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[faust]

So I had this idea yesterday: We have a couple of players currently living in Europe. Europe's not that big. Maybe we could make a meetup happen?

Not exactly sure when or how; I'm just starting this thread to see if anone would actually be interested in this. We could play IRL mafia, Dominion and other stuff.

[LaLight]

So I had this idea yesterday: We have a couple of players currently living in Europe. Europe's not that big. Maybe we could make a meetup happen?

Not exactly sure when or how; I'm just starting this thread to see if anone would actually be interested in this. We could play IRL mafia, Dominion and other stuff.

Yes-yes-yes!

I will be In England for NY week (1-8 Jan) and looks like I'm going to Netherlands next summer.

[faust]

So I had this idea yesterday: We have a couple of players currently living in Europe. Europe's not that big. Maybe we could make a meetup happen?

Not exactly sure when or how; I'm just starting this thread to see if anone would actually be interested in this. We could play IRL mafia, Dominion and other stuff.

Yes-yes-yes!

I will be In England for NY week (1-8 Jan) and looks like I'm going to Netherlands next summer.

Well I was thinking more long-term, so summer wouldn't be bad.

[Calamitas]

Half of the community seems to be German anyways (Calamitas, Silver, LaLight, Faust, ...)

[Witherweaver]

I'd actually like to take another Europe trip...

[LaLight]

Half of the community seems to be German anyways (Calamitas, Silver, LaLight, Faust, ...)

It's a joke, right?.. I was quite russian the last time I checked.

[Joseph2302]

Travelling to another country just to play games?
Sounds good to me

[SpaceAnemone]

I'm up for this, time/dates permitting!

I'm already kidnapping LaLight and Fargo for New Year :-) Sadly my house isn't big enough to host a bigger get-together :-(

What we really want is somewhere cheap to stay, with a big living room for games and good wifi, in a location with good public transport connections...

[Calamitas]

Half of the community seems to be German anyways (Calamitas, Silver, LaLight, Faust, ...)

It's a joke, right?.. I was quite russian the last time I checked.

Ooops

[gkrieg13]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

[SpaceAnemone]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

[gkrieg13]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

[Witherweaver]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

What do you have to hide?  You sound guilty.

[SpaceAnemone]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

Sometimes the names even have other names, too

[gkrieg13]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

What do you have to hide?  You sound guilty.

Haha I think it would be fun to meet everyone, I just think it would feel a little different playing with everyone after I met them.

[gkrieg13]

That being said, if anyone is ever in southern Arizona I'll definitely want to meet up.

[SpaceAnemone]

That being said, if anyone is ever in southern Arizona I'll definitely want to meet up.

Pretty sure this thread is about a European meet-up... you have to come to us! :-) Wouldn't you like a nice holiday in wherever it is we're going to go?

I organised a 10-person holiday to Carcassonne one time.. we were aged between 18 and mid-forties, and stayed in a cheap-ish 5-bed villa within walking distance of the old city of Carcassonne, with lots of board games and home-cooked meals (i.e. very cost-effective for students). And yes, it was an entire week-long holiday based on the idea that it would be funny to play Carcassonne in Carcassonne :-)

[gkrieg13]

That being said, if anyone is ever in southern Arizona I'll definitely want to meet up.

Pretty sure this thread is about a European meet-up... you have to come to us! :-) Wouldn't you like a nice holiday in wherever it is we're going to go?

I organised a 10-person holiday to Carcassonne one time.. we were aged between 18 and mid-forties, and stayed in a cheap-ish 5-bed villa within walking distance of the old city of Carcassonne, with lots of board games and home-cooked meals (i.e. very cost-effective for students). And yes, it was an entire week-long holiday based on the idea that it would be funny to play Carcassonne in Carcassonne :-)

Haha that sounds like it would be fun!  But I don't think it would work very well in the near future for me.

I didn't know Carcassonne was a real place!

[faust]

I'm up for this, time/dates permitting!

I'm already kidnapping LaLight and Fargo for New Year :-) Sadly my house isn't big enough to host a bigger get-together :-(

What we really want is somewhere cheap to stay, with a big living room for games and good wifi, in a location with good public transport connections...

I might be able to offer something, but I'm kind of in between places and next summer I might be in Denmark, Scotland, Germany... just don't know.

[J Reggie]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

Does that mean you don't watch people who stream dominion with a face cam?

[gkrieg13]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

Does that mean you don't watch people who stream dominion with a face cam?

But they don't play mafia right?  Dominion is not about deception.

[SpaceAnemone]

I'm up for this, time/dates permitting!

I'm already kidnapping LaLight and Fargo for New Year :-) Sadly my house isn't big enough to host a bigger get-together :-(

What we really want is somewhere cheap to stay, with a big living room for games and good wifi, in a location with good public transport connections...

I might be able to offer something, but I'm kind of in between places and next summer I might be in Denmark, Scotland, Germany... just don't know.

Ooh.. I'm from Edinburgh originally, so I have contacts there :-)

What do you do when not playing Mafia, anyway?

[Eevee]

Heyy-o, hadn't seen this before! Sounds very fun.

[faust]

I'm up for this, time/dates permitting!

I'm already kidnapping LaLight and Fargo for New Year :-) Sadly my house isn't big enough to host a bigger get-together :-(

What we really want is somewhere cheap to stay, with a big living room for games and good wifi, in a location with good public transport connections...

I might be able to offer something, but I'm kind of in between places and next summer I might be in Denmark, Scotland, Germany... just don't know.

Ooh.. I'm from Edinburgh originally, so I have contacts there :-)

What do you do when not playing Mafia, anyway?

You don't happen to have contacts in the Edinburgh Hodge Institute?

I'm currently applying for math PhDs.

[Awaclus]

I'm interested as long as my financial situation allows it. Which it probably doesn't, if we're realistic.

[SpaceAnemone]

You don't happen to have contacts in the Edinburgh Hodge Institute?

I'm currently applying for math PhDs.

Heh.. I recognise one of the guys in their slideshow, but he's an Oxford contact who's now in the US, so I've no idea why he's pictured there :-P My academic contacts are mostly in the School of Informatics, since that's closer to the field I did my doctorate in.

[SpaceAnemone]

So, the Christmas lull is a good time to make plans for the following summer, right?

[ipofanes]

I'd actually like to take another Europe trip...

Glad you liked it last time.

[Calamitas]

Might be available in late july or early august. Depends though since I graduate from highschool this summer and will start going to university in autumn.

[SpaceAnemone]

Might be available in late july or early august. Depends though since I graduate from highschool this summer and will start going to university in autumn.

When does your university term start? Over here, it's usually the start of October, meaning that mid-September is a really good time for students to travel, because the prices drop considerably compared to full summer, when all the families with kids want to get away.

[Calamitas]

Might be available in late july or early august. Depends though since I graduate from highschool this summer and will start going to university in autumn.

When does your university term start? Over here, it's usually the start of October, meaning that mid-September is a really good time for students to travel, because the prices drop considerably compared to full summer, when all the families with kids want to get away.

Starts oktober as well, so early september is probably fine :-)

[Awaclus]

Late July/early August would be great for me since I'd have another excuse to travel to Germany around that time. Although my availability shouldn't probably determine when the meetup is, since I'm very unsure if I'll be there anyway.

[LaLight]

I finally got an English Visa! If someone will be there like 23.01-03.02, i'd meet

[Calamitas]

Does anyone have an idea about the "Where"
I personally could participate everywhere in Germany and maybe in England. But the latter is significantly less likely.

[SpaceAnemone]

Does anyone have an idea about the "Where"
I personally could participate everywhere in Germany and maybe in England. But the latter is significantly less likely.

Deciding on a format (i.e. length of time and approximate budget) would be a good start. Like, if we're meeting for a day somewhere in Germany, that probably works well for you, faust and silver, but it would be a long trip for such a short time for people like me.

If we're meeting for a long weekend (or possibly for a full week?) with boardgames and Mafia and stuff, then cost of accommodation starts to become the dominant factor, but if there are 8 or us or something, I expect we could find something decent for under 20 euros per person per night, if we're all happy self-catering and sharing a place. With budget flights or cheap advanced train fares, travel across Europe can often be pretty cheap.

The other option is to have someone to host it at their home. I have my house, but it's very small -- it's quite crowded even with just LL & Fargo staying at the moment (plus me and my lodger), and there's only really space for one more person if they're sharing my bedroom! I also definitely want to have a bed to sleep on, rather than just a floor or air mattress, in case I get back pain again.

What sort of things are the rest of you thinking of?

[Calamitas]

I was thinking in the scale of a long weekend  :-)

[silverspawn]

If we want to organize this, we'd probably need someone creating a bunch of polls.

[Calamitas]

Let's make a list with all people who have expressed interest already

- Space (likely to come)
- Faust (likely)
- Calamitas (rather likely)
- Silverspawn (?)
- Joseph (?)
- Eevee (?)
- Haddock (?)
- Fargo (?)
- LaLight (rather unlikely)
- Awaclus (rather unlikely)
- GKrieg (unlikely)

Did I forget someone?   

To be updated regularly

[LaLight]

Let's make a list with all people who have expressed interest already

- Space (likely to come)
- Faust (likely)
- Calamitas (rather likely)
- LaLight (rather likely?)
- Silverspawn (?)
- Joseph(?)
- Awaclus (rather unlikely)

Did I forget someone?   

Thing is: I thiiink I am rather unlikely. Going to Amsterdam in summer and considering going to German on my way there. This will all depend on my gf and amount of money I will have.

[SpaceAnemone]

Did I forget someone?   

Eevee? I'd really love to meet Eevee! :-)

I'd also love to meet gkrieg... how do we persuade him that a Europe trip would be the best possible use of his time and money after all?

[Calamitas]

Did I forget someone?   

Eevee? I'd really love to meet Eevee! :-)

I'd also love to meet gkrieg... how do we persuade him that a Europe trip would be the best possible use of his time and money after all?

I have seen this video about brainwashing a few days ago... ;-)

[Calamitas]

Let's make a list with all people who have expressed interest already

- Space (likely to come)
- Faust (likely)
- Calamitas (rather likely)
- LaLight (rather likely?)
- Silverspawn (?)
- Joseph(?)
- Awaclus (rather unlikely)

Did I forget someone?   

Thing is: I thiiink I am rather unlikely. Going to Amsterdam in summer and considering going to German on my way there. This will all depend on my gf and amount of money I will have.

[LaLight]

Let's make a list with all people who have expressed interest already

- Space (likely to come)
- Faust (likely)
- Calamitas (rather likely)
- LaLight (rather likely?)
- Silverspawn (?)
- Joseph(?)
- Awaclus (rather unlikely)

Did I forget someone?   

