Drupalcon Boston 2008 - Logistics and Hotel Discussion

Can not afford to come? Think again

amazon — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:16:33 +0000

Hi, we realize that many people are concerned about the $195 cost, which is just under a 3x cost of Barcelona($73).

When we get into the real conference costs it turns out that staying in major US downtown city is the real problem. Here’s some tips for traveling to Boston on the cheap.

Airfare: We recommend http://kayak.com Fares from Oakland California are as low as $250. Austin, TX to Boston is $350. $770 London, to Bos. You can take a train from NYC for less than $200.

Hotel: If you have a car, and your willing to commute you can find hotels for as little as $67 a night.
http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/Booking/checkavail?propBrandId=DI&id=08407&rate=000&checkInDate=03%2F02&checkOutDate=03%2F07&numberAdults=1&numberChildren=0&numberRooms=1&corporateCode=00000123456&iataNumber=123456&otTravelAgent=00026946&travelagent=00026946

Hostel: http://www.bostonhostel.org
$27.99-$44.99 per night per person

Car rental: http://www.usave.com/ for $38 a day.

Need financial assistance? Fill in your registration profile. http://boston2008.drupalcon.org/contributors-need-financial-assistance

Stay with members of the community: There’s 200 members of the Boston Drupal user community. http://groups.drupal.org/boston

Cheers,
Kieran

Midwest Drupal users dinner

blakehall — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:34:19 +0000

Tonight, Wednesday @ 7PM folks from the upper midwest meeting up for dinner:

88 sleeper street
http://barkingcrab.com/

If you’d like to meet other drupalers from the “fly-over” states we hope you’ll join us…

Dinners range from $12-22.

Daily transportation to-from holliday inn-- Somerville

japerry — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:13:07 +0000

Heya folks,

I have a vehicle going from the holiday inn in Somerville — I currently have one riding along with me, but the car has room for 4 additional. We’ll be there all day, coming back sometime before 6 each night.

If interested, post up, PM me, or use my contact form. I’m staying here from Sunday until Saturday morning the 8th.

Tips on Using Subway, Buses, Taxis in Boston

edfactor — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 06:31:59 +0000

For visitors to Boston:

The subway system is very safe. Don’t worry about riding it. It runs from very early in the morning until about about 12:30 a.m. It costs $2.00 each way (bus costs $1.50). The smart thing is to get a 7-Day Link Pass, which is all-you-can-eat for bus and train for a week for $15. You can use it everywhere. You can get passes in most stations, but the easiest place would be at the South Station stop which is closest to the conference. The website for the transportation system (there are nice maps) is here: www.mbta.com

There are four subway lines (red, orange, blue, and green). For some fun trivia that not even the natives know - they got their names this way: “blue” because that line was first in the world to travel under a body of water; “green” because it goes along the main gardens and parks in the city; “red” because that line goes to Harvard; and “orange” because it was built under Orange Street (now called Washington Street - where the tuesday night event at FELT is).

Almost everything a visitor would want to do in Boston will be reachable by red and green lines. Trains run about every 10 minutes - but not nearly as reliably as in Europe.

The conference is closest to the Red Line South Station stop - but be aware that the center is a solid 10-minute walk southeast from there over the bridge (away from direction of the city). Note that if you walk from the Convention Center to FELT on Tuesday (and there isn’t really any better way) you have a 14-18 minute walk in the cold and dark.

When you’re sightseeing in Boston, everything else is going to be in the other direction from South Station. The ‘downtown’ of Boston (where many historical sights are) is about a 12-minute walk directly north from South Station. The two subway stations closest to the historical tourist center of the city are State Street (orange line) and Government Center (green line) where you should just follow the herds of people across the plaza, and down the big long steps. The nightclub strip in Boston is on Landsdowne street - right next to baseball stadium - so take the green line to Kenmore Square and it’s two blocks south on the bridge over the interstate.

There are taxis everywhere. The average trip inside the city is about $8.00 with tip. (A cab to or from the airport will be about $25 with tip) Here are the numbers of a few taxis:

Boston Cab, 617-536-5010 | City Cab, 617-536-5100 | Town Taxi, 617-536-5000

But there are many cab stands near hotels and nightspots - so it is unlikely you will have to call one.

Helpful info for connecting with others

tmg-studio — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:39:06 +0000

For those who have been watching, you will notice that few extra fields were added to the user conf. bio form. These extra pieces of information are being collected in the following views. We hope that this info helps you to better connect with other attendees in Boston. Please feel free to make suggestions regarding additional information that might be helpful to collect.

Holiday Inn Somerville and Royal Sonesta Cambridge room blocks BOTH available until February 22nd

sooz — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:58:04 +0000

If you were thinking of getting a room but thought you missed the hotel block deadline, both hotels are available until at least February 22nd.

The Holiday Inn Somerville is $115/night (plus tax) and the Royal Sonesta Cambridge is $189/night (plus tax).

To book a room you need to use the room block reservation website/phone number — do not call the hotels directly.

http://urltea.com/2nbz

If specific dates you wanted a room don’t appear to be available on the website, give the room block company a call: 1-866-364-9511. Or you can contact me and I’d be happy to look into it for you (sooz@sooz.com / 617-379-0637).

Parking

mrf — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:06:56 +0000

I am one of the few people that live close enough to drive to the conference, but I wasn’t able to find any information about parking. There is a map on the convention center’s site of their lot, but it doesn’t have any rate information.

I was wondering if there are special conference rates available, and if not, does anyone know of a nearby lot that would have a weekly rate or something similar?

Mediacurrent would like to dontate $500 to sponsor Drupalcon attendee...

Mediacurrent — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:12:13 +0000

Mediacurrent, a web development firm based in Atlanta, Georgia that has a niche in Drupal would like to donate $500 towards sponsoring an attendee for Drupalcon.

We have gone to the financial assistance page here http://boston2008.drupalcon.org/contributors-need-financial-assistance, but it was tough to tell who still needed help. We apologize for the last minute decision, but we were trying to see how much we could afford to allocate, as we are still in a start-up mode ourselves. We are about to launch a very robust social networking site in Drupal, and felt like sponsoring someone would be an ideal way to give back…stay tuned on details of that project.

Our criteria is really open. We would like to give to someone who really needs it (tell us a little about you and your situation) and is an active contributor to the Drupal community.

Please respond ASAP to the email addresses below - we hope to make a decision by 5pmEDT on Monday, Feb 18th.

Thanks,
Dave Terry - Dave dot Terry at mediacurrent dot com
Paul Chason - Paul dot Chason at mediacurrent dot com

Number of Allowed Registrations

redndahead — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:40:24 +0000

I was wondering what is the limit on the number of registrations. I have been holding off on registering until I obtain my corporate credit card to make the payment. I already have my hotel booked and flight booked and I would get in serious trouble if I didn’t make into the conference. :)

red

Housing / Shared Accommodations

boombatower — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:18:41 +0000

I’m part of the GHOP group coming to Drupalcon and would like to know if anyone wants to share accommodations or allow me to stay at there house. I know this may seem a bit weird, but would really help me out financially.

Thanks,
Jimmy