[Fineus]

Classic Rictor, classic

[kasperl]

Ah well, it'd be at least interesting to meet up with everyone once......

Unless there are a lot of other Dutchmen suddenly all popping up, a London meeting sounds like a nice idea. Who would be going?

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Styxx
...hosted Shrike...

I saw that and was gonna comment on what a nerd you were, then I realized that my reading "website hosting" into that made a nerd out of me!.

Anyway, you already know my answer.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by kasperl
Ah well, it'd be at least interesting to meet up with everyone once......

Unless there are a lot of other Dutchmen suddenly all popping up, a London meeting sounds like a nice idea. Who would be going?

I'd be happy to go out for a drink with you lot. For once I might be the least nerdy in the group! Then again probably not

[Lt.Cannonfodder]

Originally posted by Primus

You will go to Finland.

Yes, come to out insanely hot (30C!) nothern country where polar bears dance in the streets and penguins are all over the place

Originally posted by karajorma

I'd be happy to go out for a drink with you lot. For once I might be the least nerdy in the group! Then again probably not

How warm is it down there? I'm almost willing to pay the ticket price to get away from the heat

[Styxx]

Originally posted by Setekh
"Dad, can one of my friends sleepover here for a little while?"
"Sure, son. Where does he live? Has he asked his parents yet?"
"Uhh...."



On a completely serious note, there is actually a lot of space in my house. With my mum's passing last year and my sister moving out earlier this year after she got married, there's only three of us guys in the house - and they're pretty easy. You won't need to pitch a tent in the backyard; you'll have your own entire room if you stay at my home.

That said, let me go ask the folks and confirm. Depending on what your timing is like, you'll either have to put up with me being out of the house for most of the day at uni, or being home all day on holidays. I live in a pretty quiet suburb, but transport is fairly easy into the city to do some sightseeing. I'll have to work out an itinerary for you. Of course, we'll have to fit some Xbox time in there too, since you haven't managed to import an Xbox yet to play Halo/Halo 2. If you give me enough advance warning I can even plan an Xbox LAN party with some of my church friends and you can join in some 8-player deathmatching fun.

So ummm, yeah, sure.

Coolness. Let me know when you find out, I'm serious about this. Shrike can attest to the fact that I'm not a murdering psychopath.

Originally posted by Nico
What question is that?
That said, I have holydays in february (this year was from 14 to 19 february), and I'm at my parents place during that time (which is a remote, boring place), so I guess it would be better to come before or after that, if you decide to pass by (not that I can't go back to Rouen during that time either, tho. Rouen is a cool, half medieval half modern city, btw, you might like).

Just joking. But I'll probably at least pass through France, especially if I end up going to the UK - then I'd go from Israel to France, then the UK, then back to Brazil. Just gotta check visa information with the British embassy. So if you have a spare couch it would be appreciated.



As for everyone mentioning the UK - the more people from here I can get together the better, so if we can put a lot of HLPrs in one spot I can surely try to fit London on my itinerary. Lemme check the visa requirements.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Lt.Cannonfodder
How warm is it down there? I'm almost willing to pay the ticket price to get away from the heat

It's actually less than 30 degrees here We're supposed to get a heatwave in August but so far it's been a fairly cool summer.

[Styxx]

Just checked, Brazilians don't need visas to get into the UK for short stays (a few weeks) so it shouldn't be a problem. EasyJet seems to be cheap enough if you buy in advance (17 Euros from Berlin to Barcelona in February if I buy now!), and a friend of mine told me she flew a lot with them when she was in Europe and never had much trouble. If this is the standard price and I can get the trip set up soon enough, I may hop around all Europe in a few days!

So, who or where else? I need honest replies, I want to have everything planned soon-ish (a month, a month and a half).

[Nico]

Originally posted by Styxx
Just joking. But I'll probably at least pass through France, especially if I end up going to the UK - then I'd go from Israel to France, then the UK, then back to Brazil. Just gotta check visa information with the British embassy. So if you have a spare couch it would be appreciated.

