Some of our readers may be surprised to learn that not all UK anime events are held in London and the Midlands - some of them aren't even in England!  Auchinawa - the best known of the non-English anime events - was held in Glasgow, November 2008.  After we heard great things about the previous event (held in 2006), Animetion decided to cross the border and check it out.  Auchinawa promised a wide range of events, including parties, panels, anime screening, cosplay events and more.  All with a Scottish sense of fun! 
 

Held at the Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport, this was extremely convenient as it was only two minutes away from the airport.  The saying of never judge a book by its cover was particularly applicable here.  The outside of the building was ugly with dirty, concrete pebble dash decorating the front of the building.  The inside, however, was modern and beautifully decorated.  For example, the hotel room, was bright and comfortable providing all the facilities that you would need to survive the weekend.  The price of the hotel was also reasonable working out to be £195 for three nights for two people.

One aspect which was particularly surprising was how quiet the hotel room was, as we

expected to hear the sounds of planes as they took off and landed at the airport.  Another particularly amusing aspect of the room was the fact that you were allowed to order pillows to your own personal taste.  Although why you would want to do this apart from when drunk, eluded us...

The breakfast, which was also included in the price, was of a high standard.  It offered a wide range of food from continental to full English.  The serving times of the breakfast was from 6am to 11am, which meant that we needn't wake up early in order to ensure that we had something to eat.  Unfortunately, the hotel restaurant prices for lunch/dinner were on the expensive side, a carvery main course with a dessert and a drink, for example, came to £22 including service charge.  This though is the norm for Hotel conventions.  However, what was not was the lack in choice of restaurants in the local area as the only other shops were in Glasgow airport.  The cost of alcohol was also expensive, which led to a very sober convention for Animetion, as we were on a limited budget! 
 

Ok so we were all unpacked and very impressed with the hotel.  Now it was time register and enjoy the convention!  First up, rather obviously, was the opening ceremony.  Usually these are dull affairs, with the convention staff introducing themselves and a string of necessary health & safety regulations are read out.  Although this still happened, it was done by the genuinely funny convention organisers and included a brilliant video by Queens Of The Pwn Age (click here to see the video).  The whole ceremony has people laughing and perfectly set the tone for the weekend to come. 

(click more for Day 1....)
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