kpop merchandise. TBH, we were really disappointed in the convention itself. There was only one volunteer the entire con who was helpful (thank you Anita!) and the staff members we interacted with were incredibly rude, like they were pissed off that they had to be there in the first place. I was incedibly disappointed in the staff and volunteers. The panels were another disappointment. There were several panels that we'd wanted to go to, but the panel tents were so small that if you wanted to attend the panel you had to get in line like an hour and a half before hand in the scorching heat. Also, if you were hungry or thirsty, you had to buy ridiculously priced food vouchers in order to get something to eat or drink. You couldn't buy anything with real money. It was just another way for them to take money from us, which is ridiculous considering how much the convention tickets cost. Because we were so tired, we ended up leaving around 3:30 to go back to our hotel. We went to our old hotel to get our stuff, checked out, and went to our new hotel. 

So on Saturday we were told by a staff member that all we needed for Sunday was the wristbands that we recieved on Saturday, so we left our tickets in our hotel when we went back to the convention around 8 on Sunday morning. We waited in yet another ridiculously long line only to get to the front and have the security guards tell us that they wouldn't admit us into the convention without our actual tickets, nor could we get into the concert. It would cost us $80 to go to our hotel and back again, so we called ticketmaster and told them what had happened and so they sent new tickets to will-call at the convention center. The lady from ticketmaster waited until right before she hung up to inform us that we had to wait until an hour before the concert to pick up our tickets. Well obviously that wouldn't fly so we called ticketmaster back and told them we would just go back to our hotel and pick up the old tickets. Well they told us since they already sent the new tickets to will-call the old tickets were invalid and we couldn't use them. So we got in this really long line at will-call and argued with the rude lady at the counter for what seemed like forever, but eventually we got our tickets without having to wait until 6pm. 

So I really wanted to go to the red carpet and there were a lot of people offering to trade red carpet passes for EXO vouchers. I was nervous because I wasn't sure which one I would have more fun at, the EXO viewing session or the red carpet. In the end I traded my EXO viewing voucher for a red carpet pass, and we ended up buying another one so Sarina could go with me. I AM SO GLAD I DID!! The EXO session was a total disaster. First of all, they only set aside 30 minutes for EXO to do a signing, hi-touch, AND the q&a session that the viewing pass was for. AND THEY ENDED UP CUTTING IT SHORT! A lot of people didn't get to go through, I heard. So I'm really glad that I switched. Because at the red carpet, I was right up front and I got to touch hands not only with 2AM (except Jo Kwon, I pulled my hand away before he could touch it LOL), f(x), Teen Top, and Henry, but I ALSO GOT TO TOUCH EXO!! Zomg I like literally died. It was insane. I like fell to my knees and was clinging to Sarina's legs. I was almost crying lol!

(This is the hand they all touched! I was so excited we took a picture lol)

(this is Sarina and I waiting in line for the red carpet)

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is EXO on the red carpet ^^

So then we went into the concert and OMG IT WAS AMAZING!! It made the terrible convention so worth it! Everyone was so amazing and talented and wonderful! I don't even know how, but everyone is better looking and sounds better live and in person than they do on film. It's crazy. 

F(x)

2AM

Henry

Dynamic Duo

Crayon Pop

Yoo Seungwoo

G-Dragon

Teen Top

And of course EXO

(this is where Suho kissed Sehun on the cheek ^^)

It was such a fantastic concert. While I was really disappointed with the convention itself, the red carpet and the concert more than made up for it ^^