Mittens 2010 Italy -- Sat 31st July - Sat 7th Aug. Last few spots remaining!

[FSi++]

A friend has suggested that Italy will be quite warm when we are there, any word on this place having central air?

Places with other gases or vacuum instead of air are usually more expensive.

[SinSin]

Both nice suggestions, but I vote the cheaper more central place suggested by Disco.

Sin: Shame. I looked at my world atlas and decided the road trip would never have happened I'm afraid...way too far!! another brittens instead then

Defo    "I SMELL A ROAD TRIP!!!"

[AGA]

A friend has suggested that Italy will be quite warm when we are there, any word on this place having central air?

I haven't been to Italy, but other hot countries in Europe (Greece, Spain and so on) that I've been to tended to have houses that were built in such a way that even without air con they stayed cool. "My" place doesn't have it listed in the features anyway.

[bicilotti]

A friend has suggested that Italy will be quite warm when we are there, any word on this place having central air?

>Use beer on Ice.

Done.

>Drink frozen beer.

Your score has just gone up by 5 points!

[Disco]

Dear Kenneth,
thanks for your request through our partner Perfect Places and you can see the unit ANTICA POSTA DI VALLELUNGA also on our web sites:
http://www.italy-villas-rentals.com/vacation_rentals/22797/

The full property is available in the period 26 July to 2 of August but I've contacted the owner to double check.
I've asked the owner the possibility to add 2 people in the property since it can sleeps up to 21 people.
I hope to let you know as soon as possible.

Best regards.
Lucy

Well at least the whole property is available. Curious though the website says 22 beds + 2 on sofabed while she says 21 and the listing here says 17?

Anyways I suppose I shall ask for a quote now if the rate might be different going through this third-party, but since we have two possibilities at the moment I am wondering if anyone else would like to chime in with regards to location, price, things to do, sexiness, etc.

[AGA]

Well people seem okay with the one I mentioned, and we're up to 24 people wanting to attend now... So although your place *might* house 24 people, it might also be as few as 17. So I'd rather go with a sure thing. Your place does look good, but unless we can be sure it's 24 people, it's not really an option.

[Darth Mandarb]

I think, for now, I will say it's just gonna be me.

This is a new girlfriend and I'm not sure she'll even be around by the end of July (most women only have a 2-3 month tolerance for being around me).  I don't want to secure the spot to the exclusion of AGSers.  If the Gods are kind to me and I've actually found a woman who sticks around we'll see if there's room when the time comes.

As for the location(s) ... I'm okay with either I think.  Disco's link is slightly closer to Rome but AGA's is closer to Pisa (both places I'd like to day-trip to while there)  I might fly into Rome and spend a day (or three) there before Mittens maybe.  Oh these decisions ... I'm okay with either of those places but I think the one with the higher capacity might be a better option?

[AGA]

Okay, so I contacted my place. Unfortunately it's a little more expensive than the website says - â,¬318.75 per person. http://www.agagames.com/mittens_enquiry.txt is the text of the email they send me. The place does sound pretty great, but obviously it's fairly expensive.

[Snarky]

I don't really have any input to offer on these decisions: I'm fine with whatever, really. AGA's place looks maybe a little bit better (and apparently has more room), as long as the price isn't a big problem for people.

I'm not sure what my situation will be this summer, but barring unforeseen upheavals, and my schedule permitting, I'll almost certainly be there.

[Becky]

AGA's house seems better to me, and seems to be easier to get to.  Having enough room is always important otherwise people end up with nowhere to sleep and thats a bad thing.

[Creed Malay]

Berians house seems more suited for people getting out and doing stuff, and the extra room is always a boon.

[Disco]

Best to have everyone under the same roof, so between the two I'd go for Berian's pick.

The price is a bit of an issue for me since more euros means even more dollars in proportion, but I am sure I can manage eventually.

[m0ds]

Way too much for me, sorry. That's a good £300 + another 200 when you add flights, car hire + cleaning. Unless I win the lotto I won't be able to commit to that, soz. I'm not feeling the girlfriend vibe thing this year really either. It's bad enough dealing with nacho and lorena splitting I don't really want to be thrust into those kind of emotions in the future with all new gf's when really I'm trying to turn up and be with some game developers. Wives and fiances (and girlfriends with profiles from AGS that existed BEFORE a mittens) seem fine, but girlfriends of new & RND function... meh. You probably won't even be with them next year, why are you making me give a shit about knowing them??

