OK! I finally put in for my vacation. If I get it, I'll be upstate from Aug14-17or18, I will then be free until Sept 1st, if anyone will still be hanging around after the weekend. Drop me a line and we'll see if we can organize an extended mini-get-together. Also, I definitely plan to drive up, so I'll be free to transport people to and from airports, within reason and if I have enough advanced notice.
Okay, so just to clarify! We're planning on staying from August 21-24 or so, and we should fly into/out of Grand Rapids? Since we're driving out on the 21st to Chicago, should I fly in the day before and have someone pick me up?
My fly-in day will probably be somewhat flexible. Should we try to coordinate arrival times (if anyone else is also flying in)? Might save whoever drives us in a little gas money and time.
That depends, really. If you actually go to Galapagos then you can't even touch them they're crazy with their whole "let's maintain the ecosystem as pure as possible" stuff. However some little tiny zoos and hostels around the mainland have Galapagos of their own dating back to way before anyone cared about the environment in order to attract tourists, and they're not too concerned on you touching them or riding them... I don't think it would be very nice for the tortoise, though.
Zoos in China are like that too. Here in Hangzhou's little zoo I got picked up by an elephant, and I got a photo of it for a couple bucks.
And, in central China you can pay some cash to hug a panda. I'm definitely doing that during my time here.
Also, I once saw a picture of an older Asian lady sitting on the back of a tiger and posing for a picture, so I'm under the impression that may be possible here too, but I'm less enthusiastic about it.
Okay, so just to clarify! We're planning on staying from August 21-24 or so, and we should fly into/out of Grand Rapids? Since we're driving out on the 21st to Chicago, should I fly in the day before and have someone pick me up?
My fly-in day will probably be somewhat flexible. Should we try to coordinate arrival times (if anyone else is also flying in)? Might save whoever drives us in a little gas money and time.
There are a few options as far as travel.
If you want to meet us in Chicago, fly in to O'Hare on the 21st. If you want to meet us in Michigan, either before or after Chicago, fly in to Grand Rapids.
So, I am going to be looking into buying my plane ticket ASAP.
I will most likely be flying into Grand Rapids. Direct flights to Chicago are about $500 bucks more expensive than flights with 1 stop layovers, and if I'm going to have a layover I might as well fly to Grand Rapids.
Also, if I have a layover I would completely miss out on any Chicago festivities anyway. I mean, I love you guys and all, but $500 bucks is $500 bucks. That buys me approximately 3,644,000 minutes (about 6.9 years) of playtime in Chinese World of Warcraft.
I intend to be in Michigan on Friday or Saturday night (21/22). It depends on which flight I take. I still need to book it, been a little busy this week.
Understandable. There's still quite a bit of time, just didn't know if there was an update
Is everyone else up for spending Friday afternoon/evening the 21st in Chicago and then drive on up to Andrew's place after that? If Ryan is the only change in from Friday to Saturday, I might just suggest to Eric that start on our way back to Dallas that Friday night, and try to make it down to Carbondale (south Illinois) to spend the night with a family friend. We'd probably leave earlier on Saturday morning and it would cut down on the trip back. We'll see though. Who knows, maybe we (I) won't decide until the night of
OK! Change of plans for me. I'm gonna see if I can change my vacation and be back at work for the 26th&27th. This really won't affect anyone I think. But I wasn't sure who was gonna be around and when. So I plan to drive out on the 20th (unless someone will be out that day) and will arrive in the evening. I'll leave for NY in the afternoon of the 24th.
Because everyone is a fucking idiot and terrified of the nonissue of swine flu, airline tickets have dropped enough in price for me to buy them! I was starting to get worried and thinking I wouldn't be able to make it, but I found a ticket set that will let me go to the OB gathering and Tanya's wedding in the price range I wanted!
I will try to buy it tonight after I get off work. I would do it here at the office, except I think my work computer is being used as a bot for sending out massive spam letters. So, I'd rather not enter credit card info on it.
Tentatively, it looks like I will fly into Grand Rapids on Friday evening, Aug. 21. I transfer flights in Chicago, but oddly enough it costs MORE money to fly directly to Chicago as a final destination. Airlines are inefficient.
They calculate costs quite well. You just don't give as much value to your inconvenience as they do. ANYWAY! I was wrong. I had even more vacation I could use so I'm still taking off of work from Aug 13th-Sept 1st. Then I'm taking a couple more days that Friday and Saturday. But those don't concern most of you.SO I'll be driving out to Michigan or Chicago or wherever on Aug 20 or 21st, driving back home whenever.
