Worldcon 2020: Wellington New Zealand

[The Anti-Targ]

Yay, I guess. Welcome to my 'hood anyway. But dress warm and dry. July/August is pretty much the worst time of year to visit my fair city. But at least that will help keep you inside most of the time.

I'll probably still be living here, if so there'll be a couple of beds available for those who offer the best bribes.

Oh, and GRRM will be the toastmaster.

[Lil Red Head]

So tempting! I'm not sure how I feel about 24 hours of travel though. :/ And would we travel from the US or from Europe? Any thoughts on which is better?

[The Anti-Targ]

13 hours ago, Lil Red Head said:

So tempting! I'm not sure how I feel about 24 hours of travel though. :/ And would we travel from the US or from Europe? Any thoughts on which is better?

There are direct flights to NZ from a few places in the USA (and Canada), LA, San Fran, Houston, and soon Chicago. There are no direct flights from Europe.

When I'm travelling to and from the USA for work I personally prefer to fly into Aussie (Melbourne or Sydney) and then directly into Wellington. The only direct flights from the USA are into Auckland and doing the domestic transfer to catch a flight from Auckland to Wellington, after going through immigration and all that, is a hassle. But if you want to fly into AKL early and make your way to Wellington at your leisure then a direct flight is the way to go.

If you time things right, total travel time from mid / west USA can be down to 16-17hrs.

It's funny that people hesitate at 24 hrs of travelling and hanging in airports. For us what live here that's just a fact of life for 90% of the international travel we might want to do.

 

[Wolfgang I]

It is very tempting. I got some distant relatives in Australia and might combine Worldcon with visiting them. 

[Lil Red Head]

7 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

There are direct flights to NZ from a few places in the USA (and Canada), LA, San Fran, Houston, and soon Chicago. There are no direct flights from Europe.

When I'm travelling to and from the USA for work I personally prefer to fly into Aussie (Melbourne or Sydney) and then directly into Wellington. The only direct flights from the USA are into Auckland and doing the domestic transfer to catch a flight from Auckland to Wellington, after going through immigration and all that, is a hassle. But if you want to fly into AKL early and make your way to Wellington at your leisure then a direct flight is the way to go.

If you time things right, total travel time from mid / west USA can be down to 16-17hrs.

It's funny that people hesitate at 24 hrs of travelling and hanging in airports. For us what live here that's just a fact of life for 90% of the international travel we might want to do.

 

Oh I recognize that I'm ridiculously spoiled when it comes to plane times. I've been in Denver for a while, and it's generally 2-3 hours to most places; a four hour flight seems long!

And we've been looking at flights to places around Europe from where we are in the Netherlands and again, it seems like a lot of places are in that same 2-3 hour timeframe, so spoiled again. The flight over from the US is generally 9-ish hours, and I'm getting used to that. I trick my mind into thinking it's night, so that's my sleep time, and when we arrive, that's my day.  (At least, I don't mind the flight so much when I can sleep, but that always depends on my neighbors).

I haven't done a flights of longer than 10 hours I don't think, so an 18+ hour flight seems a little intimidating. Any tips for the longer flights?

[DaveAx]

15 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

It's funny that people hesitate at 24 hrs of travelling and hanging in airports. For us what live here that's just a fact of life for 90% of the international travel we might want to do.

 

Back in the 80's, I was doing programming for the US Bankruptcy Courts. We had an annual user's meeting here in Philly for the staff of the various court locations that used our software. One fellow needed nearly two days of travel in each direction, because he was the systems manager for the branch of the courts located in Guam.

[The Anti-Targ]

10 hours ago, Lil Red Head said:

Oh I recognize that I'm ridiculously spoiled when it comes to plane times. I've been in Denver for a while, and it's generally 2-3 hours to most places; a four hour flight seems long!

And we've been looking at flights to places around Europe from where we are in the Netherlands and again, it seems like a lot of places are in that same 2-3 hour timeframe, so spoiled again. The flight over from the US is generally 9-ish hours, and I'm getting used to that. I trick my mind into thinking it's night, so that's my sleep time, and when we arrive, that's my day.  (At least, I don't mind the flight so much when I can sleep, but that always depends on my neighbors).

I haven't done a flights of longer than 10 hours I don't think, so an 18+ hour flight seems a little intimidating. Any tips for the longer flights?

Longest single flight from the USA is 12 hrs. If you fly from the West coast it's more like 10-11. If you are a sleeper then get a window-seat so you don't have to keep getting up to let the people out who want to walk / pee constantly. If you want easy access to the toilet or just to walk around, get an aisle seat. Get a neck pillow, much easier for sleeping more or less upright. Other than that, just grin and bear it. At least there's plenty of movies to watch.

I think there is one 18 hr flight direct to/from NZ and that's Dubai. Though it might be 16hrs.

[lady narcissa]

21 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

There are direct flights to NZ from a few places in the USA (and Canada), LA, San Fran, Houston, and soon Chicago. 

I had no idea about direct flights from Chicago!  Just looked at the flight times and they've got 16 hours to New Zealand and 14 hours for the return flight.  And its less expensive than I would have thought.

[The Anti-Targ]

13 minutes ago, lady narcissa said:

I had no idea about direct flights from Chicago!  Just looked at the flight times and they've got 16 hours to New Zealand and 14 hours for the return flight.  And its less expensive than I would have thought.

I think they start flying in November. I'll be in Chicago for work in 2 week's time, but I will have to fly in via Houston or the west coast.

[lady narcissa]

24 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I think they start flying in November. I'll be in Chicago for work in 2 week's time, but I will have to fly in via Houston or the west coast.

Yes, they were advertising on their website regarding the dates and seem to be having an airfare sale for the first 6 months or so.

Regarding Chicago, if you want to know anything Chicago related for your trip or if you have time for a quick hey when you are here, let me know.  But I know with work travel there is sometimes no time for anything non-work related.

[The Anti-Targ]

1 minute ago, lady narcissa said:

Yes, they were advertising on their website regarding the dates and seem to be having an airfare sale for the first 6 months or so.

Regarding Chicago, if you want to know anything Chicago related for your trip or if you have time for a quick hey when you are here, let me know.  But I know with work travel there is sometimes no time for anything non-work related.

At the moment it looks like I'll have time on my hands. I have a conference on the 5th and 6th (Weds & Thurs), then nothing Friday and Saturday and then off to DC on Sunday.

I'll hit you up with a PM with more details.

[arantius]

On 8/22/2018 at 11:46 AM, The Anti-Targ said:

Yay, I guess. Welcome to my 'hood anyway. But dress warm and dry. July/August is pretty much the worst time of year to visit my fair city. But at least that will help keep you inside most of the time.

I'll probably still be living here, if so there'll be a couple of beds available for those who offer the best bribes.

Oh, and GRRM will be the toastmaster.

Great promo video, I love it!

[Cuellar]

I'll be there, probably will do a stopover in Fiji with the wife/kids.   Usually you can fly out of LAX to Auckland with a stopover in Fiji for an extra +$100. 

 

[Targh]

I intend to be there, but we'll see how plans go.

[SamanthaofHodorsfield]

I was planning to go, but the change of dates has somewhat buggered me. I'm not ruling it out entirely, but will have to catch el bosso (the manager) on a good day.

[Lady Isis]

You Rippa... just across the ditch! Very Tempting indeed..

[lady narcissa]

A nice promotion for New Zealand and Worldcon courtesy of GRRM and Air New Zealand:

http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/21/thanks-new-zealand/

 

[felice]

Membership rates are going up at the end of next week, so now is a good time to join up if you're planning to attend. You can pay in installments rather than all at once if you prefer.