![\"\"](\"https:\/\/russianireland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Amy-Grace-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Then I’ll be off to the first evening of Night Summit.<\/p>\n
My experience of Night Summit last year wasn’t fantastic. I only went to one evening but a bunch of different very sketchy guys tried to sell me coke on the way there and then I stood in a queue for an hour or so to then stand in an even longer queue.<\/p>\n
Maybe the second queue would have been worth the wait but I’ll never know because I left.<\/p>\n
The format seems better this time. I’m planning to go to a specifically LGBTQIA+ meetup at Copa in Cais do Sodr\u00e9.<\/p>\n
That should be less busy and queer nights out are, to put it bluntly, a better vibe.<\/p>\n
Plus I have a ticket to ins3kt R\u00e6ve at Planeta Manas on Friday. Maybe others at Copa will also be going, or can give me some idea of what to expect from the event.<\/p>\n
I don’t actually know if I should be wearing my Web Summit lanyard to Night Summit events.<\/p>\n
Copa is a tapas place which means lots of sitting down so I change out of my jumpsuit and into a dress.<\/p>\n
I see plenty of Web Summit wristbands but no lanyards on the platform at Alameda metro station. We live and learn.<\/p>\n
I’m not sure if I have expectations for Night Summit, or any particular goal.<\/p>\n
It’d be nice to connect with another solo traveler who’s also planning on staying to explore for the weekend. Someone to explore with. I doubt that’s realistic but I think it’s worth keeping in mind.<\/p>\n
I pass a darkened construction site walking from the Cais do Sodr\u00e9 metro station and have the paranoid thought that maybe the LGBTQIA+ meetup is a scheme to get all the queers murdered.<\/p>\n
This city isn’t my city and here my mind will play tricks on me.<\/p>\n
Copa might be a tapas place during the day but right now it’s a loud bar. The staff make a non-alcoholic cocktail for me and it goes on Web Summit’s tab. Cheers, Paddy.<\/p>\n
The bar is overwhelmingly full of straight-passing cis gay men. This isn’t the smoking area at a club and I have no idea how to start conversations here.<\/p>\n
Apparently this bar isn’t<\/em> full of straight-passing cis gay men. There are just multiple mixers happening in the same bar. I just talked to someone here for a nordic mixer. That explains a lot.<\/p>\n Except there aren’t<\/em> multiple mixers in the same bar! The queer meet is at a different Copa which should be open but is closed!<\/p>\n I tag along with a group of Berlin-based queer app developers while they figure out what’s going on. They add me to a \u201cLGBTQ+ @ Web Summit\u201d WhatsApp group. I leave them to get pizza and instead walk 20 minutes to a bar called Friends which is apparently where the meet has moved.<\/p>\n Friends ends up being a good time. I talk to a few Londoners and an investor who’s specifically here to invest in queer startups. I’m handed sachets of CBD-infused lube (both water-based and silicone-based!)<\/p>\n I have no idea if CBD actually<\/em> reduces discomfort during sex but it’s genuinely nice to see this side of Web Summit.<\/p>\n I pop outside with another girl to get some air. We chat about Team Fortress 2 and breakcore. She’s a pyro main.<\/p>\n When we get back, we’re in a gay bar. As in: a bar full of cruising cis gay men. Time to split. It’s past 11 anyway and I need to be up early.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first full day of Web Summit is done. My plan is to drop stuff at my hotel and grab a jacket because, even in Lisbon, this is still a November evening. Maybe I’ll eat something too. Then I’ll be off to the first evening of Night Summit. My experience of Night Summit last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3857,"featured_media":360915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9350],"tags":[11814],"class_list":["post-360959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-websummit"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/russianireland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Lubricant-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n