Earlier this month, my boyfriend Wren and I packed our bags and took off on a 12-hour Greyhound ride from our little town of Hampton, Virginia to "The City That Never Sleeps." Our destination? DragCon!

RuPaul's DragCon is a pretty self-explanatory convention. If you're a drag performer, or you like drag performers, or you're interested in anything a little queer - you'll fit right in. The convention has met every year in Los Angeles, California since it first began in 2015. But, this year, DragCon (and myself!) got their cherry popped by The Big Apple for the first ever East Coast rendition. Not only was this also my first ever time in New York but it both mine and Wren's first DragCon as well. We had such an amazing time. I couldn't wait to spill some tea on what went down at DragCon NYC.

Just a quick tip, if you live close enough to travel to New York by Greyhound for next year's DragCon - I highly recommend it. I had never taken a Greyhound before either and was a little turned off at first by how long the travel was going to take. As someone who flies a lot, I thought the Greyhound experience was a lot less stressful. We didn't have TSA or Baggage Claim to deal with, and getting our items onto and off of the bus took no more than a few minutes each time. There was also a lot more room on the bus than there is on a plane. So, Wren and I didn't have to worry about being stuck with annoying neighbors... or being annoying neighbors. The whole thing went by pretty quickly. We stopped I think three times on the way to New York, and five times on the way back. The more frequent stops come in handy if you're someone like me who cannot for the life of them figure out how to shit on a moving vehicle. While the bus was rolling, we just talked and watched Catfish on Hulu on my phone. Pretty low-key.

The convention was held at the Jacob K. Javits center, which is fucking huge and should have one of those Disneyland-esque maps to tell you how to get around. And now comes my first (and only, I promise) complaint about the whole convention...

Attention, Javits Center: Some people need wheelchairs!

You know, wheelchairs?! They're mobility devices?! They come with a seat and two little wheels and handlebars? Some people need them to get around? Sound familiar yet? Thank God!

Now, I am not an everyday wheelchair user. I'm not even a frequent wheelchair user. But, I was temporarily in a wheelchair at the time of DragCon because my crappy lungs just love to give me trouble at the most inconvenient times. That being said, I did hear from plenty other wheelchair-using attendees over the course of the weekend that they were having the same issues I was. The walkways and spacing between most of the booths were way too tight to get wheelchairs through without causing a scene. Anytime we wanted to move anywhere we had to try to announce to the hundred plus people in whatever walkway that a wheelchair was coming through and hope enough would move to clear a path. Otherwise, we'd be ramming into everyone and everything just trying to get by - which was no fun for anyone. It's also worth noting that there seemed to be a lot of space not being utilized. If they would have just spread everything out a tiny bit more, this easily could have been avoided. I literally did not pee at all the second day of DragCon just because trying to maneuver past crowds to get through the bathroom line the first day was such a disaster. (One thing the Javits Center did do right, however, was have gender-neutral bathrooms! As a nonbinary person, nothing makes me more excited than when public spaces have inclusive restrooms and I don't have to "pick a side." )

Also, none of the staff knew what they were doing when it came to the "ADA Crowd" as another attendee dubbed us. Trying to rent my wheelchair the first day was a mess because the directions I got over the phone were a bust, and apparently, none of the staff members at the Javits Center are aware they offer wheelchair rental at the concierge on the third floor. Then, all of us, wheelchair users, were told to go from the bottom floor to the second floor for early entry so we wouldn't get trampled in the lines - only to find out that we really needed the third floor again. A group of us got stuck on the second floor for over half an hour just waiting for an available elevator and missed the welcome ceremony the first day.

Getting into panels was a whole new level of wild because nobody knew what the hell the actual regulations were. By the end of the second day, it had been established that all along, those of us with mobility devices or disabilities were to be let in first for panels and seated in the front. But until that end of the second day, we were dragged here, there, and everywhere just trying to follow a zillion different orders from a zillion different people. I even missed the one panel I was really excited about seeing because we were told we had to go to the back of the very long line and would be let in last, when in reality the opposite was the correct protocol. That being said, it was their first year and I guess there were just a lot of kinks to work out. So, hopefully, these same issues will not be a problem next year and this year could be taken as a learning experience.

