Saturday, February 26, 2005

LONDON

if i understand correctly, you are all at least planning on spending the first night with me in london. if this is the case, we need to go ahead and book a hotel. i can do that for you, but i need the money. the cheapest hotel in london for us will be with two rooms that can sleep 3 or 4. ( about £20 a person) if you can, give nathan $40 ASAP, and he can put in my account. when that's done, i will book the hotel (assuming i can still get that rate). if we don't book a hotel now, we will have a hell of a time finding somewhere to stay, and could end up spending £30 or £40 each. if i am able to get something cheaper, i'll return the difference to you guys. if this isn't agreeable for some reason, please email me now.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

TEN DAYS!!!

Sunday, February 20, 2005

start packing

gonna give you guys a rundown of a few of the things you might should bring that i wouldn't have thought of, not being here (and in fact, i didn't). plus, an idea of what i can figure out of fashion here.
rule number one: (not that i think you actually have any) no burberry, just DON'T bring it.
boots are good, especially any flat soled ones or cowboy boots (and any that look like you stuck your foot in an animal!- girls only)
any pointy shoes are ok, no matter what atrocious color they are, and heels (girls only, PLEASE).
otherwise, 'smart trainers' are typical: pumas, adidas, or other sports brand that isn't a tennis shoe (guys and girls- tennis shoes are ok for guys too).
(actually black is a good color for any of the above)
contrary to what you'd think, don't bring sweaters unless you can wear them without a jacket. maybe a sweatshirt, and button or zip-up sweaters may be ok, but its best to bring a warm jacket, and short sleeves. that will keep you warm outside without being hot inside. for clubs, girls will want to wear tank tops or halters (i'm serious, you'll burn up), and jeans/pants or a short skirt (you can bring the jeans either way). pants can be of just about any style, cargo, cord, or parachute. i'd advise against any sports pants. bring a scarf, gloves, and if you have it, a hat (guys can do knit).
if you have a skirt that isn't above the knees (hopefully only girls) it should be really long. (girls here generally don't wear tights unless they're fishnet, so i'd recommend not wearing a skirt except maybe to a club.)
guys all have medium-short hair or mullets and wear gel a lot (doesn't mean you have to cut it, but just so you know); girls usually do lowish ponytails or straighten ( i have straighteners if you want to use them)- the weather can make it frizz, and any color or combination thereof
t-shirts don't happen to girls as far as i can tell, but guys wear them or jerseys. girls tend to wear anything but polos or tshirts, sometimes with strange layers.
generally speaking, the weather is cold and windy, but not deathly, and its warm inside. clubs are stifling and accessories are whatever you want.
you probably want to bring a shoulder bag (guys too), and you won't be able to leave anything anywhere unless you decide to at my school and come back before going home, so pack light! girls can take a small purse into a club, but jackets have to be checked, so don't plan on taking a lot out with you. i wouldn't bring a backpack, cause you can't watch it, but you can.
thats my take. do what you want now. if you have any questions, just ask.
also, i have a couple things i'd like you to bring for me:
fishnets (mine died)
everclear (they don't have anything that strong)
goldfish (the brits love them and can't get them)
by the way, you can get a (litre?) bottle of absolute on the plane for 10 or 15 dollars- thats cheaper than you'll get here or there, and if you want, we can have a party one night (sunday?) in someone's flat.
are you getting excited yet?

Saturday, February 19, 2005

because you wont...

i am planning your trip for you. because it isn't planned yet and you have less than two weeks. if you hate the plan, chuck it. but it's the only one you've really got right now, too. so here it is:
saturday, 5 march: london, shopping, walking, sightseeing or whatever, then maybe a club.
sunday, 6 march: london, fettish fair then to northampton, crash in my tiny room.
monday, 7 march: northampton, hang out, go to time club.
tuesday, 8 march: to london for flight to italy (rome?).
wednesday, 9 march: rome, then to london, or one more night in rome.
thurscay, 10 march: to london or (if already there) to dublin.
friday, 11 march: dublin.
saturday, 12 march: either london for dkm or possibly amsterdam and/or scotland (if the group wanted to split and go two ways)
sunday, 13 march: wherever we went yesterday.
monday, 14 march: back to london for flight home.

ok, so let me know what you think of this. please?

