[podiumchick]

Technically, Indiana is in the midwest, so no crashing is involved if we come...Now as for New York...that might be crashing!

[tiza126]

Because I am a huge dork and and trying to avoid my work, I played Travel Agent....and researched airfare for Amy, Lei, Carla, Shannon, and Sandi to fly in to Saint Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines for the first 2 weekends in October on several different airlines.

On average, the cheapest two cities for air travel are St. Louis and Kansas City. And of course, this is still far in advance, and I know there will be sales between now and October that would be great to snag cheaper prices. Although, if we wanted to meet in Omaha or Des Moines, the fliers could probably coordinate our times to meet at Kansas City's airport and carpool to those locations with Conda/Angie. (Do you like how I volunteered their large vehicles?)

For those of you road-tripping to the Midwest, I'll let you all figure out your own driving times & estimated costs

Can you tell how excited I am for another meetup, and how much I really don't want to be working today???


Oh, and just in case you were wondering...no I did NOT create a spreadsheet. I didn't go that far on the dork scale I just love planning trips and researching airfares to find good deals.

[tiza126]

podiumchick, on 06 June 2011 - 09:04 AM, said:

Technically, Indiana is in the midwest, so no crashing is involved if we come...Now as for New York...that might be crashing!

Yes, Indiana is Midwest. And we welcome all crashers, no matter if they come from California, New York, Oregon, Michigan, or anywhere in between.

[SodScrap]

podiumchick, on 06 June 2011 - 09:04 AM, said:

Technically, Indiana is in the midwest, so no crashing is involved if we come...Now as for New York...that might be crashing!

My thoughts exactly!!

[SodScrap]

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that in about 12 hours time we are already on page two of this thread.......

[SodScrap]

tiza126, on 06 June 2011 - 09:25 AM, said:

Because I am a huge dork and and trying to avoid my work, I played Travel Agent....

But you are OUR dork...so it's all ok!!

[tiza126]

SodScrap, on 06 June 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

tiza126, on 06 June 2011 - 09:25 AM, said:

Because I am a huge dork and and trying to avoid my work, I played Travel Agent....

But you are OUR dork...so it's all ok!!

[SandiC.]

Dorks unite! and come to the midwest for a meet-up. Since the midwest is the middle of the country, you could come from anywhere. We have not even begun to scratch the surface of what the KC area has to offer and I know Des Moines and Omaha have lots to attract as well. Thinking of photo op places. Of course, I'm most familiar with the KC area. I'm thinking the plaza is a place we need to visit for photo ops of an urban sort, but there are so many possibilities. If you want quaint old towns, there's Liberty, Independence and Lee's Summit. If you like the city, downtown KC and the Plaza, if you want nature, there's Burr Oak Woods (neat rock formations where Jesse James' gang was reported to have hid out). If you like gardens, Powell Gardens is fantastic. Just some ideas. The fly into KC and van pool to Omaha or Des Moines is doable too. Just want to see you all son. Let me know definite dates as I have to do Sept schedule in the next week or two and I need to project time off now.

[tiza126]

Those all sound like great ideas, Sandi!


The other thing is finding a hotel with a big enough conference room to accommodate all of us, our power cords, and our snacks.

[podiumchick]

Laptops and power cords and snacks, oh my!!

[Belle]

Okay, I volunteer Cape Town. I have got 6 beds, more at a push, so no hotel costs. For our walk about we can walk up Loop street with all the old buildings and antique shops, then do the Gardens.We will take a trip by boat to Robben Island where Mandela was held prisoner. After that we will do Cape Point, the very tip of Africa, Table Mountain, Boulders, to see the Penguins and so on and so on....

[Nica]

You all beat me to it! I forgot to check-in yesterday and let you know that I got home safely, so I figured that I would do it and talk about the next meet-up.

October is a pretty crazy month for me. (My sister is getting married on the 15th.) I might be able to swing it if meet closer to Sept or Nov.

I'll keep tabs on this thread, and I have a friend to bring with me this time. She's the latest convert from paper to digital. She wanted to come to OH, but couldn't, so she's already asking when the next one is.

Definitely have the meet-up bug!

P.S. I vote for Illinois...

[tiza126]

Sounds great to me Belle!

[Nica]

Belle, on 06 June 2011 - 11:27 AM, said:

Okay, I volunteer Cape Town. I have got 6 beds, more at a push, so no hotel costs. For our walk about we can walk up Loop street with all the old buildings and antique shops, then do the Gardens.We will take a trip by boat to Robben Island where Mandela was held prisoner. After that we will do Cape Point, the very tip of Africa, Table Mountain, Boulders, to see the Penguins and so on and so on....

