East Lansing, Ann Arbor and Cinci are well within driving distance for me as well. I can make tourneys at any of those locales.

Abge - I keep forgetting to send a check. I will resolve that immediately.

Bump

HOTEL interest: If your name is on this list, please PM me to say whether you are interested in a hotel room and how much you are willing to spend, whether you are coming with a partner, are you willing to have a roommate, alright with a B&B, are yo renting a car, etc.

Aeneas
Thucy
djbent
MadMarx
Snappy
dskippy
Gramuk
freakidz
Babak
TheWizard

I have dones some initial checking and Hotels in BOston/Cambridge are going to be at least $100 per room, and likely close to $200 but you can get the cost down by either 1) having a roommate, or 2) renting a car and staying in Waltham or Newton (-about 5 miles--a 20 minute drive or 40 minutes by subway), or 3) staying in a B&B

5 miles = 20 minutes driving time? Wow, that would sure kill the gas mileage in a beast like mine.

@LanGaidan - You should go to Origins in Columbus then. World DipCon was held there the last two years, although this year it's in Sydney. But I'm sure they'll have someone playing F2F Diplomacy.

Yeah traffic sucks in Boston

The only time I was there, I was picked up by limo (yes, the real thing with leather seats and all) at the airport and taken to Sybase's offices outside Boston for a dog and pony show, so I didn't notice the time.

I'm in.
Sent you an e-mail.

For those of us that don't mind hostels, Hostelling International runs a Boston location right across the river basin from the Skyroom. I've used HI for years, love their service, and its $40 a night.

I think it goes something like this:
Game Fee - $25
Travel - $62
Lodging - $80
Finally seeing the facial expressions after one of my brilliant stabs - PRICELESS

I may have a friend working in Boston during this tournament, which would change my need for a hostel, he also may be interested in playing, he used to play here and we ran some games back in uni. I'll find out.

CAN I ROOM WITH BABAK!

So, I've heard of the "hostels". Can you describe just what one is? Everytime I've gone to Europe, I've stayed in a real hotel (the Bayerischer Hof in Lindau Germany and the Hilton Zurich Airport) or in the company owned Gasthaus (used to work for a place with offices in Lindau and had to travel there as the Global Application Architect).

Hostels are primarily used by backpackers and students. Usually they're a house converted into rooms full of bunks, I've stayed in some that were 4 bunks with an in-suite washroom and some that we're 20 bunks with a washroom down the hall.

Hostelling International keeps everything clean, offers a lot of amenities you find in hotels (like free wifi, cleaning service, breakfast, etc) and they're cheap!

OK, so you basically split the room cost by bunking with others, but you also sacrifice a little security (i.e. you're not going to unpack your bags and put your clothes in a closet for a week or two like I had to do when I traveled on the job). We'll just call it indoor camping with running water. :-)

They never really caught on in the states mostly because young people don't travel here like they do in Europe and other parts of the world, but they're a great way to meet people from around the world.

Through my experiences with hostelling, I've met enough people to usually know someone I can call if I need to crash in X country/city, but usually I just walk into the nearest HI-hostel. =)

If only I had gotten this new position a couple of months ago, I would probably plan a vacation and come out, but it's too soon to be asking to take an extra long weekend. Assuming it goes well, maybe I can make next year's wherever the East Coast/Midwest one is held.

Sometimes it feels like camping, particularly in areas like Brazil and Africa, but usually it just feels like a shared hotel room. You get lockers, including hang up space, to keep your stuff private and secure. Like I said, with HI-Hostels you get the amenities, quality, and cleanliness of a hotel, you just have to share them with more people than yourself.

Definitely not for the spoiled or for older people that have grown accustomed to American life. I've met plenty middle-aged guys travelling solo on holiday that used hostels, but none were American. $40 is a bit high for a hostel, but that's because its in the states. HI-Vancouver is $20 a night with a membership.

As a resident of Boston, here are some suggestions.
1) The tournament venue is pretty close to the Kendall Square T stop on the red line. It's easy walking distance at about a quarter mile away. If you can get to this T stop, then you'll be all set. By the way, the "T" is what we call the MBTA rapid transit system (subway).
2) Driving and parking in Boston sucks. I would recommend staying somewhere that is T accessible, and taking the T to Kendall. However, there is a parking garage near Kendall Sq. Not sure what the weekend day rates are, but I'm sure it's reasonable. There is metered street parking, but you would have to move your car every two hours to avoid tickets.
3) If you stay outside of Boston, one option is to drive into the Alewife T station at the northern end of the red line. There is a large parking garage there that costs $6 for the day, I think. Kendall is just a ride down the red line from there.
4) Lastly, if money is no object... there is a Marriott hotel right at Kendall Square. Very convenient, some of the rooms have a river view, but certainly will be a bit pricey.

Also not for families. Most hostels don't allow children.

If memory serves, the hostel is just right across the Harvard bridge, we're playing near the yacht club right?

Geofram, don't rule out the options of air travel from DC. Look for tickets, you might be able to find something quite reasonable.

...and my wife wouldn't go for a hostel anyhow. :-)

Just don't do any red eye flights or you might find your airtraffic controller asleep in DC on the return trip. :-)

@yebellz Nothing roundtrips at Logan for under $130, most are at $170 for early friday arrival and late sunday departure.

I'd almost prefer an 8-9hr charter bus with wifi and AC power. Work for a bit, check the gunboat tourney, pop a Xanax, and wake up at South Station! Especially at $62 round trip, I'd completely forgotten about greyhound's student discounts.

ab, too late, Babak's rooming we me. At least he said he would, but he may have been drunk at the time and have forgotten the conversation entirely.

Speaking of drunk... Time for some more Glenlivet 18 and another cigar!

Single Malt? I'm partial to Glengoyne's 17yr, only because I visited the distillery in Glasgow.

I like Glenlivet and Glenfiddich both. For "everyday" 12 year old, I actually prefer Glenfiddich. It's smoother and has a warmer finish to it than Glenlivet. I'll have to try Glengoyne sometime. But honestly, as long as it is true single malt Scotch Whisky (not blended) you can't go wrong.

Speaking of drunk, I totally was when I posted that. I actually have friends in Boston, so won't be needing a hotel.

I thought everyone was crashing at Crazyter's place. OR am I not recalling which person actually was from the Boston metro area.

Yummm... Loving this Scotch. And the A Fuente Hemingway Signature I switched to is quite fine too. The Hemingway Signature is my everyday smoke. I usually buy a box at a time for the humidor. That get's the price down to just over $6 a cigar. I didn't want to smoke all of my few Opus Xs as they run $20+ a cigar and even with the new job, I can't afford to drop $800 on a box of cigars.

I've always been a fan of the Monte Cristos, although recently I've been using a corncob pipe.