LPW 2011 carpooling

[Abigail]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 02:37:26PM +0100, David Cantrell wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 01:37:10PM +0100, Dirk Koopman wrote:
> > On 19/08/11 13:14, David Cantrell wrote:
> > >FWIW, my order of preference for travelling to and from the Netherlands
> > >would be Eurostar / City / Gatwick / Lydd (sorry, London Ashford) / boat
> > >from Harwich and failing that, don't travel.
> > Agreed, but always remember the "convenience and speed" of flying is 
> > illusory.
> 
> Which is why Eurostar first.
> 
> OK, so the unlimited free wine also helps.
> 
> When you take into account *useful* time, as opposed to merely travel
> time, it's amazing how far you can get by train and it still be no
> quicker to fly.  For YAPC::Vienna, there was no significant difference
> between train and plane, travelling from London, and going by train had
> the huge advantage of me sharing a sleeping compartment with Hot French
> Schoolgirls - although I actually spent most of the night drinking beer
> with Friendly Drunken Aussies.
> 
> If I'd flown, I'd have spent an evening at home hacking or reading a
> book, then got up early, endured the Misery Of Airports, and got into
> Vienna at about mid-day.  Travelling by train, I spent that evening
> hacking on the Eurostar, had a nice dinner in Paris with some friends,
> didn't have to get up early, and arrived in Vienna about mid-day.
> 


I've done LPWs by leaving home in the morning, arriving at the venue of
the LPW only second after Josette, and be back home in the evening.

I cannot do that with a train. If my choice is spending 1 hour in a 
pressurized tube with annoying people, or 6 hours in a slightly larger
unpressured tube, I pick the former. 



Abigail