Tag: travel

Where to Stay: Fur Con Edition

Ahmar WolfLeave a comment

Looking at my credit card bill, after my trip to IFC. Left me wondering, how long will this take to pay off. I literally spent more for a hotel room, than I did at any fur con previously. Don’t get me wrong it was a nice room, but I am back in my my apt. Realizing that my stay was about 2/3 of my rent. But that experience has made me more cautious about Room Rates.

For example I was originally suppose to go to Gateway Furmeet this year. At least that was my original plan. And I still hope to go there. Tik off another new fur con on my list. 4 so far and I do have my favs, but will not say.

But you didn’t decide to read this article of my ramblings. You are trying to find a cheaper room. I can honestly say cheap rooms are out there. They are at every con, it just requires a bit of planning.

What you have to think about are these

How close do you want to stay to the actual con? Being fully aware that the closer you are even if you get a Hotel Block room. It may not be as cheap, as another further away. Some might say… But I fursuit.

You would not believe what I see at MFF, there is a subway stop north of the con. Yep fursuiters use the subway and no they don’t fursuit on the subway.

You literally have to think 3 things. #1 How close #2 Cost #3 and can I really afford this room. I know I listed cost twice. If you been to any con you know that is a double factor.

So say you decided to stay at a cheaper place further from the con. Like a friend and I do every year. How cheaper can it be like $350 for the entire MFF weekend and I won’t say where. All it takes is a little research. Even figuring the cost of an Uber we are still getting it cheap.

Then there is St Louis home to Gateway Fur Meet. When I click on hotel on their site I get the quote of $191 a night. Now just over a mile away, I found a hotel with FREE breakfast for only $148 a night. Even if you include Uber that is a bargain.

You got 2 examples, it’s just called Research

Pawtucky The Con That failed

Ahmar Wolf

I know it is crazy to talk about a con that never was that you never heard of. But that is what happened under our furry nose. That ad appeared in the IFC Con Book.

But meanwhile on their site 404

Finally this was posted https://pawtucky.org/

The Status of Pawtucky

To our Pawtucky community,

It’s so exciting that we have gathered so much attention for Pawtucky’s inaugural year in the great state of Kentucky. But today, it is with great sorrow that we bring you all some serious news about the Pawtucky Organization.

As of Tuesday, August 25th, 2026 8:54 PM EST, our board of directors, alongside our advisors, have voted to dissolve our organization, Pawtucky, unanimously. With that notation, our immediate and only priority at this time is making our community whole; we will be refunding all registrations and vendor table fees made through Concat.   All attendee and vendor fees and registrations will be fully refunded to the original payment method in approximately 1-2 weeks.  You do not need to contact us to initiate this refund; it will be processed automatically.

We deeply apologize for the disappointment and inconvenience this causes.  We thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate this difficult transition.  

Our team is committed to reorganizing and forming properly to ensure Kentucky has the convention it deserves.  Please be patient with our team as we work to bring this to life in a way that is better reflective of our community, and we will ask for your support again at that time.

Additionally, if you booked a stay at our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, we ask you please call our partner hotel directly and cancel your reservation as soon as possible.  Pawtucky will not be responsible for hotel cancelations.

Hilton Garden Inn Lexington Georgetown:

+1 (502) 863-0099

Transparency With All

We have several reasons for the following decisions, but we believe we owe our supporters transparency.

A little under two weeks ago, we underwent an abrupt full leadership change, including all board positions, chairmen, internal staff, and our code of conduct and internal practices. During the transfer of power, it was revealed to us that although Pawtucky INC was a legal business in the state of Kentucky, a nonprofit status was never properly established with the IRS by the former leadership; with the convention approaching in approximately a month, there was no realistic way Pawtucky could have accomplished nonprofit status in time to conduct legally during the event. Needless to say, the golden paint on the rock we were handed, came off.

After a thorough consideration of all information and weighing our options, a unanimous decision to cancel the 2026 event and dissolve the current organization was made. Although this decision did not come easy, we found this absolutely necessary so we may comply with state and federal law, as well as to ensure the safety of all attendees, the integrity of our partners, and our reputation within the state of Kentucky.


