Getting to the 2008 Honolulu Regionals doesn't require breaking the bank

[rainy846]

can anyone fill me in one the shipping prices?
Even thought FIRST pay for between Regional shipping fees, we still have to pay for getting it to the first regional and getting back from the last regional.
So can any previous Hawaii teams share some numbers regarding shipping partly across the pacific ocean?

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by rainy846

Even thought FIRST pay for between Regional shipping fees, we still have to pay for getting it to the first regional and getting back from the last regional.

It's the other way around (at least it was for the 2007 season, though there's no guarantee that FedEx will do the same thing next year).

Originally Posted by The 2007 FRC Manual, section 4.9.1. The FedEx Express Freight Donation

FedEx Express Freight will ship your crate to the Regional of your choice. FedEx will then ship it back “home” as the second benefit. You cannot substitute your shipment home for a second Regional shipment.

If your team is registered to compete at the Championship, FedEx Express Freight will also ship your crate to the Championship and back home. NO SUBSTITUTIONS.

[TKM.368]

Originally Posted by rainy846

can anyone fill me in one the shipping prices?
Even thought FIRST pay for between Regional shipping fees, we still have to pay for getting it to the first regional and getting back from the last regional.
So can any previous Hawaii teams share some numbers regarding shipping partly across the pacific ocean?

As a Hawaii team, we are also wondering what shipping costs are going to be since FedEx has always taken our robot from us and brought our robot back to us for free. Now our robot will have to be flown between regionals back to Hawaii at our expense at a price we do not know.

For mainland teams, as I read the 2007 manual in 4.5.8.3

5) U.S. teams not using the donated/free FedEx shipping for your initial event:


Mail a copy of your receipt to FIRST right away so it arrives within 4 days, addressing the envelope as below, using all capital letters. The properly addressed verification must arrive within 4 days.

You could then use the free FedEx shipment TO the Hawaii regional and then FedEx will take it for free from the Hawaii regional either back to your school or else to the Championships. Be careful because FedEx (and possibly other shippers as well) may not be able to get your robot to Hawaii in time if you are competing in a Week 4 event.

Plans are still being worked out regarding what company is going to be storing the robots in Hawaii since the drayage companies on the mainland which do that job do not exist in Hawaii. With that, we cannot determine what cost (if any) there will be to store the robots and get them to the event here. We're hoping that it's a donation from the local companies.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by TKM.368

Be careful because FedEx (and possibly other shippers as well) may not be able to get your robot to Hawaii in time if you are competing in a Week 4 event.

I would say be mroe than careful. Odds are your robot will not get there on time. I believe I remember seeing last year or the year before that robots being shipped to back to back regionals in different timezones only made it on time like 25% of the time or less. This isn't just any regional either... it's an island.

If you are planning on attending a week 4 regional and then Hawaii, if you want your robot to be there when you get there, you will need to pay extra for expedited shipping. In the past, I believe robots are required to be at the drayage facility by Tuesday. So at most you have 3 days time to work with, maybe less if the shipper doesn't pick the robots up Sunday (which they probably don't).

This caused us to have to drop out of the Great Lakes Regional last year, as it was back to back with SVR. We looked into expedited shipping and it was nearly half the cost of the regional, at somewhere around $2000, for nothing but the crate and the robot. Odds are shipping to Hawaii is way more expensive than the continental US as well.

[waialua359]

We are definitely worried about shipping costs as well. Since we are attending the VCU regional, who knows how much its going to be from VCU back to Hawaii, then back to Championships, then back home. NJ to Vegas was $850.00 alone last year, not including the $400 extra we paid per trip for the overweight crate. The problem for Hawaii teams is that all of our tooling has to go in the crate, since its hard to carry on a plane ride, even as check in luggage. We save the check in space for Aloha items for each regional.
I had asked the Hawaii committee planners for assistance as my calculation to participate in the Hawaii regional may cost us an additional $6000 round trip from our 1st regional to championships.
It would be a lot cheaper, if we didn't attend the Hawaii regional.......but, we wouldn't dare do something like that.

[TKM.368]

Originally Posted by waialua359

who knows how much its going to be from VCU back to Hawaii, then back to Championships, then back home.