Oh, Belle, if only! There you go, Theresa--our travel dork, if there's no hotel cost, how does a flight to Cape Town compare?

[Heather09]

I'm going to keep an eye out on this thread too. It could be a little challenging trying to try fly with a desktop in tow (unless I can get a laptop between now and then).

Now to work on my DH...gotta start planting the seed.

[tiza126]

Heather09, on 06 June 2011 - 11:38 AM, said:

I'm going to keep an eye out on this thread too. It could be a little challenging trying to try fly with a desktop in tow (unless I can get a laptop between now and then).

Now to work on my DH...gotta start planting the seed.

My brother has traveled across country with his desktop, but I have no idea how he did that!

[Cheri T]

Belle, on 06 June 2011 - 11:27 AM, said:

Okay, I volunteer Cape Town. I have got 6 beds, more at a push, so no hotel costs. For our walk about we can walk up Loop street with all the old buildings and antique shops, then do the Gardens.We will take a trip by boat to Robben Island where Mandela was held prisoner. After that we will do Cape Point, the very tip of Africa, Table Mountain, Boulders, to see the Penguins and so on and so on....

Forget scrapping Belle...my 8 year old and I will be there TOMORROW ( ) to see the you and the penguins!! Tiza, my friendly travel agent (lol)...how much are THOSE tickets?

[tiza126]

St. Louis to Cape Town is ONLY about $2600 round trip, if we leave this Saturday. And of course, that's planning a week-long visit

[tiza126]

SandiC., on 06 June 2011 - 09:50 AM, said:

Dorks unite! and come to the midwest for a meet-up. Since the midwest is the middle of the country, you could come from anywhere. We have not even begun to scratch the surface of what the KC area has to offer and I know Des Moines and Omaha have lots to attract as well. Thinking of photo op places. Of course, I'm most familiar with the KC area. I'm thinking the plaza is a place we need to visit for photo ops of an urban sort, but there are so many possibilities. If you want quaint old towns, there's Liberty, Independence and Lee's Summit. If you like the city, downtown KC and the Plaza, if you want nature, there's Burr Oak Woods (neat rock formations where Jesse James' gang was reported to have hid out). If you like gardens, Powell Gardens is fantastic. Just some ideas. The fly into KC and van pool to Omaha or Des Moines is doable too. Just want to see you all son. Let me know definite dates as I have to do Sept schedule in the next week or two and I need to project time off now.

And if we go to KC, we can all stop and get gelato and rum beans from the Chocolaterie Stam!!!


EDIT: It looks like they also have locations in Des Moines and Ames, Iowa

[Cheri T]

Yep, Stam is here:)

I'll run that $2600 (x 2!) past DH, b/c my 8yo would never EVER forgive me if I saw penguins in the wild without him;) Thanks for checking on that Tiza! lol I noticed I wasn't the first to call you travel agent and ask you to check on that!

[tiza126]

Cheri T, on 06 June 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

Yep, Stam is here:)

I'll run that $2600 (x 2!) past DH, b/c my 8yo would never EVER forgive me if I saw penguins in the wild without him;) Thanks for checking on that Tiza! lol I noticed I wasn't the first to call you travel agent and ask you to check on that!

If everyone first approaches their hubbys with the $2600+ to Cape Town, then that should make a couple hundred to the Midwest seem like nothing

[tinkerbell11]

Theresa, what were the costs of the flights you found to Des Moines etc??? Thanks, not sure if the $2600 is in my budget, but never to early to start saving!!!

[Cheri T]

Can't the airlines start providing a SG discount???? Awwww, come ON! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?!

[tiza126]

Cheri T, on 06 June 2011 - 02:31 PM, said:

Can't the airlines start providing a SG discount???? Awwww, come ON! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?!

Now that would be wonderful!!

[Cheri T]

Hey, I wonder if we all signed up for frequent flyer miles, if that South Africa trip would qualify us for a free flight to somewhere closer for the NEXT crop?! Teehee, I'm on a roll now, lol.

[Cheri T]

But honey, it's two crops for the price of ONE!

[Cheri T]

You do realize we're going to be on page 100 before this event actually happens, right? lol

[tiza126]

LOL Cheri!!

[tiza126]

We are a chatty bunch. Which is EXACTLY WHY we need a meetup!!!

[CRS]

Am I still considered a crasher if Theresa is looking up airfare??? LOL, you all crack me up. All I know about those places mentioned is that Omaha has a great zoo (or so I've heard). Other than that, I haven't been any of those cities unless you count a drive thru!