British Expatriate Network

I have no idea if this notion is even possible, but after seeing the great get together in the east, I keep thinking about a get together for ALL of us.

It would mean a lot of expense and travelling and more than a lot of organizing, but how about us thinking about it?

It would have to be somewhere centralized, like in the mid West. I keep thinking of Texas as it would be nice to meet our "Dad" Nigel, without whom most of us would not have met. Thanks Nigel! smile

I know it would take an exraordinary amount of co-ordination and a fair amount of luck.
I know there are hundreds of reasons why this wouldn't work, but can any of you think of some that would?

One thought was to ride share for those travelling by road....

This is the first step, getting us all thinking about it.

Please post suggestions, objections etc etc, and see if we can make it to step two! smile

_________________
Mel

The above is my own opinion and not subject to the approval of trolls...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by Melhug on 2002-08-01 1242 ]</font>

Sounds like a great idea, Mel. We have relatives in Kentucky (Louisville is a very nice city), Indiana and Texas so we would have more than one reason for travelling to the midwest or to Texas.

We would give it a try. We would have to plan it a year in advance for it to work, I think.

One person, with a lot of time on their hands (not me smile ) would have to organise and co-ordinate it. Maybe have an assistant or two for different parts of the country.

If we can drive to Florida, we can drive to the middle of the country somewhere. But I think Texas maybe too far south ???

If the vote is Texas, though, we'd still give it a go. smile

Mel,

I would love to do this. I agree it would take a lot of planning and we should give ourselves plenty of time to get things sorted, this would be something for 2003!

As to location I would be up for going anywhere but think it would work really well if we picked somewhere that is a bit of a holiday destination anyway. Then maybe we could make a long weekend of it and combine the Britnet get together with other things. A bit like we are thinking of doing with the NYC get together. We could list a load of activities and people could sign up for the ones that interest them. We could split up into groups to do some things and then get back together for others.

There are so many great places to go in the USA, I even wondered about Florida because there is so much to do there with kids, Disneyland, Seaworld etc. Or maybe a great city like Chicago where there are loads of great things to check out. Charleston sounds wonderful really the list is endless.

We could all book into the same hotel or maybe even rent a few big holiday homes which might work out more econimical and convenient? I did that with some friends from NJ we rented a huge house in North Carolina, it was right on the beach and had tons of bedrooms and a huge kitchen. It was really relaxed because we could just come and go as we pleased and eat in when we wanted to.

Anyway, I'd be happy to go with whatever everyone else wants to do.

Maybe we could all suggest locations and dates then take a vote?

I have the US map book out and, if we are talking of EVERYONE coming, then we do need to try and find a place that is literally in the middle of the country.

It is 3,000 (approx.) from NYC to SanFran CA. and so I did the 1500 mile bit. This is approx.- Oklahoma is 14,500 miles from NYC and 16,400 miles from SF.

But then you have people from Boston and even further north if Keith wants to come.

Soooooo, how about somewhere in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa or South Dakota?

Do we have anyone who is on the West Coast of Canada?

The only ones I know of that are the furthest west are in Seattle, US?

This is assuming that quite a few will be driving. Then there are the ones who will fly in. So we will have to make sure we aren't too far away from a national airport, otherwise there is the problem of either picking them up, or them having to hire a car.

I like the idea of it being a hotel and one with quite a nice complex on site. This would give everyone the choice of either just hanging around the hotel, going shopping somewhere, or going sight seeing.

If there are enough of us, we might be able to get a good rate and it wouldn't prove too expensive.

Also, depending on how bothered some people are, couples with no children, could double up and that would cut the price down even more. You seem to find the majority of hotels have two queen size beds to each room. Just no swapping partners, OK! lol


Maybe, instead of waiting for everyone to come to us on this, we could get Nigel to send out e-mails to everyone registered (who hasn't been banned grin ) on this site. First off to see who would be interested and then when a date is decided on.

One problem I have thought of is schools. There seems to be differences across the country when schools are on holiday. This would end up narrowing it down to the summer holidays and only a small window of opportunity.

