UK Meet 2011

[Menorain]

A big van XD I reckon it'd be a tad stressful driving around London. And there's bound to be some hostels in central London, or at least close enough to the tube...

[Bleu]

Nawwww, driving in London is fun

 

As for hostels, I thought that you had to be under 26 to be accepted but apparently I was wrong. The famous Generator in central London (and walking distance from Soho) caters for groups. You can choose to be in a dorm or to get a private room, so maybe that would be fine with everyone. I stayed there in 1996 and 1997 if I remember correctly. At the time the decor was pretty outrageous, dark walls with purple bolts and nuts to discriminate between male and female quarters (bolts for women and nuts for men, obviously).

 

They have a gay pride section in their gallery, so they seem quite friendly

 

Just my tuppence

Edited July 15, 2010 by Bleu

[Westie]

Im not exactly convinced about hostels.... im a little too old.... I like the creature comforts of a well appointed hotel....

[Menorain]

Hmmm I didn't know there were age restrictions on hostels. It's just that they're mega cheap in comparison to hotels and they're usually in pretty decent shape. But like, it depends on what people are up for. It's not as if we're gonna be spending a lot of time at our accommodation. Well, I'm guessing that.

[Daisy]

Im not exactly convinced about hostels.... im a little too old.... I like the creature comforts of a well appointed hotel....

 

some hostels can be Very nice. more like boutique hotels

but I can see what you mean.

[meowsan]

hostels might make an age exception if they were informed that we'll be planning a gathering for some function amongst friends. large groups of pple. usually hostel goes with 16 to 45 anyone under need parental or guardian to stay.

anyways no harm asking there're a few very nice hostels in london. i'm trying out the palmers lodge. http://www.palmerslodge.co.uk/

i'll be staying there for about 3 nights so i'll know if it's good. more after september stay

anyways i suggest we have a theme for the gathering. and we can do activities around that theme.

I suggest Horror -undead or mysteries - who dun it.

we could spend a few hours in the London bridge tomb experience to get inspired for perhaps a fun group write up for horror.

or jack the ripper tour for mysteries.

fantasy - faeries can be nice too.. but if lodging is outskirt of town it's be nicer for fae theme.

anyhow someone need to come up with a list of things to do. since everyone is from all over, everyone might needs a place to stay. set up a small organizing committee. that way we'll know who to look for for confirming the meet n etc.

we need to list down

who is in charge. preferably 2 to 3 pple and at least 1 local.

1) how many pple coming.

2) place to stay - usually big group = cheaper prices.

3) food arrangements - again big groups = cheaper at restaurants if booked early.

4) how many nights stay? a weekend meet or weekday meet? saturday - sunday? (1 night stay) friday - sunday? (2 nights stay) ?

5) activities and theme. like planning a story to write we should have a theme. apart from individual time for self venture into london, the gather is for pple to meet and to have fun, so we should all do fun stuff together.

6) take group photos!

7) setup some simple rules.. i take it we're all mature enough to act accordingly but it's optional. just incase someone decided to be Mr. I'm so fancy I might just wear a thong and parades around... unless he is all good looking n have a great body i doubt we all might wanna see that and near him when the police shows up.

8) inform everyone overall price with breakdown of the pricelist. so everyone would understand why it cost the amount it is.

9) organise transports. be it bicycles to rental van to public transport. we should know wot to expect. I also noticed something called the London pass with travel. London pass enables u to visit 55 tourist sports for free since u already paid tot he card but the fun thing is the pass comes with unlimited public transport travel from 9.30am till 4 am. but it is abit pricy for 1 day pass.. freaking

[Westie]

I think we need to remember that we are a diverse group of people - many of whom have very strong personalities. At the same time, while we are all friends online, some of us have redically differing viewpoints and opinions to go along with those personalities. My point is that for a FIRST meet - it might be slightly ambitious for us to suggest we all stay in one place. While some of you may feel very comfortable setting up a lions den, I am more attuned to the idea that we plan our own accomodation, and an initial lunch together on day 1 - with an additional programme of events that should be considered optional.