Thing is: I thiiink I am rather unlikely. Going to Amsterdam in summer and considering going to German on my way there. This will all depend on my gf and amount of money I will have.

Well, the only chance is if I will manage something like a week in Amsterdam/a week in Germany. We don't have the place yet, do we?

[Calamitas]

Let's make a list with all people who have expressed interest already

- Space (likely to come)
- Faust (likely)
- Calamitas (rather likely)
- LaLight (rather likely?)
- Silverspawn (?)
- Joseph(?)
- Awaclus (rather unlikely)

Did I forget someone?   

Thing is: I thiiink I am rather unlikely. Going to Amsterdam in summer and considering going to German on my way there. This will all depend on my gf and amount of money I will have.

Well, the only chance is if I will manage something like a week in Amsterdam/a week in Germany. We don't have the place yet, do we?

Well, we know it's going to take place in Europe :-D

[SpaceAnemone]

Did I forget someone?   

Eevee? I'd really love to meet Eevee! :-)

I'd also love to meet gkrieg... how do we persuade him that a Europe trip would be the best possible use of his time and money after all?

I mean, Haddock is also here in Oxford, and it would be great to include him too... but he's also super-busy, so I'm not sure he's able. Has he even seen this thread yet? I forget!

LL, Fargo and I did just meet up with Joseph a few hours ago in London :-)

[Calamitas]

Did I forget someone?   

Eevee? I'd really love to meet Eevee! :-)

I'd also love to meet gkrieg... how do we persuade him that a Europe trip would be the best possible use of his time and money after all?

I mean, Haddock is also here in Oxford, and it would be great to include him too... but he's also super-busy, so I'm not sure he's able. Has he even seen this thread yet? I forget!

LL, Fargo and I did just meet up with Joseph a few hours ago in London :-)

Will add them with question marks

[SpaceAnemone]

I have seen this video about brainwashing a few days ago... ;-)

That sounds great. You'd better start practicing on people nearby first, though ;-)

Fargo was talking about wanting to visit Amsterdam with her friend Zigaton. Maybe if we hire a house near Amsterdam, then we'll be able to accommodate everyone in a cost-effective way, and then Fargo and Zigaton would have each other to talk to when everyone else is too obsessed with Mafia. Though money is especially tricky for the Russians, because their currency seems to be doing even worse than the pound right now.

[gkrieg13]

Did I forget someone?   

Eevee? I'd really love to meet Eevee! :-)

I'd also love to meet gkrieg... how do we persuade him that a Europe trip would be the best possible use of his time and money after all?

I wish I could!  Unfortunately, I don't think my wife would be very fond of meeting up with people to play social deduction games .  Although I might be able to convince her (she hasn't seen many partsany of Europe, just Paris). 

[Eevee]

This sounds very fun, I'm definitely interested!

Doesn't matter to me at all which country it would happen in, it's all the same coming from here.

[Calamitas]

This sounds very fun, I'm definitely interested!

Doesn't matter to me at all which country it would happen in, it's all the same coming from here.

Woooooooooo :-)

[Eevee]

Holiday in Europe, gkrieg! Do it!

[ashersky]

I wish I could!  Unfortunately, I don't think my wife would be very fond of meeting up with people to play social deduction games .  Although I might be able to convince her (she hasn't seen many partsany of Europe, just Paris).

[EFHW]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

It makes it more fun. liopoil and I went to the Chicago get together, and played Dominion with people at the games con here in Michigan. I've really liked getting to know people irl.

[SpaceAnemone]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

It makes it more fun. liopoil and I went to the Chicago get together, and played Dominion with people at the games con here in Michigan. I've really liked getting to know people irl.

Great! You should come to the Europe meet-up too :-) Weren't you on the continent quite recently anyway?

This has also just reminded me I need to post the pic of me and LL with Joseph in London the other day!

[EFHW]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

It makes it more fun. liopoil and I went to the Chicago get together, and played Dominion with people at the games con here in Michigan. I've really liked getting to know people irl.

Great! You should come to the Europe meet-up too :-) Weren't you on the continent quite recently anyway?

This has also just reminded me I need to post the pic of me and LL with Joseph in London the other day!

We were in Switzerland in November.  I'm going to France in June, but I don't think I'd be able to get away to play games  .

[SpaceAnemone]

I feel like everyone meeting me would ruin my game!

How so? Have you meet any of the US people before?

Just putting faces behind the names for mafia seems really weird to me.

It makes it more fun. liopoil and I went to the Chicago get together, and played Dominion with people at the games con here in Michigan. I've really liked getting to know people irl.

Great! You should come to the Europe meet-up too :-) Weren't you on the continent quite recently anyway?

This has also just reminded me I need to post the pic of me and LL with Joseph in London the other day!

We were in Switzerland in November.  I'm going to France in June, but I don't think I'd be able to get away to play games  .

Ooh, which bit of France? Do you ever have occasion to come over to the UK on your travels? :-)

[EFHW]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

[schadd]

that's good

[ashersky]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

[faust]

This now has a masterfully crafted poll to go with it. I anyone would like to add options, please inform me.

[SpaceAnemone]

This now has a masterfully crafted poll to go with it. I anyone would like to add options, please inform me.

I've voted :-)

 already have a bunch of things on my calendar for summer, so I'm avoiding ticking the general availability windows. I may even be somewhere in the netherlands for a gig we've been asked to play on the second weekend in July, though I think that still depends on how much they're willing to pay towards our travel. In general, most weeks in the late July/early August window are fine for now, though that's peak season and everything will be super-expensive/might already be booked up.

Finding affordable accommodation for everyone might help narrow down the location. Getting a rough budget, and checking other constraints (who they'll share with, food/health/accessibility requirements) might also be a good line of attack.

[faust]

Good points all.

I can likely provide a limited number of free beds or other bed-like accomodations if we're doing it in Berlin. I could probably get some friends to provide further accomodation for a small donation. My main problem is that I still don't know if I'll actually live in Berlin then, so there's nothing definite.

[EFHW]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

He has a sibling.

[sudgy]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

He has a sibling.

Liopoil is your son?

[schadd]

woah, what?

parents are generally able to trounce their children in mafia as far as i understand

[ashersky]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

He has a sibling.

Liopoil is your son?

You knew this, I'm fairly certain.  Especially since you, mail-mi, and liopoil are all the same person.

[faust]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

He has a sibling.

So why isn't she playing mafia?

[EFHW]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

He has a sibling.

So why isn't she playing mafia?

Not her thing, I guess.

[EFHW]

woah, what?

parents are generally able to trounce their children in mafia as far as i understand

We didn't play in the same games. And I can pretty much count on liopoil winning any game we play together, except maybe Boggle.

[Witherweaver]

Paris and Cote d'Azur. One week. I'm going along on my daughter's school trip.

I thought liopoil was a guy?

He has a sibling.

So why isn't she playing mafia?

Not her thing, I guess.

It's alright, they can't all be the best offspring ever.

[LaLight]

back to topic: I can't promise anything yet but chances that I will go to Amsterdam and then to any place of Germany you choose are increased. Probably late July/early August. So count me /in with a big probability.

If the meetup will be in Amsterdam, that would be even perfecter.

[faust]

back to topic: I can't promise anything yet but chances that I will go to Amsterdam and then to any place of Germany you choose are increased. Probably late July/early August. So count me /in with a big probability.

If the meetup will be in Amsterdam, that would be even perfecter.

Problem is nobody of us is located in Amsterdam, which makes organizing there harder.

[LaLight]

back to topic: I can't promise anything yet but chances that I will go to Amsterdam and then to any place of Germany you choose are increased. Probably late July/early August. So count me /in with a big probability.

If the meetup will be in Amsterdam, that would be even perfecter.

Problem is nobody of us is located in Amsterdam, which makes organizing there harder.

I understand that of course. It's just my wish, but I am perfectly okay with Germany. Never been there, but heard a lot and visiting would be cool!

[gkrieg13]

There is a non-zero chance my wife and I could be in Berlin at the end of July/ early august.

[Axxle]

back to topic: I can't promise anything yet but chances that I will go to Amsterdam and then to any place of Germany you choose are increased. Probably late July/early August. So count me /in with a big probability.

If the meetup will be in Amsterdam, that would be even perfecter.

Problem is nobody of us is located in Amsterdam, which makes organizing there harder.

If you want to organize a meetup away from where people live, AirBnB works pretty well.

[SpaceAnemone]

There is a non-zero chance my wife and I could be in Berlin at the end of July/ early august.

Ooh! That would be a super-strong reason to have the meeting around there and then :-)

Also, do you guys want to come with me on a tour of the Bundestag in English? I assume all the Germans would like it better in German, but I missed out on it when I was in Berlin last year because I didn't get my parents organised in time for us to book tickets.

And on Axxle's point about AirBnb, yeah, it worked really well for me in Berlin last year :-)

[Calamitas]

I would prefer it to be in English :-D

[gkrieg13]

That means I should probably brush up on my German.

[faust]

That means I should probably brush up on my German.

There is really no reason to speak German in Berlin.

[gkrieg13]

That means I should probably brush up on my German.

There is really no reason to speak German in Berlin.

Haha that is what I experienced last time I was there.

[Witherweaver]

That means I should probably brush up on my German.

There is really nonein reason to speak German in Berlin.

[ipofanes]

That means I should probably brush up on my German.

There is really nonein reason to speak German in Berlin.

cringe Seems you could use another exposure to our language.

[EFHW]

That means I should probably brush up on my German.

There is really nonein reason to speak German in Berlin.

cringe Seems you could use another exposure to our language.

kein, not nein?

[Awaclus]

kein, not nein?

That isn't a very positive post.

[EFHW]

kein, not nein?

That isn't a very positive post.

Oh yeah, you're right, I didn't notice.

[faust]

Turns out I may be busy on the first weekend of August, so I suggest the final July weekend as a date for this.

[SpaceAnemone]

Turns out I may be busy on the first weekend of August, so I suggest the final July weekend as a date for this.

I've put that into my calendar as a tentative date :-)

[Calamitas]

Turns out I may be busy on the first weekend of August, so I suggest the final July weekend as a date for this.

I would prefer it to be a couple of weeks later but that weekend is probably the second-best option for me.

[SpaceAnemone]

Hey, we should keep making plans for this! How are everyone's dates looking now that another few weeks have passed?

