Carpooling to Atlanta!
 

Hey all!

As many FIRST teams in Virginia know, funding is kind of low this year. So, I'm going to toss this idea out and see what kind of response I get:

Would any of you teams (VA or otherwise, but VA especially so I can see if there's interest) be interested in chartering a bus to an event with another team or two, specifically Atlanta? Bus rental fees split over 50 or 60 kids and adults gets really cheap per person, compared to airfare.

For those that have done this before, how does the whole transportation to and from events work out? Do you just ride the bus to the stadium or some such? This would probably mean all the teams would have to stay at the same hotel, which would be kind of funny to schedule...

What a great team building exercise that would be, though.

The hotels for Championship will almost all be within walking distance to to Georgia Dome and the Convention Center. For the further hotels, buses will be provided so you wouldn't have to worry about sharing the bus once at the site. Thought that might help.

I know we'd be interested if we place for championship. It looks like we're probably not going to get in on the waiting list for MD, so our funds will go towards nats if we get in. So...yeah, we're interested. We'll probably have 20 people at most able to go, just to give you some numbers.

Re: Carpooling to Atlanta!
 

Good suggestion.
Several teams in NYC have already priced charter buses from NYC to Altantic, GA. Most teams only need only half a bus so teams have already began talking about sharing charter buses.
As the championship approaches, maybe it would a good idea to create a FIRST-carpool network of the East Coast team who want to participate. We are already estimating a savings of half if two teams share one bus for 5 days instead of flying from NYC!
US95 is going to be one busy highway...
:yikes:

Re: Carpooling to Atlanta!
 

We havn't looked recenly, but back in..2000 I think, there was a threat of a airline strike of some sort, so we made contingancy plans to take a bus to Florida for Nats. Apparently, it was only about 30% cheaper to take a bus vs the plane. And that whole 22 hour bus ride thing vs 2hr plane flight. :rolleyes:

Anyway, 116 decided last night not to goto Na, The Championship, so there will be a Jeep rolling down from NVA with a few college students bound for Atlanta. :D


Wetzel

Re: Carpooling to Atlanta!
 

Hey Gui,
I think 1132 would be more than glad to take up the offer now...since we're in for the championship!
We were one of the few teams drawn in the lottery, and we signed up with 4 slots left! It was close!
We think we can get together the registration fees ok. We're gonna be in Atlanta! Woooooooooo! Watch out for RAPTAR eveyone! Ok, I just had to get that out of my system. Man, you just have no idea how rabid I've been acting... It's just too good to be true. :ahh:

So, um, anyway... I guess I'm saying "Yes, we'd like some info" officially for our team. We have 13 students, and I don't think they all will be going, so a guess of a maximum 20-25 heads for our team would probably be accurate. (Parents, Mentors included)

Just let me know if you guys are still willing to give it a whack.

Re: Carpooling to Atlanta!
 

How far from UMD is this NVA jeep ;)