Entrance sign to Destination Star Trek Germany

Personal Log, Star Date 2014.222 (Saturday, 22 February 2014)

The mission began in Munich at 05:00 hours, when I awoke to the rousing sound of the TNG theme from my cellphone, which doubles as my alarm clock. After a quick breakfast of a muffin and a steaming cup of Earth’s closest approximation to raktajino, I headed for the train station. I arrived in plenty of time to pick up provisions for the trip, consisting of a couple of sandwiches, a bottle of water, and of course some more raktajino. Unfortunately I’d forgotten the backup battery for my phone, a point which will be of some importance later on.

The train left the station right on time at 06:40 a.m. With no backup battery, I kept the phone off, except for checking my messages every hour or so. When I next turned the phone on, I found that fellow crewmember Anna Lena had skyped me her phone number to call when I arrived, so I could meet up with her and some of her friends, as we had planned. Since I had the message on Skype, I didn’t save the number or write it down, thinking „What could possibly go wrong?“ Hold that thought. …

My second message was from our own Commander-in-Chief Wayne Emery, who really surprised me by telling me he’d arranged for me to get a press pass on arrival. He said he just wanted me to have a good time, see all the talks I wanted to, and take lots of pictures. That was awesome, and I’m incredibly grateful! Hold that thought too. …

The train ride was uneventful, and I arrived in Frankfurt at a few minutes before 10 a.m. I got to the convention center with no problems, which is a miracle for me. Never mind 3 times; I get lost if you turn me around even once! When I got there I turned on my phone and found…(cue: dramatic music)… no more message from Anna Lena! What the heck?? The message before it was there. The message after it was there. But the most important bit, the meat in the sandwich so to speak, had been wiped off the face of the earth, it seemed. I think some Nanites had infected my phone and eaten it, or maybe the Romulans were to blame, who knows! I had skyped her my number too, but I later found out I’d sent it too late for her to get it before she left home. So I just hoped we’d somehow, by some miracle, run into each other there. 

The Media 10 staff were very helpful, and I got my press pass right away. Then it was off to my first photo shoot with Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating. The queue was quite long. Still, they moved us through nicely and efficiently, so things went very quickly. After the photo session, both actors went right over to the autograph booths, so I got in line, and had them sign the picture. They’re incredibly nice, and even recorded a short message for a friend of mine!

Then it was time for Ira Behr’s and Ron Moore’s talk on Stage B, which I was really looking forward to. Too bad it ran at the same time as Brent Spiner’s on Stage A, but I stuck with the guys, because I wanted to hear their behind-the-scenes stories. And they had some funny ones! I only wish I’d been able to record them. Unfortunately, my phone battery was already running low.

After that I went over to Karl Urban’s talk on Stage A, which was also great fun. He speaks a little German! I didn’t know that. From there, I went to my next photo shoot with Suzi Plakson. She did her shoots in Klingon makeup as K’ehleyr, which I thought was very nice of her! She’s just an all-around sweet lady, if you ask me.

Then it was back to Stage A, for Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating’s talk. It was so full that when I got there, they’d already stopped letting people in, but a magic wave of my pink press armband got me through. It was standing room only, but that was ok, because standing at the back meant my picture taking didn’t bother anyone. They’re both so humorous and make an excellent duo! Again, I so wished I could have recorded it.

After their talk, it was back to the photo booth for my final shoot, with Ira Behr. He was great, too. Afterwards I went back to the autograph booths to have him sign it. However, he didn’t go there right away. The autograph lines were nearly empty because most people were in William Shatner’s talk by that time. I really wanted to get Ira’s autograph, though, so I waited at the booths and just watched Shatner on the big screen above Stage A. In the mean time, I got to chat to Casey Biggs, Suzi Plakson, and Steve Rankin for some time. Then Ira and Ron came up and I had a nice chat with them as well. Ira signed my picture, and also recorded a voice message for another friend. All of them were very nice, and I felt like they really wanted to chat to the fans, not just to sign things and be done. Even though I’m normally very shy, they made me feel quite at ease. I had much more fun chatting to them than I would have had in Shatner’s talk, I believe. 

By then it was getting late, and I had to catch my train back to Munich, as I hadn’t planned to stay overnight. Besides, after 8 straight hours of being almost constantly on my feet, I was starting to feel more like a Borg than a human being. So I missed the TNG cast reunion, but I’m sure I’ll have a similar chance at other Cons. Sadly, I also failed to connect with Anna Lena and the others. I will definitely make it up to them on any future away missions!

Computer, save log and end.

More of my pictures from Destination Star Trek Germany: