EU2007 — Country and city suggestions
 

Due to public pressure (SlaYo :rolleyes:), I'm posting this so early. Well on the other hand, europe is kind of a big place and even deciding the country will probably take some time. And it's good to let people know to save money and stuff.

Next year it's time to have the first longer, vacation-like, WC/EC-like meeting for us Europeans in this community. It's pretty sure this will be happening, but where and when has only been discussed a few times (on IRC), and there hasn't really been any general consensus.

So, please suggest a country where you would like to head. It can't be the Netherlands (about every meeting thus far has been there), Finland (I, as the selfish planner want to travel somewhere) and preferably not your home country (to make it feel more like a vacation, not just a bunch of people visiting a guy who shows them his home city. Also I guess many would just suggest their home country without much thought of what you can do there etc). It should be a city where it's easy to get by train and/or plane, or plane and bus.

Please only suggest if you think you could make it financially. It's of course hard to know if you could really come, since the dates aren't decided upon and you most likely haven't planned your next summer yet.
(Bad) estimations of the total cost per person, for a 1-week stay:

• Travel — ~120-180€ (For a round trip by plane, if bought months in advance and using cheapness airlines. Significantly more expensive if bought close to the day of travel, or with "normal" airlines. Naturally, the destination can also happen to be near your country and you could just take a much cheaper train trip instead. If it's necessary to take the train from near the airport, add some 50€. Bus tickets to a nearby city won't cost much.)
• Hotel costs — ~110-150€ (per person for a week. A 3-person room which costs 55e-75e per night, six nights.)
• Food — ~40-120€ (This hasn't really got any upper limit. I'm thinking some 40€ would probably be the minimum if we buy food from stores and possibly cook some of it too, and 120€ if somebody wants to eat semi-nicely out every day. Why would somebody do that? I don't know. (We would probably go out eating a few times anyway))
• Activities — <80€ (Not really a point of estimating this, but I doubt more than 80€ per person will be needed for the fun stuffs.)

Consider this a very bad approximation, but if you know you'll have some 350€ by next summer and want to spend (much of) it on an awesome vacation, you "could make it financially". Subtract 100-150€ if you know you won't have to take the plane.

Suggestions, please! For me it doesn't really matter where or to which country, but I'd like to go to eastern central europe, since I've not been there.

Edit: I checked some plane ticket prices more, and it doesn't really seem as expensive as I had put there.

What about assembly?

Lol, Poland, Warsaw.. :P
Maybe Budapest or sth.. It would be good if someone of the people speaks the language spoken in the country we go too. Else we can hardly communicate with the people there..
I'm planning to come so far. :-)

hi

Cool, but due to several circumstances something outside of the Netherlands will be troublesome for me -- having 300 euros, for example 8[

I also disagree with I went on vacation to another part of NL several times, and it never felt like showing others my home city.

omg London! :D

Maybe Prague? ;P
I think I could come if the meeting weren't again in The Netherlands (because then it could be really EU meeting and not only next NL meeting ;P).

wont be putting down that kind of money, sorry, I'm not comming.

(25 euro's + fare there for an entertainment park last time, is okay, (but i wasnt allowed by my parents), but im not going to put down 100s of euro's. besides i dont have or am going to have 100s of euro's...)

Sasik, this answers what you said.
It will not be in The Netherlands.. =P
So, yes, it will be a real EU meeting now ;O (Which is really nice =P)

Call me crazy (or better yet, don't), but I sorta like that idea. London rocks.

Though I suppose that if we're going for something situated a bit more in the middle of everyone, Germany might be better.

Yah, because we all know that the Netherlands is not a part of Europe.

And I like the idea of London as well, we can stay there for a few days and then travel south through Sussex to the south coast.

That means, big city, nature and a tropical climate all in one vacation.
What more could we ask for?

The Netherlands is no fun anymore ;( And yeah, we are not a part of Europe anymore. We are DEMOTED to.. AFRICA?
Also, London can be really nice, yes. (And we all speak the home language there.. ;p I hope.)

London would be neat. Atleast everybody would know the language, and there are very many things to do there.

Could more people who think about coming reply? ;O

Alister lives there sry

No he doesn't..

Any serious replies? :)

Oh yeah I forgot sry

London - Englishmen + Dutches + rich.

We shouldn't be forgetting that... Like half of all European players are... poles! (u know Poland is that country in Africa let's do it in Nigeria!)
In other hand, Prague is good choice. Not far from Poland, not far from (east) Germany, when we'll lie, it's not so far from Netherlands too. Plus don't forget that everything is much cheaper in Czechia and it's cool boredom here. I mean everywhere can be boredom.

