Individual hotel room?

[Michael Corsetto]

Hey guys,

So as it turns out, my team (114) does not have the funding nor the school board approval to go to Nationals this year. We did better this year than we ever had before and I wish it didn't have to end at Sacramento.

Although our robot is done competing for the year, our animation is still in the running. We swept the Pacific Northwest, Silicon Valley and Davis regional animation awards and have a chance at the championship award. I would really like to go to Nationals, being that there is a slight chance we could win the animation award. I also love just roaming around the pits and seeing all the high calibur robot from all over the world.

A team animator and I have decided that we want to fly east to Atlanta and check out nationals. We have an open flight with frequent flier miles and such, but we do not have a hotel reservation once we get there. We are going with no adult chaperon, I am 17 and our animator 16, and the hotels that we have checked so far won't let people under the age of 18 check in. I know the THS system has reserved a bunch of rooms for FIRST teams, but since we aren't "officialy" attending the competition, can we still book a room with them? Will they let us check in by ourselves? Without a team?

Does anyone know if this is a possibility? We really would like to go, but this whole hotel deal is tripping us up.

Any help or info would be much apreciated,

Mike C.

PS. If we do attend Nationals, do we have to notify FIRST to let them know that we will be there to accept any possible award?