The Conclusion

We do come with a bit of good news. This is not the end, but this is the path we have to take to comply legally and be properly prepared for an event. There is, without doubt, interest within the community to start a furry based event or convention within the state of Kentucky. The relationship we have with the venue, after addressing communication issues, is better than before. The patience they have given us throughout this whole transition process is unmatched. We would like to thank them for their actions and for working so graciously with us in our attempt to establish a furry event in Kentucky.

We want to finally say thank you to all: Attendees, Vendors, GOHs, Staff, Hilton, RMH associates, and our Advisors. Your interest and overwhelming support in our cause has given us the motivation to try and continue again in the future.

Sincerely,
Pawtucky Inc. Board of Directors

So the result is Stand By

7 Days and Counting to IFC

Ahmar Wolf

Here it is just 1 week to go, where I travel to, check in, see the Opening Ceremonies, and get Registered all on the same day. With the convention not actually starting to 7PM makes this all possible. Not to forget me leaving Furry Times HQ at 8AM doesn’t hurt either.

Like usual everything is planned out, and most of my supplies are packed up and ready to go. Including what I need for my 3DS Streetpass Meet, including a copy of Tetris!!!

IFC posting a map makes things a bit easier, and The Lounge (Sponsor Suite) is in an excellent location. So what are my own personal issues… it isn’t Greyhound… and I am sure furries will be on the same bus. No the biggest issue is the hotel. There are no maps anywhere showing locations of restaurants or let alone the front desk. I am still not quite sure of it’s exact spot, or let alone what the 1st floor lobby is going to be like. I swear this has to be the only Hyatt Regency with the same issue. Let alone what restaurants are there. I already have a clear idea what restaurants are in the neighborhood. Next to Fur Squared, I say excellent variety. I even found a alt place to have breakfast. I am an early bird and this being a local place. I am planning on hitting more than just 1

Does it sound like I will be doing Restaurant Reviews… Oh yes

Did you know that the State Capital Building is almost across the street. It sure is and I have no idea what will happen.

The biggest thing I predict Record Attendance, the old hotel had issues and I know I was only there once. That was 3 years ago, seeing the crowd move around things were close. I heard it was bad last year, so IFC had to move. I do think this new location is future proof, why there are within blocks of 2 convention centers

So what am I looking forward to… My Meet naturally and see how the con operates. They had issues 3 years ago… but at least they had the fursuit parade and I got a good story out of it. But Not this year.

Will be making more videos on my phone this year. But not everything…

Looks like we are both in for a wild ride….

Mephit Fur Meet 2026 Cancelled

Ahmar Wolf

I really hate reporting this, it was awful when their hotel suddenly cancelled with literally 3 weeks to the convention. I really give it to all the hard work that staff to find a location.

Taken directly from their site https://www.mephitfurmeet.org/

Dear MFM Family,

We have some sad news to share with you. We need to postpone Mephit Fur Meet this year.

Since Thursday we’ve done the following things:

Made 132 phone calls to different venues
Actually had conversations with 73 different hotels across Tennessee and Mississippi
Had three hotels go from “yes we can host you” to “oh wait, no we can’t” after we told them we wanted to move forward
We’ve done everything we can do. Labor Day weekend is a very busy weekend in the Memphis area, and it shows. Every hotel around is full.

The poll last night was very close, with a tight mix between “postpone until 2027” and “try to have a mini Memphit.” (A virtual event was not that popular.) Since it was close we made even more phone calls this morning to try to find a place in cities further away, but even those came up empty.

We’ll have details coming up in a few days about how we’re going to handle memberships. We need to decide what to do with our systems to make that possible. (We’ll quickly need to add something new.)

We are going to extend the deadline for requesting a refund to this weekend if you would rather have a refund than rolling over to MFM 2027. We want to be transparent with our family that most of our funds have been tied up in prep for 2026, so we’d much prefer it if folks would roll over to 2027, but we’ll work with you.

We know this is going to have a financial impact on some of our attendees, and we’re really sorry. This is very frustrating for us, too. (Some of our directors and staffers are dealing with flights that aren’t refundable, too.) We’re really unhappy that we’ve had to make this decision, none of us wanted this.