Also, hello from Heidelberg, Germany :-P I only just arrived an hour or so ago, and don't even get free time after tomorrow's meetings to see the pretty castle before I have to fly home :-(

[Calamitas]

Hey, we should keep making plans for this! How are everyone's dates looking now that another few weeks have passed?

Also, hello from Heidelberg, Germany :-P I only just arrived an hour or so ago, and don't even get free time after tomorrow's meetings to see the pretty castle before I have to fly home :-(

The proposed weekend is perfect for me and I estimate a chance of ~70% of me being able to come.

[faust]

For me, there are a couple things left to work out. First, I may still leave Berlin until then, but it's less likely now. Second, I need to figure out if my flatmates will be in Berlin that weekend; if they're not (and there is reason to believe they may not be), then I could accomodate all of you in our flat. Otherwise I need to check alternatives.

[LaLight]

looks like I can only go there in August (doesn't matter beginning or end), not July.

[Calamitas]

looks like I can only go there in August (doesn't matter beginning or end), not July.

Afaik the second week of August is currently intended :-)

[faust]

looks like I can only go there in August (doesn't matter beginning or end), not July.

Afaik the second week of August is currently intended :-)

No; rather, the last week of July.

I cannot tell yet whether I will be available on the second week of August.

[LaLight]

looks like I can only go there in August (doesn't matter beginning or end), not July.

Afaik the second week of August is currently intended :-)

No; rather, the last week of July.

I cannot tell yet whether I will be available on the second week of August.

What about first week of August?

[Calamitas]

looks like I can only go there in August (doesn't matter beginning or end), not July.

Afaik the second week of August is currently intended :-)

No; rather, the last week of July.

I cannot tell yet whether I will be available on the second week of August.

Oops, confused the two in my head

[faust]

looks like I can only go there in August (doesn't matter beginning or end), not July.

Afaik the second week of August is currently intended :-)

No; rather, the last week of July.

I cannot tell yet whether I will be available on the second week of August.

What about first week of August?

I know that I won't be available then.

[LaLight]

On a new job I won't ave a vacation in the end of July

[SpaceAnemone]

Would a doodle poll of July/August/September weekends and weeks help at all? If we're looking at high summer, we really should try to book stuff sooner rather than later.

[Calamitas]

I have started a doodle with the different weekends.
Mind that the days don't mean the specific time range (I think we are going to do this longer than just 2 days?) but for the sake of simplicity I have just picked the various weekends.
Just pick every weekend that suits you

http://doodle.com/poll/6zv56uzubqhsedmf

[SpaceAnemone]

I have started a doodle with the different weekends.
Mind that the days don't mean the specific time range (I think we are going to do this longer than just 2 days?) but for the sake of simplicity I have just picked the various weekends.
Just pick every weekend that suits you

http://doodle.com/poll/6zv56uzubqhsedmf

I just edited my poll answer because I'm not very sure about 19th August. I can do it if necessary, but my a cappella group want me to be here for rehearsals if possible. I like the "if-need-be" option in doodle polls :-P

So who else is going to fill out the poll? I assume faust and gkrieg? How about other people who've been sounding potentially-interested, like Eevee? :-)

[gkrieg13]

I have started a doodle with the different weekends.
Mind that the days don't mean the specific time range (I think we are going to do this longer than just 2 days?) but for the sake of simplicity I have just picked the various weekends.
Just pick every weekend that suits you

http://doodle.com/poll/6zv56uzubqhsedmf

I just edited my poll answer because I'm not very sure about 19th August. I can do it if necessary, but my a cappella group want me to be here for rehearsals if possible. I like the "if-need-be" option in doodle polls :-P

So who else is going to fill out the poll? I assume faust and gkrieg? How about other people who've been sounding potentially-interested, like Eevee? :-)

Sorry still trying to convince my wife. It looks like tickets for us are around $1200 each so convincing is tricky

[SpaceAnemone]

I have started a doodle with the different weekends.
Mind that the days don't mean the specific time range (I think we are going to do this longer than just 2 days?) but for the sake of simplicity I have just picked the various weekends.
Just pick every weekend that suits you

http://doodle.com/poll/6zv56uzubqhsedmf

I just edited my poll answer because I'm not very sure about 19th August. I can do it if necessary, but my a cappella group want me to be here for rehearsals if possible. I like the "if-need-be" option in doodle polls :-P

So who else is going to fill out the poll? I assume faust and gkrieg? How about other people who've been sounding potentially-interested, like Eevee? :-)

Sorry still trying to convince my wife. It looks like tickets for us are around $1200 each so convincing is tricky

Hey, if you happen to get a better deal flying to Heathrow/Gatwick, you're welcome to come up to Oxford for a stopover on the way to/from Berlin! I couldn't host a whole f.ds meetup at my place, but LaLight and Fargo already demonstrated that I can host a couple :-)

It looks like there are return flights under £100 from LHR/LGW to Berlin in August at the moment, but I expect prices to creep up as summer approaches.

[gkrieg13]

I have started a doodle with the different weekends.
Mind that the days don't mean the specific time range (I think we are going to do this longer than just 2 days?) but for the sake of simplicity I have just picked the various weekends.
Just pick every weekend that suits you

http://doodle.com/poll/6zv56uzubqhsedmf

I just edited my poll answer because I'm not very sure about 19th August. I can do it if necessary, but my a cappella group want me to be here for rehearsals if possible. I like the "if-need-be" option in doodle polls :-P

So who else is going to fill out the poll? I assume faust and gkrieg? How about other people who've been sounding potentially-interested, like Eevee? :-)

Sorry still trying to convince my wife. It looks like tickets for us are around $1200 each so convincing is tricky

Hey, if you happen to get a better deal flying to Heathrow/Gatwick, you're welcome to come up to Oxford for a stopover on the way to/from Berlin! I couldn't host a whole f.ds meetup at my place, but LaLight and Fargo already demonstrated that I can host a couple :-)

It looks like there are return flights under £100 from LHR/LGW to Berlin in August at the moment, but I expect prices to creep up as summer approaches.

That is very nice of you!  I think the problem at this point is that we might be going on another trip with my family in August and it may be not possible for my wife to get 2 weeks off of work in August.

[LaLight]

Guys, so this is the plan.

I can't go for vacation in the late July. So I m going to go to Europe 1-13 of August. Some of this I spend in Amsterdam, some of this I want to spend with you. I'm flexible talking about what will be first, if you're more okay with first week of August, I will go to Berlin first (though I know faust can't). So what do you think about 8-13th? Also does someone have a place to sleep in or know one which is not expensive?

[SpaceAnemone]

I guess faust and gkrieg are the ones we're waiting for in terms of dates.

For accommodation, faust said he may be able to put people up, but perhaps a more robust plan is to book an airbnb for a bunch of us? I went to Berlin about a year ago, and the Airbnb I'd booked then was really great. It was a holiday with my parents, we weren't looking at the budget end of the spectrum so much, but the cheaper ones are similar in cost to a hostel, and presumably give us more privacy for playing games and stuff as a group :-) OTOH, I've had airbnb hosts cancel on me at relatively short notice befor... I'll bet it's a lot worse trying to re-book somewhere for a bigger bunch of people, rather than just for me traveling solo.

[gkrieg13]

I guess faust and gkrieg are the ones we're waiting for in terms of dates.

For accommodation, faust said he may be able to put people up, but perhaps a more robust plan is to book an airbnb for a bunch of us? I went to Berlin about a year ago, and the Airbnb I'd booked then was really great. It was a holiday with my parents, we weren't looking at the budget end of the spectrum so much, but the cheaper ones are similar in cost to a hostel, and presumably give us more privacy for playing games and stuff as a group :-) OTOH, I've had airbnb hosts cancel on me at relatively short notice befor... I'll bet it's a lot worse trying to re-book somewhere for a bigger bunch of people, rather than just for me traveling solo.

Well my family is no longer going on vacation in August, so it is more likely that we would be able to come to this.  I'll keep trying to convince my wife.

[LaLight]

I guess faust and gkrieg are the ones we're waiting for in terms of dates.

For accommodation, faust said he may be able to put people up, but perhaps a more robust plan is to book an airbnb for a bunch of us? I went to Berlin about a year ago, and the Airbnb I'd booked then was really great. It was a holiday with my parents, we weren't looking at the budget end of the spectrum so much, but the cheaper ones are similar in cost to a hostel, and presumably give us more privacy for playing games and stuff as a group :-) OTOH, I've had airbnb hosts cancel on me at relatively short notice befor... I'll bet it's a lot worse trying to re-book somewhere for a bigger bunch of people, rather than just for me traveling solo.

True that. tbh I have never used airbnb and don't really know how it works

[LaLight]

I guess faust and gkrieg are the ones we're waiting for in terms of dates.

For accommodation, faust said he may be able to put people up, but perhaps a more robust plan is to book an airbnb for a bunch of us? I went to Berlin about a year ago, and the Airbnb I'd booked then was really great. It was a holiday with my parents, we weren't looking at the budget end of the spectrum so much, but the cheaper ones are similar in cost to a hostel, and presumably give us more privacy for playing games and stuff as a group :-) OTOH, I've had airbnb hosts cancel on me at relatively short notice befor... I'll bet it's a lot worse trying to re-book somewhere for a bigger bunch of people, rather than just for me traveling solo.

Well my family is no longer going on vacation in August, so it is more likely that we would be able to come to this.  I'll keep trying to convince my wife.

yay!

[gkrieg13]

I guess faust and gkrieg are the ones we're waiting for in terms of dates.

For accommodation, faust said he may be able to put people up, but perhaps a more robust plan is to book an airbnb for a bunch of us? I went to Berlin about a year ago, and the Airbnb I'd booked then was really great. It was a holiday with my parents, we weren't looking at the budget end of the spectrum so much, but the cheaper ones are similar in cost to a hostel, and presumably give us more privacy for playing games and stuff as a group :-) OTOH, I've had airbnb hosts cancel on me at relatively short notice befor... I'll bet it's a lot worse trying to re-book somewhere for a bigger bunch of people, rather than just for me traveling solo.

True that. tbh I have never used airbnb and don't really know how it works

We have had wonderful experiences with airbnb in Mexico

[SpaceAnemone]

True that. tbh I have never used airbnb and don't really know how it works

It's really easy... it's just people who have properties in a location renting them out for a while. There's a lot that's just people's spare rooms and stuff, but then there are also entire apartments. The big risk compare to hotels is that I don't think the hosts are penalised a lot for cancelling on guests, so I've had a couple of tense experiences trying to rebook at the last minute after my good-value early booking has fallen through.

