Oh-K Go! 2008 [OVER]

To those who may be new to the meet, Oh-K stands for "Ohio kin". The go! is just to look peppy, plus you may have noticed the pun from the famous song by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Anyways, the 2k8 meet will, once again, take place in and around my home town. The meet with begin on Saturday, April 5th, 2008, and will end on Sunday, April 6th, 2008. The addresses of the various places that we'll be visiting won't be posted. Rather, they'll be pmed to all attending.

This year, for added enjoyment, we're encouraging everyone to dress up, at least for the first day! You may wear whatever you like, whether it's just a silly hat or a full-blown knight outfit (thought I wouldn't suggest the latter, you'll be hot). Please note that you are NOT required to do this, but I personally will most likely appear with a cloak and a hat.

The rules for the meet are as follows:
1: Everyone must wear a nametag, at least at first.
2: Carpooling is a must to save gas and energy. It'd be a good idea to plan ahead who'll be driving and who you're riding with if you won't be driving.
3: Every car must have someone with a working cell phone in case anyone gets lost.
4: Every car must have my cell phone number on hand.
5: No drinking until travel is over for the day.
6: Be kind and courteous to others, silliness is fine but any bashing will result in punishment varying from just a telling-off to being told to go home. If one is particularly belligerent, I will not hesitate to call the authorities.

There is no fee to attend the meet, and most of the events do not require money, though it would be advised you do bring money for food, and a little extra for when we visit the mall.

The Schedule For The Meet Is:

12:00pm, Saturday: The meet will begin officially (I say officially because I know there's going to be people finding each other before then). We'll be meeting in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn as we did last year. Nametags will be distributed, everyone will be asked to take turns telling a little about themselves, and then we will head out. It would be wise to eat breakfast before the meet, since the next meal planned will be lunch.

12:20-ish pm, Saturday: When we arrive at Days Dam (the park), the first thing we'll do is find ourselves a place to sit and begin eating lunch. As per cookout standards there will be hotdogs, hamburgers, and probably steaks if my father does the cooking. I'll be sure to bring plenty of side dishes of chips, various snacks, yummy yummy veggies, and pie. Because EVERY cookout needs a pie. It will probably be an apple or lemon mar-ang (I cannot spell the word) pie, but I don't know yet.

1/2:00pm-ish, Saturday: When we're all done eating and trash has been properly disposed of, we're going into the woods to start our workshops and discussions! Yes, I said INTO. Because lots of people go to parks in the spring, and I know some of us are shy about discussing such things in the open, I thought finding a nice quiet place off the path would be best. Don't worry, I'll bring things to sit on should the ground be wet. Everyone is basically free to do whatever they want, whether it be discussing things or just chasing butterflies. Depending on what time it is when we run out of things to talk about, we may go on a group hike afterwards.

4-5:00pm-ish, Saturday: Eventually, when our romp around the woods is finished, it'll be time to pack it in and head back. If someone would kindly volunteer their hotel room(s) (I won't be staying at the hotel, I'll be sleeping at home, so I can't contribute), we'll gather in there or outside the building. If nobody volunteers, we'll have to find somewhere to hang out until dinner time.

5:30/6:00/Whenever, Saturday: When people begin getting hungry again, we'll grab dinner. We can either order in or go out, depending on what everyone wants. After eating, we'll continue talking/doing random stuff/playing chess until we're all pooped. I'll try to stay as long as possible, but eventually I will have to head home and sleep. Everyone who is insomniac is free to play around during the night, I believe the hotel has a bar and pool.

DAY TWO!

9:00am, Sunday: Day 2 of the meet will begin earlier than the day before, mostly because I thought it'd be nice to have breakfast together at Ihop. If you don't want to go, that's fine, just make sure you're ready to go when the group going comes back.

11:00/30am-ish, Sunday: When we're all stuffed yet again, we'll find each other (should we have split up into different groups) and head to Northern Mall, which is a different mall from last year. This one is much bigger, and much cleaner all around. It's a bit of a drive though, so before we go we have to make sure everyone has the directions since there's a better chance of us getting separated on the highway. Once we get there, it's fun-time! Basically everyone is free to run around like nuts, buy stuff, or just hang out in the food court. It's a biiiig mall though, so make sure you follow the signs! When everyone's had their fill of wandering around, we'll grab lunch there around noon-ish if everyone's hungry. If nobody is, we'll just move one to the next thing.

