Speaking from personal experience and having been attending IETF meetings since 1998, I have never encountered the number of issues at a meeting location I did at Maastricht. The only other venue that came close was Dublin and that was due to not having access to food that I could eat at the venue during lunch. I can imagine the number of complaints folks would see if there was no food for lunch for anyone at the venue (and no cookies at the breaks). These are the only times I have *ever* raised a single complaint on the mailing lists about venues. I had no issues at all with other venues that I couldn't manage on my own in these regards. So, statistically, I have personally been pleased with the choice of venues for 2/36 meetings (i.e., 95+% of the venues at which I have attended meetings) and fully agree there is no perfect choice. I travel alone alot for leisure and business and Maastricht has been the only venue that I have had any concerns at all - starting with an overly friendly local on the last train to Maastricht on the Saturday nite (the last one btw) I arrived. As I said in a previous post, I realize these concerns only apply to a minority, but I do think they are valid concerns for the IAOC to consider. If they choose not to, then I believe that re-enforces the impression that IETF does not encourage participation from a diverse set of individuals. So, if all you guys (and it's been all guys from what I've seen) would just consider how you would feel if you either had access to very little food (think 4 days without a real meal and subsisting on illegally imported nuts and dried fruit for 4 days) or if your wife/daughters/girlfriends were having to travel alone on a train late at night or navigate a city they don't know alone at nite, then perhaps you'll have a modicum of insight into some of these concerns. [BTW, the information on safety on the host site were certainly not relevant to my personal concerns]. As I said in prior posts, I think Maastricht would be a lovely city for a vacation/holiday, but it is a very poor choice for a business meeting. And, actually the scattered nature of the hotels made if far more difficult to interact with IETF friends than it is when the hotels are all close to the venue and there are fewer choices. Regards, Mary. On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 2:54 AM, Tschofenig, Hannes (NSN - FI/Espoo) <hannes.tschofenig@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi Jordi, > Hi all, > > I have not seen an IETF meeting where people have not complained about > the layout of the venue, how to get there, the city itself, the > proximity to some nearby countries, the weather, the hotel, the number > of offered hotels, the high crime rate, etc. etc. > > The place that makes 95% of the typical IETF meetings participants happy > does not even exist. > > Maybe it would be useful to highlight the positive aspects of traveling > instead. Maastricht is an interesting city and you saw lots of your IETF > friends again. > > Ciao > Hannes > _______________________________________________ > Ietf mailing list > Ietf@xxxxxxxx > https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > _______________________________________________ Ietf mailing list Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf