I just arrived in Boston, Massachusetts for PAX East.
This is my first time in Boston since before the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the last time I was in Boston was basically immediately before the pandemic—I attended PAX East 2020 as a panelist, and during the convention, news was breaking about the coronavirus having moved from China to the United States. We know a lot about COVID-19 now, but back then, the virus was new and information about it was scarce. In response, I basically didn’t do anything in Boston except for show up to speak at my panel, then immediately left the convention center to limit my exposure to other people.
Now that it’s been a couple years since a majority of the world has deemed the COVID-19 pandemic to no longer be a threat, I figured 2024 would be a good year to head back to PAX East to enjoy a convention pre-pandemic-style. A few of my friends are panelists this year, and I’m also looking forward to checking out other parts of Boston.
On my way to Boston, I flew JetBlue flight 188 from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). I decided to fly out of Los Angeles instead of my home airport in Las Vegas because flights out of LAX were cheaper, and it was easy for me to coordinate some other things to take care of in LA to fall shortly prior to my departure.
There was a woman seated across the aisle from me with a baby that cried for about a fifth of the duration of the flight, but otherwise, everything else went fairly smoothly and uneventfully.
Meal service started with a welcome pastry. I’m not sure what exactly they were, but they tasted like a combination of very nutty cookies and crackers.
My first entrée was shrimp atop broasted fennel in saffron broth and topped with potato crumble. It was mediocre, but was still my favorite dish of the meal.
Next was roasted chicken with almond romesco topped with rosemary breadcrumbs. The chicken was extremely dry and the sauce tasted a bit incomplete, as if it was missing an aspect of richness to it.
Finally, the last dish was lasagna with fonduta, wild mushrooms, and fontina. It was extremely cheesy, even after scraping off the excess cheese topping. It sort of tasted like I was eating a little block of cheese, and couldn’t really tell if it even had any pasta sheets inside of it.
The three small plates came with a side of bread and extra virgin olive oil.
For my beverage, I ordered a non-alcoholic Mint Condition made from seltzer, ginger, lime, cucumber, and mint. It was clean and refreshing.
For dessert, I was served vanilla gelato topped with strawberry jam and sprinkled with devil’s food cake crumble. It was an interesting combination of flavors, and I liked the texture better after I mixed it up to a smoother ice cream consistency.
After about five hours, we began our descent and approach to Boston.
We touched down in Boston to a nice and chilly 40°F, or just over 4°C—quite the difference from a Los Angeles departing temperature of 68°F, or 20°C.
Like usual, I like to travel with an extra buffer day so I have an opportunity to recover before heading into the convention and socializing with friends. PAX East is taking place from the 21st until the 24th, then I’ll be headed back to Los Angeles on the 26th.