1-2:00pm-ish, Sunday: After the mall, it's back the other direction, time to do that thing we tried to do last year but couldn't! And that is....MOVIES! Once again, the plan is to vote on what we see once we get there, or split into groups to see different movies if we can't agree. If you absolutely do not want to see a movie, feel free to hang out at the hotel, or play DDR in the lounge or something.

4-5:00pm-ish, Sunday: When the movie(s) is over, it'll be that time of day where we want to just lounge around and chitter chatter- And I know the perfect place to do it! There's a nice place right by my house called Huntington beach, it's a beach and a park in one! What better to see as it starts to be evening than the waves of lake Erie as you sit around with your buddies?

Whenever, Sunday: Eventually we will tire of the beach, and it'll be time to head back to the hotel yet again. When we get back, it'll be time to pick what to each for dinner yet again. I suggest pizza/order-in though, because it's very difficult to eat a GIGANTIC END-OF-MEET ICE CREAM CAKE in a restaurant! Yes, I'm really going to get it this time. Since I won't be staying at the hotel, we'll have alot more money left over, so I'm sure I can convince my father to not be a douche this time. After eating we'll all say our goodbyes, exchange sharable information, etc. Once again I will have to head home at some point, but I'll try my best to come up and see off those of you that won't be leaving until the following morning.

END!

I still wanna go. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->

Xanthus Wrote:I still wanna go. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->

I figured. You're a persistent bugger.

awww doubt my parents will give my permission and its too far from england so i'm out <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" /><!-- s -->
Maybe in a few years

Was looking into prices for the trip. I want to go, but my wife's caveat is basically that if I go, she wants to go, too.
For the 2 of us to go from New Orleans to Ok-Go!'s location for a weekend (Fri-Sun) would cost us a bit over $1000.
I had though it was a weekend event, but she pointed out to me that someone it was said that it was only 1-day last time, and might only be 1-day this time...is that right?
If so, that's a little pricey for us. Would it be possible to extend this to at least 2 days? (3 would be even juicier. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->)

Xanthus Wrote:Was looking into prices for the trip. I want to go, but my wife's caveat is basically that if I go, she wants to go, too.
For the 2 of us to go from New Orleans to Ok-Go!'s location for a weekend (Fri-Sun) would cost us a bit over $1000.
I had though it was a weekend event, but she pointed out to me that someone it was said that it was only 1-day last time, and might only be 1-day this time...is that right?
If so, that's a little pricey for us. Would it be possible to extend this to at least 2 days? (3 would be even juicier. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->)

Are you going by private jet? <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: -->

My Wife Wrote:The cheapest flight is $ 325.00 (this is current prices, so by the time we buy the ticket could be up to $100 higher); the travelocity site does have quite a few of these flights marked as “few seats left”.

I checked the holiday inn in Elyria area, does have rooms the cheapest is $99/per night before tax (tax is usually 11%): $220 (for Friday and Saturday night)

The cost to rent a car would be: $60 + gas = $80 (to be safe)

Plus at least $100 food & spending cash…..

Total $725

If I went it would be over $1,000

Nope.

Or pull an all nighter on a Greyhound and get it for $128 per person return (I LOVE Greyhounds!) - no idea if there's a train route available.

Say you go by car, and it's $140 as you suggested. You might not get the Holiday Inn but in the immediate area I'm sure there is a decent, clean room for $200 or under per night (given I can get not much more than that for a huge, clean, big room in midtown NYC with full bath). Can eat comfortably for $50 per person per day. Two days/nights works out at under $700 for two people which is only $350 (or in my money about £175) per person.

If your wife goes as well then theoretically doesn't that make things cheaper, as costs such as car or hotel are spread over two people/two wages?

$140 was for a rental car for the weekend. Which is not bad, considering how much you'd spend on taxis otherwise...and my wife doesn't wanna carpool. >.>

Greyhound, depending on how lucky you are, can have very long travel times (1-2 days). Which then puts in more hotel costs, and additional days out of work.

My wife going makes the food/etc cheaper because, depending on how you do it, it's not too much more expensive to feed one person than two, and we still only need one room/car. But it makes plane/greyhound more expensive as it means additional tickets.

We could also just drive up, but then you have to consider gas costs, car maintainance/wear, additional days off work, etc.

We also considered Amtrak, but the US train system is so fubar it usually takes a couple days to get ANYWHERE on it.

Hotel on a 24 hour Greyhound trip? Hell no. Best vacation of my life involved 30 hours + on a Greyhound.