As many of you already know, registration for DrupalCon San Francisco opened up on Tuesday! It will take place April 19-21, 2010, with the Codesprint/Docsprint and BOFs, and additional training courses all day Apr. 18, and a Core Developer Summit all day Apr. 17th (more info here).
DrupalCons are a huge learning experience, a lot of fun, and a great way to network with other community members from around the world. If you can spare a few days and make it, I highly suggest taking the plunge and registering!
People are already starting to hatch plans for group travel down the coast, feel free to post here with ideas, and also check in with our friends in the Seattle group to see what they're up to http://groups.drupal.org/node/36938.
When we start getting closer to the date, we can post up a planning wiki where everyone can post up their accommodation and travel plans. And remember there's always the #drupal-vancouver IRC channel if you want to get in touch and chat with other local Drupallers.
See you there!
Comments
Train Trip
I heard some discussions about the possibility of going by train... 27-ish hr of non-stop action for ~$100.00 (http://www.cwrr.com/Amtrak/w_costar.html / http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak)
Train!
That is awesome. We should pick up people in Seattle, Portland, and all stops in between!
Train schedules
Unfortunately the train involves either a 5:30am bus ride from Vancouver to Seattle or an overnight in Seattle or Portland. The way the Amtrak connections work you can't do same-day train from Vancouver any further south than Eugene Oregon :-(. That said, it does sound like fun.
Apparently they are testing WiFi on the Cascades Line
Trains now leave from Vancouver direct
I took the train the other day to Seattle -- not sure which days. My Amtrak search says Vancouver to San Fran is possible, and it takes about 26 hours.
And yeah, $200 return is not that much cheaper than a flight, since it takes more than a day to get there!
You can do the train from
You can do the train from Vancouver to Seattle (and as far south as Eugene), but it arrives too late to get the train to San Francisco because it leaves earlier in the day and only runs once a day. The Amtrak search includes a bus for the Vancouver to Seattle leg and again from the Oakland side of the bay to San Francisco. Unfortunate, because I like traveling by train.
That was what Amye from
That was what Amye from Portland's grand scheme was...
As much fun as the train sounds like, there's a good chance I'll be flying down just to mitigate DrupalCon exhaustion. ;-) But we'll see!
drupal on rails? I'm all for
drupal on rails? I'm all for traveling by train!
I work at The Jibe Multimedia, Inc.
Train sounds like fun but you can fly cheaper
If you have the time the train could be fun. But you can fly cheaper with Allegiant Air out of Bellingham. Their normal price for San Fran is $58.88 each way. But if you watch the specials it can be amazingly cheap. I noticed one flight on Dec 14th for $18.88 one way. The prices change and you need to watch the site. But book at the right time and be flexible on the days and you can go for next to nothing. www.allegiantair.com Watch the additional fees for booking a seat, or checking a bag.
yah I'm not a big fan of rail
yah I'm not a big fan of rail -- the few times I've been on Amtrak, its been a LONG trip, and usually delayed by hours. And it looks like it'll be costing the same amount to go by rail as it is to fly.
Allegiant ain't too bad, but the 58.88 is pretty much a gimmic. There is a $8-11 surcharge PER WAY to select a seat. Then there is pre-boarding, which is another $5 each way if you want it. Not sure about bags, but I bet that too is surcharged. $176.72 after all the fees, both ways. The biggest issue with Allegant is that you'd have to fly out on Friday and get back on friday. So you'd have to be ready to spend an extra night or two in SF, which will drives costs up more. (150 more per night usually, unless you have some friends to stay with)
I'm also looking at Southwest... it leaves out of Sea-tac, which is further (another $40-50 in driving costs perhaps) but also can fly any day you wish. $211.20 both ways is also the price of the fare.. no extra for drinks, bags, seats, etc.
But the best so far is Virgin America. They also offer free wifi, and fly straight from Seattle to SFO, instead of Oakland. This cost both ways is around 119.20!!
No matter what though, flying is a much better deal than the train. Some are talking about a big rideshare down in 2 or 3 cars, which could be fun but would not be cheaper.
I take Allegiant down to Vegas a couple of times each year.
It's easy. The extra fees are optional. You're crazy if you pay the $5.00 to preboard. I usually pay the extra to book an exit row seat. (Now $15.00 each way) But for me the extra room is worth it. The checked luggage is where they get you. If you can live out of a carry on for a few days you can save $40.00 each way for the first checked bag. You also get in and out of the airport quicker. For April they have flights Monday and Friday. Today they are US$78.00 each way. Just another option. The flight Monday Apr 19th would put you in San Francisco at 10:30am. Otherwise, yes you would need to go down Friday. I thought they had flights Wednesday as well, but those seem to only be in December.
I'd like to add this event to my GDO group(s)
I'd like to add this event to the following GDO groups:
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
hey chris - this was just a
hey chris - this was just a heads up post to the local vancouver user group in case people wanted to start organizing travel stuff... even as a group admin, i can't cross post to groups i'm not in... so i'd suggest just posting the event to those groups yourself, and if there is info in this thread that you think is useful to them, just link to it from there. :-)