Assuming we'll have something like 8 guests, then here's a little selection are some possibilities. I'm assuming that ~£25 per person per night is a reasonable rate, since that's cheaper than most hostels (presumably other people will be shown their local currencies, and the pound is horribly weak compared to the Euro at the moment, so these may look cheaper to people who aren't me!).

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/17811565?checkin=2017-08-08&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 -- Suspiciously cheap for what it claims to be, but that might just be because it's a new listing. OTOH, there's probably an even bigger risk of cancellation than an established place, especially if the rates go up between now and August.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16688037?checkin=2017-08-08&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 -- Looks pretty spacious, and works out at £28pppn

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16970008?checkin=2017-08-08&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 -- Just over £30pppn. Crams a bunch of people into each bedroom, but at least there are lots of beds!

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/3521369?guests=12&adults=12&s=XtKzoHfX&check_in=2017-08-08&check_out=2017-08-13 -- if we have a bigger gang of people, this place looks really amazing, but it's not cost-effective for a group of 8 (though still cheaper than a cheap hotel!).

[faust]

First is indeed suspiciously cheap, especially considering that it is supposed to be located in one of the most trendy neighborhoods of Berlin.

2 & 3 are a bit further out, which may be mildly annoying. Public transport is decent and fairly cheap though.

[faust]

Sorry about not being able to give definite answers on availability still. I know it sucks; just be content to know that it sucks even more for me.

Right now the likelihood of me being available from 8-13 August is something like 90%.

[Calamitas]

Sorry about not being able to give definite answers on availability still. I know it sucks; just be content to know that it sucks even more for me.

Right now the likelihood of me being available from 8-13 August is something like 90%.

90% is good enough :-D

[SpaceAnemone]

First is indeed suspiciously cheap, especially considering that it is supposed to be located in one of the most trendy neighborhoods of Berlin.

2 & 3 are a bit further out, which may be mildly annoying. Public transport is decent and fairly cheap though.

Yeah, there are more central places, but they're more costly. I guess it depends on getting a balance between how much we want to hang out as a group and how much we want to be out doing touristy stuff. There are some cheaper hostel places I've found too now, but they don't seem to have kitchens (which is a minus for me, and overall means spending more on food), and they wouldn't have the same privacy to hang out together and play Mafia/Dominoin/stuff.

For travel, I think I had one of these things last time: https://www.berlin-welcomecard.de/en/buy-tickets

[gkrieg13]

Ok, the odds are going up for us to come to Berlin.

[Calamitas]

Ok, the odds are going up for us to come to Berlin.

Yeay! :-)

[Calamitas]

What do you guys think about skyping/hangoutsing at some point about this? :-)

[gkrieg13]

Odds are now extremely likely that me + wife are coming!

[schadd]

tell them i said hi!

[LaLight]

What do you guys think about skyping/hangoutsing at some point about this? :-)

I am definitely for it

[gkrieg13]

I think we should definitely hangouts or skype about this soon, to get a really good idea of who would show up and when, so we can actually book a place to stay.

[SpaceAnemone]

Is there any way for us to do a multi-way video call for free? I find it really hard to talk to people when I can't see them :-(

[LaLight]

Is there any way for us to do a multi-way video call for free? I find it really hard to talk to people when I can't see them :-(

In Skype it's free

[Calamitas]

Is there any way for us to do a multi-way video call for free? I find it really hard to talk to people when I can't see them :-(

In Skype it's free

Or in Hangouts

[SpaceAnemone]

Huh, that's cool! Last time I checked, it they were only free/functional for video between two people, but not between more than two.

So what's everyone doing from about 4pm forum time today? I can be awake and free till maybe 8pm forum time.

Do the clocks in Germany and the rest of Europe change this weekend, or is that just a UK thing? From early on Sunday, I expect to be back to being 5 hours ahead of forum time, but possibly also back to being only 2 hours behind LL.

[LaLight]

I am free in 5 hours, sure. lalight1 is my Skype, add me!

Also sorry, have never used Hangouts

[Calamitas]

Huh, that's cool! Last time I checked, it they were only free/functional for video between two people, but not between more than two.

So what's everyone doing from about 4pm forum time today? I can be awake and free till maybe 8pm forum time.

Do the clocks in Germany and the rest of Europe change this weekend, or is that just a UK thing? From early on Sunday, I expect to be back to being 5 hours ahead of forum time, but possibly also back to being only 2 hours behind LL.

Germany changes to UTC+2 as well this weekend.
Don't know if I can talk in 5 hours, a bit later would be better though probably.

[gkrieg13]

Today is a little more on the busy side, which makes it harder.  We are welcoming prospective PhD students, and so I have to attend a few events.  Also I'm now 3 hours behind forum time, which makes it so Europe's evening, is my afternoon.  That works most days, because I would be able to skype on days where I don't have class in the middle of when we would be skyping.  Maybe we should just do a doodle poll to see when people are available?

[SpaceAnemone]

So to kick things off, LL, Calamitas and I could talk later on, if we can find a time that suits Calamitas and isn't too late for LL. Calamitas, how early could you manage?

For setting up a skype call with more people, here are a couple of questions that could help decide doodle poll options:
1) gkreig, what's the earliest (forum time) that might be suitable for you? (I think you're our westernmost point).
2) LL, what's the latest (forum time) that might be suitable for you? (I think you're our easternmost point).
3) What other constraints do people have? I think I'm not really free next week on Monday or Tuesday, and I'll be VLA Thursday-Sunday. Sorry for being difficult :-P

[Calamitas]

7pm UTC would be perfect for me :-)
If that's not possible, I should be able to get around a bit earlier.

Sadly though I won't be able to stream because I don't have a webcam (and phone sucks for this )

[SpaceAnemone]

7pm UTC would be perfect for me :-)
If that's not possible, I should be able to get around a bit earlier.

Sadly though I won't be able to stream because I don't have a webcam (and phone sucks for this )

Ah, I thought you said you wanted it to be later, not earlier :-P I think around 8pm is the earliest I can do: I don't usually manage to leave work till 7pm, and I'll still have to cycle home via the supermarket and then cook dinner for my household before I Skype!

[Calamitas]

7pm UTC would be perfect for me :-)
If that's not possible, I should be able to get around a bit earlier.

Sadly though I won't be able to stream because I don't have a webcam (and phone sucks for this )

Ah, I thought you said you wanted it to be later, not earlier :-P I think around 8pm is the earliest I can do: I don't usually manage to leave work till 7pm, and I'll still have to cycle home via the supermarket and then cook dinner for my household before I Skype!

Typo, wanted to type 9pm 

[LaLight]

9pm is okay to me

[LaLight]

I do think we will need Awaclus (?), Eevee (?), faust (!) and somebody else for that. Just three of us won't be completely informative I guess

[SpaceAnemone]

I do think we will need Awaclus (?), Eevee (?), faust (!) and somebody else for that. Just three of us won't be completely informative I guess

It's a start! We may as well map out between us what our expectations and budgets are, and also maybe shortlist some suggested times for the next call, for which we can put up a doodle poll and encourage wider participation... it should be easier if we give them a bit more notice!

Of course, it would be awesome to hear from more people if they're free! Now that you've put your skype username up here, presumably anyone who wants to can find you and join us, right?

[gkrieg13]

1) gkreig, what's the earliest (forum time) that might be suitable for you? (I think you're our westernmost point).

Well really it just depends on the day.  I can skype most days starting at 1 PM forum time, but I have class sometimes and just have to know in advance so I can be in a place at work that I won't bother others.

[LaLight]

I do think we will need Awaclus (?), Eevee (?), faust (!) and somebody else for that. Just three of us won't be completely informative I guess

It's a start! We may as well map out between us what our expectations and budgets are, and also maybe shortlist some suggested times for the next call, for which we can put up a doodle poll and encourage wider participation... it should be easier if we give them a bit more notice!

Of course, it would be awesome to hear from more people if they're free! Now that you've put your skype username up here, presumably anyone who wants to can find you and join us, right?

yeah, okay to everything you have said

[Joseph2302]

I'd be interested in skyping some point about it. 1-6 forum time on weekdays I can usually do.

Can't do tonight though

[SpaceAnemone]

How are people for times over this coming weekend? I've actually got very few free weekday evenings in the next week or two, which was why tonight seemed like a good suggestion :-P

[Calamitas]

Silver is going to take part today

Either way, I'm ready in 15 minutes or so.

[LaLight]

Silver is going to take part today

Either way, I'm ready in 15 minutes or so.

I am ready in 30. Add me by then I guess

[SpaceAnemone]

Silver is going to take part today

Either way, I'm ready in 15 minutes or so.

Yay!

I'll be on Skype in about 10 mins. LL and silver should both know my username.

[LaLight]

if anyone feels like you want to join, just add me in Skype

[Awaclus]

I do think we will need Awaclus (?), Eevee (?), faust (!) and somebody else for that. Just three of us won't be completely informative I guess

I don't think you will need Awaclus; I'm still very uncertain that I'm going to be there even if the timing is perfect for me, so I would feel super weird about contributing too much to any decisions at this point. I mean, I would super like to be in Germany around the end of July, but no matter how you look at it, it's not a very good idea from a financial perspective. I want to do it though. But it's not a very good idea. It's that kind of a thing.

[Calamitas]

Thanks guys, was great fun (and a bit of productive I guess )
We decided to skype again on Wednesday, just tick all the timeframes where you have time on Wednesday.

(I was volunteered to make that poll!)

http://doodle.com/poll/5i4yegz4et4mf6p4

[SpaceAnemone]

Minutes of the first Skype meeting, 9pm-11pm GMT, 17-03-24

Dates for the meet-up are fixed as 9th-13th August 2017.
Location is fixed as Berlin.

The seven people confirmed as interested in staying in Berlin are LL, Fargo (LL's girlfriend), gkrieg, kkrieg (gkreig's wife), Space, Calamitas and silver. We also think Joseph is highly likely to join. Also faust lives in berlin anyway, or will be able to stay with friends if he's stopped living there by then, so he'll join us without needing extra accommodation.

gkrieg&kkrieg would like the option of having their own room, and have a preference for central accommodation. The lowest cieling in terms of budget is 35 Euros per person per night, which is actually quite difficult even with air bnbs. We have the links I've posted already as a fall-back option, but we agreed that we all should keep looking. We also agreed that if necessary, a couple of us are able to pay a little more than the average to help subsidise the people who can't afford it otherwise, but that we'd prefer to keep this extra contribution below ~200 euros overall (split between several of us).

