As a father, husband and collector, I absolutely LOVED The National. It had everything that I needed.
We, my wife, 16YO son and I, got to Baltimore on Sunday and spent the entire week there, leaving again on Sunday. My truck was parked for 7 days straight, as once we arrived there was no need for it. Everything necessary for a family vacation was within a couple of blocks or a water taxi ride away.
We spent Monday through Wednseday doing the touristy things, like the National Aquarium and the whole Inner Harobor waterfornt thing. we took the water taxi around the harbor for a leisurely afternoon, spending a little time at the shops in Fells Point.
Hit an O's game? Again, just a walk of a couple of blocks.
When it came time for The National, staying at the Sheraton, it was just a very short walk to the convetnion center. If my 16YO wanted to sleep in, he simply met up with me later. Come lunch time, a couple of minutes back to the hotel to meet my wife for lunch. Want a few beers with lunch? Not a problem becaue I wasn't going to be driving anywhere anyway, but rather walking a few minutes back to the convention center. I bet my hotel room was closer than I would have parked at some other venues. It was just real convenient.
I really did enjoy parking the truck once and not driving the rest of the week.
It reminded me of a song from The Lion King. Hakuna Matata! It means no worries for the rest of your days.
The only negative thing about the actual convention center is that the food choices were a little limited if you didn't want to leaed the center, and no tables and chairs near the food.
There were some dealers that I thought had ridiculous prices on cards, but I found several that had reasonable prices MARKED and reduced from there before even asking, and when asked you could negotiate an even better deal, particulalry once they knew it would be a cash deal. FYI, my focus was primarily towards completing my '58 Topps set.
I hope to make 1 or 2 before then, but if 2014 is a Baltimore again, then it is a DEFINITE for me and my wife, and probably my son too (who would be 20 then). He had a really good time.
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