• DebconfTravel2022

1. DebConf data

DebConf22 will be held at the Innovation & Training Park (ITP), Prizren, Kosovo, 17th → 24th July 2022.

DebCamp is from Sunday, 10th July to Saturday 16th July, 2022.

2. Attending

Registration is open and the confirmation deadline is 2022-06-20 (bursary application deadline 2022-05-01).

Planning to attend:

3. Accommodation and local transport

4. Travel to/from Prizren

Flying, road trip and rail travel are all viable.

4.1. Flying

Direct flights to Prishtina are available from Heathrow via BA, but only on a Saturday. That means missing out on the last 2 days of the conference or staying for a further 6 days.

Other flight ideas:

• Easyjet from Heathrow via Geneva (4 hours layover), same day outbound but not on return
• Austrian from Heathrow via Vienna (6 hours layover on return), same day both ways

Onward travel to Prizren: bus (1h45) or taxi; by car, 50 minutes.

4.2. Driving

From the Calais Eurotunnel departure point, viable routes are:

• via France, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, North Macedonia: approx 2,500km or 26 hours
• via France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia: approx 2,500km or 31 hours
• via France, Switzerland, Italy, ferry to Albania and then Prizren: approx 2,300km or 31 hours

Sledge is doing the last option of these three routes. He'll need at least a couple of co-drivers. Itinerary is something like:

Return is a slightly different route for variety, branching further west from Bologna and heading up through more of France. Leave Prizren on the 24th, back in Cambridge evening of 27th.

For ferry lovers, Cambridge via Harwich and the Netherlands is approx 2,740km or 30 hours.

4.3. Railing

Not investigated. Owing to political/logistical reasons, probably needs to overshoot into North Macedonia, and then back north into Kosovo; eg: …{Zagreb(HR),Budapest(HU)}→Belgrade(RS)→Skopje(MK)→Pristina(XK)→…

If you do this it is about 80% of the distance of the traditional *Orient Express* route to Istanbul, and all covered on an Interrail pass (except for Kosovo…). Can be done in ~48 hours but after Germany trains tend to be two times per day (either night train, or day train) instead of two times per hour, and somewhat slower, so alternate between day‒night‒day, or night‒day‒night, changing at each capital city.

https://www.seat61.com/Serbia.htm has some ideas; In July/August 2021 the sleeper connections from Brussels/Amsterdam restarted, so you can now use eg. Eurostar to Amsterdam and the "Weed Express" (NightJet 420/421) between Amsterdam ⇄ Austria to cover half the distance in one night before the slower scenic parts.

…Have done Macedonia and Banja Luka (previous Debconf) on the train, and it was teh awesome; but the people who road tripped also had tonnes of (shared) fun!

5. Entry requirements

TBC.

6. Customs

TBC.

7. Local SIMs

See https://wiki.debian.org/DebConf/22/Faq#SIM_cards.

Kosovo is not covered by Three Go Roam

jmw is planning to use Airalo, an e-SIM app with a Kosovo or Global option at reasonable data rates, even if a little more than getting a local SIM.

crb is planning to use IPKO, a local provider. There are a couple of plans: 20 EUR for 10G, 30 EUR for 20G. Shops/kiosks both at the airport in Prishtina as well as in Prizren.