So then why not consider, London, Paris (not the Concorde Lafayette), Frankfurt, Amsterdam? On Aug 7, 2012, at 8:55 PM, Ole Jacobsen <ole@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > You said about Prague: > > "...[do] folks who live outside of that region not care about the > additional hop of travel to get to it?" > > This gets cited often, and I don't really understand why. There are > VERY few European cities that are reachable directly from the US (or > Asia for that matter). Most require transiting some kind of major hub > (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam to name a few). There will always > be exceptions, I am sure you can get to Stockholm directly from the US > East Coast, but not from the West Coast. I am sure a very large > percentage of the IETF attendees from the US went through London or > Frankfurt (or a small number of alternatives) to get to Stockholm on > the two occasions when we met there. > > Since I travel to Norway on a more or less regular basis, I am used to > (and quite happy to) go through Frankfurt or London, it's just a fact > of life especially if you factor in the "preferred carrier" (personal > or corporate). Prague may be an "extra hop," but depending on > schedules you might well get to your destination (hotel) just as > quickly as you would for getting from CDG to central Paris or LHR to > central London. > > If we restrict European cities to the ones with direct flight > connections from other continents, we're really limiting the choices. > Let's be a little more realistic and consider actual travel "pain" > from the top hubs in Europe, assuming we can't (always) meet in those > places. > > I do understand that the extra hop does add some cost, which is why > I always consider trains as a reasonable alternative, albeit not a > particularly fast one. For example, the cost for a First Class train > ticket from Frankfurt to Prague was 98 Euros. I am not suggesting > that this is always going to be a reasonable alternative, and I am > worried that the mere mention of "train" on this list may result in > a flame war, but still... > > Ole > > > > Ole J. Jacobsen > Editor and Publisher, The Internet Protocol Journal > Cisco Systems > Tel: +1 408-527-8972 Mobile: +1 415-370-4628 > E-mail: ole@xxxxxxxxx URL: http://www.cisco.com/ipj > Skype: organdemo > >