Faust suggested a group-house place just north-west of Berlin (http://www.kinderwald-berlin.de/cms/index.html) and has emailed them to ask questions, and will report back to the thread. This is definitely cheaper than the suggested AirBnB options, but probably fails on the private room criterion and realistically could be rather more than 30 minutes' travel away from central Berlin. (Can we also check whether this is within the free travel zone covered by the Berlin Welcome card, if some of us are going to use that for transport?)

Silver said he'd ask his dad about implications of booking on Calamitas's behalf, since he's a minor. I'm happy to make the booking, but I'd rather not find myself legally responsible for other people's conduct or anything :-P gkrieg also said that kkrieg has a good set of reviews on AirBnB, so she's another good contender for being the person to book for us, if I don't do it.

Most people seemed happy with the idea of splitting up during the day to do independent/small-group tourist sorts of things, then coming together in the evenings for a meal and games/other hanging out. Nobody actually objected to the idea of having shared veggie meals, and if we do that, I'm happy doing lots of the cooking, provided we've got a decent kitchen.

Our next chat will be on Wednesday night, and Calamitas was mandated to make us a doodle poll, which he's already posted. I hope I haven't forgotten to cover anything too critical here :-)

[SpaceAnemone]

I've just spent way too long looking at airbnbs and money options again!

£1130 is our practical upper bound for the total over 4 nights, assuming 8 of us. That's assuming £160 (approx $200) discretionary overpaying between people who can afford it, and then a fair-share of not more than €35 per person per night. Basically, it's going to be very difficult to meet this, plus the requirement for couples to have their own room, plus being in a reasonably central location. Also, I forgot to add to my summary before that I'd really prefer not have to share a bed with anyone!

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16154684?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 £830 with a central location. Weirdly no pictures of sleeping areas, or even a breakdown of how the sleeping is configured. Not sure I trust this one, but it is within budget :-P

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/15508236?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 £893, but has only one review, and it seems bad. Probably worth avoiding.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/846552?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 £1053. Looks pretty, but it's all double beds, which is a little problematic. Good location, slightly north of the city centre, but within easy reach.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16863581?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 £1104. Could accommodate up to 10, in case anyone else joins. Just about meets the bedroom requirement. Pretty central (slightly south-east).

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/13106021?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8&adults=8 £1105. Looks like a good space, but the location is a bit far to the south. The listing appears just to have double beds, but one of the rooms appears to have two singles according to the photos.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/17743160?check_in=2017-08-09&check_out=2017-08-13&guests=8 £1209, with all doubles again, but nice central location, and it looks really nice in the pictures -- plenty of space for games and mafia and things in the common areas. Exceeds our budget for 8 people, but could accommodate up to two more with no extra cost incurred.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/12875272?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 £1229, explicitly not including tax. Probably too expensive, but good location and also has single beds! Also, the building in photo 1 is the place I was trying to describe to faust that's near a really good vegan east Asian place :-) Aha, here's the restaurant, now I've been reminded of the location enough to find it again: http://www.soy-berlin.com/ -- I definitely want to visit it while I'm in town!

Must sleep now!!!

[kkrieg]

Hello all! Very excited to meet everyone.

[Calamitas]

Hello all! Very excited to meet everyone.

Hey kkrieg! :-D

[LaLight]

Hello all! Very excited to meet everyone.

Hey

[SpaceAnemone]

Hello all! Very excited to meet everyone.

Hey kkrieg! Great to see you in here :-)

[SpaceAnemone]

Thanks guys, was great fun (and a bit of productive I guess )
We decided to skype again on Wednesday, just tick all the timeframes where you have time on Wednesday.

(I was volunteered to make that poll!)

http://doodle.com/poll/5i4yegz4et4mf6p4

The current result seems to be that the 8-10pm UTC window (that's 4-6pm forum time) is winning, though LL hasn't weighed in yet, and he's the one most likely to have to cap it off at the later end.

[LaLight]

Thanks guys, was great fun (and a bit of productive I guess )
We decided to skype again on Wednesday, just tick all the timeframes where you have time on Wednesday.

(I was volunteered to make that poll!)

http://doodle.com/poll/5i4yegz4et4mf6p4

The current result seems to be that the 8-10pm UTC window (that's 4-6pm forum time) is winning, though LL hasn't weighed in yet, and he's the one most likely to have to cap it off at the later end.

I am okay with that time

[SpaceAnemone]

Hey Eevee, what's the likelihood of having you join us in Berlin?

Joseph, are you able to join the call on Wednesday? It's 9pm UK time. We've been counting you in for numbers so far, but pretty soon we'll need a firm commitment if we're actually considering making an accommodation booking this week.

Any other takers? :-)

[Eevee]

I can't/don't want to plan that far ahead, but I don't mind having to book my own accommodations last minute. Definitely a maybe!

[silverspawn]

silver said he'd ask his dad about implications of booking on Calamitas's behalf, since he's a minor. I'm happy to make the booking, but I'd rather not find myself legally responsible for other people's conduct or anything :-P

No legal responsibility unless explicitly taken (is what my father said).

[SpaceAnemone]

silver said he'd ask his dad about implications of booking on Calamitas's behalf, since he's a minor. I'm happy to make the booking, but I'd rather not find myself legally responsible for other people's conduct or anything :-P

No legal responsibility unless explicitly taken (is what my father said).

Great! That's the outcome we wanted :-) Thanks for checking!

[Joseph2302]

Hey Eevee, what's the likelihood of having you join us in Berlin?

Joseph, are you able to join the call on Wednesday? It's 9pm UK time. We've been counting you in for numbers so far, but pretty soon we'll need a firm commitment if we're actually considering making an accommodation booking this week.

Any other takers? :-)

9pm UK time is fine for me. I'm looking through the options Space provided on last page, they all seem fine to me

[SpaceAnemone]

Hey Eevee, what's the likelihood of having you join us in Berlin?

Joseph, are you able to join the call on Wednesday? It's 9pm UK time. We've been counting you in for numbers so far, but pretty soon we'll need a firm commitment if we're actually considering making an accommodation booking this week.

Any other takers? :-)

9pm UK time is fine for me. I plan to book some accommodation soon.
Has everyone else booked accommodation?

We're looking into booking shared accommodation in the form of an AirBnB, and quite a lot of the call may well end up being about accommodation.

The competing constraints are:
Under 35 euros per person per night.
Accommodation space to include a kitchen and common area for games.
Private double room for the married people.
I'd rather not be forced to share a bed with anyone.
We want a central enough location that it's easy be a tourist during the day and then come back to the shared space for dinner and games in the evening.

The cost factor probably doesn't allow us to be very central while still having private space, so I'm proposing that those of us with employment in financially stable countries might want to pay a little over the odds to help smooth out the cost. I think you fall into that category, though I have no idea of your financial situation...

[LaLight]

Me and Anna talked a little about the situation and just so it is written somewhere:

We are okay with the cost up to 30 euro per person, not more. Also, we are perfectly fine to live in some cheap hostel, spend time with you and go to sleep there if that's cheaper. So in that case we need to have a hostel somewhere near you guys (not more than 20 minutes on foot)

If that's not the case we are fine with sharing our room with anyone but obv. having our own bed.

[Joseph2302]

Hey Eevee, what's the likelihood of having you join us in Berlin?

Joseph, are you able to join the call on Wednesday? It's 9pm UK time. We've been counting you in for numbers so far, but pretty soon we'll need a firm commitment if we're actually considering making an accommodation booking this week.

Any other takers? :-)

9pm UK time is fine for me. I plan to book some accommodation soon.
Has everyone else booked accommodation?

We're looking into booking shared accommodation in the form of an AirBnB, and quite a lot of the call may well end up being about accommodation.

The competing constraints are:
Under 35 euros per person per night.
Accommodation space to include a kitchen and common area for games.
Private double room for the married people.
I'd rather not be forced to share a bed with anyone.
We want a central enough location that it's easy be a tourist during the day and then come back to the shared space for dinner and games in the evening.

The cost factor probably doesn't allow us to be very central while still having private space, so I'm proposing that those of us with employment in financially stable countries might want to pay a little over the odds to help smooth out the cost. I think you fall into that category, though I have no idea of your financial situation...

Yh I read your post on last page after posting.
All of these things seem sensible to me, and I do fall under the "those of us with employment in financially stable countries"- I'm fine to pay more.

[SpaceAnemone]

Me and Anna talked a little about the situation and just so it is written somewhere:

We are okay with the cost up to 30 euro per person, not more. Also, we are perfectly fine to live in some cheap hostel, spend time with you and go to sleep there if that's cheaper. So in that case we need to have a hostel somewhere near you guys (not more than 20 minutes on foot)

If that's not the case we are fine with sharing our room with anyone but obv. having our own bed.

Ah, this is really difficult constraint-balancing game :-P

Let's recognise that there's an implicit cost associated with finding somewhere big enough to host a meet-up where we eat and play mafia and other games together. If we stay in one big place, we're all sharing the cost, according to whatever payment breakdown we agree. If people start moving to sleep in budget places, they're implicitly leaving the "space" cost to those of us paying for an apartment, and we end up getting less common area to play with, probably for more money per person overall. I feel like it wouldn't be unreasonable for silver and Calamitas to prefer a hostel if you two make that move, too, and at that point, we'll have scuppered ourselves with regard to finding a decent social space for us all.

Remember that most airbnbs ban parties, so having 3-6 extra people over every evening might even break the terms. The alternative is to go out to cafes or pubs and socialise there, but that comes with the cost of buying enough food and drink not to get asked to leave.. at which point the 8 euro pppn mark-up on food and drink you might expect from dining out (e.g. paying 10 euros for a dinner we could have cooked for 2 euros) is probably more cost-effective in the accommodation pot :-P

Anyway, I have no problem spreading our meetup costs fairly, by which I mean people who can afford more paying more, but I'm much more comfortable doing that in an open way where we all stay together and some of us just pay more for the same space, because I think overall as a group, we'll gain more from economies of scale that way than if we just ignore the hidden aspects of the costs. I feel like I'm probably taking too many paragraphs to explain what seems like a simple point... there's probably some economicsy term for it!

I've been pretty focused on airbnbs so far, because I think of them as decent travel solutions that are cheaper than hotels. It may be that there are hostel-style places out there that might tick more boxes, though... Has anyone had a look through centralish hostels that offer cheap beds as well as private rooms, that have decent enough self-catering facilities and common areas that will accommodate mafia and board-gaming, and that we can bring a couple of outsiders into? (We've still got to bring faust and maybe Eevee into the equation, too...)

[SpaceAnemone]

Okay, so I've looked at hostels. These three are the best I could find that are central-ish, allow for people to pay less than €30 pppn (for a bed in a mixed dorm), have private two-person rooms, and also a kitchen. It's quite hard to gauge how much hanging-out space they may or may not have available for us to use in the evenings, but most of these are big places with tens of other guests wanting to make use of the same space. Maybe we should ask faust if he'd be willing to do a recon for us if anything seems suitable :-P

https://www.heartofgold-hostel.de/
Location looks good, the place seems interestingly-themed, and there's definitely self-catering available. Not sure about how much hanging-out space we'll be able to lay claim to.
Double room with shower @ EUR 77.90 for the room. (Looks like it might be two single beds).
Triple private room @ EUR 33.20 pppn
Mixed dorm beds @ EUR 18.90 - 26.90 pppn

https://www.meininger-hotels.com/
Hotel Berlin Central Station is central and has a guest kitchen.
Double room with shower @ 33.15 pppn
Private triple @ 27.37 pppn
Mixed dorm beds @ 21.08 pppn (no under-18s).

https://www.aletto.de/en/
2 private double/twin rooms (Americans + Calamitas + 1 other) @ EUR 44.89 pppn
4 beds in mixed dorms @ EUR 28.35 pppn (no under-18s).
Hostelworld.com lists this as having self-catering, but I don't see any mention on the EN part of the website, so we'd have to check. It's a big place in general, but all the public areas appear to be bars (beer or snacks and meals) rather than anything useful for self-catering, mafia and boardgames.

[faust]

Maybe we should ask faust if he'd be willing to do a recon for us if anything seems suitable :-P

Fear not, for I shall be your Scout!

[gkrieg13]

All 3 of the hostels, and this AirBnB look good to us!

[Joseph2302]

What are the dates for this? I'd like to book the time off work ASAP

[Calamitas]

What are the dates for this? I'd like to book the time off work ASAP

9th - 13th of August

[SpaceAnemone]

Hey everyone! I'm looking forward to skyping later :-)

The doodle poll implies that we should be able to expect Calamitas, faust, gkrieg, Joseph and me to be around. We're starting at 4pm forum time, which is 8pm UTC/9pm UK/10pm Germany/11pm Moscow. Presumably LL's also in? How about silver? Would it help for people with earlier sleeping times if some of us chatted from half and hour earlier or so?

If anyone can't make it, but wants in on the overall plan and trusts the rest of us to come to a good group consensus and then book on their behalf, please say so here or drop me a PM :-)

[LaLight]

Yeah, I am okay for 11pm, but not too long

[LaLight]

My grammar teacher would've killed me for the previous post

[faust]

I won't be able to make it; I am travelling back to Berlin overnight.

I have not heard back from the place I sent a booking request to.

[Joseph2302]

I'll be there- I just sent you my Skype username

[SpaceAnemone]

I have not heard back from the place I sent a booking request to.

Thanks for letting us know! What's your timeframe for checking out one or more of those hostels, if we decide that delegating you as our Scout is the plan? Is there anything in terms of location that you think makes one of them stick out as particularly good or bad?

[faust]

I have not heard back from the place I sent a booking request to.

Thanks for letting us know! What's your timeframe for checking out one or more of those hostels, if we decide that delegating you as our Scout is the plan? Is there anything in terms of location that you think makes one of them stick out as particularly good or bad?

Could probably do it on the weekend, depending on how many I should check.

The three hostels are all very central; which one one better really depends on what exactly you would like to do.

The AirBnBs in Köpenick are definitely the worst in terms of location.

In the Skype chat, there were some options discussed in Tempelhof-Schöneberg. This is a bit farther away from the center (not that much though), but it's a nice neighborhood where it should be easy to find a place for food & drinks, and it's cheaper than Mitte.

[SpaceAnemone]

The three hostels are all very central; which one one better really depends on what exactly you would like to do.

I'm particularly thinking terms of assessing the availability of shared social space that's private enough for us to cook, eat and play board games/mafia together without being too disturbed by other guests there (or us disturbing too many other people!) and without having to pay money (i.e. markup on food and drink) to sit in a bar/snack/cafe area.

[faust]

The three hostels are all very central; which one one better really depends on what exactly you would like to do.

I'm particularly thinking terms of assessing the availability of shared social space that's private enough for us to cook, eat and play board games/mafia together without being too disturbed by other guests there (or us disturbing too many other people!) and without having to pay money (i.e. markup on food and drink) to sit in a bar/snack/cafe area.

I hope my scouting will shed some light on that

M earlier remarks are just stuff I can say without actually looking at the place.

[gkrieg13]

Ok, this is what we talked about in our last meeting:

Location

We decided that we will stay in one of these 3 options.  We plan to vote on these options and then are trying to book one of them in the next week or so (at least that is what I remember, correct me if I'm wrong).

• https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16863581?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8 . This will be known as Deluxe from now on. Overall price: 1208 Euro (Don't want to figure out that symbol right now)
• http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/hauptapartments-sirdin.de.html . This will be known as Sirdin from now on. Overall price: 970 Euro.  This one has some inconsistencies in the pictures, and in the description and Calamitas is emailing them to figure out which is correct.
• https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/13106021?checkin=2017-08-09&checkout=2017-08-13&guests=8&adults=8 . This will be known as Gasometer from now on.  Overall price: 1210 Euro

There are plusses and minuses to each one.  Deluxe is much closer to center than the other two, which are about 25 minutes by train away.  We figured that can add up to a sizable amount of time, especially if you go out more than once a day.

Another note, is that even the most expensive option at 1210 Euros is 37.8 Euro pppn.

One other option if we get 2 more people would be: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/3521369?guests=8&adults=8&s=XtKzoHfX&check_in=2017-08-09&check_out=2017-08-13 .  This one isn't financially feasible until then, just one to keep on the radar.

Miscellaneous
We were looking at travel cards, and it looks like a 4 day travel card (although I was thinking more about this and we would probably need a 5 day travel card if I'm not mistaken) is around 40 Euros.  On this site: https://www.berlin-welcomecard.de/en/buy-tickets .  The strange thing about this, and something we wanted to ask faust, was why the price for the passes for +Museum Island were more expensive.  Does that mean that the other passes don't travel to places on Museum Island?  Or are the museum entrance fees included if you get that welcome card.  Also, how big is the zone "Museum Island".  I think that sums up all those questions.

I was thinking about this more, and I might as well just make a poll in this thread where we pick our top option, and go with the one with the most votes, unless anyone is opposed to that.  I'll give everyone a couple of days to voice an concerns with that plan and then create a poll.

We also didn't plan a next time to skype, because people had to go.  I think we have all of the main things planned that we need to plan this far in advance, so I'm not sure we need another skype call until closer to the actual meetup.

[Joseph2302]

According to the description, Gasometer only has 5 beds (3 Queen size and 2 sofa). We need 6 beds.

Also the Air bnb ones don't include the 5% city tax.

[faust]

The strange thing about this, and something we wanted to ask faust, was why the price for the passes for +Museum Island were more expensive.  Does that mean that the other passes don't travel to places on Museum Island?  Or are the museum entrance fees included if you get that welcome card.  Also, how big is the zone "Museum Island".  I think that sums up all those questions.

The museum island is a very small area in central Berlin, and included in tariff zone A. I strongly assume that "72 h Berlin + Museum Island" means free entrance to all the museums located there.

[faust]

The strange thing about this, and something we wanted to ask faust, was why the price for the passes for +Museum Island were more expensive.  Does that mean that the other passes don't travel to places on Museum Island?  Or are the museum entrance fees included if you get that welcome card.  Also, how big is the zone "Museum Island".  I think that sums up all those questions.

The museum island is a very small area in central Berlin, and included in tariff zone A. I strongly assume that "72 h Berlin + Museum Island" means free entrance to all the museums located there.

Double checked this on their website, and yes, my assumption was correct.

[SpaceAnemone]

According to the description, Gasometer only has 5 beds (3 Queen size and 2 sofa). We need 6 beds.

Also the Air bnb ones don't include the 5% city tax.

If you remember, this was talked about, and we agreed it's enough because there are sofa beds in addition to the actual beds, and one person on a double sofa bed should be okay.

[Calamitas]

Okay, so let's accumulate all the pros and cons we talked about.

Sirdin
 - Decent common space
 - Cheaper than the other options
 - Enough single beds
 - Farther from central than DeLuxe (~20min by train to Brandenburg Gate)
 - Beds quite close to each other 
 - Unsure whether it includes a private room for gkrieg and kkrieg, so still a maybe until I check


DeLuxe
 - Central location (1km to Alexanderplatz, 1.7km to Berliner Dom, 3.2km to Brandenburg Gate)
 - Not as much common space for boardgames and mafia
 - Two people would be required to sleep on sofa beds
 
Gasometer
 - By far the most common space for board games and mafia (two sofas + big table)
 - One person would need to sleep on a sofa bed
 - Farther from central than DeLuxe (similar to Sirdin)

If something is wrong or if I have forgotten something I will edit the list.

[Calamitas]

Also, a better link for the gasometer one is the following:
http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/huge-apartment-at-gasometer-17.en-gb.html

[Calamitas]

I think it is best if we have some discussion about the places and then a vote afterwards.

[gkrieg13]

The strange thing about this, and something we wanted to ask faust, was why the price for the passes for +Museum Island were more expensive.  Does that mean that the other passes don't travel to places on Museum Island?  Or are the museum entrance fees included if you get that welcome card.  Also, how big is the zone "Museum Island".  I think that sums up all those questions.

The museum island is a very small area in central Berlin, and included in tariff zone A. I strongly assume that "72 h Berlin + Museum Island" means free entrance to all the museums located there.

Double checked this on their website, and yes, my assumption was correct.

Thank you for doing that!  For some reason I couldn't figure it out.

[gkrieg13]

Well kkrieg and I want to advocate for the place in the central location. The common space definitely looks big enough for whatever we want to do, and being that central (really just one metro stop from the museums is a big deal to us. 25 minutes isn't too far away, but it is a lot further away from center if you leave the apartment 2 times in one day. Deluxe could potentially save 1hr 40min per day.

[Calamitas]

I just compared travel times for all the top sights of Berlin according to the website below for the DeLuxe appartment and the Gasometer one. If I haven't screwed up completely the results were totally different than the ones I expected.
http://www.visitberlin.de/en/article/berlins-top-10-attractions

According to Google maps, this spreadsheet shows the time needed to reach the different places via train usage from the given appartments. In case of Deluxe I have used Brückenstraße, Berlin as location because there is no exact address on airbnb. The used point is quite central within the circle shown at the airbnb site though.



