NZ meetup

[Oman]

Nonny: drinking age is 18

[SocioPath]

"Zealandathon" ?

[Porochaz]

I quite like Tallithon, would love to come but it would be April 2010 or between June - August 2010 if I was to think about it and even then it would depend on cost so Ill say 20% for either of those time frame. 2011 looks better in regards to cost so Id put it at 35%

[Thesp]

Does anyone have some good suggestions on where to get cheap tickets from?

[nonny]

Better yet what airport?

also: tallipalooza?

[Erg0]

Nonny: drinking age is 18

Younger in NZ if you have a note from your mum.

[somestrangeflea]

Jan 2010?

6 months too early for me go...

Still, I'm gonna try my damnedest to get to the next meetup...

[Elias_the_thief]

Seems unlikely, but I'll be graduated by then so who knows.

[MeMe]

If it's in 2010 or later, we're at 80% (even Fletcher if it's between semesters) -- I really expected Dirge to be all "well, of course it'd be

nice

, but we have to be realistic here," but he hopped on board immediately!

Yep, he's a keeper.

[Thestatusquo]

I mean like...I'll be out of college then, and bumming around foreign countries seems basically like exactly what I want to do before entering the real world.

[nonny]

Nonny: drinking age is 18

lol okay, just wondering. So basically the same as most places besides america.

[Oman]

Yeah. I'll be drinking beers. Yet to try an NZ beer.

[Andycyca]

I still vote for an early 2010. However, my academic schedule says that my vacation periods are the last weeks of Dec, April and August, so I'd go for a NZ Winter party as well

Nonny: drinking age is 18

lol okay, just wondering. So basically the same as most places besides america.

Actual drinking age is around 13 here.

[nonny]

haha either way I'm allowed ^.^ Yeah defintally voting 2010....the more time to save the better!

[OhGodMyLife]

The sooner we can lock down the dates, the sooner people can start booking cheap tickets.

Also keep in mind if this is really gonna be ten days long, people could arrive late/leave early as their schedules demanded.

[nonny]

Well you can only buy tickets so far in advance I think like 9 mos or so. The bigger picture is just knowing the dates so we know the time frame we have to save money for it.

[Mastermind of Sin]

Maybe it'd be cheaper to coordinate and buy tickets in bulk for people who live in the same area? For example, anyone from Illinois/Missouri could fly out of STL to start, and they'd all have the same flight plan. Buying the tickets en masse is bound to be cheaper, right?

[OhGodMyLife]

Maybe it'd be cheaper to coordinate and buy tickets in bulk for people who live in the same area? For example, anyone from Illinois/Missouri could fly out of STL to start, and they'd all have the same flight plan. Buying the tickets en masse is bound to be cheaper, right?

Thats a pretty good idea if anyone knows how to contact airlines about group fares.

[Oman]

Don't think the Aussies could swing that, we're too spread and most of us won't be going.

I forgot this was 10 days long...this is gonna own.

[petroleumjelly]

Better yet what airport?

also: tallipalooza?

I second this question. There are apparently quite a few airports in New Zealand. o.o

[xyzzy]

Nonny: drinking age is 18

From what I've read that's only if it's in a public location without a parent; hence, since Kiwiesta will be a private meeting of scummers, no such limit will exist.

[Talitha]

1st choice: Palmerston North (PMR)
2nd choice: Wellington (WLG)

3rd choice: Auckland (AKL) (we'd have to figure out how to get you here from there, but getting to Auckland would be a good start).

[Alabaska J]

I would love to go but I live in Texas :/.

My family likes vacations though, so I could see over spring break or christmas break if we decide to fly down there. We've been to Australia before so it may not be too farfetched…

Right now I would say I sit at a 5%.

[al_kohaulec]

From the feedback so far I'm thinking Dec 30th-ish 2009 to January 10th-ish 2010. Ki-newyears-wiesta.

1) Which of these dates do you prefer for Kiwiesta:
January 2009 - I think this is too soon, I don't think I'll be able to afford it.
April 2009 - Would probably be too soon for me.
October 2009 - Can't get any time off.

January 2010

- Dec. '09-Jan '10 will probably work for me. I won't be able to stay the whole time, but I can probably do it for a week.
April 2010 - I might be able to do this, but I would only have one week available, and it probably wouldn't work for everybody.

I'm voting for Jan. 2010, early. I'm not even sure that I'd be able to make the summer/your winter if we did that. So January is probably the best bet for me.

(bear in mind January is summer over here.. April is autumn.. October is windy, and plane tickets are likely to be dearest in January..)

2) On a scale of 0% to 100%, how likely do you rate you being able to come?
50%ish
But if the date is good for me, I will be saving up and pushing hard to get the time off for this.

3) "Kiwiesta" - Lame name?? Is there a better option?
It's good, except the middle part sounds a little awkward. What changed the name from Kiwiblat to Kiwiesta?

4) Any other questions/comments/ideas/suggestions...?
What would you suggest for spending money?
Are there people who accept American dollars or do we need to exchange to the NZ dollar? Where/How's the best place to do that?

[al_kohaulec]

ah!

I just plugged in a date in October for a flight, and it says the flight will be $2k and the departure takes 2 days. But the return trip takes 5 hours .

I gotta start saving up.


EDIT: A flight this August is only just over $1k.

EDIT EDIT: I need to look over how much this is gonna cost me before I know what I'm most likely going to be able to do.