We hope to see you back in 2027 for our big furry family reunion.

With exhaustion of everything,
Alex, Blue, Bunny, Goliath, and Tyger

Mephit Fur Meet Lost Venue

Ahmar Wolf1 Comment

August 15th, 2026

We are pleased to announce that we’ve been able to come up with a plan to still be able to hold an event this year!

More details will be announced as we have them. We wanted to be transparent with our MFM family that MFM2026 will not be a traditional MFM as we all know it, but we’ll still be able to meet. We know you might have travel plans that need to be dealt with, and we wanted to let you know there will be a Mephit Fur Meet to come home to.

We’re still working on details with our venue. We will have room booking information available next week.

Thanks for hanging in there with us,
Alex, Blue, Bunny, Goliath, and Tyger

August 14th, 2026

We have confirmation from the hotel that they have begun issuing refunds back to the original form of payment used to secure your room.

If you haven’t heard from them in a few days, contact the hotel directly.

August 13th, 2026

Dear MFM Family,

Today we received the following letter from our hotel:

We are writing to inform you that Memphis Vitality Hotel will cease hotel operations effective August 16, 2026. As a result, the hotel will be unable to accommodate your upcoming group, event and/or room block.

The hotel is ceasing operations due to circumstances outside Bright’s control relating to the funding of the property. Bright, as management company, has worked extensively over an extended period to maintain operations at the hotel.

This means that, at the moment, we no longer have a venue for Mephit Fur Meet 2026.

The letter goes on to say:

Deposits and advance payments associated with your booking are being addressed as part of the property’s transition. We are seeking direction from the property owner regarding the processing of refunds and will contact you as soon as we have specifics.

Mephit Fur Meet does not know the status of your hotel reservation deposit. We suggest you wait a few days before reaching out to the hotel to see if they contact you first.

Our team of Directors are working tirelessly to find a new venue for MFM 2026. We have interest from several properties in the area, but at the moment have no information we can share.

Please stay tuned while we work on figuring out the status of MFM 2026. We’ll post updates here on our website as we have them, and on our MFM Announcements Telegram group: https://t.me/mephitfurmeet

Your MFM Director Team,
Alex, Blue, Bunny, Goliath, and Tyger

IFC Contest Isn’t Happening

Ahmar Wolf1 Comment

Here, i was getting excited for the suite I won. When I want to say get the rug pulled out on me. But that really isn’t true.

You could really blame the hotels, and I am including the Embassy. It seems the hotel charges you for the room as soon as you make the reservation.

Really, I am not joking. That is what happened to me. But once you do, no changes can be made. You can’t even swap rooms.

The only exception is the Hotel Block. They get charged at the stay.

In other words, even if you won like I did. If the room is locked down. No changes can be made.

But if you got your room through the Hotel Block and won. Then you can swap rooms.

Sure, I am disappointed, but i understand the facts. Now you do.

Like I said, the room is locked. It’s already paid for. Like my bus fare, NO REFUNDS.

Sure, i am going.

To be honest, it may be some time before I make my 3rd trip to IFC.

Nearby cheaper hotel will be my top priority.

Furry Migration Cancels Fursuit Parade

Ahmar Wolf1 Comment

After a great deal of discussion and planning, we’ve made the difficult decision not to schedule a Fursuit Parade for Furry Migration 2026.

We know the parade has become a favorite tradition for many attendees, so this wasn’t a decision we made lightly.

Our home at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis has been an incredible venue for Furry Migration, but its layout presents some unique challenges when it comes to designing a parade route. These challenges get tougher as we grow. We explored a number of possibilities for a route, but each option either became overly complicated to operate, significantly impacted other convention activities, required extensive planning with the city, or began approaching occupancy and fire safety concerns that we aren’t comfortable compromising on.

The safety of our attendees, volunteers, and hotel staff will always come first, even when it means making a disappointing decision.

The good news is that this isn’t the end of the fun for the weekend. Rather than forcing a parade that we don’t feel can be executed to the standard we expect, we’re putting our energy into planning an alternative event that we hope will give everyone another memorable opportunity to show off their suits and celebrate our community.