Update: Serdin and the missing sights included
Update2: Averages included

[gkrieg13]

Wow.  Well I'm glad you did that.  That actually changes a lot of things.

[Calamitas]

With the new information I would say that Deluxe and Gasometer are quite close in terms of location while Serdin is a bit worse.

[gkrieg13]

With the new information I would say that Deluxe and Gasometer are quite close in terms of location while Serdin is a bit worse.

Could you do an average?

[Calamitas]

With the new information I would say that Deluxe and Gasometer are quite close in terms of location while Serdin is a bit worse.

Could you do an average?

Done

[gkrieg13]

Hmmmmm.  4 minutes is like nothing on average.  To me, this means that I don't really care location-wise which one we end up in. 

[Calamitas]

Hmmmmm.  4 minutes is like nothing on average.  To me, this means that I don't really care location-wise which one we end up in.

Yep, same goes for me.

[Joseph2302]

Interesting. I was supporting Deluxe as #1 as I thought it was the most "in town" place. But looks like location of all of them is pretty similar.

[gkrieg13]

Interesting. I was supporting Deluxe as #1 as I thought it was the most "in town" place. But looks like location of all of them is pretty similar.

Deluxe might still be closer to restaurants and stuff.  Faust might know better which one is best location-wise, but it seems that if you want to go to the top 10 tourist locations, it doesn't actually matter which one we pick.

[Calamitas]

I am currently leaning towards Gasometer as my number 1.

I just like the living room in there, the sofas and the table are really big and we would be able to host faust and eevee and other people in there without problems.
Location-wise, I don't think that there is a significant difference because our main activities will be touristy and the travel times don't vary much there.
Even if restaurants and stuff are closer to a certain accommodation it shouldn't matter too much because the potential time loss would be quite small (<20min assumably).

The problem with that place is that someone would be required to sleep on the sofa (I personally wouldn't like that) but it is probably still better than having the beds as close together as in Sirdin or having two people on sofas as in deluxe.

Edit: Spelling :-D

[faust]

someone would be required to sleep on the safe

That does sound uncomfortable 

[Calamitas]

someone would be required to sleep on the safe

That does sound uncomfortable 

[SpaceAnemone]

Hi from a trip to Wales that I'm on with five of my friends :-) My experience here is telling me that a very important item for our wishlist should be getting more than one or two keys to our chosen apartment. We have two between six here, and it's not really enough to let us all go off and be independent...

Also, thanks for the travel timings, Calamitas! I think the numbers are a bit skewed because most of the interesting central stuff is close to each other and doable in one trip (like the Bundestag dome, the Brandenburg gate, the holocaust memorial and potsdamer platz, or museums and the TV tower), or are short bus hops from each other, so it's over-counting the travel time. Also, did you check whether the non-central places you listed are within the zones of our suggested travel pass?

We may get a clearer idea by putting together a rough example itinerary and then looking at the commuting times for that. I didn't even visit the two non-central places on your list a year ago because there was so much other interesting stuff that traveling out that way didn't seem necessary. We did go to an Easter event in a castle place for an afternoon that was right on the edge of the travel pass coverage.. that was really fun, actually, but I really don't have enough signal to look on Google maps to see if I can find what it was called :-(

[Calamitas]

Also, thanks for the travel timings, Calamitas! I think the numbers are a bit skewed because most of the interesting central stuff is close to each other and doable in one trip (like the Bundestag dome, the Brandenburg gate, the holocaust memorial and potsdamer platz, or museums and the TV tower), or are short bus hops from each other, so it's over-counting the travel time.

That's definitely the case, the averages are not very meaningful therefore I think. But generally it has become clear that the differences between the appartments (at least Gasometer and DeLuxe) are not remotely as big as we thought. Some places (Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag...) are closer to Gasometer and some closer to DeLuxe (TV Tower, museums, wall memorial). So overall it cancels out pretty much I think.

Also, did you check whether the non-central places you listed are within the zones of our suggested travel pass?

Not yet, but I can do it today or tomorrow at latest.

Update: They are well within the zones AB, that area is huuuuge :-D (It's whole Berlin if I'm not mistaken)

Update2: I think that one might be the place you were visiting, Space
https://www.google.de/maps/place/Spandauer+Zitadelle/@52.5314601,13.2387894,14.17z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x47a84e373f035901:0x42120465b5e3b70!2sBerlin!3b1!8m2!3d52.5200066!4d13.404954!3m4!1s0x0:0xbb8af221531db80!8m2!3d52.5409975!4d13.2127655?hl=en

[Calamitas]

What are the others current preferences?

[gkrieg13]

We still have the preference of Deluxe->Gasometer.  Any word back from Sirdin? (possible I just haven't read the thread yet)

[Calamitas]

We still have the preference of Deluxe->Gasometer.  Any word back from Sirdin? (possible I just haven't read the thread yet)

I have only messaged them on friday (shame on me) but I didn't get a response yet. Admittedly, I think that I won't get any response though since there has been no email address or phone number provided but just a weird contact formular on their website (http://hauptapartments-sirdin.hotel-in-berlin.org).

[gkrieg13]

We still have the preference of Deluxe->Gasometer.  Any word back from Sirdin? (possible I just haven't read the thread yet)

I have only messaged them on friday (shame on me) but I didn't get a response yet. Admittedly, I think that I won't get any response though since there has been no email address or phone number provided but just a weird contact formular on their website (http://hauptapartments-sirdin.hotel-in-berlin.org).

I see.  Their booking on that site is as confusing as the one on booking.com is...

[Joseph2302]

Are we planning another meeting about this?
So we can make like a final decision on where to go for?

[LaLight]

We have spoken about this with Fargo, and our preferences is Sirdin -> Gasometer -> Deluxe.

[SpaceAnemone]

We have spoken about this with Fargo, and our preferences is Sirdin -> Gasometer -> Deluxe.

What's the reasoning?

I need to get some time to look at this... next significant free time is Wednesday evening, though :-P Has anyone put together a proposed itinerary for tourist stuff yet? I think it will help with estimates of how central everything actually feels.

Oh, and yeah, Spandauer Zitadelle is the place we went for the Easter fair thing last year :-) Not sure it would be nearly so exciting without the festivities, traditional craft stalls and other entertainment going on at the same time, though.

[Calamitas]

Your preference Space?

Edit: Never mind, that's why one should read the second sentence of a post before commenting on it :-D

[SpaceAnemone]

I just compared travel times for all the top sights of Berlin according to the website below for the DeLuxe appartment and the Gasometer one. If I haven't screwed up completely the results were totally different than the ones I expected.
http://www.visitberlin.de/en/article/berlins-top-10-attractions

According to Google maps, this spreadsheet shows the time needed to reach the different places via train usage from the given appartments. In case of Deluxe I have used Brückenstraße, Berlin as location because there is no exact address on airbnb. The used point is quite central within the circle shown at the airbnb site though.



Update: Serdin and the missing sights included
Update2: Averages included

Okay, so to re-estimate this:
1) Let's drop Kurfurstendamm -- I think it's basically a shopping district and a zoo, which I'm guessing most people aren't super interested in? Maybe just add the Kaiser Wilhelm church (at one end of this district) instead, because that was interesting to see, both historically and architecturally.
2) Group Potzdamer Platz, the Reichstag and the Brandenberg Gate into one trip -- they're all in easy walking distance from one another. That's possibly even a full day's itinerary if you include the spy museum at Potzdamer Platz (I thought it was really well done when I went last year), the wedge-shaped building with the nice look-out, and also the very moving holocaust memorial ("Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe") that's just south of the Brandenberg gate, which I don't think was even on your list.
3) The Berliner Dom (Cathedral) and museums are essentially next to each other, so they can be combined. The TV tower is only a 10-minute walk away, so that should probably also be combined into one trip!
4) The Gendarmenmarket is basically the central bit of interesting city, so we're going to want to walk around there, maybe combining with Checkpoint Charlie a little to the south of it? The latter place isn't on your list, but I think it's been mentioned before (at least between me and gkrieg?) when talking about places to visit.
5) I'd be interested seeing the numbers leaving off Charlottenberg palace, given that it's quite a long way from everything else, so could easily be left off the list.

I didn't go to that Berlin Wall Memorial last time (we'd already gone to a free open-air exhibition about the wall and its history somewhere near Checkpoint Charlie), so that's something I'm interested in this time round :-) Maybe faust can suggest what to combine that one with? -- it's farther to the north than I think I explored mostly.

Anyway, I was going to take your table and modify it, but it turns out it's an image, so I can't! :-P

[faust]

I didn't go to that Berlin Wall Memorial last time (we'd already gone to a free open-air exhibition about the wall and its history somewhere near Checkpoint Charlie), so that's something I'm interested in this time round :-) Maybe faust can suggest what to combine that one with? -- it's farther to the north than I think I explored mostly.

Sure!

The Mauerpark is nearby, where on Sundays the most popular flea market of Berlin takes place (but I guess you will be leaving on Sunday, so not sure if there's time for that). Other than that, there's the Berliner Unterwelten fairly close, which offers guided tours of WW2 bunkers. I took it once and found it interesting. You could take a trip to Prenzlauer Berg from there, the area which arguably offers the best vegan cafés/restaurants in Berlin. The Nature museum is close as well, though I've never been there and cannot say how interesting that would be.

If anyone else has some special interests and would like some advice on what to do, feel free to ask me

[Calamitas]

@Space: Have included the numbers you wanted :-D




So Gasometer and DeLuxe come off as equally good while Serdin is roughly 10 minutes behind both.

[SpaceAnemone]

Gasometer and DeLuxe come off as equally good while Serdin is roughly 10 minutes behind both.

Great! Has anyone checked recently that these places are actually still listed for our dates?

[Calamitas]

Gasometer and DeLuxe come off as equally good while Serdin is roughly 10 minutes behind both.

Great! Has anyone checked recently that these places are actually still listed for our dates?

Just did and damn.
Sirdin and Gasometer are still available for the same conditions while Deluxe is gone for the time between the 10th and the 12th

[gkrieg13]

So we should probably book gasometer. Seeing as Sirdin doesn't match the pictures across all the sites.

[Joseph2302]

So we should probably book gasometer. Seeing as Sirdin doesn't match the pictures across all the sites.

Agreed.
I'm not okay with booking Sirdin when their pictures don't match, and they haven't cleared up the issues for us.

[SpaceAnemone]

Huh.. I can't find Gasometer, but I can now see DeLuxe and it looks bookable!

Shall I try that?? Can I have yeses from people who'd have to chip in, please?

