Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

And now for something completely different. We just finished tabulating our Atlanta expenses (our Vex team of 5 spent $286/person for everything except airfare -- robot transport, hotel for 4 nights, food & snacks, entertainment (including an aquarium visit), and transportation in town and to the airport). As a perpetual tightwad, I am looking for tips on ways that you saved money in Atlanta, including cheap lodging, restaurants, entertainment, transport of robots and bodies, or anything else you can think of. Eventually, I'd like to collect these ideas into a White Paper for the benefit of others, especially since it looks like the World Championship will be in Atlanta for at least the next 2 years.

I'm especially looking for ideas are likely to be used year after year ("find a hotel that serves breakfast," vs. "the XXX hotel had a one-time breakfast special this year"). Even better are ideas that apply not just to Atlanta, but to other cities as well.

I am NOT looking for any ideas that are illegal, immoral, or unscrupulous (although I don't mind unsanitary), nor am I looking for anything that bilks the other person (like skimping on tips). Atlanta has been good to us, and we should return the favor. Besides, true tightwaddery is based on skill and self-control, not selfishness.

Also, if this ever ends up as a formal compilation, I'd like to give acknowledgement to the contributors, so I'd appreciate it if you'd PM me with your permission and the name you want to be used (real name or user handle).

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

It was somewhat painful and long, but we shared a bus with another team and drove overnight (Wednesday night, dropped everybody directly into the pits & left to drive back straight from watching Einstein)... cut out two nights of hotel expenses.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

One thing that'll help out all around: volunteer for one or more of the days. FIRST feeds the crew pretty well, and you get the snazzy threads too. The hours might be longer than the rest of the team has, but if you've got a larger squad it's something to look into.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

I went to the grocery store..

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

Our team brings food along with them on the bus. For $20/person, we purchased breakfast for 3 mornings at the regional, 3 mornings in Atlanta, 2 lunches (bread, cold cuts, cheese, pickles, snacks, fruit, dessert, juice boxes) for the bus ride down to Atlanta.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

If you fly, take MARTA to the Dome then walk to your hotel. It's so much cheaper than hotel shuttles to/from the airport or a taxi.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

We found a hotel near a Marta station that offered a free hot breakfast, and bought the week long Marta pass for $13. For the tidy sum of $13, we got the ride to the Dome in the morning, the ride back to the hotel, the ride to some nice restaurant near a different Marta station each night, and the ride back to the hotel after dinner. Being "tunnel rats" was fun, especially when it was raining up on the surface streets.

Eugene

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

If money is really a priority and you're from the West Coast, take the redeye. The financial savings is quite substantial. I'd recommend against it, though, unless absolutely necessary. Being in the pits all day after being in a plane all night is not fun.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

Check out the travel resource papers in NEMO.
http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

Stay at a hotel with free WiFi. For a robotics team, this is a lifesaver. For lunch, instead of buying from the stands, make your own sandwiches. Cold cuts, bread, condiments and a soda for $3 a person beats the same thing for $8 from a stand.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

Except for the part where there is a rule that states "no outside food or drink may be brought into the venue."

Of course, if you do not mind breaking the rules... use the coolers full of outside food to save seats for your team...

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

No need to break the rules when the grassy picnic area between the Dome and GWCC is around.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

its fine if yo ubreak the rules. one of our mentors walked in with about 5 bags of subway and they didnt say anything.

vivek

EDIT: wow that came out wrong. what i mean is the first officers do not seem to mind if you do because they know how ridiculously overpriced the stand food is.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

As I've been starting to write this thing, I'm realizing that to be really useful, Atlanta-specific info is needed after all. Specifically, I'm looking for the following info:

1. Places to get groceries that are walking distance from the downtown area, or accessible by Marta. Mini-mart-type places that sell juice, soda, & snacks are also acceptable.

2. Lower-priced hotels that you've stayed in, and your commentary on the experience, especially caveats.

3. Lower-cost restaurants that are walkable from downtown or accessible by Marta.

4. Wacky-tacky ideas that push the envelope of common cost-cutting into the realm of high-level, black-belt frugality. See below for a sample.

The Perennial Plastic Cup
A plastic cup (brought from your hotel or home) is an invaluable tightwadding tool with many and varied uses. With it, you can obtain unlimited drinks of water from the bathroom at the Georgia Dome, mooch a bit of soda from your free-spending friends, or split a large Blizzard or drink with another tightwad – large is usually twice the volume or more of small for a small incremental increase in cost. A variation on the above theme is the empty plastic water bottle (disposable) for beverages. Plastic – don't leave home without it.

Re: Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta
 

Our team stayed at an Embassy Suites.... This allows for 3 beds per room. If your kids don't mind 2 to a bed, or one on the floor and one on the bed per bed, this means 6 kids to a room, at only a fraction of the cost more. You can reduce your costs by ~30% by staying in a place that allows for more people per room (physically. I mean, you could have 6 kids in a conventional hotel room, but this is pushing it.)

Jacob