 

Personally, I would prefer to arrange my hotel separately (as Toby Ziegler said, I like a good concierge...) and attend whatever programme as takes my fancy. At the same time, I have a number of commitments that I always undertake when in London, so having more flexibility would be good

[meowsan]

sure.. anyone can plan their own is they wouldn't wanna do group lodging.. just thought it might save up some

 

lions den hehehe *imagines westie as a lamb*

 

 

so i guess 2 types of lodging group lodging and self bookings, but attendance still need to be confirmed for food still. if it;s more than 10 pple.

[Daisy]

 

9) organise transports. be it bicycles to rental van to public transport. we should know wot to expect. I also noticed something called the London pass with travel. London pass enables u to visit 55 tourist sports for free since u already paid tot he card but the fun thing is the pass comes with unlimited public transport travel from 9.30am till 4 am. but it is abit pricy for 1 day pass.. freaking

[meowsan]

The Oyster card is quite simple. You buy it for

[Aeroplane]

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Oyster had a daily fare cap. I thought the cap was

[Red_A]

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Oyster had a daily fare cap. I thought the cap was

[meowsan]

now i get it thanks guys! it helps alot! now we just need to wait for the change.

 

i think the travel card will be nice if to visit for a week. any suggestion on good old merry pub food that's not within direct central london(i always get the impressive places usually out of the way a little tends to have better food and lower in price lol)

[Daisy]

Ostercard is an electronic way of paying for travel on Bus, tube and a variety of other forms of transport. As far as prices are concern, it is too early to go into details because these WILL change in 2011.

 

At the moment if you only go around central london Zone 1

one single tube journey

cash 4pounds

oyster card 1.80pounds

day capped limit 7.20pounds

day travel card(paper) 7.20pounds

 

The details are fare details and the maps are here All these details are automatically calculated to charge your card the minimum.

Do not forget the intial 3pound charge and any money left on card has to be reclaimed, to make use economic.

 

What you should do is dependant on what you want to do. For example off peak saturday central london[zone 1&2] 5.60pounds day cap will do most of tourist London, where as a peak Wednesday day cap for all of the tube[zone 1-9] is 16.20pounds.

 

When visiting london for the weekend, I would use a osytercard.

If going for a week I would use a weekly travel card(*paper ticket) or add the travelcard to the oystercard, as weekly travel cards are cheaper.

 

good summary .

 

Don't forget that buses are cheaper as well. I think it's something like

[Kia Zi Shiru]

OMG I so wanna join in ^^

[paya]

anyways i suggest we have a theme for the gathering. and we can do activities around that theme.I suggest

[MikeL]

I doubt I'll be there, but I have to say the Jack the Ripper tour is great!

[Menorain]

ehm, I thought GA gatherings are just people gathered at one place, usually talking, getting to know each other, matching avatars and names to faces... I got scared a bit by this whole theme thing... 1) I'm not native English, therefore 2) I'm not a writer (I don't feel my English is good enough to write) and 3) I'm not sure I'd take part in creative writing workshops... It will have been 13 years since I visited London last time by that time so if I don't get to London earlier, I plan to do some basic sightseeing (well, TBH I plan to do A LOT OF sightseeing ) and getting to know the city, its atmosphere and watch people... GA gathering would be just a VERY GOOD incentive for me to go there, but not the only reason I'll be in London... Moreover, many of us are party animals and I plan to visit SoHo as well! So, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or spoil your mood... but I'd like to warn you that people might not be very ecstatic about your plans...

 

Yeah, I agree with Paya. I come to the forum to write and read, I'm not sure I'd want to travel all the way to London to do that XD The main reason I'd wanna go would be to get to know the people I've become friends with on the forum. Also, I'm not a fan of sight seeing. I really couldn't care less about history XD Call me ignorant and obnoxious, I probably am, but museums really bore me to tears. At the same time, it depends on how long the meet is going to last. If it's two or three days, then I don't mind visiting a museum or a gallery. However, I'd be more interested in seeing a show or something.

 

If it was just me and my clones going, then I'd wanna spend the days hanging out in bars and restaurants. Possibly going to a gallery or a park or something? ALSO, I'm a night life kind of person. Not the annoying type (I hope). So I'd wanna be going out every night in Soho or wherever, get completely legless and enjoy the company. Then do it all over again the next day XD Though that's probably not very appealing to those who are more reserved. Sooooo let's try to find a common ground, eh?

