Getting to the BAF from the other end of the world !
I eventually made it to the BAF 2011 ! This post is rather late but I was occupied with things and couldn't really get down to it.
First of all it was really great to be there and meet so many DIYaudio members and a whole lot of others and see and hear the equipment that they built. Fascinating range of stuff and all sounding quite different from each other. It will keep you occupied all day long. Having lunch seemed a waste of time as there was so much to see, hear and talk about that one day was really not enough and every minute was precious .
Thanks to the VERY warm welcome I got fom Variac and others and the pick up and return drop I got from Skip. The trip did go off very well. I would have been there this year too but I need to make a longer trip in 2013 ( up to Lima !) and so will attend the 2013 meet.
So how does one justify a journey half way around the world for a 1 day get together ? Very simple. Couple it with a whole lot of other things to do. Like killing several ( virtual) birds with one stone ! So I visited friends, had a holiday and visited other exhibitions and bought a lot of audio related stuff and carried it back ! The trip was fully justified .
So for all those who live far away from the US , plan a trip which includes a whole lot of other things to do and the BAF being the main reason for creating it ! Plan early and buy tickets early and you will get a great deal. All internal flights in the US were bought months ahead ( on Southwest airlines) and I got a fantastic deal. So start planning now and you won't be disappointed.
You will need to sort out small details about how to get to the BAF etc. You have enough time to gather details now so that when you do get there everything will turn out to be simple. So start asking questions now and get answers from those who have already done it.
You will never get to see and hear so much DIY audio stuff in one place at one time. Not to mention meeting several biggies like Nelson, Tom and many others. It's fascinating. Be there , you'll enjoy it.
Thanks again to Variac, Skip and all the others who made it a really enjoyable trip .
Cheers,
Ashok.
I eventually made it to the BAF 2011 ! This post is rather late but I was occupied with things and couldn't really get down to it.
First of all it was really great to be there and meet so many DIYaudio members and a whole lot of others and see and hear the equipment that they built. Fascinating range of stuff and all sounding quite different from each other. It will keep you occupied all day long. Having lunch seemed a waste of time as there was so much to see, hear and talk about that one day was really not enough and every minute was precious .
Thanks to the VERY warm welcome I got fom Variac and others and the pick up and return drop I got from Skip. The trip did go off very well. I would have been there this year too but I need to make a longer trip in 2013 ( up to Lima !) and so will attend the 2013 meet.
So how does one justify a journey half way around the world for a 1 day get together ? Very simple. Couple it with a whole lot of other things to do. Like killing several ( virtual) birds with one stone ! So I visited friends, had a holiday and visited other exhibitions and bought a lot of audio related stuff and carried it back ! The trip was fully justified .
So for all those who live far away from the US , plan a trip which includes a whole lot of other things to do and the BAF being the main reason for creating it ! Plan early and buy tickets early and you will get a great deal. All internal flights in the US were bought months ahead ( on Southwest airlines) and I got a fantastic deal. So start planning now and you won't be disappointed.
You will need to sort out small details about how to get to the BAF etc. You have enough time to gather details now so that when you do get there everything will turn out to be simple. So start asking questions now and get answers from those who have already done it.
You will never get to see and hear so much DIY audio stuff in one place at one time. Not to mention meeting several biggies like Nelson, Tom and many others. It's fascinating. Be there , you'll enjoy it.
Thanks again to Variac, Skip and all the others who made it a really enjoyable trip .
Cheers,
Ashok.
Great post!
Yes, the event is wonderful and (unfortunately) too short. But it is it completely fantastic!!
For those of you who are considering coming, I will wholeheartedly recommend that you do! There is nothing quite like it, and the spirit and enthusiasm of the attendees is fantastic. Plus, you get to meet for real the people you chat with on the forums!
Lastly, it is in San Francisco - a city that can has something for everybody. It's a great excuse to visit such a wonderful place!
As you can tell, I'm already looking forward to going to this year's event!
See you all there,
Jim
Yes, the event is wonderful and (unfortunately) too short. But it is it completely fantastic!!
For those of you who are considering coming, I will wholeheartedly recommend that you do! There is nothing quite like it, and the spirit and enthusiasm of the attendees is fantastic. Plus, you get to meet for real the people you chat with on the forums!
Lastly, it is in San Francisco - a city that can has something for everybody. It's a great excuse to visit such a wonderful place!
As you can tell, I'm already looking forward to going to this year's event!
See you all there,
Jim
I enjoyed myself thoroughly ! One really has to be on one's toes. Talking to people and listening to equipment , several of them, in one day is tough. Great experience in any case. I'm sorry I can't make it this year because I need to club many activities together. So I plan to be there in 2013.