If any of you also happened to catch my post on 10 Queens I’d Love To See On Season 3 of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, then you know I’m a sucker for Ivy Winters. So, obviously, my number one thing I had to do at DragCon was meet her. And honey, she did not disappoint! That Miss Congeniality sash must have been ground up and injected into her veins because she truly lived up to the title with her radiant energy and all-around pleasant spirit. By the time it was my turn to meet her I was full of adrenaline and was a complete tearful, babbling mess. The suave line I’d been rehearsing for when I gave her the bouquet of flower hair clips I’d made her went straight out the window.

But she was such a sweetheart and really took the time to make conversation and meet with each and every person in her line. She even offered me one of her “Circus Queen” shirts for free, which you can buy on her Depop shop (Shameless plug. Sorry, not sorry.) It’s also worth mentioning that TV and pictures do not nearly do justice to the true beauty - and pure fish! - of Miss Winters. Literally, the first thing out of my mouth when we saw her was “Oh my god, she’s so beautiful!”

I went back to her booth again the second day to see her again and to actually buy some of her merch. I also got to meet her wonderful husband Keith, which I completely forgot to do in all the excitement of the first meeting... despite the fact that I literally brought them both candy and had been saying for weeks that my goal was to get a picture with both of them. (Oops?)

Not to get too sappy, but this was definitely the highlight of my DragCon experience and one of the best experiences I've had to date. I'm sure I told her Ivy that I love her a billion times in my non-stop nervous babbling but I probably still didn't tell her enough to really convey just how deeply inspired I am by her and her drag.

In my childhood years, I was that kid from the shitty home who dreamed of running away to join the circus. In my teen years, I was that bizarre queer kid who wore outrageous outfits, always had on too much makeup, and was obsessed with dancing and singing and show business.Now, as an adult, it's really touching to me to see someone like Ivy who has brought outrageous outfits and circus tricks into the world of show business and turned it all into an art form of her own.

Not only that, but she displays her art form in such a way that people actually care to see it. I look at her, and I see her doing everything I always wanted to do and totally kicking ass at it. She's just freakin' amazing. I actually tried to do drag myself in the past and gave up, but since discovering Ivy, I am 100% back on board and trying to figure out my own drag persona.

(And for the record, my drag name is Mx. That's pronounced like 'mix, ' and no, I have no idea why I told the people from World of Wonder that I didn't have a drag name yet. They just kinda shoved a microphone in my face mid-sob and I got nervous.)

Although clearly my personal favorite, Ivy wasn't the only RuGirl we had the pleasure of meeting at DragCon. Fun story: Chad Michaels caught me crying right after I met Ivy and told me I looked amazing. Which was, um...freakin' amazing! We also met Trinity K. Bonet, Joslyn Fox, Jaymes Mansfield, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Gia Gunn, and Laganja Estranga.

In case anyone has ever wondered, yes, Cynthia Lee Fontaine is just as much of a character in real life as she was on television. She even complimented my boyfriend's "cucu," complete with a complementary smack!

Laganja pushed me in my wheelchair after our meet-and-greet photo. Which, I unfortunately didn't get a picture of. But, trust me, it was super cool!

We saw many more amazing queens throughout the weekend as well. We attended the runway walk for the winners the first day, and got to see Tyra Sanchez, Raja, Chad Michaels, Violet Chachki (a very naked Violet Chachki, I might add. Sorry, no picture.), Bob The Drag Queen, Sasha Velour, and of course everyone's favorite drag queen, Michelle Visage. We didn't get into many panels due to the mix-up with the ADA situation. But, my favorite panel we got to attend was the one about the Drag Race fandom with Violet Chachki, Farrah Moan, Stacy Layne Matthews, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, and Britney Spears... I mean Derrick Berry.

That panel was super interesting to me because we really got to get a glimpse of what it's like interacting in the fandom from the other side. The queens all shared stories of some of their worst and best fan interactions, which kept us laughing the whole time. Side note, Farrah Moan is absolutely hilarious in person. I don't know why her personality didn't shine through very well on television but IRL she had me rolling! It was also really nice to see Stacy Layne Matthews on a panel, as often times the queens from older seasons tend to get forgotten about.

Even with a few bumps in the road, Wren and I had a blast at DragCon! We are definitely planning on going back next year to New York's DragCon. I'm even considering flying home to California in May so I can take my little sister to the Los Angeles convention. But, until then, I'm still waiting on season three of All Stars to keep us occupied!