At my parents place, no problem, in my student room, you'd have to sleep on the floor, with a sleeping-bag or something.

[Styxx]

I'm fine with sleeping bags, I'll obviously be taking one on the trip. Where's the closest city with an airport with EasyJet flights?

[mrduckman]

Too bad is not here. We've cool places were to go with sleeping bags.
Cordoba, Mendoza, Entre Rios, etc.

[Styxx]

Well, I can drive to Argentina. Been there a few times already, just never for too long. A friend of mine wants to rent a van or truck and drive all the way down Tierra del Fuego, though I didn't check the practicality of that, and I don't really know what he wants to see or do over there.

[kasperl]

Someone should perhaps start by picking a date. I'll go check out some prices for planes, but it all kind off depends on me being able to either pitch a tent or roll out a sleeping mat somewhere in London, preferably without paying. Mind you, that is if my parents are ok with me going off to London for a weekend to meet up with some people I know from the web.

About the plane rides: The prices generally do not include airport tax, generally around 20 euros a flight. That means a round trip to London for a weekend would cost me about 35 euros according to the pricelist, but I'd end up paying 80, and that's without 'administrative costs'. So it'd be a hundred just for the flight to and fro. I checked Ryanair, because Easyjet doesn't fly from Eindhoven Airport, but this'll probably apply to the competition as well. Beware.

[Styxx]

I'll be in Europe in general after February 7th 2006, and I think I can manage to stay for around two weeks. If I buy in advance tickets are very cheap, and I won't need any visas around there, so any date on this interval should be good. I just need to find the cheapest spot to get a plane back to Brazil.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]I'm currently in a bit of a spin with about 12 different things happening at the same time unfortunately and I'm trying to sort out placement in Germany for september so I don't think landing down at mine would be that much fun.
[/color]

[kasperl]

Looking at the prices, a plain trip won't  get any cheaper then 80 euros. More likely it'll be closer to a hundred, and that's without a hotel. I did find a few train ferry combo tickets for around a hundred for two persons, but that's a return ticket to and from a Dutch train station.

The cheapest option seems to be a bus trip, eurolines. The promo youth  ticket, which looks just as valid as a standard ticket, is 43 euros, round trip. The times are a horror, as far as I can see, so it'd either be a one-day affair, or I'd have to ask a classmate to keep my books and laptop over the weekend, and have my stuff with me at school on the monday. (That'd  be fun to explain to my classmates...)

€43 sounds affordable, a hundred might become a small problem.

EDIT: I've found some 'reasonably affordable' lodging, 17,50 GBP a night, a place called the Generator. That would be 35 for a weekend, approx. 55 euros for two nights including breakfast. This is for a bed in an eight-bed dorm with shared bathroom. That would be way to expensive for me, but this seems to be one of the cheaper rates going. Lodging would be essential for me being able to go, but at least the travel seems affordable.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by kasperl
Looking at the prices, a plain trip...

Is that some sort of cross between a plane and a train?

And Styxx, a friend of mine is camped out on the roof of a hostel in the Old City here.. literally camped out, with a tent and all. He pays 15 shekels a night (~$3.30 USD), and gets access to all the facilities and such down in the building. That's bare-bones lodging, of course, and there are options that range from a bit more civilized than that all the way up to 5+ star hotels here; Jerusalem is a tourist city, and with tourism relatively low, there won't be any problem finding vacancy.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Styxx
I'm fine with sleeping bags, I'll obviously be taking one on the trip. Where's the closest city with an airport with EasyJet flights?

No idea, but I guess that would be Paris, then you'd have to take the train (about 2 hours from Paris to Rouen by train). There's an airport at Rouen, but I don't think it's for international flights.

[Styxx]

Hmm, gotta find Rouen on a map...

[Sandwich]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=rouen,+france&spn=1.641220,2.593597&t=k&hl=en