Talk:2009-08-29 52 13

Cheap travel to Berlin

There's that new offer for weekdays similar to the well known Wochenendticket, called Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket. Like that one and the Ländertickets, it's valid only in local trains, and not before 9 am on weekdays. Unlike those, it is not valid in non-railway-traffic like bus, metro, tram and ferries.

Using only local trains is slow, but in a group that doesn't matter, does it?

The Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket is 34 EUR for one person and 5 each for the second to fifth. #6 needs a new one. This results in the following pricing scheme for a small group:

# people	price per person in EUR
	Mon-Fri	Sat/Sun
	(QDLT)	(SWT)
1	34.00	37.00
2	19.50	18.50
3	14.67	12.33
4	12.33	9.25
5	10.80	7.40
6	14.67	12.33
7	12.57	10.47

SWT includes local traffic within of Berlin on the same day, QDLT doesn't. Starting at 9 from Tübingen allows me to reach Berlin before midnight via either Würzburg or Nürnberg and do a detour or a two hours stopover at a station of free choice along the way (there might be hashes). Throwing another 8.40 EUR into the pot makes that four hours (by starting earlier than 9 am). --Ekorren 11:16, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Ekorren's plans

• Current plans are that I'll be arriving at thursday late evening and try to stay a bit longer. If someone can offer me an accomodation from sunday to maybe monday or tuesday, that would be greatly appreciated.
• Won't expect to be able to share tickets
• Open for more changes of plans
• As some know, I'm a very active Bookcrosser. If you find a book or two you would like to read among those I list as available (15 pages, but only those where there is not another name listed with "status set by" are really available), and tell me until wednesday early evening, I'll pack and hand it over on saturday.

Status last updated: --Ekorren 14:20, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

dawidi

So I see there's planning going on for a bigger meetup in or near Berlin, with the most likely date now being the 29th of August. From what I'm currently planning for the week before that, I'll be on my way from Kiel to Regensburg (by train, with my bike) on that weekend, so if a meetup happens then I could probably stop by in Berlin for a day and join you :-D

(I voted as ifneedbe for the previous and following Sundays, as I could adjust my plans to fit those dates if you decide against the 29th for some reason) --dawidi 20:29, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

moved from Talk:Berlin, Germany --Davidc 18:03, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Barbecue

A barbecue might be nice if anyone is able to bring one along? --Davidc 18:07, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Back-up plan

In case the hash is not easily reached by public transport, it would be good to have a back-up location available. After all, if people are coming from across the continent, we want to make sure we have a meeting even if the location is impossible - the purpose for this date is the meet-up more than anything else. I suggest we pick a suitable back-up location, central in the city, as a backup plan and then decide on the Friday:

1. Meet-up is at the exact hashpoint
2. Meet-up is not quite at the hashpoint but at a location nearby (e.g. it's inaccessible due to no-trespassing etc)
3. Meet-up is at the back-up location (e.g. too far out for reasonable public transportation)

If we do this, we might encourage more people to attend just by virtue of the fact that the meet-up will definitely happen and definitely won't be a day's hike to reach. See, for example, Hiro's "maybe" on this page. --Davidc 22:19, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Myself I would prefer to move it to a neighbouring graticule in case it's too difficult - there's rather fast public transport available into many directions and in a group, the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket or Berlin-Brandenburg-Ticket are a quite cheap way to get there. After all, geohashing is also about seeing the unknown. --Ekorren 22:25, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

I would agree with that if not for the fact that Berlin is central in its graticule, and most locations in surrounding graticules are even more hard to get to (exception may be the Potsdam area in the east of the western graticule). I would be totally happy to move the meet-up to a neighbouring graticule if necessary - which we'll discuss on the Friday before - but I still think we should make a contingency plan to ensure a meet-up happens, since some people are travelling from far away. I mean, we're likely to be fine, I would estimate 60% of the graticule is easily accessible by public transport, but a back-up plan is no bad thing. --Davidc 23:54, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

I agree with both of you. -- relet 08:48, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Flashmob collision

One of my coworkers just announced she'll be in Berlin on that day - the reason being a Michael Jackson 'Thriller' tribute Zombie flash-mob, at 16:00. While I don't particularly like the whole "undead" theme and I'd rather participate in "classic" exkacedian geohashing silliness than watch people play zombies, maybe we should consider working this into our plans for the day somehow? At least we should be aware of it. So there. --dawidi 14:18, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