This show has a completely different feel from a commercial hi-fi show !
I missed the air show in San Francisco last time ! It was held the day after the BAF ! Must have be great too. I came to know of it too late.
Can some one put up streaming video on the NET for some time for this BAF ?
Cheers.
This show has a completely different feel from a commercial hi-fi show !
I missed the air show in San Francisco last time ! It was held the day after the BAF ! Must have be great too. I came to know of it too late.
Can some one put up streaming video on the NET for some time for this BAF ?
Cheers.
Hi Michael, sorry about that. I did misunderstand that. No problem, we do need someone who could do it this time. We need to give time for others to mull over it and see if they can help out here.
Where are those video's from the 2011 BAF ? Maybe we should put them up now. On Youtube or on this website ? Youtube might be better now as we won't take away bandwidth from here ?
Where are those video's from the 2011 BAF ? Maybe we should put them up now. On Youtube or on this website ? Youtube might be better now as we won't take away bandwidth from here ?
Hi Michael,
There are a number of reasonably priced motels along Lombard street. It's been a while since I stayed at one of them, but it was very nice and $99/night. I believe it was the Lombard Street Motor Inn.
Then there is the whole Fisherman's Wharf area with a lot of hotels.
Both areas are within walking distance from Fort Mason (15-20 minutes).
You can get from the airport to downtown on BART (Bart.gov) and with SFMTA bus to the BAF neighborhood. Very easy and saving you the pain of finding parking in SF.
HTH,
Stefan
There are a number of reasonably priced motels along Lombard street. It's been a while since I stayed at one of them, but it was very nice and $99/night. I believe it was the Lombard Street Motor Inn.
Then there is the whole Fisherman's Wharf area with a lot of hotels.
Both areas are within walking distance from Fort Mason (15-20 minutes).
You can get from the airport to downtown on BART (Bart.gov) and with SFMTA bus to the BAF neighborhood. Very easy and saving you the pain of finding parking in SF.
HTH,
Stefan
First, if you are flying in, and dont mind a nice walk, under no circumstances get a car.
The BART has a station in the airport, you can take that to the Powell St. station, and then take the Cable Car over the hill and down to Fisherman's Wharf area.
From the Cable Car turntable near Ghirardelli Square, Fort Mason is a very beautiful 10 min walk.
As for Hotels, there are quite a few in the general vicinity, but nothing right next to it. A 10-15 min walk radius should give you plenty of choice.
As for price, well, there is the hangup... It's a very expensive hotel city. BUT you have plenty of time to find a deal.
I travel in from Denver, and the bulk of the budget is taken up by Hotel. It is my sincere belief that it's worth it. Having a chance to see all the neat stuff up close, and (much more important in my mind,) to be able to chat with everybody is priceless.
PM me if you want to talk about trip specifics or general ideas.
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I spent a great deal of time looking online last year and checking out hotels around the area and found quite a few around $100 a night or less that were within a mile or so. i found several for under $80 but they were not reviewed well. there is a Hostel within a couple hundred feet that is very very cheap if you don't mind the communal living thing? the trip to and from the airport is another story. if you are carrying gear the Bart is a little iffy to haul stuff on and off and then there is the whole security element of it...
I would like to suggest that members that will be traveling by car that would be willing to share rides set up a post. Maybe we can set up a group buy at a hotel or something and arrange for a shuttle to and from the event/airport??? I would bet that if we talked to a hotel this far in advance and had an idea of how many people would want rooms etc that we could work out a deal. we used to do that for large work projects.
Zc
I would like to suggest that members that will be traveling by car that would be willing to share rides set up a post. Maybe we can set up a group buy at a hotel or something and arrange for a shuttle to and from the event/airport??? I would bet that if we talked to a hotel this far in advance and had an idea of how many people would want rooms etc that we could work out a deal. we used to do that for large work projects.
Zc
Lots of Taxi's , "Airporter" buses, etc. as at any city airport. They''ll take you right to your hotel. Last year there was a huge Oracle convention at the time of our show. Any decent hotel was charging almost $550/ night for the remaining rooms. But that was very unusual. While we are at the same time as AES, The AES show is small relative to that Oracle thing, and there are always conventions in town anyway. And yes, that motel row along Lombard St. is a good place to get a reasonable rate, and the neighborhood is actually less stressful than the area where most of the upscale hotels are.
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What explains your intimate (*chuckles*) knowledge of that particular area?!
Other than the dutchman's expert knowledge of dijks in particular?!
:-D
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