Edited July 22, 2010 by Menorain

[Nephylim]

Yeah, I agree with Paya. I come to the forum to write and read, I'm not sure I'd want to travel all the way to London to do that XD The main reason I'd wanna go would be to get to know the people I've become friends with on the forum. Also, I'm not a fan of sight seeing. I really couldn't care less about history XD Call me ignorant and obnoxious, I probably am, but museums really bore me to tears. At the same time, it depends on how long the meet is going to last. If it's two or three days, then I don't mind visiting a museum or a gallery. However, I'd be more interested in seeing a show or something.

 

If it was just me and my clones going, then I'd wanna spend the days hanging out in bars and restaurants. Possibly going to a gallery or a park or something? ALSO, I'm a night life kind of person. Not the annoying type (I hope). So I'd wanna be going out every night in Soho or wherever, get completely legless and enjoy the company. Then do it all over again the next day XD Though that's probably not very appealing to those who are more reserved. Sooooo let's try to find a common ground, eh?

 

 

YAY How about partying IN the museum or gallery AND in the hotel AND in the park AND... HEHE

[Menorain]

Hey, I'm willing to go anywhere if there's vodka involved and a bucket handy XD

[Westie]

ehm, I thought GA gatherings are just people gathered at one place, usually talking, getting to know each other, matching avatars and names to faces... I got scared a bit by this whole theme thing... 1) I'm not native English, therefore 2) I'm not a writer (I don't feel my English is good enough to write) and 3) I'm not sure I'd take part in creative writing workshops... It will have been 13 years since I visited London last time by that time so if I don't get to London earlier, I plan to do some basic sightseeing (well, TBH I plan to do A LOT OF sightseeing ) and getting to know the city, its atmosphere and watch people... GA gathering would be just a VERY GOOD incentive for me to go there, but not the only reason I'll be in London... Moreover, many of us are party animals and I plan to visit SoHo as well! So, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or spoil your mood... but I'd like to warn you that people might not be very ecstatic about your plans...

 

 

so there, my two pennies...

 

(1) Your english is amazingly good. As the only person on GA that has met you and spent time with you in person, I am the only one qualified to comment

 

(2) I am happy to meet with you guys for a lunch.... then go off and do our own thing.... Paya and I will be doing the tourist-y thing (paya is like an archstereotype of a japanese tourist with his camera )

 

(3) Wasted in SoHo - well if you guys want a theme for your writing - i wanna put that forward as an option.... but tbh I am more inclined to experience it first

 

West

[Johnathan Colourfield]

That's where i worry because me and Jason aren't really the wasted type And i don't even like drinking

 

Maybe i could suggest a group of us just meet up and chat for the evening? I'd prefer that I'm a quiet person

[Bleu]

JC, I'm sure we can find ways to accomodate everyone. I enjoy drinking a little bit but not to the point of being wasted.

 

I'd rather be sharing time and chatting with others as well...

 

I have a feeling it will all fit into place in the coming months.

[Westie]

That's where i worry because me and Jason aren't really the wasted type And i don't even like drinking

 

Maybe i could suggest a group of us just meet up and chat for the evening? I'd prefer that I'm a quiet person

 

JC, I think the point that has been made is that there is a diverse group of people going to be meeting up. There are 2 extremes on the table - a writers workshop weekend, and a "wasted" weekend. the point for everyone to remember is that the "meet" itself should be fairly neutral - dinner and a few glasses of wine for example - and that activities following should be free choice for everyone to make their own arrangements. I would like to see SoHo, simply becuase last time i was there, i was "straight". At the same time, I have absolutely no aversion to sitting up until 4am in a turkish coffee house (i know a great one in the theatre district) just talking to people. Certainly for me and paya, this will be more than just 1 day in London. We will be sightseeing and doing the "tourist" thing. Anyone who is in London for a more extended period would be welcome to join us (be warned.... as a couple we can be pretty sick-makingly affectionate).

 

Im sure a more reasoned event will come out of these discussions in the coming months

 

west

[Nephylim]

Well.... I can't drink at all so I am never going to get wasted but I like a bit of life and adventure. So I'm up for SoHo. On the other hand I also adore talking (not that you'd ever guess) so I well up for the coffee shop experience too. I am absolutely going to be there for a couple of days so hopefully I will get to do both. In fact I'm happy to fit in with any or all of the plans. For me what we do is totally second place to meeting everyone. The company makes anything we do rewarding and fun