Perhaps those hotel room have chairs too, Ben!!!!!!! King size ones, maybe??????

Debs x lol lol lol lol

:wink:

I also have a blow up queen size bed. We could bring that too! :grin:

Maybe Ben will demonstrate their many uses to interested parties eek eek lol lol lol

Tickets available at a very competitive rate!!!! lol lol lol

Debs x grin

Nice Idea Mel -how about Nigel's backyard? He has a pool....

Seriously, nice idea, may be too hot in Summer in Texas?

Very Approximate Ben did you round the figures up to the nearest 15,000 miles??

:lol:

:grin: :lol:

Blame the heat or the blow up bed that everyone is fascinated with. :lol:

Well there are some good suggestions. I like the idea of maybe reduced rates at a hotel.
How about even cheaper? How about a camp out? A bit tough for some of us with aches and pains maybe, (unless we all bring inflatable mattresses!) but what do you think?

The thing is, wherever we have it, it will probably be hot. So we need to think of keeping cool. (And trifles don't do well in the heat! sad )

Can we have some comments from those living Nebraska and surrounding states as to what they feel? And also some inside information on when to expect tornados, for those of us who like to keep our feet on the ground!

Nigel, if we get this going, will you please come? smile

Keep throwing in the suggestions. I have never organized any thing like this... I have absolutely no idea what to do now I have suggested it! So I need all the help I can get, or someone else who knows what they are doing to take the reins!

I think waiting a year is a great idea. But not september, I am supposed to be going to England then!

So all you veterans of Britnet get togethers, we need your help! wink

One more thing, we must make sure there no rocks around... or we'll have a fight breaking out between two certain members over who is going to take them home in their pick-up! lol

I'm just having a stab here about this, so forgive me if it's a load of old twoddle. But ....
how about if there's so many of us, going to a specific hotel, getting a cheap rate (because of the quantity of brits), and all pitching in a certain contribution, and hire a room there with good old disco & buffet. It would be like a family doo reunion/special occasion/party back home. Every one could drink (because of the sleep over). Maybe even a swim together after breakfast the next morning.

I also think that it would have to be somewhere, where there are some sights to see, because everyone will probably be making a huge effort in many different ways, to attend, and even giving up 1 or more vacation days from work.

Don't you all miss those great partys/disco's/buffets, where there's always some auntie & uncle doing the "where the hell did they learn to dance like that", and falling over - even ending up on a Funniest Video TV show.

We all know something hillarious would happen. Even at the Jubilee bash in CT last week, there were 2 falling backwards off chairs experiences - just in that one day. Sadly, no video camera's were rolling on both occasions ..... damn !!

Anyway, what do you think of this ? Yey, ney ?

Nicky
xxxx
eek lol

I must need glasses, I missed this post roll What a great idea. I'm slap dab in the middle of the country & we have 20 acres, everyone could pitch a tent.

Honestly though I wouldn't pick Nebraska. Once you get out of Omaha there's only Lincoln as far as big towns. We're an ag dependant State, so all there is to see is field after field.

Nebraskans are some of the best people I've ever met over here, & they make up for the lack of other things we don't have. We aren't a tourist state at all contrary to what the Ne tourist board would say.

It's hotter than hell in the summer & mix that with 100% humidity, it can be pretty miserable. It doesn't cool down much at night either. Tornado season lasts from March to Sept, but as we found out last year they can happen at any time. We had one touch down 500yds from our house mid Oct. I sound as if I'm putting Nebraska down, but I'm not really. It's been my home for 11 yrs now.

One place I do think would be great to meet is Colorado. It's not quite the middle just off to the left a tad. The Rockies are beautiful. Once you leave Denver & start going up there are a ton of places. My husbands mother was from Woodlands Park up in the rockies. It would also be a lot more pleasant weather wise. When we lived in Grand Junction on the western slope it could reach 95, but on the weekends we'd camp up on the Mesa & it would be 20 degrees cooler.

A big plus would be me & Ginger could get as many rocks as we wanted too.
lol

Maybe Dianey could give us some thoughts on this, I think she's from Co.

Janet