1. UK Debian travel to Debconf 5 in Helsinki, Finland, 2005

Debconf site is at http://www.debconf.org/debconf5/ for more details.

Core conference dates are Sunday 10th July to Sunday 17th July, unless Andreas has made the same fence-post mistake as last year.

1.1. People

Add your name below if you're interested in travelling in a group.

Also fill in the dates you'd prefer to travel.

Sledge: I'll add links to flight information etc. as I cba.

Womble2: Here are the prices I found (updated 2005-03-07):

moray: I'm planning to go, but will be travelling from Edinburgh - though it looks like flying via London may be sensible.

broonie: Me too.

Wookey: I'm coming. Probably for 3 days. Will do an embedded workshop with the maemo guys.

Womble2: KLM will fly you from Edinburgh to Helsinki via Schiphol for about £200.

JD: Gatwick is good for me, Heathrow isn't too bad. Stansted is a little more stressful, but more than doable.

mhy: I'll be going; travelling from Manchester direct to Helsinki.

jcm: Looking like Helsinki but I won't book this until nearer the time. Are we actually going to organise a group out of Heathrow?

sladen: I prefer to travel overland where I can. I'm likely to go via Oslo for something a week before, so it might make sense to get an [http://www.interrailnet.com/passes.dhtml?country_id=28,language_id=11,type_country=I Interrail]/[http://www.scanrail.com/template/article.asp?aid=60&folder_id=31 Scanrail] pass and go travelling with the Brompton for the week in between that and Debconf itself; possibly cheating with Stanstead->Torp as a starting point...

1.2. Flights

Sledge: for people in the SE of England, I think Heathrow direct is probably best. At the moment, [http://www.expedia.co.uk Expedia] lists the following BA flights that might be of interest. Looks like BA and Finnair are code-sharing, and BA are mostly cheaper for any given flight combo, so I'm only listing the BA flight numbers. All times are LOCAL, i.e. BST and BST + 2.

I'm ignoring flights via Prague that save GBP 3 but add over 2 hours on the journey time. Costs for these flights seem to be ~GBP 165 for a cheap flight (evening flight from Heathrow, morning back from HEL), or ~GBP 190 for other options.

Noodles: I'm tempted to go for a flight from Norwich - it's via Amsterdam and costs £40 more, but saves me travelling all the way to Heathrow. There's a 16:30->22:30 on Fri 8th and a 06:40->09:30 on Monday 18th. And it's 10 minutes or so to the airport from home. It's close enough in timings to the BA798 that I could still meet people at Helsinki airport for onward travel though.

nattie: Anybody wishing to join us in travelling to Helsinki via Tallinn is more than welcome to do so. We will meet up with the rest of the group in Helsinki on Saturday afternoon in order to get Matthew drunk on his birthday We return to Tallinn on Sunday the 17th, spend the evening and night there, and return UK-wards on Monday morning.

Ian Jackson: I'll be on the same flight back, but am travelling out a day later than you,

1.2.1. Flights out

1.2.2. Flights back

1.2.3. Travel groups

1.2.3.1. Group 1

• Out 8th (BA798) LHR 18:00 - HEL 22:55
• Back 18th (BA795) HEL 07:40 - LHR 09:00
• Sledge, JD, robtaylor, Robot101, fil, Simon Kelley, Keybuk

• Flights now booked for these 7 people

Sledge: I've got a debian-cd hack session on the 9th...

1.2.3.2. Group 2

• Out 9th (EZ3445) STN 06:45 - TLL 11:40, (Nordic Jet Line) Tallinn 15:00 - Helsinki 16:40
• Back 17th (Nordic Jet Line) Helsinki 12:25 - Tallinn 14:05, 18th (EZ3446) TLL 12:05 - STN 12:55
• womble2, nattie

1.2.3.3. Group <N>

• ...

1.3. Accomodation

Sledge: There was a brief idea to get hostel places elsewhere, but they petered out and apathy won...

Noodles: We're hoping to get one of the apartments to share; these have 2, 3 or 4 small rooms that each hold 3 (see http://www.debconf.org/debconf5/about/accomodation). If you're interested, add your name below, but do so soon as room allocations are being decided at present (2005-06-01).

Marga: You have now been allocated the whole 5th floor, which has 3 apartments comprising of 2, 2 and 3 small rooms respectively and one big room. Each small room has a bed, large room has 2.

• Apartment 1 (3 people per room)

  • Room 1: BenHutchings, NattieMayerHutchings (feel the love)

  • Room 2: DavidPashley (Would prefer bed), Matthew Garrett (feel the love)

• Apartment 2 (3 people per room)

  • Room 1: SteveMcIntyre (bed), JonathanMcDowell (mattress)

  • Room 2: Robert McQueen (bed if poss :D), Paul Sladen (floor), Simon Kelley

• Apartment 3 (2/3 people per room)

  • Room 1: MorayAllan (bed preferred), wookey (floor is fine)

  • Room 2: MarkBrown (bed if poss, or grouped above). RobTaylor (very happy on an air bed, thankyouverymuch)

  • Room 3: PhilHands, VinceSanders

• Large Room (6 people, 2 beds):

Marga's initial plan for accommodation is http://www.marga.com.ar/~marga/debconf-rooms.html

Did anything happen about the plan raised on the debconf list at some point to acquire bedding in bulk? (This could make the lot of those who end up on the floor less terrible.)

Marga: those that don't get a bed can ask for a matress. Please do it here, as well.

1.3.1. People staying in hotels

1.3.1.1. Radisson SAS Espoo

• mhy