We’re still working through the details, and we’ll share more information as soon as everything is finalized, if the alternative arrangements work out.

We appreciate everyone’s understanding and support as we continue working to prepare for Furry Migration 2026. We can’t wait to see you all for “Be Kind; Rewind” this September.

-Rico
FM2026 Conchair

original Post can be found here https://www.furrymigration.org/2026/07/update-regarding-fm2026-fursuit-parade/

EDitor’s Note

It’s hard sometimes to figure what drives a con to do something like this. But even comments by no less than Alkali more or less it could be an insurance issue.

It will be interesting to see if the Furwalks continue

Fur Cons By Train

Ahmar Wolf1 Comment

A while back I was asked a direct question. Could I take the train to Indy Fur Con? The answer is yes… but the schedule makes it too crazy. So I decided to make a list of cons you can easily travel by train. So no crazy schedules, but fair warning local transit is still required for some.

Lastly USA trips only

Alamo City Furry Invasion https://furryinvasion.org/ San Antonio, TX
Anthrocon https://www.anthrocon.org/ Pittsburgh, PA
Anthro New England https://www.anthronewengland.com/ Boston, MA
Anthro Northwest https://anthronw.com/ Seattle, WA
Anthro Weekend Utah https://anthroweekendutah.org/ Layton Utah
Aquatifur https://aquatifur.com/ Wisconsin Dells, WI
Biggest Little Fur Con https://goblfc.org/ Reno, NV
Furcationland https://furcationland.org/ Portland, ME
Furlandia https://furlandia.org Portland, Oregon
Furlingame https://furlingame.com/ San Francisco, CA
Furpocalypse https://furpocalypse.org/ Stamford, CT USA
Furrydelphia http://www.furrydelphia.org/ Philadelphia, PA
Furrest City Mini Con https://furrestcity.org/ Cleveland Ohio
Furry Migration http://www.furrymigration.org/ Minneapolis, MN
Texas Furry Fiesta https://www.furryfiesta.org/ Dallas, TX
Furry Siesta https://www.furrysiesta.org/ Dallas, Texas
Furry Weekend Atlanta https://furryweekend.com/ Atlanta, GA
Fur Squared https://fursquared.com/ Milwaukee, WI
FursonaCon https://fursonacon.com/ Virginia Beach, VA
Further Confusion https://furtherconfusion.org/ San Jose, CA
Galactic Camp https://www.galacticcamp.com/ Alameda, California
Gateway Furmeet https://www.gatewayfurmeet.org/ St. Louis, MO
Golden State Fur Con https://gsfurcon.org/ Los Angeles
Lone Star Fur Con https://lonestarfurcon.com/ Austin, TX
LousiAnthro https://www.louisianthro.com/ Baton Rouge, LA
Megaplex https://megaplexcon.org/ Orlando, FL
Mephit Fur Meet http://www.mephitfurmeet.org/ Memphis, TN
Midwest FurFest https://www.furfest.org/ Rosemont, IL
Motor City Fur Con https://motorcityfurrycon.org/ Detroit, MI
New Anthrodam https://newanthrodam.com/ New York City, NY
Palmetto Fur the Season https://www.palmettofurtheseason.org/ Greenville, SC
PAWCon https://pacanthro.org/ San Jose, CA
Spooktacufur https://spooktacufur.com/ Salt Lake City, UT
StratosFur https://stratosfur.org/ Houston, TX
The Bigger One https://the-bigger-one-ps-furmeets.carrd.co/ Somerset, NJ
Western PA Furry Weekend http://wpafw.org/ Allison Park, PA

Fetch NW Ticket Glitch

Ahmar Wolf1 Comment

As posted on their Telegram

Hi everyone. I have some updates for you on the ticket sales for for In Heat 2026, including an explanation of what went down, and what the next steps are.

——————————-

What Happened
Tickets were supposed to go on sale at 7pm last night, but when that time rolled around the ticket still had not released. We contacted the venue and the ticket vendor, and eventually found out that there was an error on the ticket vendor’s side of things.

