On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 02:34:03PM -0700, Fred Baker wrote:
our Asian colleagues, that means flying to a major US or Canadian airport
like EWR, ORD, or YYQ, and taking another flight to YQB.
[other air routings elided]
Also, note, the passenger rail service to Québec from either Montréal
or Toronto is not frequent; not real fast; not convenient; and not
especially cheap, given that Canada partly came into existence as an
excuse to run rails across the continent. So your alternative options
for travel are somewhat limited [1].
The above diversion aside, I think there are really two topics being
discussed, not always separately, in this thread, and I think the one
I (at least) think is more important is not getting exposed as well as
it might.
1. The IAOC sometimes picks places that are $wrong_somehow. I find
this issue hard to get worked up about, and I find I have little
sympathy with arguments talking about how inconvenient travel to
$location is. I'm aware I don't have the onerous travel obligations
some do, and perhaps there is a real problem I don't understand.
Nevertheless, if we're going to have single large physical meetings of
international contributors, some people are always going to have to be
inconvenienced. It's good for the community, I think, if sometimes
those of us from North America (and large North American cities, at
that) are the inconvenienced ones.
2. It is hard to understand what the IAOC is doing, and what factors
weigh in their decisions. This is partly because the IAOC minutes
aren't published as quickly as perhaps some would like; and, when they
are, they do not contain as much detail as some might like, either.
(This basic issue is doing a lot of the important work in John
Klensin's arguments, for instance, and though he's stated this fairly
clearly, I don't have the impression it's getting as much attention as
it ought.) To the extent we think this issue is a real one, it seems
to me that it's important to get this one fixed.
If I am right about these two different topics, then (if we are to
continue this thread) I'd prefer to hear clearly stated arguments --
and suggestions for improvements -- about (2). If (2) is true, then
(1) is just a symptom, and not a compelling one for some of us.
Best regards,
Andrew
[1] That said, if you can put up with the hassles of getting to the
train from wherever you land, and the fair chance that your train will
not have functioning climate control or will fail to run on time (or
both), some of the route is pretty and worth looking at from a train.
Also, Via Rail's seats are quite comfortable and, in my experience,
the staff are loads more cheerful than the surly lot that seems to
have taken over Air Canada in recent years. Since this is not yet
officially the grouse-about-lousy-travel-options list, however, I'll
stop with my reviews now.
--
Andrew Sullivan
ajs(_at_)shinkuro(_dot_)com
Shinkuro, Inc.
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