[Calamitas]

Huh.. I can't find Gasometer, but I can now see DeLuxe and it looks bookable!

Shall I try that?? Can I have yeses from people who'd have to chip in, please?

DeLuxe is bookable and Gasometer not for you?

That seems pretty weird.

I would wait with any booking a bit though, we need to have a yes from everyone beforehand (and potentially a vote if deluxe is actually bookable)

[Calamitas]

That's how things look for me. Gasometer is certainly bookable and deluxe seems to be not available in our time window.

[gkrieg13]

I see Deluxe as unavailable and gasometer as available through booking.

[SpaceAnemone]

I would wait with any booking a bit though, we need to have a yes from everyone beforehand (and potentially a vote if deluxe is actually bookable)

If they're all starting to book up, then waiting much longer will mean we end up with nowhere suitable at all.

I can do another call on Wednesday evening if we want to tidy up plans then? Otherwise, everyone who's coming needs to declare in-thread that they're willing to pay their agreed share, preferably before Wednesday, so I can try to make the booking that evening.

The DeLuxe place that's showing as bookable is "Brücken DeLuxe 3/4" (I just did a new search on airbnb), whereas the one you've posted a screenshot of is 1/4. The photos and floorplan are all exactly the same.

[gkrieg13]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16889386?checkin=09-08-2017&checkout=13-08-2017&guests=8&adults=8&s=5UvVHn_h

This is what SA is looking at I think.

[Calamitas]

Oh yeah, didn't know there where multiple ones.

I am totally fine with booking early, I should be able to transfer it up until tomorrow evening via transferwise.com.
So you should be able to receive it until Wednesday/Thursday.

We still have to decide though between DeLuxe and Gasometer.
I am still leaning towards Gasometer for the same reasons I named before (better living room, less people sleeping on sofas).

[SpaceAnemone]

I am still leaning towards Gasometer for the same reasons I named before (better living room, less people sleeping on sofas).

Can you repost a working Gasometer link for me? When I click on this Gasometer link (from gkrieg's summary post), it no longer takes me to the apartment, just to a brief note that says it's no longer available, before showing me a grid of alternatives.

[Calamitas]

I am still leaning towards Gasometer for the same reasons I named before (better living room, less people sleeping on sofas).

Can you repost a working Gasometer link for me? When I click on this Gasometer link (from gkrieg's summary post), it no longer takes me to the apartment, just to a brief note that says it's no longer available, before showing me a grid of alternatives.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/huge-apartment-at-gasometer-17.en-gb.html

[SpaceAnemone]

I am still leaning towards Gasometer for the same reasons I named before (better living room, less people sleeping on sofas).

Can you repost a working Gasometer link for me? When I click on this Gasometer link (from gkrieg's summary post), it no longer takes me to the apartment, just to a brief note that says it's no longer available, before showing me a grid of alternatives.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/huge-apartment-at-gasometer-17.en-gb.html

Hmm.. I wonder if there's a manual lag between the two sites, so that booking.com doesn't yet know that it's been booked up on airbnb! I guess we'll find out soon enough if we try to book.

I'm happy to have a go given enough yeses from people who're coming, but for right now I have to get to sleep!

[gkrieg13]

kkrieg and I prefer Deluxe over Gasometer and will pay for both of them.

[Joseph2302]

I would wait with any booking a bit though, we need to have a yes from everyone beforehand (and potentially a vote if deluxe is actually bookable)

If they're all starting to book up, then waiting much longer will mean we end up with nowhere suitable at all.

I can do another call on Wednesday evening if we want to tidy up plans then? Otherwise, everyone who's coming needs to declare in-thread that they're willing to pay their agreed share, preferably before Wednesday, so I can try to make the booking that evening.

The DeLuxe place that's showing as bookable is "Brücken DeLuxe 3/4" (I just did a new search on airbnb), whereas the one you've posted a screenshot of is 1/4. The photos and floorplan are all exactly the same.

I think a Skype call would be a good idea, so we can agree and finalise. I can do Wednesday or Thursday night.

My preferences are Deluxe > Gasometer > Sirdin

And I'm fine with the additional costs

[Calamitas]

I am still leaning towards Gasometer for the same reasons I named before (better living room, less people sleeping on sofas).

Can you repost a working Gasometer link for me? When I click on this Gasometer link (from gkrieg's summary post), it no longer takes me to the apartment, just to a brief note that says it's no longer available, before showing me a grid of alternatives.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/huge-apartment-at-gasometer-17.en-gb.html

Hmm.. I wonder if there's a manual lag between the two sites, so that booking.com doesn't yet know that it's been booked up on airbnb! I guess we'll find out soon enough if we try to book.

I'm happy to have a go given enough yeses from people who're coming, but for right now I have to get to sleep!

It's not booked up on airbnb, the link has just changed.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17951417 (if we go for it we should book via booking.com though because it is a bit cheaper there)

There it is available for our timeframe.

[gkrieg13]

I could skype on Wednesday at the time we did before.

[Calamitas]

I could skype on Wednesday at the time we did before.

Same goes for me but I think we should be able to cope without.

[Joseph2302]

I could skype on Wednesday at the time we did before.

Same goes for me but I think we should be able to cope without.

Same. I personally think Skype call is only way we can get a definite decision. There's at least 2 or 3 different preference orders.

[Calamitas]

Still no answer from Sirdin :-(

[Joseph2302]

For those not watching the Skype thread, 4pm forum time today we're planning a Skype call. Me, Space, gkrieg, ss & Calamitas are attending I believe. LaLight, are you free then?

[gkrieg13]

All native English speakers have flights getting in to Berlin at 15:50 on the 9th of August.  The Brits have a flight leaving Berlin in the evening (I don't remember what time honestly) and the Americans are leaving early early in the morning on the 13th.

[SpaceAnemone]

All native English speakers have flights getting in to Berlin at 15:50 on the 9th of August.  The Brits have a flight leaving Berlin in the evening (I don't remember what time honestly) and the Americans are leaving early early in the morning on the 13th.

We're leaving at 16.45 on the 13th. Early mornings are not my thing :-P

[LaLight]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

[SpaceAnemone]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

Yaaaaay :-)

Which airport do you fly into? If it's the same one as those of us flying in from the UK, do you want to meet up there and then travel to the airbnb as a group?

[LaLight]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

Yaaaaay :-)

Which airport do you fly into? If it's the same one as those of us flying in from the UK, do you want to meet up there and then travel to the airbnb as a group?

We're going there from Hamburg by bus

[gkrieg13]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

Yaaaaay :-)

Which airport do you fly into? If it's the same one as those of us flying in from the UK, do you want to meet up there and then travel to the airbnb as a group?

We're going there from Hamburg by bus

Clearly you are mafia if you are bussing before you even meet us!

[faust]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

Yaaaaay :-)

Which airport do you fly into? If it's the same one as those of us flying in from the UK, do you want to meet up there and then travel to the airbnb as a group?

gkrieg is almost certainly coming in at Tegel.

I can come there too to meet up with some of you right away.

[Joseph2302]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

Yaaaaay :-)

Which airport do you fly into? If it's the same one as those of us flying in from the UK, do you want to meet up there and then travel to the airbnb as a group?

gkrieg is almost certainly coming in at Tegel.

I can come there too to meet up with some of you right away.

Me, Space, gkrieg and kkrieg are going to Tegel on same plane from UK

[faust]

We got our yearly visas and we have tickets, so meeting us is inevitable now


Fur to our plans we will be in Berlin on 9th at 3pmish

Yaaaaay :-)

Which airport do you fly into? If it's the same one as those of us flying in from the UK, do you want to meet up there and then travel to the airbnb as a group?

gkrieg is almost certainly coming in at Tegel.

I can come there too to meet up with some of you right away.

Me, Space, gkrieg and kkrieg are going to Tegel on same plane from UK

Ah right. What time will that be?

[SpaceAnemone]

Ah right. What time will that be?

All native English speakers have flights getting in to Berlin at 15:50 on the 9th of August.  The Brits have a flight leaving Berlin in the evening (I don't remember what time honestly) and the Americans are leaving early early in the morning on the 13th.

:-)

[Calamitas]

Silver and I will arrive at Berlin main station at 3pm

[LaLight]

Silver and I will arrive at Berlin main station at 3pm

Oh! So we can meet right there!

[Calamitas]

Silver and I will arrive at Berlin main station at 3pm

Oh! So we can meet right there!

Yep :-)

[faust]

Silver and I will arrive at Berlin main station at 3pm

Oh! So we can meet right there!

If you're going by bus, you won't arrive at the main station.

[LaLight]

Silver and I will arrive at Berlin main station at 3pm

Oh! So we can meet right there!

If you're going by bus, you won't arrive at the main station.

ah, it's a train station. well, okay. The map shows me 18 minutes by public transport from one to another. Anyway, I think we'll see there

[schadd]

how did this go?

[gkrieg13]

how did this go?

Ask in about a month!

[faust]

Is Teproc aware of this? He returned after we talked about this, and he's French, so maybe he has nothing better to do

[Teproc]

Is Teproc aware of this? He returned after we talked about this, and he's French, so maybe he has nothing better to do

I am, but it falls right at the time of our big summer family reunion, so I am in fact not free.

I hope it goes well and there's another one at some point in the future, could be fun.

[SpaceAnemone]

how did this go?

Ask in about a month!

Better yet, smuggle yourself to Europe in gkrieg's luggage and find out for yourself! :-)

[schadd]

how did this go?

Ask in about a month!

oic

[Calamitas]

Guys, I reserved Saturday 3pm for the Bundestag visit for us nine.
I could only choose a German guide with a historic focus.
Please pm/skype me your full name and your date of birth asap

[Joseph2302]

In case you haven't seen, we're trying to organise a Skype group call for next week. Please respond on Skype.

[gkrieg13]

For those who are interested and weren't able to make it, the meetup was tons of fun!  We all went and split up into groups to sightsee during the day, then met up together to eat dinner and play games in the evening!

I already want to do another one! 

I'm sure a picture will be posted once we all get back to our respective homes.

[SpaceAnemone]

For those who are interested and weren't able to make it, the meetup was tons of fun!  We all went and split up into groups to sightsee during the day, then met up together to eat dinner and play games in the evening!

I already want to do another one! 

Yes, the format worked really well, and having 8-10 people was small enough to be manageable and big enough that we could spend time with different people on different days. And I'm left still feeling like I didn't get the chance to spend nearly enough time with some of you!

I'm sure a picture will be posted once we all get back to our respective homes.

I've just posted one of the pics kkrieg took of the Bundestag Tour :-)