Baitcon?
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2017 08:19:00 +0000
I've been thinking about going to Baitcon again. I liked it, but it was so far to go for just a weekend. It's grown to 3 days lately, and that makes the destination more attractive for the driving. I've just consulted Google Maps. It's 381 miles (613km) (6:13) to Baitcon, and 275 miles (443km) (4:46) to Pennsic. And I'd been thinking Pennsic was farther than I cared to drive for a week; a better deal for 2 weeks - which I was more inclined to do when I had 3 weeks vacation. Now that I have 4 weeks PTO I'm even more inclined to give up a couple of days for Baitcon.
GoogMaps: It's really not fair to say air-travel time to Pennsic is 55 minutes when it takes another hour of driving from the Pittsburgh airport (which means renting a car, which will sit idle for a week or two - or arranging some kind of ride both ways between the airport and Pennsic*), and at least half an hour to get to a DC airport. If you drive to the local airport, it takes time to park (and costs a fair amount for a week or two). It takes time to check in, and to clear security.
The real problem with flying to Pennsic is that you're camping. You're not staying in a motel. You're not taking just clothes and toiletries and your favorite electronics. You need a tent. You need a sleeping bag. You want a cot or an air mattress. If you're cooking (since you are eating), you'll probably want a stove, cooler, utensils, and the food and libations themselves. And you're not taking just "clothes", but garb - period garb, and perhaps a lot of it, depending on your persona and your role/duties in the SCA. And you'll probably want to take a whole lot more - crafts/supplies, arms, armor (depending). If there's electronics you can't do without, you also need to bring power for them - lots of batteries, or solar panels, etc.
How are you going to get all your stuff to the airport? From the airport to Pennsic? From check-in to your campsite at Pennsic, if not in your own car/truck? And what kind of baggage charge is the airline going to hit you with? You're going to have be coming a long way, and travelling very light (for Pennsic), to come by air. Possibly you could arrange for more-local people to provide some of your needs (loaner tents, etc). Or you could ship things to someone near enough to drive them the rest of the way, and meet you on site.
*And you may have trouble taking a car into the campground that's not staying for Pennsic. You certainly don't want to be dropped off at check-in with all your gear; it is a long walk with a load to most of the campsites.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/883197.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I've been thinking about going to Baitcon again. I liked it, but it was so far to go for just a weekend. It's grown to 3 days lately, and that makes the destination more attractive for the driving. I've just consulted Google Maps. It's 381 miles (613km) (6:13) to Baitcon, and 275 miles (443km) (4:46) to Pennsic. And I'd been thinking Pennsic was farther than I cared to drive for a week; a better deal for 2 weeks - which I was more inclined to do when I had 3 weeks vacation. Now that I have 4 weeks PTO I'm even more inclined to give up a couple of days for Baitcon.
GoogMaps: It's really not fair to say air-travel time to Pennsic is 55 minutes when it takes another hour of driving from the Pittsburgh airport (which means renting a car, which will sit idle for a week or two - or arranging some kind of ride both ways between the airport and Pennsic*), and at least half an hour to get to a DC airport. If you drive to the local airport, it takes time to park (and costs a fair amount for a week or two). It takes time to check in, and to clear security.
The real problem with flying to Pennsic is that you're camping. You're not staying in a motel. You're not taking just clothes and toiletries and your favorite electronics. You need a tent. You need a sleeping bag. You want a cot or an air mattress. If you're cooking (since you are eating), you'll probably want a stove, cooler, utensils, and the food and libations themselves. And you're not taking just "clothes", but garb - period garb, and perhaps a lot of it, depending on your persona and your role/duties in the SCA. And you'll probably want to take a whole lot more - crafts/supplies, arms, armor (depending). If there's electronics you can't do without, you also need to bring power for them - lots of batteries, or solar panels, etc.
How are you going to get all your stuff to the airport? From the airport to Pennsic? From check-in to your campsite at Pennsic, if not in your own car/truck? And what kind of baggage charge is the airline going to hit you with? You're going to have be coming a long way, and travelling very light (for Pennsic), to come by air. Possibly you could arrange for more-local people to provide some of your needs (loaner tents, etc). Or you could ship things to someone near enough to drive them the rest of the way, and meet you on site.
*And you may have trouble taking a car into the campground that's not staying for Pennsic. You certainly don't want to be dropped off at check-in with all your gear; it is a long walk with a load to most of the campsites.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/883197.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]