The time has come for me to attend the Winter FancyFaire located this year in San Diego, CA. This is the winter version of the Summer FancyFaire in which I attended in July of last year (2025) in New York City. After attending the summer version as press with Traveler’s Montage I took a chance to see if we’d be granted acception to attend the winter version and since we were I took the trip.

I bought my ticket via Southwest months ago when I felt as though prices were reasonable and the only downside is because I’d be flying I won’t be able to bring back as much stuff (with New York I drove up and brought back an SUV’s worth of things). Either way I was excited as I’ve never been to San Diego, CA before and it’d be good to compare the summer and winter shows.

I decided to arrive in town the night before the show (January 10th) and lucky for me the plane was half full leaving me with an entire row to myself. I debated back and forth when planning if I’d stay at a hotel or Airbnb but too many of the hotels had average reviews and I wanted to stay somewhere where I felt a bit more secure where people only had positive reviews so an Airbnb it was. I was able to find a reasonable private room/bathroom in the Grant Park neighborhood not too far from the airport or the San Diego Convention Center where the event was held.

Everything was nearly closed by the time I arrived to the Airbnb so I opted for some noodles at a vegan spot across the street and called it a night. The next morning, day 1 of the Winter FancyFaire I woke up at 7am and was heading out of the door by 8am. The plan was to take the bus (which the stop was only a block up the street) to downtown and then I’d have to get off and walk about 15 minutes to the convention center. Well, I made a very simple mistake by waiting on the wrong side of the street and missed the bus. At that point I had already been waiting 20 minutes and the next bus wasn’t scheduled to come for another 30 minutes so I figured I’d walk the route a little bit.

After walking about 20 minutes I made the decision that I was just going to walk the entire route as I hadn’t yet seen the bus pass by and since I would have to some point get off and walk anyway let’s just see the city as I walk. San Diego has a lot of hill like streets going up and down and I passed by quite a few homeless people. So many people were up and out walking their dogs and I couldn’t blame them because the weather was nice for it (50’s at that time of morning).

On my walk through downtown I spotted a Dunkin Donuts and stopped to refuel with a donut because I was getting tired of walking by now (and mind you I have a whole show I’m trying to walk through today). The donut helped and before no time I arrived at the convention center. What would’ve taken me about 35 minutes with the bus took me an hour just walking. Once at the convention center I was directed to proceed upstairs to go to the press room. It was there that I picked up my badge and browsed some of the products exhibitors were freely sharing with us.

I chatted with some other people in the press room and sat down to go through some of the material. I arrived at 9:30am and though I technically could access the floor earlier I did just end up walking an unexpected hour to get there so I could use some time to debrief. Once 10am hit though I made my way to the exhibit hall. As to not miss anything of forget where I began, I entered through the middle but made my way to the far right to begin from there.

I tried so many things from samosas, to duck, italian meats, cheeses, noodles, pastas, rice, soups, candy, chips, pickles, pistachios, dried fruits and veggies and more. As far as drinks everything from coffee, tea, matcha, lemonade, juice, cocktails, mocktails, sparkling drinks and water it was all there. Around 1:30pm I was feeling the effects of all the food and walking and took a seat to rest myself.

Once I felt ready they had free headshots so I got that done and went back at it. I came across quite a few unique things like a sweet potato matcha, blueberry matcha latte, a really good barbeque sauce (shoutout to the owner who is from Rockville), some boozy jerky (yum), this yogurt candy that debuted there (all the flavors are phenomenal), a really good hot cinnamon tea and a great cold haiwan tea.

By the time 4pm hit it was the close of the show for today and I’d gotten through half of the showfloor. Compared to New York City’s summer version I would say this show was about a third of it’s size (NYC was huge I didn’t even get through all of it). You know how they say, “After the party is the afterparty” well there was an opening night celebration not too far at the baseball stadium so the majority of us ventured over that way.

I was weighed down quite a bit thanks to 10 drinks I was carrying along with all the other goodies I got from today (plus by now it had been a very long day for me). At the afterparty was food, drinks and a dj. There were a few games scattered around that people could get into as well. I chatted with two different groups as we waited to hear what the 2026 trend was (which ended up being Sense Maxxing). After that was revealed and after the fireworks, I waved my white flag and was ready to go.  I called an Uber and went to my Airbnb.

I unloaded my goodies for the day and began seperating things for different people that asked me to bring them a goodie bag back. Once I did that I just sprawled out on the bed for a good hour to give my body a break. I then took a whack at making a reel for the 1st day of the show and it’s pretty basic but it got the point across (took me forever too). Getting back up I realized just how much I had exerted myself for the day. I ate what was in my to go tupperware (yes because once I was full what I couldn’t eat I put in there for later and by now it was full) and tried one of the many drinks I got. That was day one.

Day 2

Taking the bus this morning was much more efficient than walking to the convention center from my Airbnb. The weather was nice and after a shorter walk from the bus stop I arrived on day 2 around 9:30am. Once in the press office I began chatting with Michael who apparently frequents many trade shows and travels. We chatted for the entirety of our time in the press room about influencers and what we each do.

While chatting with him we met Tara who is very health and fitness conscious. The three of us chatted until 10am rolled around and the exhibit halls opened up. Today instead of beginning where I left off yesterday, I opted to go to the other far end and to just conclude in the middle. Some standouts were tea packets that were art. Not only were they art but each bag had a concept and small details relating to it.

The most exciting was North Star Caviar as this was my first time trying caviar. Knowing what it is I was nervous but presently surprised as it was delicious. It came on top of a spread of cheese on a cracker. I can say I understand the hype behind it now (and I still have no plans to indulge). Osh! also had a Guava chip (I don’t even like Guava) that was so good. This is why it’s good to try things even if you don’t typically like it because it can be made or used in a different way.

I tried a Portuguese egg tart which was delicious (even though I’m not a fan of eggs) and had a yummy ginseng energy drink. Just when I thought I already had my favorite coffee here Kea Wellness gave me a coffee latte with collagen that was divine. I ate and drank my way through the show and ended up with a heavier bag today versus yesterday. I was stopped so many times and was asked where I got a big orange see through bag here.

By 2:30pm I had finished and seen the whole floor. I was honestly ready to go by then as well as I was getting weighed down more and more but still I persisted. Michael called me throughout the day telling me of different showcases but I was ission to get stuff. He even invited me to a dinner afterward but by the end of the day, my ankles, feet and shoulder were hurting and I just wanted to lay down. That’s when I realized I hadn’t sat down all day since the bus ride there.

I hustled my things outside and called an Uber. Luckily before leaving I passed an exhibitor that was giving away dumplings and chicken bites so I loaded up in my to go container.

Day 3

It’s the last day of the show and although I really didn’t need to get there early there may be some new press giveaways in the office. I managed to walk out of the Airbnb at just the right time to catch the bus up the street to downtown. I actually arrived earlier than any other day at the convention center and proceeded to the press room. I brought along my own coffee that I wanted to try from an exhibitor yesterday (cookies and cream).

After pouring that in a coffee cup inside I looked around. Though there was nothing new there were more of some things (mostly drinks). I sat down and enjoyed my coffee and recognized when Tara came in. She came over to where I was sitting and we chatted until 10am when the exhibit hall opens.

I got a chance to learn more about her which was nice. I had 5 hours to get more things today but reminded myself that I can’t overdue it because I simply don’t have the space. My only goal was to just top off everyone’s goodie bag I had made so far and to get more for what I was going to leave for my Airbnb host. That and I wanted to give myself a half tote bag of my favorites to take home.

Trust me 5 hours was more than enough as I went around throughout the morning. Today exhibitors were more willing to give things away like the woman from the Hawaiin coffee company who told everyone that stopped by to take as many bags and boxes of coffee you want because she wasn’t taking it back.

Another vendor happy to give things away was a cake/wafer man who was giving out one of each and telling people please come and take it. I knew I wanted to find some canned fish for my friend and the collagen coffee (found the first toward the end but not the latter). As per usual I’m sampling things from drinks to food as I’m going around.

I made sure after a couple of hours to take a seat and rest which I did around 11:30am because that’s when my bag was getting heavy (that’s when I knew I had to slow down). I saw a BA I was chatting with upon entering the exhibit hall and directed her towards the exhibitor she was looking for (they said they weren’t allowed to look around or get anything which is crazy to me). I honestly would’ve made them a big goodie bag but didn’t want them to get in trouble (plus I clearly don’t abide by the limitations I set for myself).

After about 45 minutes sitting I got back up to finish tackling the rest of the floor. By now even more exhibitors should be wanting to get rid of things. Some were even walking around with totes full of things giving them to people (I got a 4 pack of coconut water and a big bottle of avocado oil that way which I clearly can’t take so I gifted it to my host amongst other things). A chocolate station was bagging up an assortment of chocolates and thankfully the tuna station was trying to get rid of cans.

I began focusing on making me a nice to go tray of food I can eat for dinner later and hit the jackpot when I went by the shawerma booth (I got some chicken, beef and pizza). Some of the Italian stations had rolled up turkey and ham wraps and the tuna station had some salmon pasta salad out (I ate that there). After I filled it up it was about 2pm but I was going to go ahead and leave. On the way out I grabbed an italian soda and sparkling water and bid the show farewell.

There was a dj in the hallway and upon exiting I was told I could only leave with one bag (I had 2). Luckily I placed the smaller one in the bigger one and that was ok (at least for the summer show they let you leave with 2 bags but it was also 3 times bigger). As I waited in the hallway I called an Uber and wenr back to the Airbnb.

Once there it took me about an hour and a half to sort through everything and pack it up. After that I was tired so it’s no wonder I took a little nap. It was a good thing I brought an extra small backpack with me as I could see I would need it. Once I packed everything I noticed a challenge…I have 2 extra bags that I’d be taking back with me.

I ended up wrapping the shirts I’d worn around my waist, stuffing some clothes in my jacket sleeves (while I wore it) and placing my bag with my slippers and toilettries on my chest and zippening up my jacket to hold them in place (I just looked big chested). That allowed that extra backpack to be slim enough to be under my main backpack which was full with just a tote bag.

I was nervous TSA would want to see the small glass jars/bottles I had packed so I seperated them just in case but it wasn’t a problem. Honestly I just needed to get past the gate agent without any problems because I refused to pay $70 to check a bag or throw anything away. I said a prayer asking God to grant me favor, grace and mercy and thank God had no issues. The main flight attendant however was nosey upon my entering the plane asking me if I was carrying the extra bag for someone in which I explained it was my food bag which it was (and some personals).

I sat down towards the back where I had a row to myself and after placing my suitcase and main backpack in the overhead, stripped and put everything I had stuffed in my jacket and around my waist back in the small backpack. I’m on the plane now, it’s not like they can do anything (I can’t believe I managed to have it all worked out-thank God). I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the Winter FancyFaire and plan on attending the Summer FancyFaire when it returns to New York this summer.

We have arrived

Boomerang

2nd Day

Sorry Y’all

That’s a Wrap