Back to Championships and back home should be free from FedEx.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by TKM.368

Back to Championships and back home should be free from FedEx.

your right. I meant that its still 6k (estimation) from VCU - Hawaii - Atlanta. Not sure if Hawaii - Atlanta is free if we dont win the regional. Can someone confirm this? I am assuming we have to pay.
Atlanta to Hawaii would be free. It its about 1k to go from VCU to cali and cali to Hawaii about 2k, then we are looking at 3k one way.

[TKM.368]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Not sure if Hawaii - Atlanta is free if we dont win the regional.

It is my understanding that anything to Atlanta is free.

[rainy846]

I am kind of scared about the plane tickets right now.
The cheapest I found was $329 round trip (I guess that is pretty cheap for Hawaii, I don't know how much cheaper or more expensive it is going to be when we actually order it!) (normally for our away regional, it costs 500- 600 for students that is including plane ticket, hotel, and 2 team dinners as well as all transportation to and from the airport etc.)
I hope I will be able to bargain a little once i call them.

And I checked out the hotels. Even though they aren't EXTREMELY far from the university, but that is a fair amount of walking to and from competition area (1 mile each way is not fun when you are tired from a day of competition)
Anyone think it would be wise to rent a car just for transportation between the hotel and the university?
What are some other Silicon Valley team's plan??
254?
Input from Hawaiian teams on near by restaurants would be great!

[Cory]

Originally Posted by rainy846

I am kind of scared about the plane tickets right now.
The cheapest I found was $329 round trip (I guess that is pretty cheap for Hawaii, I don't know how much cheaper or more expensive it is going to be when we actually order it!) (normally for our away regional, it costs 500- 600 for students that is including plane ticket, hotel, and 2 team dinners as well as all transportation to and from the airport etc.)
I hope I will be able to bargain a little once i call them.

And I checked out the hotels. Even though they aren't EXTREMELY far from the university, but that is a fair amount of walking to and from competition area (1 mile each way is not fun when you are tired from a day of competition)
Anyone think it would be wise to rent a car just for transportation between the hotel and the university?
What are some other Silicon Valley team's plan??
254?
Input from Hawaiian teams on near by restaurants would be great!

$330 is WAY WAY WAY cheap. It will not get any cheaper. Buy them ASAP.

Btw, where did you find this price? I've been checking SFO, SJC, OAK to HNL and never found less than $450

We aren't sure what we're doing for hotels yet.

[rainy846]

ata.com
it is form oak to honolulu
but since they don't have the prices for march 26 to 30 yet, i used feb 27 to march 2... so it's just an approximate

[Jeff K.]

You guys are finding good deals, or booked before we did. We got tickets for around $500 flight roundtrip, but then for hotel are staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, roughly $400 per person.

[rainy846]

I bet some of our parents won't be really happy about the prices... ahhh!!!

we haven't booked anything yet... still researching
I think we are gonna go for cheaper hotels to save some money.

[TKM.368]

Originally Posted by rainy846

ata.com
it is form oak to honolulu
but since they don't have the prices for march 26 to 30 yet, i used feb 27 to march 2... so it's just an approximate

From what I can see around the competition dates, round trip from Oakland on ATA is $429 at the cheapest before taxes and fees (dates are available for booking from Oakland, but not some other starting cities). I'm afraid to tell you that you are not going to see prices in the $300 range as the competition is during peak travel season to Hawaii.

As for hotels, there are none that are within a desirable walking distance to the venue. If you don't rent a car, you can opt to use public transportation (TheBus.org) which is convenient from the venue to Waikiki and also the Ala Moana Shopping Center which is where the dining choices are a little more plentiful (food court). Be careful with the cheaper hotels - they may not be someplace you want to have students staying.

[rainy846]

We'll probably end up having near 30 people going. So 1 Van might be sort of busy. Any one know if those small shuttle buses things that seats 12 to 15 people needs a special drivers license? I think we can rent them for several days for $300 to $400.

Jim Beck is still talking to some Hotels for possible sponsorship (discount or if we are really really really lucky, free rooms) so we are waiting to near back from him.

Our coach is away, so I can't really decide anything now, especially since we don't even have a list of names of people who wants to go. I would need an approximate price. ( I wonder if we are allowed to book a whole flight =P with some other teams in the area)