[Debtags-devel] OT: airfare to debconf

[Thaddeus H. Black]

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Erich asks,

> How do you plan to travel?

The question is asked of Enrico not Thaddeus, I presume.
Thaddeus does not know yet how he plans to travel.

> I guess I'll stop in Munich on my return from
> Berkeley, so I can drop most of my stuff, and pick up
> a sleeping mattress etc. (I guess we need them this
> time again?)

So what does one need, anyway?  The Debconf website
targets people who have attended Debconf before; it does
not really explain matters to people who have never
attended.  This is fine---in fact, it is probably
wise---but since I have never attended, even after RTFM,
it still leaves me with several basic questions.

1.  Do I infer correctly that one need not find, reserve
or pay for a hotel room; that lodging, conference
registration and basic meals are fully paid for by the
generous corporate sponsors?  (Are we all staying
together in the summer-vacated university dormitories,
at corporate sponsors' expense?  Or we are we each
paying some unspecified rent for the week?  Or is there
gratis dormitory room only for some; others must
independently pay and stay in various hotels?  The
website does not seem quite clear on this.)

2.  Are there any major expenses one should plan on,
except airfare?

3.  In North America, which is familiar to me, it is
usual to travel with a plastic credit card (Visa or
MasterCard, for example), and to use the card to pay for
almost everything.  This is especially convenient when
one crosses the U.S./Canadian border, because the bank
issuing the card handles the needed currency conversion
quietly and automatically.  However, I have read in the
U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal that Europeans
use credit cards variously from country to country, but
generally much less frequently than Americans do.  Does
this mean that one needs to carry a lot of euros in
paper currency?  Or is it practical to plan to use one's
credit card for most purchases?

4.  Besides a passport, clothing, a towel, personal
effects (such as a toothbrush), a credit card and
perhaps a few paper euros, what should one bring?  (A
mattress, as Erich asks?  A small inflatable temporary
air mattress, I presume.  For entertainment, you may
join me in imagining Thaddeus, bringing his bed mattress
from Virginia.  For further entertainment, you may
imagine the expression on Thaddeus' wife's face in
Virginia, as she contemplates sleeping a week without
the mattress.  She would probably sleep with the
children, I suppose, who would find this very
entertaining.)

5.  Lest my imagination run too far afield, is there
anything else you think that I should know about
Debconf, before I come?

My previous travel experience has been military and in
the U.S. construction business.  There, I know how
things work, but all this is new to me.  In fact, I have
never so much as seen a euro, much less traveled
independently to Europe.  Your advice is sincerely
appreciated for this reason.

--=20
Thaddeus H. Black
508 Nellie's Cave Road
Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA
+1 540 961 0920, t@b-tk.org

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