Or Italy! They have cool stuff!

What about Brussels? Many of us are Dutch and it's quite handy of you can speak the language of the country you'll visit...and as Holland is no possibility this time..why not Belgium?;P It's quite in the center of Europe(well , not in the center , but in the center of most countries with jj2 players).

very good idea I say (seriously). Flemish is sexy (though from what I gather Brussels is mainly French :()

Indeed. If you want to go to a place in Belgium where people speak Dutch. Or actually; want to speak Dutch. Don't go to Brussels.

Antwerp ,Ghent...those are nice cities too. And I'm sure that you can speak dutch in brussels.

And we could see movies in Metropolis and eat an awesome pizzeria I know in Antwerp yaya

Brussels for the win.
They even have a COMIC BOOK museum and the atmosphere is fantastic.
Especially in the central square.

[img]http://p.vtourist.com/1045128-The_centre_of_Brussel_the_Grote_Markt-Brussels.jpg[/img]

Ok so lets go!!!

Okay! Brussels is a nice city! (And I've not been to Belgium, hooray :D)
I guess more people could come too since that's pretty close to dutchieland, where everybody seems to live.

Then it's just to decide the dates (and maybe have a vote, if somebody is against Brussels) before Christmas or something, since most airlines allow you to buy tickets ~6-8 months in advance.

Soo... Am I allowed to suggest places in England, Wales or Northern Ireland? ;)

I was going to suggest Berlin. But Brussels sounds nice. It is the main capital of the Europes, after all, so it would be somewhat appropriate. But I reserve the right to speak French instead of Dutch.

Well. Toxic has a point here. The United Kingdom could be a very interesting location as well ;)

Hard to pick one.

I don't want to sound like I wish to keep the meeting in NL because that's where I live, but I find many of these suggestions a little bit silly. I've been holding off posting since this all just seemed...odd, and it discouraged me from wishing to reply, but I can't help myself now.

To get a meeting working, it needs to be feasible, and it is useful to have people in the know that live nearby the meeting location. This is how US meetings are done. They are planned in a somewhat central place accessible to everyone, and local people help with organising, arranging hotels, etc. To suggest that the meeting should be in a place and country that nobody knows or where nobody just seems to make the idea of a meeting occurring more unlikely. Not everyone is rich either, so organising a meeting in some far-away country where nobody lives might be a cool idea, but it will only make the meeting not work.

Additionally, the thought that after having been there for one time you "know" a country and it is boring is odd. As is that organising the meeting in your home country makes it feel like showing people your home city. I've been involved in organising five meetings in the Netherlands, and I've never felt like I was showing anyone my home city. There is mor than one city in a country. Only meeting Link was sort of like it, but it still felt new to me to visit some places.

Brussels sounds at least somewhat more sane than some other suggested locations, since it's not insanely non-central and would have some likelyhood of working, unlike countries like Italy.

Brussels! HERE WE COME!!!

Now that I think of it, I was kind of silly. I just thought it'd be more like a vacation if more people travelled there from a small distance. I have never organized meetings before, but nobody else was seeming to take the initiative to suggest an EU meeting involving the whole europe, so I took a shot at it. :P

I didn't really mean it'd be in a place like Italy, which is far away from everybody, but something central in Europe that would still be something new for most.

Well. BRUSSELS.

Cool :P I guess this will be my first EU Meeting ;P

And there I was thinking I could be going someplace else for a change, but no, it had to be the city where I spend 9 months a year already. Blargh.

Personal feelings aside, it probably IS easier to get to than London. And there's as much to do as in any other city, though I don't particularly care for the atmosphere.

Ignore my earlier nagging though, I'll probably come anyway. And since my studying in Brussels is probably going to instill some kind of moral obligation to become sort of a tour guide (oh, bother), I can try to prepare a bit. If the meeting is held at a date I can make it that is.

Inside NL, i might make an appearance. Outside NL, don't count on it from my part.

Count me out. I haven't been here for quite a long time and heh, I don't really know you guys anymore. Have fun though. Rock on.

I don't know you, anymore, either! :-(

Hahah, same good ol' random stuff.

Let's meet and sing together, Cees!

Heheh, we'll see. Depending on the location. ;-)

OK DATES

AUGUST 11 OR 12

2007

BRUXELLES

Shouldn't it be a longer meeting?
A few days might be better. =O

Okay, for more people than those living in Benelux (that is most of the EU jj2 guys, but still!!) to come there by flight etc. this meeting should be atleast a week long.