Europe A2k Meeting, 2007 - LOCATION POLL

That has a lot - everything - to do with the visiting times at the Spanish Riding Scholl ... and 2007 dates won't be out before autumn this year (to see this year's look here.) (Not that I'm very interesting, but any time I've been in Vienna, there were no performances during that week/on that day, whatever season of the year it had been.)

thanks walter, i'll study it carefully. i don't suppose next year's schedule would resemble this year's; that would make it too easy to plan in advance.

Yeah - black people are not so unusual here in Budapest, downtown, and the high-rise suburbs are probably hostile, but you wouldnt go there anyway.

Just if you'd venture into more outerlying countries - Romania, the Baltic states - you might have some more out-of-the-ordinary receptions. Antillean colleague of mine went on a church trip to those countries and was gawked at quite a bit, in both positive and negative ways. That was a while ago, admittedly, but yeah, country like Romania is a very different from Hungary.

(Then again I met a black guy here once who went clubbing in Belgrade every month or so, because the parties there are wilder, and he was very enthusiastic..).

I wouldnt even think of going to Russia, if I were black ... lots of unpleasantries happening there to people of colour.

Thanks for the input.

Seems like we're going to have to consider our trip route somewhat more carefully than I'd originally considered.

It is unlikely that I could attend (the ankle monitor I have to wear as part of the Witness Protection Program, don't you know). But it seems to me that, unlike Chicago where many of us flew in and then back out a few days later, many people from outside Europe would probably go to Europe for a week or two.
I think that when the topic turns from where to when, there are going to be problems with scheduling a date for everyone to be in the same place at the same time.
I would suggest a rolling series of mini-gatherings. Place #1 on (for example) the 5th/6th of a given month; Place #2 on the 12th/13th and Place #3 on the 19th/20th. This would give folks pretty much a five or six week's wide window to choose from to be able to hit at least one gathering.

Dys and I would love to see all the cities mentioned, but we have a limited budget and we have been planning on Spain for years (as he mentioned in a previous post). Plus, he has some hilarious stories from the last time he was in Tourmolinos...

Barcelona was mentioned as a possible choice because of its European flavor, the cost of traveling and lodging there compared to more expensive cities.

Thanks to A2K, we have friends all over Europe now and very dear friends in Vienna, but the expense would be prohibitive for more than one or two nights. Whatever the decision turns out to be, we hope many of you will be able to make it to Barcelona. Each a2k meeting has been amazingly friendly and interesting, leaving all with the feeling of friendship and that we must do it again.

The idea of a rolling, multi-city A2K European meeting is inspired, as is the mention of finding out who would really be attending. I dream of going to every city mentioned, but one big trip a year is about all we can do now that we are past the age of hostel-staying/backpacking.

One other thought: a well-traveled travel agent will be able to provide a list of places to go, especially the non-touristy places, without the help of a resident.

Diane, I know many people were discussing 'next year in Barcelona' during the Chicago meet. I have no idea where the discussion originated, but I think there are a number of people wanting to go to Spain, myself included. When I saw dys' post regarding seeing Barcelona and hoping others could attend, my thought was to suggest the group pick some dates for Barcelona and see what else flows from there.

I too like RJB's idea of multiple gatherings for those who want to visit more than one or any other specific location.

From Barcelona, a couple of low fare carriers are providing flights to various European places - even to my home airport (although sometimes via Mallorca ).

We'd like to .... but most know that already :wink:

True. In fact, if any of you are considering flights within Europe, do check these carriers, they might well be a lot cheaper than what you arrange in through-flights from overseas:

www.easyjet.com
www.ryanair.com
www.wizzair.com
www.airberlin.com

Theres more... there's one called Skysomething, but I forget the name ...

Wizzair is specialised in (mainly) connections to the East, AirBerlin is a kind of "full-service-low-budget-carrier" (more space, free soft-drinks and sandwiches).

No, had a bit of a wobble nearly changed to Munich but Barcelona it is for us!

Since the majority is for Barcelona, I suggest we go from there and
start to narrow it down to dates. Since I am tied down to school holidays,
we cannot travel earlier than June.

CalamityJane - June

SKY EUROPE : you can fly cheaply even to and from Bratislava! Which is what everyone should do!

I read a rather mind-boggling article in the NYer recently about CHEAP airfares between various European cities... like, under $10! Something about subsidies from small places who want tourist dollars... I forget.

Anyway, E.G. was recently invited to a conference in Hawaii and we went ooooh, Hawaii!! and then looked at how long it would take to get there -- would be faster to fly to London! So that got us seriously thinking about traveling to Europe again. Maybe one notch more likely that we'd make it, while still being pretty unlikely.

The poll will probably not change too much, but we can start dealing with the date, or dates, now anyway, maybe putting that in a poll at some point.

Assuming I can go, I prefer April, or even late March; next preference is May; I'd go in June if that is what is chosen. I also like October..

I guess we need to find out when Easter and Passover are, and when most children get out of school..

we cant go out of school holidays

I'm still at skool you know

Yes, cause you definitely dont wanna stay there ..

If Barcelona.... most weekend are OK with me.

Oooh, look, it's getting to be a closer race...

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