OFFICIAL: Who's going to QuakeCon Thread?

[sully!]

Ok, train travel is out. The schedule just isn't very accomodating. If we left Saturday the 6th at 1:40PM from Harrisburg, we wouldn't arrive in Dallas until Monday at 1:20 PM. The ticket is $163 one-way, and I can't seem to find a return trip for when we would need it. Also, it really doesn't make much sense to go to Dallas by way of Pittsburgh and then Chicago before heading south to Texas, as their schedule would have it laid out.

Geez, I wish I was rich so I could just fly and be done with it. No better yet, just retire and roam the country in my own RV attending every LAN party along the way.

Edit: I'll take one of these...

http://www.countrycoach.com/downloads/pdf/2006_affinity_specs.pdf
http://www.countrycoach.com/model.cfm?brand=aff&my=06§ion=interior

[Billabond1]

using you number from before, would three cars work?  You could run one car jam packed full of computer stuff and a driver and passenger to keep company.  then you could run two cars, one with three people and one with 4 people.  these two cars could also serve as overflow for comp stuff and luggage.  

i really don't know, just an idea that came into my head

[sully!]

We could barely do it with three cars last year and that included an overhead luggage rack on my car. Cars just don't provide enough space to fit a lot of monitors and computers. And you don't want to be cramped for a car ride that long.

Tekie and Agent had to be crammed in the backseat with a stack of our 4 PC towers for about 3 hours for the first part of the trip to meet Nimby in VA. Yes, they're both scrawny so that helped, but this drive will take at least 24 hours or more to complete.

Another thing with only two vans, that means you only need two drivers and makes taking turns driving easier to manage.

[TekieB]

and just a thought, with cars/vans (not rv's) the 25> crowd can drive as long (for me and fabio at least) as there is someone over 21 in the passanger seat.


And i'm not sure (like 99.9%) that Nimby can't drive down with us cause he needs to be there early for staff duties (thats what he told me in IRC)

[Billabond1]

you are right about being able to drive when there is someone 21 years of age and older in the passenger seat.  It's to bad that my dad won't probably won't let me use his car for the trip.  He has a big volvo wagon that is awsome at hauling stuff, but it is old and i fear it might have problems on the way.

[sully!]

yes, better not to risk it on a long trip. Turning around and rescuing your car in Arkansas after you get home is not a fun thing to do. Sadly I know it all too well.

Nimby: Yeah, I remember you saying something about that at some point. What's the word? When are you planning on heading down? I'm assuming when you said you were in, you meant for the room, which we should probably reserve soon. Now that we know the layout of the place from last year, let's try to get something with Atrium view and on the same side as the convention hall (cuts down on unnecessary lugging of equipment through the atrium). Can you take care of that if that's the case?

[Nimby]

I actually don't need a room this year, so I won't be part of the room reservations ... sorry :-/

also, I'll be driving down the friday before hand ... so ... you guys might plan to not have me as part of the carvan ... :-/

[sully!]

:shakeno:    

[Billabond1]

[garland]

I would consider driving if it wasn't such a long distance.  However, the problem is that it's an immense distance and I seriously have no interest in being crammed in a small car worrying about gas mileage for 10+ hours.

I'm probably going to do the bus thing if for no other reason than the ease of it - just pack up my shiznit (bubble wrap if necessary) and curl up for a nice long nap.  Plus most buses have bathrooms onboard.  That's a nicety that can't be discounted.  

Airplanes are too expensive, trains seem to be out, so I'm probably going to stick with my idea of going bus-travel.  Plus we can always look into group rates.  Just an idea.

[sully!]

10+ hours? Put the emphasis on the + my friend.

Estimated straight through non-stop for any reason is about 22-23 hours. Factor in bathroom and meal breaks, plus we stopped in Memphis to get some sleep last year, and it took us about a day and a half.

If you really want to do the bus, that's your decision. But could we count you in on splitting the room?

[sully!]

One more thought on the topc of travel arrangement...

All these calculations are based upon me picking up whatever rental vehicle on Friday night and leaving Saturday morning.

But, if we cut a few days off there and leave Monday morning, we still get there early to do volunteering and save ourselves a few hundred bucks on travel and room expenses.

I realize we all want to be down there as much as possible, but this may be the best solution for our wallets as I know everyone is concerned with price.

Thoughts?

[Billabond1]

I did not even know when we were leaving in the first place.  

Judging by how long you say it takes to get there, we would still arrive tuesday morning/afternoon is we leave monday morning.  

The event starts on Thursday so we would still be there for a  day and a half before the event starts.  Being there longer would be a good time, but i don't know(like sully says) if those extra days would be worth the extra $.  

I am very flexible, so what ever is going to work better.

[sully!]

Last year we left Saturday morning partly because of the excitement of going for the first time and partly because Nimby had to be there by Sunday.

Getting there Tuesday would be a good time of arrival. It's before the madness that takes place on Wednesday/Thursday and it gives time to get familiarized with the massive layout of the Gaylord and most importantly to volunteer your sweat and tears for setup.

I'll run the numbers again this weekend and see how much of an impact that makes. I'd still like to get 1 or 2 more people, but we'll see how things go.

FYI: Be sure to pre-register yourself on the QuakeCon website and fill in as much information as you can so when 9PM on April 15th rolls around, regging for the BYOC will be much easier. That site will be swamped for several hours that night and any precious seconds you can save will be helpful.

[TekieB]

I think I have one more person that is intersted in comming along, once he gets it oked with his parents, I told him to reg here. And all that fun stuff. But yeah, i'll keep you guys updated.