That plane will be full of VSers!

Break out the coctails. Muah ha ha ha!

Sweet!! We'll have to hook up at the Toronto airport. I presume you are connecting from Ottawa?

oh cool. Yes, I'll be connecting from Ottawa, I'll be arriving at Terminal 1 at 8 am. We can have breakfast or something before boarding.

I have been notified by Homreker's big brother that - for my sanity - we WILL be attending VS Fest. He seems to think I need a vacation or something.

I have been notified by Homreker's big brother that - for my sanity - we WILL be attending VS Fest. He seems to think I need a vacation or something.
Sweet!

I have been notified by Homreker's big brother that - for my sanity - we WILL be attending VS Fest. He seems to think I need a vacation or something.

Yay! :D

I'm not sure if it's too late to squeeze this in...or maybe use it as an alternative activity...but...St. Louis has a pretty neat Zoo WITH A PENGUIN EXHIBIT. General admission to the Zoo is free, but they do charge for some special attractions. Parking is $11 per car if you use their lot, but the last time I went you could park on the street and walk an extra 20 yards for free.

I would love to go to the zoo!

We're on a budget, no vacations for this whole year. It's easier to stay away from the discussion so I don't feel the burning need to break the budget. Just wanted to say....

I would love to go to the zoo!

Honestly, this sounds like fun to me too! I love the zoo, and I love Penguins.

I think the best spot for it, though, would be when we have the Bud tour set up.

So... what I'm going to do is put this in that posting. Let me know what you would rather do there. If we have enough people and drivers that want to split up then that will be great.

If everyone would rather do the zoo, then we will just reroute the cars...

Does the zoo have beer?

Does the zoo have beer?

That's a good question... I can call and ask...

Hey all, Post me your departure times for Monday, please.

I have Sapph, Fox, and Kae leaving at 5pm.
Amanda leaving at 2:40pm.
And Druie leaving Sunday after dinner.

I guess that leave Rastus and Frenial...

Also, I don't have any flight information for Torrin (who I understand is still undecided) and Abi and my Brother...

Apparently my mom is going to fly into St. Louis that day and drive back to our house with us.
So I'm trying to optimize the time that she arrives with when we will be dropping you folks off.

Also, I'm hoping to do a large drop off because those of us who drove have a good 4+hours to get home. So, depending on when the earliest departee(?) leaves, we may just drop everyone off then.
Or we may get volunteers to take airport runs before they leave town or something.
(If the earliest departee leaves at 8am... they may be taking a cab, I'm not taking anyone to the airport at 6am...)

My plane leaves at 3:05. And I'd love to meet "The Mom".

Leaving on flight AC3717, departs 9:54am on Monday, connecting back to Edmonton through Chicago.

Leaving on flight AC3717, departs 9:54am on Monday, connecting back to Edmonton through Chicago.

You know...
You had to be "that guy" with the early ass international flight didn't you?!?

I did. :) Fortunately, the first leg of the flight isn't international, so I don't have to clear customs in St.Louis. (I think.) Mainly it's the additional four hours of flying I have to do once I land somewhere in the region of the Great Lakes, as opposed to all the rest of the Canadians who just disembark and go home.

Actually, I tried like hell to find a flight out of St.Louis that would get me back to Edmonton sometime before 11pm that left sometime after noon. It doesn't exist. For some reason, you are expected either to be flying out for business or flying home after business: weirdos who want to fly in the middle of the day have to suck it up.

Well, we'll work something out I'm sure.
Still you will probably need to be at the airport by 8:30am or so... which likely means leaving the hotel by 7:30am in order to beat Monday morning rush hour traffic...

Any takers?

Actually, I've managed to be able to stay Sunday. My return flight is at 10:44 am Monday. I couldn't find anything leaving any later.

Any takers?

I can just grab a cab to the airport - no worries.
Druie, you're welcome to tag along if you like. Depends how early you want to show up for your flight. If your first (or only) flight is direct to Canada, you may want to allow a little extra time for international flight niceties.

Sure Fren, we can share a cab to the airport. I don't mind heading in early. I connect in Chicago as well. I have an hour and half layover there before hopping on a plane at 13:40.

Yay for getting to sleep in... lol.

On a more serious note:
The next earliest flight is 2:40, Amanda will probably need to be at the airport at 1:15.

If we arranged to drop everyone off at that time, would you later-fliers (Sapph, Fox, Kae) be able to find something to amuse yourselves for a while? (Rastus' wait would only be an extra 20 minutes, so he doesn't get a vote here...)

Hom, if you need help putting together a fun and colorful convention schedule in excel or something, just holler. The number of discussion threads has gotten hefty, like the cojones Stranger totes around.

Yay for getting to sleep in... lol.

On a more serious note:
The next earliest flight is 2:40, Amanda will probably need to be at the airport at 1:15.

If we arranged to drop everyone off at that time, would you later-fliers (Sapph, Fox, Kae) be able to find something to amuse yourselves for a while? (Rastus' wait would only be an extra 20 minutes, so he doesn't get a vote here...)
Whatever is easiest for everyone!

I get a vote...for the airport bar!

Well, we'll work something out I'm sure.
Still you will probably need to be at the airport by 8:30am or so... which likely means leaving the hotel by 7:30am in order to beat Monday morning rush hour traffic...

Any takers?

I'm too old to be staying up very late so I should be available to shuttle folks early if needed.

OK, new topic:

For Sunday night we have 2 options for drinking.

1. We can go to the hotel bar and they will be open until 1am (although I've been told I can get the hotel to make them stay open until 3am if I tell them soon).
This would be cash/credit, and you would pay per drink. I don't know exactly what the prices are, but its a hotel bar, so I suspect probably not cheep.
Also, sodas would not be get free refills from the bar, because if we leave and return to the bar for a soda, you are "opening a new bill." So you may be looking at 3.00 (+tax) per soft drink refill...

2. For about 21.00 per person we can get all you can drink bar service in our conference room for two hours (its about $6 more per hour if we want them to stay longer).
That is all you can drink beer, wine, liquor, soda, juices, or even tap water...

So here's the deal. I don't know what everyone's budget is, but there are about 18 of us that will be there.

So, If there is 1 vote for option 1 I am going to go that route.
I don't want to saddle anyone who will only be drinking water with a fee for everyone else. (I mean frankly the rest of us would have to make up about 3 drinks for every water drinker).
Consider, however, that if you plan on drinking 3 sodas an hour you are also making this worth while.
If you are willing to make up the $20 difference for someone who doesn't want to pay $20, then post that as well...

So, first question is, do I get the bar set up? Yes or no?
I will ask the second and third question depending on the answers I get to this one.