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Sorry! I thought it was fun

That reminds me to apply for an international drivers licence. Is it so much trouble to drive through LA? The only bigger city I frequently drive through is Hamburg.

It has a reputation for being very congested and freeways usually packaged at certain hours since apparently everyone drives. I have never been though so going purely on public knowledge. We will be in a more suburban area from the looks of things, so won't be too bad I'm sure.

That roadtrip is post-mittens activity, right?

It is the weekdays leading up to Mittens. We are flying into SF and leaving for Anaheim on check-in day.

Oh.. and Christina and I apply for a double bedroom as well

Yep you are one of the three couples that are occupying the private rooms. Berian and Jen have assumed control over the Master bedroom though, which is fitting now that he is Mittens King in the absence of CJ.

[CARS!]

Hello again.

Just a quick update to let you know that I, in cooperation with Grundislav, sent in the final payment just now. We are now 100% legal!

I had a telephone conversation with the owner, and she confirmed that we can always add people after this time. Whether it is simply taken from the security deposit or a separate payment made at the time of commitment, no problems.


As for the twelve of us, it is time to start planning our transportations. We will need either three cars (4 each), or possibly one car and one van (5 and 7 respectively). I guess it will come down to a price/comfort threshhold.


One car is already spoken for as we have a small roadtrip that is coming from San Francisco, so just need one or two more drivers that are willing to brave the congested streets of Los Angeles. I see two larger-city drivers on the list (that I know of), so be warned that I am officially calling you out!

CARS!

Car #1:
Kenneth
Cato
Berian
Jennifer H

Car #2:
Dave
Janet
X
X

Convertible:
Grundislav
X
X
X

Surely there have got to be slightly more practical ships to build than the Enterprise at this point in our history. May I suggest a Firefly vessel such as Serenity as an alternative?

The ship is 269 feet (82 m) long, 170 feet (52 m) at its widest point, and stands 79 feet (24 m) high when landed. Serenity weighs 282,500 pounds (128,100 kg), is capable of carrying 164,900 pounds (74,800 kg) of cargo and 18 passengers, can achieve an acceleration of 4.2 g, and has a maximum range of 440 astronomical units when carrying minimal cargo.

Disregarding the mechanical and computer bits (or interior decoration), the current cost of 282,500 lbs of aerospace-grade titanium is about $11,300,000. This is close to the amount that the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi spent on a Christmas tree in 2010.

Labor costs would be a bitch, And the rest of the components like engines and turbines would cost many times more, but probably not nearly as much as the First Generation Enterprise.

It looks like we won't have any more people join in before the final payment is due in 20 days, so we should start planning for how to make up the difference.

$3,300 is the total for 12 people. $2,885 has already been sent in, leaving a difference of $415 which unfortunately needs to be shared by everyone who has already paid.

I will email the owner to let her know about the number change and see if that impacts anything at all. From what I gather from previous conversations with her, it is possible we can add people after the due date. However, it could get a little complicated (but not impossible) to equalise the costs between all of us if we do that.

The base rent is $3,100 for 12 people + $200 for cleaning. The cost per additional person is $175 for the week. We had 20 people wanting to come, making the rent $4,700.

I told the owner after a few weeks of collecting that we may not get the numbers we stated initially. She said not to worry as we will only be charged for the number of people we have in the end, not how much we promised.

No matter what happens, we must pay $3,300. I was simply warning that if no one else comes, the new rent for the twelve of us will be $275, hence the $40.

Hello again.

This is your One Month warning for the final payment, people! The amount we are supposed to pay this time is $2,350, which is still based on 20 attendees.

Thankfully, since we are at the minimum attendees right now, we are only on the hook for either ourselves or as many more people that will show in the end. The managers will adjust the fee for each person less.

As of right now, those of us who have already paid will have to pay in another $40 if there are no new attedees. This amount decreases slightly for each person toward 20, at which point no one will owe any extra.

*nevermind*

Some of us are planning a road trip down from Seattle. I hope to reach LAX sometime around early afternoon the first day of Mittens.

We cannot check in before 5pm, so getting beds should be fine. So far there are not enough attendees to warrant getting the air mattresses out, we might not get to that point.

Speaking of beds, it should be noted that we have three couples so far, and there are three bedrooms meant for only two people. Those should be considered taken now. Left are two rooms of various numbers of bunk beds, and the pullouts in the living and game rooms.

Hah! Thanks for catching that. The Kickstarter I based this off ends on a Friday XD

[Deposit Update:]

I have vague plans of staying in the area for about a week afterward. Doing what exactly, I do not yet know.

High on my wish list is renting a convertible and driving around LA siteseeing, particularly the Capital Records building, Hollywood, that makeout point that is in all the movies, and cruising around Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Maybe go further up the coast into wine country?

