alt.polycon

[baratron]

After months of dithering about whether or not I wanted to go to visit the US, which is rapidly becoming a very scary place with fingerprinting at Customs, hoping that Kerry would win the election so it would become less scary, and being upset when he didn't, I've decided that I will be extremely miserable if I don't go to alt.polycon. This decision has been strengthened by the fact most of my kiddies have their exams on 18th January - which is extremely convenient in terms of me being able to get away the weekend of 21st. So I'm currently looking into flights etc.

Just wondered a) who is and isn't going to be at alt.polycon and b) if any Americans want me to come & visit them after the con. I'll be going on my own, because both partners think the US is too scary to visit at the moment. I'm planning to go to New York to visit the Pokemon Center, but New York isn't exactly the sort of place I'd want to go to without a native guide. So if I don't actually know anyone who lives that way, I'll probably just go for the day on my way home. I'd like to go to Seattle, but I don't know if it's going to fit in with other plans, as it's sort of the wrong end of the country.

Update: have found an airline routing that goes (wait for it):
Heathrow --> Chicago --> Baltimore --> Boston --> Newark --> Seattle --> Chicago --> London (!).

That'll cost ~£570 with American Airlines, inc taxes. It's a bit more than I want to spend, and will increase by £70 for each city I stop in, depending on how long the stopovers are. It also involves slightly more planes than I feel comfortable with (bearing in mind that I am fairly phobic of plane travel anyway, and the number of trees that I will need to have planted to balance up the carbon dioxide). I will try a couple more companies that are more used to dealing with students, to see whether they can come up with something that involves buses or trains. OR is there anyone driving who can give me a lift all or part of the way?

Does anyone in (or near) Chicago or Boston want to see me? ;)

Comments

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

okoshun, clawfoot and myself will be trundling down there together.

Greetings from New York City

[redbird]

I don't know if I'll be at alt.polycon: cattitude and I would like to go, but money is quite tight right now.

I can play native guide in New York if I'm not working, but the Pokemon Center interests me not at all and I don't really have crash space to offer.

Re: Greetings from New York City

[rivka.livejournal.com]

cattitude is a great NYC native guide, as well.

Re: Greetings from New York City

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Heh, I can fully understand the Pokemon Center not appealing! I think you have to be really into the games to want to go to the shop. I'm currently trying to persuade Richard that he wants to take me to Japan in the summer to go to the Pokemon Theme Park that's opening, and he says he'd prefer it if I picked a random person from one of my Pokemon forums & paid for them to come with me! ;)

The main thing I'm concerned about is that I know New York has bits that make the grittier parts of SE London look safe and comforting. Finding out the names of places to avoid is fairly easy, but I worry about going there by accident if I get on the wrong bus or something. It's the cultural side of things, really. I do enough travelling in Europe to be fairly confident of my ability to read most body language I'm likely to encounter, but the small amount of travelling I've done in the US has shown me that actually I don't have a clue outside of somewhere like Seattle. (I'm still wondering what it was I said or did that was so utterly hilarious to the check-in woman at Denver airport, and why everyone at Colorado Springs airport was so rude to me (imo)).

So if you or another NY native can recommend a non-scary hostel for me and/or check the places I'm planning to visit, I can probably wander around by myself for a couple of days. Although it would be nice to have people to have dinner with :)

Re: Greetings from New York City

[redbird]

I can't do you hostels/hotels, because I've never needed to stay in a hotel in New York City. I can certainly check on neighborhoods. The problem is that my standards for scary may be different from yours: for example, I know, from 30 years' experience, that I'm safe riding the subway, any part of it, at any hour of day or night. And that's partly my body language.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod!! Really?!?! That would be the best.

curiousangel and I love playing tour guide in the Baltimore/Washington DC area, if you want to stay here for a couple days after the con.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yep, really :) Like I said, I've been thinking about it basically since alt.polycon 11 (which confirmed that I really don't want to miss another one unless something MAJOR comes up). I'll sort out Paypal for membership when the flights are confirmed. Do you know of anyone who has already bought a membership and now needs to sell it?

In the summer you had a visiting exchange student who wanted to go to New York, and you found a bus which'd take 6 hours to get there, leaving at godawful am. Will that be running in January?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's actually much less than 6 hours, and there are several buses a day. They are not very comfortable - that's my only warning - but the price is right.

Chinatown bus info here (https://www.apexbus.com/BuyTicket.aspx?from=13&to=2).

Oh, and firecat is probably willing to sell her membership. She's decided not to go.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

baratron, could you please fill out a registration form and send it in? Or at least e-mail me with your name as you want it to appear on your badge, preferred e-mail for contact, location, and dietary restrictions.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I'll be there, and would love to see you again!

On the scariness front, things honestly aren't much different than they were before the election, but do be prepared for extra airport security delays. apc12 coincides with the presidential inauguration weekend, and Baltimore is the third-string backup airport for Washington, DC. In the newsgroup, it's been suggested that Wednesday would probably be a bad day to arrive, and Sunday a bad day to fly out (the inauguration itself is on Thursday).

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Ah! Thanks so much for letting me know. Erk, wibble, etc.

[pir.livejournal.com]

Airport security is about at the level it's always been in Europe with a bit of extra (pointless) paranoia, less efficiency and some stupidity. Nothing major but it's faster if you can go through the metal detector with no metal and no shoes.

The weekend of the 21st and surrounding days I'll be in Montreal, but have fun...

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I am going, and one of my partners, and maybe our daughter (whose exams may conflict).

[annaoj.livejournal.com]

I'll be there!

Re: Request To Add

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Heya,

mmm, delicious venlafaxine. Sorry, just had to say that :)

Anyone & their dog can read my public entries. I really don't mind at all :) But as my friends list = my trusted people list, I only add people to it if I already know them in some way.

I am still waiting for lj to separate out "watched journals" from "trusted people" as they have been planning to do since ... don't know when.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

I will be there.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I still have very small amounts of money, so alt.polycons continue to be a non-option. I'd be happy to have you come visit, though, and there's still a spare room.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I'll be at alt.polycon, and I look forward to seeing you there.

If I lived closer to the T (which I don't anymore) I'd offer you crash space if you were going to be visiting Boston (there is bus service from my place to the subway, but many people don't find it very convenient), and I won't feel up to local travel guiding I'm afraid.

However, if you do end up in Boston area as part of your travels, I'd be happy to go out for lunch or join you for something else--that is, I'd put in more than ordinary effort to get it on my schedule.