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RE: IETF 78 Annoucement

2009-05-26 10:17:58
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On 26 mei 2009, at 23:33, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:

However, the Netherlands only has a single airport with decent
connections and ground transportation. For those of us traveling to
IETF-78 from within Europe it's still doable (probably have to
sacrifice the friday afternoon sessions, though) but I'm glad I don't
have to fly in from the US west coast or Asia.

First to respond to Iljitsch comments of more plausible venues.
The major issue here in NL are Hotels, not conference centers.
That's because conference attendees usually don't stay over in NL, but go home 
to wife and kids in this densely populated country. The trip home is on average 
about an hour from any congress location.
The largest hotel in NL is yet to be build, and has a capacity of 500 rooms. 
All other hotels are (much) smaller, and they usually are for tourists.
There are cities that have a joint hotel capacity for an IETF, but if you don't 
want to end up in Youth hostels, Budget Hotels or sloppy Airport hotels with no 
facilities at all in the hotel or neighborhood, there are 3 places left. So 
Utrecht and Rotterdam are not viable options due to spreading out over too many 
and too uncomfortable hotels.
Some of us don't mind about hotel quality, but other frequent travelers do. An 
IETF should provide capacity for both.
Maastricht wouldn't have been my first choice due to the absence of an 
International airport, but I'm sure the location was chosen because of other 
logistics that could not be met in Amsterdam or The Hague.

You might also have noticed that there are multiple sponsors for this meeting, 
none of them being major international corporations.
None of these sponsors could carry the sponsoring budget all by themselves, but 
they all wanted to contribute to make your cost less.
That might also explain the choice of the venue, as there are sponsors from NL, 
BE and DE.
If you don't want sponsors like that anymore, and only choose large 
multinationals that don't care about location of the meeting, fine. You'll have 
less sponsors to choose from, and end up in the same places like Minneapolis 
every time.

And perhaps it's time to tranquilize some people.
I live in the south of the Netherlands, and I have to make the journey to/from 
Amsterdam/Brussels/Paris/Frankfurt airport on EVERY IETF or other trip that 
involves flying.
And I travel 100 km to work every day, which takes me less time than to get 
from an Amsterdam outskirt to Amsterdam center, so reach ability is something 
else than proximity.
There used to be scheduled domestic flights between Amsterdam Schiphol Airport 
and other Dutch airports like Maastricht-Aachen Airport, but they abolished 
them a number of years ago because the train between those airports was faster, 
cheaper, more frequent, more economical and more efficient than a flight.

I'll make sure there will be a good guide in due time.
But to give you some of my experiences in advance:

Train travel is the most used and comfortable way to reach an airport in 
Western Europe.
I find a taxi ride from any airport anywhere in the world more adventurous and 
risky than a train from Schiphol in the Netherlands.
Trains are clean, comfortable and run on schedule here.
You'll also find that this is more true on the Amsterdam-Maastricht intercity 
line than on local trains near Amsterdam/The Hague/Rotterdam.
Your figure of 80% trains that run on time is only because we consider a train 
late when it's 1 minute overdue, even when the next train is scheduled 15 
minutes later.
By that definition, a taxi ride during rush hour is less predictable, and will 
never run on time.

The 4 major International airports for Maastricht are Amsterdam, Brussels, 
Paris and Frankfurt.

Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
This is probably your best choice.
The train journey to Maastricht will take you 2:34 on weekdays, 2:50 in the 
weekends and runs every half hour between 5:02 and 22:14.
It involves 1 stopover in either Utrecht, 's-Hertogenbosch or Eindhoven, so 
there is enough choice and no reason for panic:

Schiphol--Utrecht--'s-Hertogenbosch--Eindhoven
          Utrecht--'s-Hertogenbosch--Eindhoven--Maastricht

Maastricht is an end station, so no reason to panic getting off. Everybody 
leaves the train in Maastricht, you will not miss your stop.

Brussels airport
Also a good choice, but with less international flights. If your airline does 
do Brussels, it's an excellent choice.
The train journey to Maastricht will take you 1:46 or 1:58 and runs every hour 
between 5:50 and 21:50.
It involves 1 stopover in Brussels:

Bruxelles-Nat.-Aéroport-- Brussel Noord/Bruxelles Nord
                          Brussel Noord/Bruxelles Nord--Maastricht


Paris Charles de Gaulle airport
Is a reasonable alternative if your airline doesn't do Amsterdam or Brussels.
The train journey to Maastricht will take you approx 3,5 hours, and includes 2 
stopovers.
First from Paris CDG to Paris Nord by RER, then take the TGV to Brussels, and 
then to Maastricht:

Aeroport Charles de Gaulle 1--Paris Nord
                              Paris Nord-- Bruxelles-Sud/Midi
                                           Bruxelles-Sud/Midi--Maastricht

Frankfurt airport
Is probably your worst choice.
Although there are lots of international flights, the train connection to 
Maastricht is poor.
There is a 1 stopover train via Utrecht which takes 5:21 and a 3 stopover 
journey that takes 4:25


So all things considered, I think taking a train is faster and more comfortable 
than having to change to a connecting flight to get anywhere that is not one of 
the major International hubs.
Sit back and relax, and consider it part of the journey, not just the final 
mile.

For more information (in English) on the trains and schedules, check out: 
http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers
(It includes schedules from Brussels/Paris/Frankfurt even though that's not in 
the Netherlands)
It even has manuals on how to buy a ticket from vending machines.

Furthermore. Maastricht is a compact, nice and ancient city, with lots of good 
restaurants and places to socialize.
It's also nice for the IETF crowd to find that the Netherlands is bigger than 
just Amsterdam, and atmosphere can be different with little space in between. 
Though the IETF crowd won't fit into one Hotel, most of the hotels will be in 
the proximity of the city center.
With the conference center at the edge of the city, I assume there will be 
shuttles accommodating the people that don't want to walk.
Not ideal, but just as San Diego and Dallas, it'll work out.
Hotels will be small, with rooms smaller and less luxurious than average 
massive US hotels, but food will no doubt be better and atmosphere less 
intimidating.

That's all the information I have right now, I'm sure more will follow.
I'm looking forward seeing you all in Maastricht next year.
 

Antoin Verschuren

Technical Policy Advisor
SIDN
Utrechtseweg 310
PO Box 5022
6802 EA Arnhem
The Netherlands

T +31 26 3525500
F +31 26 3525505
M +31 6 23368970
E antoin(_dot_)verschuren(_at_)sidn(_dot_)nl
W http://www.sidn.nl/
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