Star Wars Celebration London 2016

Growing up, I always stopped in the toy isle to look at the latest Star Wars toys. I’d lust after them and check them out in detail since I rarely was able to bring one home with me.

Hours were spent playing with the toys I did have. Grand battles were fought on my bedroom floor and throughout my house.

So when Verizon asked me “Would you like to go to London with us to attend the Star Wars Celebration?” the little kid in me bounced with giddy excitement as the adult in me typed out “Yes, please!”

I’ve been a part of the Verizon influencer program for several years and while getting to try out new phones and other technology is great, getting access to an experience like this is the coolest perk I’ve ever receieved.

To legally cover myself, know that they paid for all my travel expenses and access to the event. All they asked in return was that I shared my experience on my social channels.

After nearly missing my flight out of Boston, I arrived ready to get my geek on along side Chris Bernholdt and Gina Stark in London.

Traveling around the world, I prefer to travel light and that was my goal for this trip.

My plan was to shoot mainly on my NX500 and use my S7 for posting. In addition to my every day carry items, my newly patched GR0 would be loaded up with battery packs since I had a feeling there wouldn’t be any free plugs while I was out and about.

Thankfully, one thing I didn’t have to worry about was paying a bunch of extra fees for posting while out of the country.

Verizon now has something called TravelPass that kicks in when you land in a country that is part of the program. When I powered up my phone upon landing, I receieved a text letting me know that a daily fee of $10 was all I had to pay to use my plan as I usually do. No more having to sign up for a global data plan before traveling is such a sigh of relief for travelers like myself.

Walking over to the event wearing a badge emblazoned with a Death Trooper and the words “Special Guest” had me exited for what may lie ahead.

Our morning began with a walk through of an exhibit showcasing the costumes of Rogue One by two of the producers of the film.

Each costume had a description of not only the character who would be wearing it, but also what the costume was made of.

As a fan, I could piece together a bit more about the story by looking at the costumes. During our tour, the two pieces of information that we were told that I took to heart were “there are no Jedi in Rogue One” and that the movie is “a father and daughter story.”

All of the costumes were cool, but my favorite were the new Shore Troopers that sound as if they’ll be playing an important role as they defend “the secret base” in the film.

Verizon filmed our tour, but I’m not sure where or when the footage will appear online. When it does, I’ll be sure to update this post.

After the tour, we found ourselves on the Expo floor before they had opened the doors.

I took the time to take a quick spin around and see what was there before the crowds swarmed in.

My biggest take away was how many different levels of Star Wars fandom there are. People focus on specific types/brands of toys, original tattoos and building R2 units.

Who knew you could go to an event like this and leave with a new tattoo to go with your inflatable remote controlled Darth Vader?

The other take away I found myself pondering still today is the dedication to Cosplay.

I saw people of every race, age and gender dressed up as their favorite characters.

I chatted with a retired Leia and a youthful Rey.

Women and men were dressed up and taking photos all around me. It was fun to see more dressed up little girls than little boys. It didn’t matter what skin color was under the masks, people were united by their love of the Star Wars universe.

The first panel of the day was one with Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. Being more of a Han Solo guy growing up, this still had me excited to see. After he pretty much missed out on the last film completely, I was hoping that he’d share some nuggets of goodness with everyone in attendance.

We were escorted in the door early and shown to four seats in the center of the front row. After seeing photos online of people camping out over night to get into this panel, I had no idea we were going to be taken this care of.

It was 100% questions and answers with him.

When someone asked about any favorite lines from the forthcoming The Killing Joke movie, I had a feeling something magical might happen so I took out my phone and recorded his answer.