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

too busy to fcuk

(saw it on a tshirt in fcuk this weekend)
hey is there any way we could have an online meeting of the csc who are gonna be in england? i really want to talk to all you guys, and i think it would be easier for me to put in my comments rather than y'all having a meeting, then talking to me and having to have another meeting, etc. also i could get a better feel for stuff. i can be online just about any time on most days. if you get on aim, you can create a chatroom easily and invite everyone to join. which i will do if you can all agree on a time most of us could meet.
we are running out of time, people.

i've been in oxford all weekend, just got back last night, but i will update my blog in the next day or so.

Friday, February 04, 2005

aim

for grace and anyone else who doesn't already use aim, if you want to, just go to www.aim.com and either download it (pretty small), or use aim express. you can go directly to aim express here: www.aim.com/get_aim/express/aim_expr.adp
you'll need to create a login and password.
to contact me, either add me to your buddy list by clicking setup, add buddy, then type my name, or just click chat, and put my name in the box at the top.
my aim name is eilonwy01 (that's zero-one).
i will try to be online around 5:30 or 6 your time tonight if possible, so you can talk to me then. otherwise, just login to aim everytime you get online and if i am there you will see me. if you get aim, could you please leave a comment to this with your aim name? thanks

um, i'm revising that

after looking at all info, and trying to actually plot stuff out within 9 days, i don't think you guys are gonna be able to do all you want. i think we're gonna have to narrow it down. i'm not saying this because of preference or anything, and i am such a situation manipulator, i like to fit everything in. but i just don't think it is POSSIBLE to do all those places in such a short amount of time. also, i understand i'm not the only one with limited resources. and we're looking at about £50 for travel for each of some of these places. not to be a spoilsport, but i'm thinking itd be a good idea to do something a little simpler, for example, maybe london and northampton for fetish fair and local clubs, then maybe italy, maybe a day in dublin, then back to london for dkm. that will minimize the hassle and cost of travel and trying to find 8 different hostels. ok, NOW let me know what you think...

Thursday, February 03, 2005

my recommendation

alright, people, here's the deal. looking at planes, i'm thinking if we try to go all these places, we are gonna end up spending a lot of money, and having to go back to london a lot of times to try to catch planes and stuff. also, amsterdam, venice, and rome are well expensive. so i think we should get passes:
britrail passes(england, scotland, wales)-
3 days plus 2 days car rental about $275 a person (thats 2 ppl per car)
4 days unlimited $157 (might be cheaper for group)
eurailpass(anywhere in europe except uk)
15 days about $400 a person
5 days within 2 months $241 (three countries i think)

(sorry, anon, its more for you (cause you're old) if you decide to do that with us)

my thoughts are fly to the cheapest place we can in europe and use the eurailpass(i think the 5 days), then fly from paris to dublin and back to england in time for dkm. if you guys wanna hang out in london, we can get the london pass (unlimited bus and tube for three days) and/or we can spend some time in northampton or get a britrail for 4 days.
assuming this, this is how the money would add up:
$25 (estimate) flight to somewhere in europe
$241 eurailpass (5 days)
$25 (estimate) paris to dublin
$25 (estimate) dublin to london
$134 britrail (4 days- for all 7 of us)
$20 dkm tickets
$26 london pass

about $500 total (plus lodging on nights we aren't on train or at ucn and food- i can live on about$20 a week with groceries)


i know you guys had it all figured out where you want to go, and i don't want to make your meeting useless, but if you knew how much time i've spent looking stuff up for you on the internet, maybe you wouldn't mind. you can still go those places, too, it will just be a little extra for transport to ireland (less than $20 in some cases) and to europe.
if we bought passes, we could go anywhere we wanted still, and if we changed our mind, it'd be ok. also, some trips can be got overnight, so we could sleep on the trains. overnight trains also offer sleeping accomodations (though i don't know if, or how much, it would cost more). also, if people wanted to go two different places, there's no problem with splitting up for a day or two.
so that's my recommendation. what do you think?

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

i hate being a bitch

not to nag, people. but.... do you see the counter over there? there is little time left. i cannot help you in the way you want if i don't get some more information. if i don't hear from you soon, i'm thinking i'll go ahead and write out a tentative schedule for while you all are here, and you can just critique it and adjust it. and RUSSELL, HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR PASSPORT??? if you don't, its a little too late to get a new one; please find it, as i don't want to not have you here. britrail passes must be purchased ASAP. they have to be purchased from the us and shipped before you leave. i've also found 'paris visite' travel card which provides unlimited metro and bus use for a day for $12 (this is like the london freedom pass). dkm tickets still available, we'll see which city fits closest to our plans.