It would be preferable to have travel mates during the post-Mittens days, so planning something together would be for the best.

Deposit Update: So far 4 people have paid, all within three hours of when I started accepting payments, but I have not recieved any more in the last two days. The initial payment is in almost 3 days. While I can make an extra payment, I can only do ONE extra one right now, so need at least 6 more people to send in theirs. If not, I will have to come up with a contingency and we risk losing the house for those dates.

[About this Project:]

About this Project:

A summer holiday adventure in beautiful Downtown Anaheim, California. Mittens is the annual real-life meeting for adventure game creators mostly from the AGS community.

The location will be the unparalleled Ultimate SoCal Vacation Homes â€" Garden Retreat II.

Arrival Times:

Arriving by car - ETA at Mittens house 17:00
Disco
Esseb
AGA
Jen

ProgZMax - 06:30 at Anaheim Amtrak Station
Dave - 14:57 at SNA, United Airlines 1010
Janet - 14:57 at SNA, United Airlines 1010
Snarky - 18:57 at LAX, US Airways 701
Abstauber - 21:25 at SNA, United Airlines 1177
Christina - 21:25 at SNA, United Airlines 1177
Grundislav - 22:30 at LAX, American Airlines 629
Misja

Yeah, sorry just got a little apprehensive. Talking to Grundy now and we are sure about the Anaheim house. I just got a little anxious about misunderstanding the bed situation. Apparently there is plenty and I just got confused by the formatting on that page :p

That house I linked just now seems alright at first, but I dug deeper and it is very suspect. The other five places I contacted were either similarly suspect or too much.

So by next Friday (26th) we will need to send them $2,650. If about 10-11 people can pay in full by then we should have no problem booking.

I can start taking payments now. Please Paypal $235 to impressiveowl@gmail.com in order to get this first payment due sorted out within a week. This is the per-person rate based on 20. Soon after I make the deposit, I will start a new thread that we can discuss official things now that we are beyond the pre-planning stages

[nevermind]

I thought we were leaning towards the place Grundislav listed that sleeps 24?

I was referring to the property that was most recently suggested (not the previous one that you found out only sleeps 11 in beds) that does indeed sleep up to 24. Sorry if that wasn't clear in my update.

Hey everyone, I have an update!

Grundy and I are co-hosting this year. He is taking care of the security deposit while I act as PR/liaison. I sent an inquirey, got a response, and had a telephone conversation with the owner yesterday. The property is available for those dates, but she wanted to speak with me first because they normally do not rent to groups of adults only. Apparently they have had issues with some wild party groups causing disturbances in the neighbourhood, but once I explained more about our group and our activities and interests she gave us the okay.

The property has an unlisted pullout couch in the game room that they did not include in the totals because the room is unheated (being in late August this should be no issue though). This makes the total for sleeping in beds 19 without using any air mattresses, but mostly doubling up except for the bunk bed.

Total based on 20 people is $4,700, so $235 each. Every additional person up to 24 adds $175 to the overall, while each person less down to 12 decreases it by the same.

Good to see a solid interest now I'll contact Grundy when I get home tonight to see if we can go ahead with the booking.

Hmm, that seems more reasonable and the luxury is comparable to what we are used to. If it fits more people comfortably and is roughly the same cost as the other house, this may be the ticket.

@Dave: Grundy and I have been searching for the last week in August. If we do it from August 24-31 that will give you five days buffer space. It would be great to see you and Janet for more than a few hours at a time for once so hope you can make it  

Does that Friday to Friday plus the weekend sound okay for everyone? I plan on spending some time in the area before and after. We could do another weekend after Mittens in a hostel somewhere like we did in Dublin, though I'm not sure if Los Angeles is conducive to that kind of travel.

Wow, that place definitely has my vote for location and sexiness! Being available one of our most common Mittens weeks is a sign.

I came up with $259 / â,¬198 / £165 / 246 AUD / 1,495 NOK each based on 20. Seems to be one of the more convenient locations in regards to transportation and amenities that we have considered so far.

Count me in  8)

For numbers, I came up with the following:

Layabout  (1)
Grundislav
Darth
Disco
Miez (5)
Snarky
Limpingfish
ProgZ
Bicilotti
AGA (10)
Jen
Dave
Janet
Abstauber
Mrs. Abstauber (15)
Pesty
CJ
Esseb
Jake
Suicidal pencil (20)
The Triumphant Return of Andail

There were others who expressed interest but seemed kinda doubtful so I left them off. We will probably add and subtract as usual, but this list seems the most likely from this thread.


Date wise, I think only Berian, Jen, and myself have expressed any preferred slot. August seems to work for everyone so far. Does anyone else have any date suggestions??

first

Codependent!