----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave CROCKER" <dhc2@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 9:03 PM Subject: Re: [73attendees] IsUSA qualified for 2.3ofdraft-palet-ietf-meeting-venue-selection-criteria? > > Surely there is enough choice in venue to permit a global organization like the > IETF to select ones that put some effort into being friendly about participation > by people from a wider set of countries? I find the USA a friendly country to visit for work. Homeland Security and its predecessors have requirements that I must meet, and these change with time. But I always know what there are (only sometimes lacking a precise date of introduction) so I can be prepared, going right back to B1 and B2 visas. I have never had any surprises when I arrive in Atlanta. And when things go wrong, eg forgetting to hand in the second part of the green card, then the solution is available, eg the web site to contact is in the national press every six months or so. There is no other country in the world where it is so easy to find out what to do, you just need to allow time to let it happen (eg don't have a connecting flight out of Atlanta one hour later). The USA is also incredibly well served by flights making it cheaper for me to travel from Europe to Minneapolis than it is to travel to eg Vienna or Estonia. The USA also shares a language - well, sort of - with that of the I-Ds so there is only one language to learn. Currency? Mmm could do with a weaker dollar right now, but that will change. By contrast, I have found Canada (Toronto) the most unfriendly place to arrive at, with the unexpected checks before I was (eventually) allowed in. Incidentally, what has Malta got going for it, that it should be the location of a Mega-Interim in less than two months time? Could it be the winter sunshine? Tom Petch > > Dave Crocker > Brandenburg InternetWorking > bbiw.net _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf