2011 Belfast Conference

[Big Jon]

A thread for discussing the 2011 Ripper Conference to be held in Belfast and organised by Colin Cobb.

[Nathen Amin]

Being a gypo whilst I am excited that i have the possibility to visit NI for the first time (im very interested in the history the troubles and have an overwhelming desire to see the nationalistic murals) I am kinda worried about the prices. I am not a person who plans even a couple of days in advance (i bought my london coach tickets for the trip to the October conference 2 hours before the coach was due to leave lol) and can see me being lumbered with huge travel costs. If neone picks up any helpful tips/deals please post them in here for the spontaneous idiots amongst us

[Andrew Firth]

Repost from the other locked thread:

Graphics for the 2011 Jack the Ripper Conference....



All the best
Andrew

[Big Jon]

Looks good Andrew!

[Christian Jd]

Ok, great.
What does it mean for people outside of the UK though?

London's East End from Munich is a plane (ca 1,5 hours flight) and a tube. Costs all in all about 100-200 Euros.

Belfast (and I just checked) is a plane with a stop somewhere (presumably London) Total duration between 6 and 8 hours depending on time of day
(British Midland airline), costs around 450 Euros.
Then you're not even at the hotel.
To do that for a weekend (Friday in Sunday out) basically leaves Saturday to enjoy the conf.
All in all not really feasible.

How does it look from the USA? I suppose Belfast or London is no big difference when you consider a 9 hour flight to Europe anyway. But maybe having a stop in London first and then go to Belfast can add a few hours there as well.

How people from overseas managed it when the conf was somewhere out like Wolverhampton I don't know. A plane + a train + a coach?

Don't misunderstand me: seeing the Titanic sites would be very very interesting. It's just not reasonable to book that for a weekend and outside holidays I only could make a weekend.

I think places outside the Metropolis make the journey there a lot harder when you're not from the UK.

And last not least: As I see the confs primarily as a social event (meeting people you usually don't see) I'm particularly sad that our comparatively little group seems to have managed a split in 2.

Just my 2 cents.
Sorry to interfere.

Christian

[Howard Brown]

Andrew:

You have a real talent for that type of art. Really, its very impressive.
Thanks for that.

Christian:

No need to apologize. Seeing as there isn't a thread for those in the middle of all this, you're perfectly within your right to mention what you did.
Hope all is well.

[Big Jon]

Christian:

A legitimate concern which is probably shared by a lot from outside the UK.

Colin:

Can you address this next time you're about? Perhaps provide a list of countries/airlines that do flights to Belfast and the time they take?

[String]

Quote from previous thread

"Good point there Mansun
I don't really want to get overly involved here but-
Has anyone considered the volatile security situation in NI ?
In a year's time the dissident Republican elements may well have caused a deterioration in the security situation.
This will tend to deter our 'Over The Pond' friends who we all know are very sensitive over such issues- aren't we all though!
I know the situation in London isn't ideal in that respect but the NI situation adds an extra level of concern maybe."

As a person who grew up in Belfast and currently lives just North of Belfast seeing this crap time and time again really pisses me off. I would feel safer walking through Belfast than any major city in the UK including London. If you look at the stats there is actually a far lower incidence of domestic crime in Belfast than most places in the UK. Btw there are not terrorist standing on street corners waiting to shoot hapless tourists.

[Big Jon]

String:

Thank you for addressing Suzi's concerns. Very glad the situation over there has changed from the one we have all heard so much about.

[ferret]

Thanks Jon
Hope all continues that way x