They told us at this point that they would not open ticket sales for us until a later date, to make it fair for everyone. We communicated this to our community in our Telegram channel – and soon after we did, to our surprise, the ticket vendor released tickets. Some people noticed this and bought tickets. It was only open for a couple of minutes, and we nearly sold out during that time before they turned off sales again. This led to a lot of confusion from the community and we’ve taken some time to figure out how to handle this mix up.

It’s important to note that Fetch does not have any control over this ticket vendor, and we are contractually obligated to use them. The vendor made the error here. The owner of The Hiyu was also VERY helpful last night and did his best to make this situation right for us which we greatly appreciate.

Next Steps
1) Anyone who managed to buy a ticket last night will have their orders canceled and full refunds issued to them. This will include any fees or taxes.
2) We will release tickets again on Mon, Jun 1st @ 7pm. That’s two weeks from now. This will hopefully give everyone enough time to plan and give any refunds enough time to process.
3) We will all be over here praying to dog that everything goes smoothly with the vendor next time and once again setting very clear explanations for them.

We’re terribly sorry for all the inconvenience this has caused. I’m very grateful for the patience, sense of humor, and support that all of you gave us last night.

So, let’s give this another go!

In Heat 2026
July 11th, 2026

Tickets on sale Monday, June 1st @ 7pm (http://fetchnw.com/tickets) 🦊

Get your tickets at FetchNW.com/tickets (http://fetchnw.com/tickets).

General Admission
$80 + $14.80 fees

Golden Paw
$150 + $27.75 fees

More info and FAQ at FetchNW.com/events (https://fetchnw.com/events/).

Thank you again!

Anthro New England 2027 Venue Updates

Ahmar Wolf1 Comment

Frequently Asked Questions – Venue Announcement
How will attendees get between the Westin and the Omni?
The hotels are located directly across Summer Street from one another, and connected by two convenient crosswalks. To make your journey safe and easy, we will be providing crosswalk assistance to help manage traffic and safely guide attendees between the two convention spaces. For those with accessibility concerns, the street crossing is level, and both hotels are fully accessible.

Where is the Vendor Hall going?
It will be relocating across the street to the Omni! Relocating the Vendor Hall to the Omni will allow a slightly larger space, with a much larger, dedicated space for queues and crowd management. The Art Show will be relocated into a space nearby to allow better spacing of both vendors and artists.

What else is going to be at the Omni?
In addition to the Vendor Hall, the Omni will feature headless lounge spaces, high capacity panel rooms, and its own Zoo! We also have a significant amount of additional event space available to us at the Omni, and we look forward to announcing the final floorplans as we get closer to the convention next January.

What is changing at the Westin?
With the Vendor Hall moving out the Westin, this will allow Registration to move downstairs into the Galleria Ballroom. This allows us to use the full space of the Galleria as queue capacity and allow additional registration kiosks, which will help keep lines from overflowing into the Westin’s lobby and entrance area. The Marina Ballroom, formerly used for Registration, will be made available for other use, stay tuned for a final floorplan closed to the event dates. We are also thrilled to announce the return of the Zoo at the Westin’s Commonwealth Ballroom!

Is that all that’s changing?
Our 2027 event layout is still being finalized, but what we’ve stated above is what we can announce at this time. Please keep an eye on our socials for future announcements or changes, as well as the event map (typically released in December).

How will hotel booking work? Will the other overflow hotels return?
For 2027, we will initially open the room blocks for the two main hotels, the Westin and Omni on the same weekend. Once these main blocks sell out, we will proceed to open the Aloft and Element hotels. From there, we will continue to open our other partner hotels as needed.

Will Vendors book early? What hotel will they be offered?
As with previous years, vendors are provided early booking access for our convention! Vendors will be offered to book rooms at the Omni Boston at the Seaport hotel as it is the location of the Vendor Hall for ANE 2027, but if a vendor requests the Westin, we would be happy to accommodate!

Why not the MCEC? Is ANE ever moving to the Convention Center?
We are continuously working with the convention center to expand into the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center (MCEC)’s space as future schedules permit. Currently, existing event contracts during our future dates prevent us from securing the space through the end of 2027.