[AGA]

Girlfriends almost certainly aren't coming though. There are 24 spaces at my place, and (at least with you) at least 24 AGS people wanting to come. â,¬318.75 is £290 though, so I guess you might not be able to afford that.

[AGA]

Okay, so are there any other objections, aside from Mods?

[m0ds]

250 is my max limit really. And even then my max limit should really only be 150 No girlfriends sounds good, and persuades me more.

Finally though - is it not possible to make offers to these people with properties. Do they actually know who's staying with them and how we could help benefit their trade in the future or through means of what we do? Do you bargain with these people? I'm sure like most of us they'd rather have some than none. Did you try haggling it down? If not you can always pass the email addy on to me to try.

Your recipient is right - the pictures don't do that place justice, so to us right now it's not worth 7000 euro. It has a pool but no decent picture. You should state that because of the poor representation it's not worth the asking price - I mean, there's a photo of some wall shapes for a start. A view looking out of the front door. The photographer was obviously drunk at the time and not even creatively drunk. Just pressing buttons I think

Also, you could ask to scratch the daily maid and the preperation service, which must be a good 500 of the euro they're asking for, if not 1000. In fact they say there is a cook too so that could be 2000 of it! Maybe you "gentlemen" (ha) are looking for an all out Italian experience right from your HQ but I certainly don't need people there wiping my bum. I get the impression they'll be very "Hmm what are they up to on my property" type of people with a very watchful eye and well.......it just seems extremely creepy :/

Disco's place is more like "Yeah. A place with a roof in italy, for cheap, with air con and a pool. Oh, and a decent photo of the pool. Do whatever the **** you want!!11" which to me says inviting - but I don't know. My perception of inviting is definitely different to most other people! I guess it could be thrilling to think you're going to have a maid looking after you, a couple and a cook, as you trounce around in their antique house. But that to me is [thumbdown], or [sometwistedsequeltohugoshouseofhorrors]

I say this because I realise a lot of people are finacially okay with these sort of things, but it's amazing to me how the trend now is just to go to bigger, better, more expensive places. I'm in the minority I know and thats fine and it's just as fine if you do go ahead and book this place, just some friendly advice. I think it's a rip-off, by which I mean, I think the people offering the place are ripping US off. Shit photos and a sob story about them could mean it's actually quite a shit place. Anyway, lets look at previous costs of accomodation:

Mittens 02: £25 camping
Mittens 03: Free some camping
Mittens 04: Free
Mittens 05: £60 camping
Mittens 06: £60 camping
Mittens 07: Dunno, log cabin, surely £150+
Mittens 08: £150
Mittens 09: Dunno, again, private villa maybe £150
Mittens 10: £290

This year would be a massive increase. Is that 150 extra pounds for a chateaux? Or for the sunshine? Cos I've had those before for less! So if it's all hardcore-AGSers again why don't we just go camping in Rome? Cheap, traditional & fun. + its ok to stink at Mittens And its ok for your sisters dog to stink too.

Anyway your one re-assurance keeps me in the park for now, AGA, cheers.

There's always an idea to do two at the same time, and meet up. You can organise Mittens l'esperienza and I'll organise  Mittens massiccia celebrazione ubriaco

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

The economic climate is also responsible for price inflation, mods.  5 years ago this same place was probably a good 50-150 euros less (per person).  Any nice place you're bound to find is going to seem rather expensive by comparison to previous outings, I'm sure.

[m0ds]

Understood Progz, but that's surely the point where you realise it's worth reverting back to the older, cheaper methods. They were by no means any less enjoyable or satisfying That or people just need to re-define what they're classing as "nice", or perhaps have completely re-defined it already. The cost seems attributed to the services they're providing to me. But understandably people flying from afar would prefer a pampering so that's why people are prepared to pay. But I don't want that pampering, that's why the price becomes a problem. That and it just not existing

[Becky]

Miami was only slightly less expensive than the house AGA is suggesting.

FYI telling the rental folks that we're a group of twentysomethings doesnt actually help matters, they usually expect that to mean its more likely to get trashed.  We're not any different to any other group of friends wanting to rent a villa in a competitive area in Tuscany, there's no bargaining to be had here - what have we got to offer them that would make them consider giving us a discount?

If you want to look for campsites, then feel free, but it seems like over the last few years (since 2007) that renting somewhere more private is the way things are going as less of us are students and more of us have full time jobs. 

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I don't disagree there.  Wasn't Berian like 5 years old at the first Mittens, though   ?  Times and tastes change and some of the oldbies may not want to go back to their Salad Days of camping.