don't know if I can come, I don't have a passport and it was already a big spending year... we shall see.

To anyone who doesn't have a passport:
Its not too hard to get one if your a US citizen in the US, and if you send off your stuff now you will probably beat the summer rush and get your passport back in less than a month.

You pretty much just need an application form, a copy of your drivers license, and a copy of your birth certificate. Send it in with a picture (headshot) and there you go. The birth certificate can be tricky, but there is a way to get one issued from your hospital of birth that is listed on the Passport website.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

I think if you had a name change (i.e. got married) you have to send in a copy of your marriage license or a legal statement of your name change. But, all in all, its pretty simple...

And for the Canuks amoung us..

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/

takes about 2-4 weeks you can rush it but trust me you will pay with your left and right arm if you do....

Keeping in mind that I live a little more than an hour west of St Louis, I would vote to meet there. I also have room for a bunch of folks to stay over.... just saying, that's all....

SM

You can't really get a birth certificate anymore, but a statement of birth is pretty easy to acquire, just contact the state you were born in. It's like $25.

The pictures for passports have weird requirements, I suggest going to Sears, JC Penny, somewhere that does cheesy family pictures and get it done there. They have the camera attachment that lines it up properly. $15 tops.

Once you have all that, you can go down in person to a place that issues passports. I haven't done it via mail, but I would suggest going in person. Not only is it faster from what I've heard, it's just a little more secure.

You hand over the stuff, sign a couple papers and do a little oath thing. I had my passport a couple weeks later. I don't remember if it was $35 or $45, somewhere around there.

They will also send all the paperwork back to you, your pictures, birth statement and application.

Some of live a couple hundred miles from the nearest passport office, so mailing it works, just send it in certified mail... (They don't even issue a real drivers license here, just a temp on on heat activated receipt tape.. the TSA loves that...)

Wall of text ahead:


My plans for the three top choices above--
1. Cruise:

• I'm awaiting some pricing information from Carnival on the cruise thing and I will post that as soon as I get it.
  

2. St. Louis:

• I should be able to get "group" hotel room pricing (I'm sort of a hotel snob, so it will probably be a Hilton or a Marriott or a Wyndam or something like that).
  
• In addition I was thinking of getting a conference room and a TV in the evenings (say 7pm to 4am or something) so that we can have Rock Band or Movie showings of some sort.
  
• Also, I was going to look into a charter service for some sort of limo-bus or something to cart our asses around St. Louis for the weekend... (we probably won't otherwise have enough cars/gps's and none of us want to risk DUI's so this seemed like a good way to get around that.)
  
• I will also have some prices available for some things to do: City Museum, Six Flags, The Arch, a Riverboat ride or whatever...
  
• I haven't figured out how to handle getting people from the airport to a hotel, but probably you will be on your own for this, so I will find out what the expected prices are from the airport to the hotel I find (maybe the limo-bus will be hired at this point and it will come and get folks).
  
• My plan for paying for limo-bus and the conference room is probably to simply get it all planned out and then have a Paypal account set up for folks to reimburse me if we go this route...
  

3. Atlanta:
This is an unusual beast...

• I've been going to Atlanta for labor day weekend to attend Dragon*Con for years (this will be my 16th I think) so I would be planning to wrap that up into this. That means that my suggestion would be, if we ended up doing this spot, I would suggest you get convention reservations and hotel rooms under the Dragon*Con group rate.
  
• Probably I will then try to plan some late night events or we will try to get a conference room or something to have a party at some point.
  
• Honestly, I think this would be fun for everyone, but I'm not sure how much fun it will be for everyone together... so this is sort of my third choice here... again, I will post some pricing information here soon.
  

When I get pricing information worked out I will repoll the top three choices and see what people think...

That's pretty standard now for the driver's license.

The pictures for passports have weird requirements, I suggest going to Sears, JC Penny, somewhere that does cheesy family pictures and get it done there. They have the camera attachment that lines it up properly. $15 tops.


When I got mine, they took my picture right at the post office.

http://iafdb.travel.state.gov/

Search your ZIP code and check the "Photo on Site" box.

3. Atlanta:
...
Honestly, I think this would be fun for everyone, but I'm not sure how much fun it will be for everyone together... so this is sort of my third choice here... again, I will post some pricing information here soon.
...
I agree. I don't think this will be something that will be fun for us to do together. Perhaps some people from the guild will end up there together but I'd rather pick something more free-style for our gathering. Just my opinion.

And thanks for organizing this, Homreker!

Yeah I think most folks (myself included) picked cruise because.. well, fuck, CRUISE.

I honestly do not car what we do when we meet up again, this time with some more different people.

I've already proven I am too fat for rollercoasters. I knew this yet I stood in line with everyone for like 9 hours only to be kicked off the platform. That's just how I roll (fat rolls. kek.)

Here is what I want. Ample supply of booze. A rockband setup of some sort. No brown m&ms. A place where I can be loud. And somewhere I can crash, easily. Couch, nearby hotel I can stumble to...

Make it happ'n capp'n

Make it happ'n capp'n

That's El Capitan' to you!

Or, "Captain Hot Stuff" to the ladies...

bumping because I haven't gotten very many PMs about how many you may have coming if we do the cruise thing... It doesn't have to be solid numbers, just a "If I come on the cruise there would be x number of us."

I still haven't heard back from Carnival, so I will probably call them this week, but I wanted to have some information first.

Thanks!

Atlanta is closest but been there done that. Gonna have to vote for St. Louis or Bahamas. Gonna have to look into the passport thing.