I was buying my ticket on expedia, when I realized I didn't like my return itinerary; it had me getting into Shanghai at like 10:30 in the evening, meaning I'd have to wait until morning to get back to Hangzhou.
So I tried going back to the search results page to try to find a better itinerary, and the prices just jumped $200 bucks.
Sonbitch. So I'm going to wait until weekend before accessing the itinerary again, see if price drops.
Edit: Jumped another $300 bucks on the way to work, grand total of $500 dollar jump over the course of the week. It's over my threshold, so my presence is still tentative until I find a reasonable ticket price. I still have 3 months though, so no need to worry yet.
Double post of concern: How many people have bought a ticket or confirmed that they are in fact going to be at this meet? Like, for sure going and would be pissed if nobody ended up showing up?
I know a lot of people are waiting around for ticket prices, I just would like to have a better idea of who is FOR SURE going at this point.
Comments
My fly-in day will probably be somewhat flexible. Should we try to coordinate arrival times (if anyone else is also flying in)? Might save whoever drives us in a little gas money and time.
Can... can I ride the turtles?
Also, Lonesome (and possibly gay) George.
And, in central China you can pay some cash to hug a panda. I'm definitely doing that during my time here.
Also, I once saw a picture of an older Asian lady sitting on the back of a tiger and posing for a picture, so I'm under the impression that may be possible here too, but I'm less enthusiastic about it.
There are a few options as far as travel.
If you want to meet us in Chicago, fly in to O'Hare on the 21st. If you want to meet us in Michigan, either before or after Chicago, fly in to Grand Rapids.
So, I am going to be looking into buying my plane ticket ASAP.
I will most likely be flying into Grand Rapids. Direct flights to Chicago are about $500 bucks more expensive than flights with 1 stop layovers, and if I'm going to have a layover I might as well fly to Grand Rapids.
Also, if I have a layover I would completely miss out on any Chicago festivities anyway. I mean, I love you guys and all, but $500 bucks is $500 bucks. That buys me approximately 3,644,000 minutes (about 6.9 years) of playtime in Chinese World of Warcraft.
Is everyone else up for spending Friday afternoon/evening the 21st in Chicago and then drive on up to Andrew's place after that? If Ryan is the only change in from Friday to Saturday, I might just suggest to Eric that start on our way back to Dallas that Friday night, and try to make it down to Carbondale (south Illinois) to spend the night with a family friend. We'd probably leave earlier on Saturday morning and it would cut down on the trip back. We'll see though. Who knows, maybe we (I) won't decide until the night of
Because everyone is a fucking idiot and terrified of the nonissue of swine flu, airline tickets have dropped enough in price for me to buy them! I was starting to get worried and thinking I wouldn't be able to make it, but I found a ticket set that will let me go to the OB gathering and Tanya's wedding in the price range I wanted!
I will try to buy it tonight after I get off work. I would do it here at the office, except I think my work computer is being used as a bot for sending out massive spam letters. So, I'd rather not enter credit card info on it.
Tentatively, it looks like I will fly into Grand Rapids on Friday evening, Aug. 21. I transfer flights in Chicago, but oddly enough it costs MORE money to fly directly to Chicago as a final destination. Airlines are inefficient.
Orange Belt '09
Brought to you by Swine Flu
You've got to earn that monocle!
This will take me a few extra days to get around. In the meantime, my ticket itinerary has gone up $2 dollars on expedia. Bastards.
I was buying my ticket on expedia, when I realized I didn't like my return itinerary; it had me getting into Shanghai at like 10:30 in the evening, meaning I'd have to wait until morning to get back to Hangzhou.
So I tried going back to the search results page to try to find a better itinerary, and the prices just jumped $200 bucks.
Sonbitch. So I'm going to wait until weekend before accessing the itinerary again, see if price drops.
Edit: Jumped another $300 bucks on the way to work, grand total of $500 dollar jump over the course of the week. It's over my threshold, so my presence is still tentative until I find a reasonable ticket price. I still have 3 months though, so no need to worry yet.
Double post of concern: How many people have bought a ticket or confirmed that they are in fact going to be at this meet? Like, for sure going and would be pissed if nobody ended up showing up?
I know a lot of people are waiting around for ticket prices, I just would like to have a better idea of who is FOR SURE going at this point.