WHAT? There's a GA2013 forum? And I missed it?

[Jon Twitchell]

Well... anyway... I'm glad it's here! I look forward to discussing it with you all.

In 2009, I spearheaded an unofficial coverage campaign--we had a twitter corps, bloggers, and Jeremy Scott worked his magic with Google Docs to create an election tracking spreadsheet. I built a website, and some anonymous person uploaded scans of the resolutions to the interwebs.

I'm hoping to attend again in 2013, provided we can make the finances work.

[Jim Franklin]

Just wondering how much one would have to save up to attend one of those shindigs?

[Jon Twitchell]

Just wondering how much one would have to save up to attend one of those shindigs?

Well... as with anything else... it depends on what sort of travel/housing/food arrangements you're willing to live with.

Some people take RVs... and they can do it pretty cheaply.
Others fly and stay in the nicer hotels... that's a bit more costly.

When it was in Indy before, we drove... and merged it with a little bit of vacation time.
When it was in Orlando, we flew... and just went down and back.

In either case, we tend to stay in the cheaper hotels... Extended Stay Deluxe/America tends to work well... and often has an included breakfast. That saves a bit of money. But yes... we'll have to count our pennies in order to attend!

[Hans Deventer]

Just wondering how much one would have to save up to attend one of those shindigs?

Jim, if I'd be going as a visitor, I'd probably have to spend like € 900 on airfare, at least $ 300 on hotels, $ 30 a day on meals, and some on transport from and to the airport. For 7 days, we're probably looking at something around $ 1500.

So now you know why there are few visitors from Europe.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

We've been rv-ing to GA for many years. In KC we tented GA and got flooded out one night! It was our last trip with an old tent - trying to get one more trip out of it. When rain began pouring down the old seams just couldn't keep the water out - meanwhile, the creek beside our site was rising (we found out later that there were flash flood warnings out!). The next day we went to Sears and bought a new tent for less what what one night in a motel would cost. We used that tent for many enjoyable camping trips.

Anyway, I only recall going to 2 GA's and staying in other than a camper (or tent). Once I was there as a SS delegate and once I stayed with the kin folks.

I've been blessed by having a church that budgets for us to attend - not the whole cost and certainly not the cost of staying in a convention hotel, but enough to make it possible for us to attend if we're willing to pay a portion of the cost ourselves.

Really, people spend money on that which is of value to them and we value attending GA.

[Billy Cox]

Well... anyway... I'm glad it's here! I look forward to discussing it with you all.

In 2009, I spearheaded an unofficial coverage campaign--we had a twitter corps, bloggers, and Jeremy Scott worked his magic with Google Docs to create an election tracking spreadsheet. I built a website, and some anonymous person uploaded scans of the resolutions to the interwebs.

I'm hoping to attend again in 2013, provided we can make the finances work.

I appreciate knowing what is going on and what business is being considered.

[Greg Gates]

Jim, if I'd be going as a visitor, I'd probably have to spend like € 900 on airfare, at least $ 300 on hotels, $ 30 a day on meals, and some on transport from and to the airport. For 7 days, we're probably looking at something around $ 1500.

So now you know why there are few visitors from Europe.

$300 on hotel? I think we've had some inflation occur since April 2012

[Hans Deventer]

$300 on hotel? I think we've had some inflation occur since April 2012

Greg, last time we spent $ 50 per night. They sure managed to increase that amount.

[Jon Twitchell]

I'm spending around $60/night this time. Of course, I'll spend an additional $10-20/day to park our vehicle downtown somewhere... However, if we flew in, we couldn't possibly stay downtown for $80/night.