Ryzom

d29565 wrote:On the bit about doing it in Austin, or the West Coast even. It would be entirely selfish to for Americans (yes me too) to have it so far away from the East Coast of America, which is cheaper and more easily acessible to many Europeans. It costs less for Americans to hop in a car (not taking into account varying gas prices) and drive to the East Coast than for Europeans to take a longer flight to the West Coast. Not only would it be a more expensive flight, but one also has to take into consideration the cost of a hotel.

But but but! Not that I wouldn't LOVE to see our European friends here, but they already had one! This one is about us! Still, I will take your words into consideration

I have many European friends that want to come and meet the "American" group. Just because they already had a Real life meet doesn't mean they cant come to the one in America. They didn't hold the "European" real life meet off in Germany of somewhere similar. It was semi-close so that Americans that could make it, could go and it not be such an inconvience.

Gah... I am of two minds on it honestly. I do want it to be where we can get lots of people from all over... but most of the Americans I know are lazy like me *grins*

One possibility would be to have separate East and West coast get-togethers. Though not as appealing as everyone gathering together in one location, in the end it might prove to be far more realistic.

Jan - March - Dallas/Austin/Atlanta/Phoenix
April-June Charlotte/Saint Louis/San Fransisco
July-September Toronto/Seattle/Boston/Chicago/Montreal/Vancouver
October-December Charlotte/Austin/Atlanta/San Diego

Seasonal choices....I only listed Canada locations for summer months, because I'd freeze!

Shiloh

I'd vote for Toronto...I've been there before, and the city is incredibly clean and the people very friendly!

How bout we split the difference and meet in chicago! lol

No seriously though, im from illinois and theres plenty of cheap places to stay in the midwest. But i'd vote for it on the east coast as opposed to the west.

For Europeans, there are some relatively inexpensive flights to Chicago and it is possible to find a flight that doesn't take much longer than flying into New York (approx. 8.5 hrs. flight time).

Also, Chicago being a main hub in the U.S., means those of us in the states should be able to pick up some reasonably priced flights too (depending on what time of year).

But pleeeeease not in the winter....don't think I have any clothes warm enough for winter in Chicago.

Grand Rapids or Detroit.

Detroit is the NA hub for KLM and Northwestern Airlines.

(before anyone thinks anything, I used to have a paid account long ago)
I'm near Toronto, but I'm not sure if I'd go to such a gathering even if it was held there... I've been to a few conventions (the same one each time), but I have trouble socializing.

I lived in Toronto for a while... I gotta say, maybe compared to some big US cities it's clean and nice, but I live in another "big" Canadian city, and Toronto is just a dump compared to it. Toronto stinks, it's crowded (traffic should not STOP on the highway during non-rush-hour times), it's nothing but a concrete wasteland. and I lived in one of the greener parts within the major city area.

edit: the conventions I went to... one was in Toronto, two were in Chicago. I had friends living in Detroit, and they say it's a dump. Chicago looked like a dump as well. All major cities are pretty much dumps, it seems. but what can ya do... I think the secret of location is whether you can affordably shelter and feed the people. in Chicago we were out by the airport and there was very little in the way of affordable food places near the hotel. but then again we were there for about 3 days, so we HAD to rely on the area.