Just in case any European Dopers missed it the first time around, we are meeting up in Copenhagen next weekend. Right now, it looks like it’s going to just be me, Spiny Norman and The Scarlett Pimpernal. We’ll be meeting outside of Tivoli at 6pm, Saturday the 27th; if you can please join us.
Since a lot of people are not able to make this meeting, is anybody interested in holding a bigger meeting in a few months time? That way people can scout out cheap fares, get time off of work, ect. I’m going to go ahead and suggest Heidelberg, Germany…it’s sort of in the middle, lots of hotels & restaurants. If we set a firm date, I can arrange to pack the child off to Grandma’s for the weekend and house a lot of people in my apartment.
Or, since there seem to be a lot of people in the UK, perhaps we can meet in London? I know it’s wickedly expensive, but I’m sure we can work something out.
Anybody up for it? It seems only right that we do our own mini-version of the American Doper’s big Vegas meeting.
I can recommend London, and suggest a few places in north London that won’t break the bank (well, not as much so as staying in the centre of London will).
London is great, my husband is hankering to go. My son wants to go, too, he is addicted to British tv. He’s always nagging me for Jammy Dodgers and Wheatabix. If we bring him, does anybody know someone reliable who can babysit? Since London is so far away, we’ll probably make a week of it, and take the lad to Legoland Windsor.
When would be a good time? I’ll be in the States in August, any other time would be good.
The distance between Amsterdam and Heidelberg is some *** kilometers… sure thing, I’ll drive that. If we can arrange it in a weekend where I’m not in London (which is every two weeks), I’m game! I suppose I get first dibs on the couch, huh?
OK, where the asterisks appear, an actual number would be more appropriate. But I can’t seem to get my online routeplanner site to work. How much is Amsterdam - Heidelberg, tater?
It’s 507.6 kilometers from city center to city center. If you leave at 6am, before traffic starts, it will take you 3 hours and 19 minutes. Do not eat the Kip Kerrie from the gas-station at the border, that stuff is noxious.
And since you are the first to say you’ll come to my house, you may have my son’s bed. It’s got Pokemon sheets! For everybody else I have air mattresses (2 double, 1 single) and one very lumpy couch.
Oh, and since my mom lives very near, and is very nosy, we’ve got to come up with good cover stories. She has this strange idea that the internet is made up entirely of serial killers and their future prey. For example, this weekend I am going to meet my dear friend Kara from college, her Danish cousin, and one of her friends from her hometown.
I think Coldfire should be a former Dutch soldier who was recently stationed at Nato headquarters; my husband met him during a computer seminar. He got out of the army when his time was up, but he comes every so often to visit the dear friends he met during his time here. Because he faithfully gives 20% of his income to the Church, he can not afford a hotel, so we let him stay with us. That okay with you, Coldy?
Hi there, tatertot - looking forward to seeing you on saturday!
Heidelberg sounds ideal (sez Norman, who happens to live in Hamburg - 577 km of Autobahn - no limits, no police, no problem) - I’ll even volunteer to bring my own air mattress, if I can get a piece of crash space. I’ll probably need a bit of assistance on the cover story, though. (How does your mother feel about motorcyclists ?)
Evilbeth, I’m going to Memphis, TN. Are you anywhere near Knoxville? I’m going to try and visit my Uncle & Aunt who live there.
Prague is a great city…we should probably get all of the suggestions out first, then decide what will work out for the majority of us.
I was thinking that it might be cool to have our 2nd Euro Dope meeting the same weekend the Stateside gang have theirs. Maybe we could even do the phone hook-up thing -or-if all goes well and I get my webcam, we could broadcast parts of our meeting. I have no idea if that is technically feasible, but it would be very cool! Hee hee…I should probably sell advertising, what with all of the ladies trying to catch a peek at Coldfire & his fellow European Studs.
Norman, for simlicity you will remain Scarlett’s Danish cousin. I have no idea why you’d want to come visit me, the same exact week as our church-going friend Coldfire, but give me time, I’ll think of something. You drive a motorcycle because you can’t afford a car, and you need transportation to visit your poor sick granny who lives out in the woods, in a cabin your grandfather built with his hands after the Nazi’s burned their old one it in the war. (Yeah, I know how much motorcycles cost, but my mom doesn’t) Sorry for involving you in my subterfuge, guys, but it really is much easier this way! She’s not a bad mom, but man has she got some whacky ideas. And please, don’t anyone mention the pope in her presence!!!
Hmm - I’ll probably have to write a few clue cards, but I think I’ll be able to keep it straight. If I get into trouble, I’ll pull the old “Sorry, I must have misspoken, English as a 2nd language”-excuse. (Note to self: Remove all Satanic symbols from MC leathers).
What date is the American get-together scheduled for ? The web-cam thing could probably be arranged, technically, but the time difference might cause problems. Ah well.
OK, it looks like we’ve got another great band name here
500 kilometres? Sure thing. That’ll take me just under 4 hours, I suppose. My car isn’t exactly that much of an autobahn cruiser: it tops out at 170 km/h
You can forget about me leaving at 6 am though. 8 am would mean I can be in Heidelberg at noon - how’s that? You even have some time left to start baking the bratwurst already!
I don’t know if I can pull the Christian Soldier prototype off… I’m neither christian, nor hero
It looks like the American Dopers are going to meet Labor Day weekend, which is Friday Sept. 1 - Monday Sept 4. Would those days work for everybody? Obviously, we don’t have to meet all four days, though I’m up for it!
The more I think of it, the more I’m liking the idea of a web cam. If we happened to hold this thing in Heidelberg, we could go out on Saturday, come back when they finally kick us out, and put on a good show for the Stateside folks. They’d be just getting started…we could serve as an inspiration of sorts! I have to figure out the technical side of things, I don’t know enough yet to start asking intelligent questions! - Or - we could just steal the satellite communications van from Hubby’s work…
In case I’m scaring you people, my mom won’t be there. I just can’t let her know that I don’t actually know any of you people or she will be there. Probably with a FBI profiler to weed out the serial killers. Mothers! Actually, I’m thinking it would be interesting to take all of you fine folks out to dinner at my parents, sort of a field trip to see the typical American semi-dysfunctional family. We’ve got it all! Religous nut mom, workaholic dad, pothead brother, and unmarried teenage mother sister. Think of the stories you’ll have to tell your chums at the pub. Plus the food is good and free!
Moosie Girl, when in October? There’s nothing stopping us from having a third doper fest, and Ireland sounds great.
I’ll be there for two weeks – Oct. 9th to the 23rd. The best time for me would be the Oct. 13th weekend. The second week I’ll be roaming the country, terrorizing the unsuspecting locals. I’d love to meet some of the European contingent of Dopers! (Yeah, even you, Coldfire)
