User talk:Thomcat

I moved all the old comments to User talk:Thomcat/OldTalk in February of 2014.

Germany 2014

Thomcat is in Frankfurt on Feb 22 for a Star Trek convention, and then must travel to Nürnberg on Sunday Feb 23. Is up for a geohash meetup anywhere in between, indirect route acceptable. Will have a backpack and one medium suitcase (it is a business trip after all). Potentials discussed so far include the following. Up for a meetup? Edit below or add suggestions. --Thomcat (talk) 11:07, 21 February 2014 (EST)

Mannheim

In the parking lot of a Shopping center. Via either the OEG interurban tramway or the Vogelstang from Mannheim.

Würzburg

Just NE of Eubigheim, trains run every two hours sporadically Monday to Friday only, and once in the late evening on sundays.

Schweinfurt

Schweinfurt hash would be reachable as well... small rural village (Leutersdorf) in southern Thüringen. Train station at Vachdorf.

Ticketing

The trains in Deutschland are not free. My routing is flexible, and purchasing all or part of a 44 € group ticket is within the budget. Exact route planning requires our destination, but feel free to suggest a common starting point here. --Thomcat (talk) 11:19, 21 February 2014 (EST)

Summary of reachable destinations

I checked them all :P --Ekorren (talk) 12:21, 21 February 2014 (EST)

Frankfurt graticule

A field

Accessibility: You never know about fields.

8 km from Wetzlar station

7 km from Dutenhofen station

Bus connection probably comes significantly closer, not researched

Fulda graticule

Forest, about 2.5 km from the village Gieser.

Accessibility: German forests are usually accessible.

Next train station > 10 km.

Bus connection: Not researched.

Schweinfurt graticule

Public "road" in the village Leutersdorf in southern Thüringen, quite remote.

Accessibility: Almost certain

3 km from station Vachdorf. Trains every two hours, quite a trip

Mannheim

On a parking lot of a large shopping centre near a motorway junction. Might not be a very romantic location. Near former american barracks.

Accessibility: Almost certain.

2 km from the tram stop "Vogelstang Endstelle" (Mannheim municipal tramway), 2.5 km from "Käfertal Wald" (OEG suburban railway/tramway).

Würzburg graticule

A field in the municipality of Ahorn (= maple)

Accessibility: There might be crop.

Theoretically 3 km from the station of Eubigheim, but Eubigheim has no train traffic on sundays. Sporadically there's a "bus" which only goes if prebooked.

Bamberg graticule

A forest, a trail, not much more.

Accessibility: Most certainly yes.

Dottenheim station is closest (5.5 km), Dietersheim and Ipsheim about the same (6 km). Bus connections getting closer don't run on sundays.

Not very far from Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Significant risk to meet Americans on the train.

Nürnberg graticule

You'll prefer one you didn't hash in already, won't you?

Preference number one - meet up with geohashers! Preference number two - visit new graticules. --Thomcat (talk) 12:37, 21 February 2014 (EST)

Timetables

The best place to meet other geohashers is the 2014-02-23 49 8. In the graticules around there live a lot of active geohashers and it is easy to reach. But, if you want to make other hashes this day, the meetup has to be very early.

Timetabel: Frankfurt Hbf 7:06 - Weinheim 8:09, walk to Luisenstraße tram stop 6 minutes, Weinheim, Luisenstraße 8:16 - Käfertal Wald 8:31.

With this you can easily reach other hashes:

1. 1: with a short walk - Käfertal Wald 10:03 - Mannheim Hbf 10:22, Mannheim Hbf 10:38 - Osterburken 12:23, Osterburken 12:27 - Würzburg Hbf 13:21, Würzburg Hbf 13:42 - Nürnberg Hbf 14:54, Nürnberg Hbf 15:36 - Etzelwang 16:04, 3.2 km walk, 2014-02-23 49 11, 3.1 km walk, Hartmannsdorf 17:58 - Nürnberg Hbf 18:22. Other geohashers, travelling with the same SWT-ticket can go home with Nürnberg Hbf 19:05 - Würzburg Hbf 20:15, Würzburg Hbf 20:34 - Frankfurt Hbf 22:32, Frankfurt Hbf 23.13 - Mannheim Hbf 0:19.

1. 2: with a longer walk - Käfertal Wald 10:03 - Mannheim Hbf 10:22, Mannheim Hbf 10:38 - Osterburken 12:23, Osterburken 12:27 - Würzburg Hbf 13:21, Würzburg Hbf 13:42 - Neustadt (Aisch) 14:25 - Ipsheim 14:51, 5.6 km walk, 2014-02-23 49 10, 5.4 km walk, Dottenheim 18:13 - Neustadt (Aisch) 18:21, Neustadt (Aisch) 18:26 - Nürnberg Hbf 18.54. Other geohashers, travelling with the same SWT-ticket can go home with Nürnberg Hbf 19:05 - Würzburg Hbf 20:15, Würzburg Hbf 20:34 - Frankfurt Hbf 22:32, Frankfurt Hbf 23.13 - Mannheim Hbf 0:19. The other geohashers can start their return at Neustadt (Aisch), but then you have to buy an extra ticket for 8.40 €.

1. 3: with a shorter walk - Käfertal Wald 10:03 - Mannheim Hbf 10:22, Mannheim Hbf 10:38 - Osterburken 12:23, Osterburken 12:27 - Würzburg Hbf 13:21, Würzburg Hbf 14:01 - Grimmenthal 15:19, Grimmenthal 15:31 - Vachdorf 15:37; 3.1 km walk, 2014-02-23 50 10, 3.1 km walk, Vachdorf 17:17 - Meiningen 17:32, Meiningen 17:45 - Schweinfurt 18:54, Schweinfurt 18:57 - Würzburg Hbf 19:21. The other geohashers can now go home, but you have to buy an extra ticket for 20.30 €. If you're traveling alone or only with me, you can take a train from Schweinfurt 18:59 - Nürnberg Hbf 20:19.

If you start later on sunday, you can have a meetup at Mannheim, but from the other places nobody can travel home on the same day. If somebody else has other ideas, please answer.

-GeorgDerReisende (talk) 17:14, 21 February 2014 (EST)

I actually think your timelines are too narrow. You definitely need more time to walk to the hashes and back to the stations, document the hash, document the meetup, take a look at the surroundings, celebrate a bit and whatever. It's about exploring and meeting people, not about running through arbitrary landscape under pressure, isn't it?

About sharing a Wochenendticket: Please mind that the ticket bears a name. Whoever uses it first must be the one who uses it last as well. It does not work to buy the ticket at Frankfurt, join at Mannheim, and split at Nürnberg for going back to Mannheim (or Stuttgart/Tübingen) on one ticket. However, with the times above, I'm out anyway. Can't be there in time even with starting at 4 am.

I think we should drop the idea of a multihash and go for "fun meetup with as many people as possible" instead. That might bear a little chance to convince me to join. A stressful "just another two hashes visited but not seen" day certainly won't. --Ekorren (talk) 18:09, 21 February 2014 (EST)

Seconded, and checked in to the hotel Meininger in Frankfurt. --Thomcat (talk) 06:51, 22 February 2014 (EST)

Right, that's settled. Which graticule is it gonna be then? And what time? And are you going to wear your Star Trek outfit? ;) - Mampfred (talk) 06:55, 22 February 2014 (EST)