Going to an international event is both an amazing and daunting task.  If you are an avid fan, it's really worth it to try going to one of the many events that are available in Asia.   When we first planned our trip, we really didn't know what we were doing.  It took months of planning and inquiry making sure that we knew how much we would be spending, reserving accommodations and planning the itinerary. 

So if you are itching to go to an event outside the Philippines and you are not sure where to begin, magnetic-rose.net gives us some tips on the things we should do when planning for a trip to an international event.  You can read her article on Tips in Surviving an International Con here.

Okay, okay, this is late.  I got busy and a tad bit lazy.  As you may already know, we recently went to Singapore to attend and have Ice compete in Cosfest VIII A Very Happy Event.  The event was held last July 11-12, 2009 at the Downtown East center in Pasir Ris.   Entrance to the event was completely free so anyone can come and join the festivities.  We were lucky because Sese's sister came with us so we wouldn't get lost.  We were however still late on the first day.  No biggie though as we really just wanted to see the layout of the event space and see some cosplayers.

Even before we reached the event area, we were already starting to see cosplayers outside.   There were so many cosplayers and they were all just posing for pictures.  I noticed that most cosplayers found a certain spot where they could showcase their costumes and pose for pictures and for the most part did not move from their spot and waited for the photographers to come to them.

The nice thing about the community there is that they know how to practice etiquette.  When cosplayers are busy fixing their costume, eating or on the phone, photographers don't bother them.  In fact, some photographers will sit and wait till you are ready and they won't even take pictures right away.  They will ask first.  Even Ice noticed that there were some photographers that would be hesitant to ask you for pictures.  They would even wait for somebody else to ask so that they can join in taking photos.

We left early the morning of Friday, July 10. We had a long trip ahead of us as we would be flying from Clark Airfield instead of the traditional Manila International Airport. Tiger Airways is a budget airline and it would be cheaper to fly from Clark. Sese's parents arranged for someone to drive us to Clark. We packed our things and off we went. I was so full of excitement that I could barely take a nap despite my lack of sleep the previous day.

We arrived earlier than we expected so we decided to eat lunch in the mean time. Sese's mom was kind enough to treat us to lunch before she sent us on our way. Cabalen buffet for the win! In fact we were so early that after lunch we still had to wait outside the terminal before they allowed us to check in.

Travel tip: for those flying abroad as a tourist, prepare PhP 1620.00 for your travel tax. Filipinos are required to pay this for all travels outside the country and they do not accept foreign currency so you need to have pesos handy. We also got charged an additional PhP 600.00 for the terminal fee. Customs and Immigration here really make a killing that it's almost unbelievable. After passing through Immigration, all we needed to do now was wait for our flight. 

We've been planning the trip to Singapore for many months now. I have often told my friend Sese that I wanted to be able to experience a convention outside the country as I have often found conventions and events here to be disappointing. Often our local events focus more on ticket prices and sponsorships than actually creating an event that would really cater to their audience.

We finally decided to attend Cosfest VIII (2009). Cosfest is Singapore's largest cosplay event held every year in July. It also hosts the Regional Qualifiers for the World Cosplay Summit held in Nagoya, Japan.  There have been attempts to hold regional qualifiers for the Philippines, but as we have not been recognized as a participating country, we can't really send our own delegation.

The original plan was really just to attend the event. But we thought, why not have someone from our group join the cosplay competition and see what it is like to compete in a foreign country.  Now our group has cosplayed here and there but none have really joined a competition so we weren't really sure who was up for it.  After some thought, we decided that our very own Ice Artificio would be perfect. 

Now that we knew who would be going, we had to decide what character to portray.  We couldn't choose just any character.  We needed a character that would represent the group and something that will make people say "WOW" if we did it.  After much debate, we chose Talim from Soul Calibur IV.  We thought what perfect way to represent the Philippines is with a Filipino character. 

Cosfest Website

As I sit here this morning contemplating what to write, I decided to just keep it simple.  As you all know, reviewing conventions is my thing, and I have been to many anime and game conventions here in the country.  I have seen the ups and downs that these conventions have gone through and I have seen the best and the worst that our country has to offer.  But I am not satisfied.  I decided that it was time for me to venture out and see how other events are done overseas.  So the Singapore trip was born.

A few months ago, a bunch of close friends and I were introduced to an upcoming cosplay event in Singapore, Cosfest VIII.  This is an annual event held by the Singaporean Cosplay Club that focuses completely on Cosplay similar to Cosplay.ph's Cosplay Mania aka Cosmania.  One of the highlights of the event would be the regional cosplay summit competition.  The winners of this contest would be sent to Japan to represent Singapore and participate in the World Cosplay Summit.  As you can see, Cosfest is one of the largest cosplay events in Singapore so it is a definite must see.