I can't relate to the Jacksonmania in any respect, and given the current inflational number of flashmobs as well as the growing misuse of the flashmob term to ignore responsibility when starting illegal parties and political demonstrations (like e.g. by nazi groups a few days ago), I actually think the flashmob idea is basically dead. Might be funny to watch, but wouldn't be a cause for me to go out of my way by any means. Not even if it was just around the corner from the hash. --Ekorren 14:36, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

I remember our discussion about that, yeah. I just wanted to mention that this will be happening simultaneously with our meetup, so we should be aware of the possibility of running into another internet there. That is, if the hash for that day is even within city limits and we don't pick a different graticule. --dawidi 15:42, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Recruit more!

Come on everybody, recruit more geohashers for Saturday!! =)

Just everybody drag along one or two and we'll make the record! :) -HiroProtagonist 12:19, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Location

Location is approx 7km from nearest S-Bahn (Strausberg Nord), which itself is over 1 hour travel by S-bahn from Alexanderplatz. So do we:

• Go for it (and lose a lot of people).
• Go for a surrounding graticule (none seem any better, plus same problem as above).
• Meet at another location more central in the city (where?).
• Meet at 52.500000,13.500000 (a cemetary near the centre).
• Split into two parts, the real hash earlier in the day for the hardcore, and a more central meet-up later in the day for everyone?
• ... other ideas?

--davidc 14:08, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Best route to make the actual hash point:

1. [travel to Hauptbahnhof or another station along that line]
2. 13:05 take S5 towards Strausberg, arrives 13:58
3. 14:05 take Bus 927, direction Wriezen Bahnhof
4. 14:28 get off at Prötzel Forsthaus

Returning:

1. 15:29 take Bus 927 from Prötzel Forsthaus, arrives Strausberg Bahnhof 15:50
2. 16:06 take S5 back to city

Buses only run every 2 hours, and the last bus back of the day leaves at 17:29.

--davidc 14:26, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

In favor. From Proetzel, Forsthaus it's just a few hundred meters to the hash. Seems like a good plan.

edit: If you already have a ticket for Berlin ABC, you can use it till Strausberg. Otherwise, a single way costs 2.80 EUR.

The bus drive requires a separate ticket which costs 2 EUR each way. Groups of 4 people or more pay 1.10 EUR each. --pari 14:32, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Proposing then that we "hard core" hashers meet at 12:45 in front of Hauptbahnhof (look for the red geohashing shirts), returning at around 17:00 and we perhaps fix another meeting for 17:30 in the nearby Schlosspark for some beers and games and to meet everyone who didn't want to travel so far. (relet might propose some coordinates, I think he slacklines there a lot) --davidc 15:09, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Better option may be the 12:45 S5 which arrives 13:38, which would avoid us missing the bus if the train is late/delayed (the bus only runs every 2 hours). --davidc 15:31, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Travel costs

Berlin ABC ticket (train):

• 1 person: 2,80€ each way = 5,60€ each
• 5-person "Kleingruppenkarte", unlimited travel = 16,10€ = 3,22€ each

Bus ticket:

• 1 person: 2,00€ each way = 4,00€ each
• 4+ people: 1,10€ each way each = 2,20€ each

Meetup at a central place

Let's separate the planning of expedition and meetup.
What do you want to do? Around Friedrichstraße and Hackescher Markt, there are lots of possibilities to eat or drink something. A little outside, near Warschauer Straße, there are streets full of pubs, in case you want to have some beers. Near Hauptbahnhof, there are also nice parks to hang around. Everything is situated along the S-Bahn line. --pari 15:35, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

I am comfortable either way. A crate of beer and watching relet fall off a rope, or a pub somewhere. Though preferably not somewhere that's going to be jam-packed with tourists (Saturday afternoon in August...). --davidc 15:43, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

OK anyone want to suggest a suitable biergarten or something that ideally has food... in central to east Berlin and has places nearby as alternates in case it's full? --davidc 18:06, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

+2 http://www.yoyo-foodworld.com/ :D -- relet 18:17, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Geocache

I've prepared GC1XWDV, "Geohashing Migration 2009", so nobody else needs to do so :-) I'll put it at the hashpoint, everyone can sign the logbook but you can't claim hash collision! --davidc 18:07, 28 August 2009 (UTC)