h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

About 350 and 80 km respectively.

Hannover has an airport.

I'm not aware of any direct flights from Dublin to Hannover.

That's the problem KB had when he came, he had to do the rest by train.

I think for direct connections to Dublin, our choices are the Cologne/Düsseldorf area, Munich, or Berlin

How about Aachen?

I can fly direct to Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, or Frankfurt.

But don't rule out cities reasonably close to those - with the train network here, getting to a city 50km away is nearly as fast as getting downtown from the airport...

That's why I voted for Mannheim.

A load of hootooers at a meet: ->

A summary of votes so far:

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Hannover - sorry, the English spelling is Hanover -
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Against
Gnomon (no flight direct from Dublin)
Pierce has doubts about the weather at that time of year

For
Mala - can stay with her cousin
Matodemi - hasn't been to Hannover before, but has a friend there.
TC - I've never been there either
B'Elana - are you in favour? You know the town well? (It's always good to have someone who knows the place in the group)
Toybox - could drive there (could also give Pierce a lift maybe)


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Mannheim
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Against
No one yet, but not everyone has commented on this. Once you're in Frankfurt, it's very easy to get to.


For
Gnomon
TC (cos it's right near me, even though it leaves me with the organisation)


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Hamburg
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Against
Trillian's Child - it's slightly too far north for just a weekend for me, but I could possible be persuaded....
Pierce pointed out that the risk of bad weather is higher, the further North you go.

For
Sho - she's right, in that it has more to offer than most other places. Who'd be guide?
Gnomon, although he hasn't said so, but has indicated that he can fly there direct.


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Heidelberg hasn't been commented on, although it was a great favourite as a venue for the German meet a couple of years ago. It's easily accessible from Frankfurt.
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Hamburg is reasonably close to Hanover too. And I can give lifts from HH to H, 'cos it's on the way anyway.

According to Google Maps, it's two hours' drive from Hamburg to Hannover.

Two hours, yes, it's next door so to speak. And it's a very good highway though (with no roadworks! Or maybe just a single wee one). Although HH Airport is on the wrong side of Hamburg.

I've just looked at train timetables. From door to door I could get to Hannover in 4-5 hours. Can't book yet - earliest possible booking 92 days in advance. So I can't see if I'd qualify for the cheap €29 ticket.

I don't know Hannover. I know the zoo a bit (but it's very expensive), and that's about it.

Let's not forget that MMF wants to come, too, so travelling from airport to meet should preferably be as easy as possible.

The Herrenhäuser Gärten are nice, and they're free. There's also a big aquarium up that way. And the Wilhelm Busch museum, but that turned out to be rather small.

I'd not mind seeing Mannheim or Heidelberg, but I don't know what to do there. (Yarreau might know about Mannheim, though, since we lived near there when I was a child.)

TC volunteered as a tour guide for Mannheim.

*bump*

Have we decided on a location yet?

Let's just reduce it to Mannheim vs Hanover.

Votes please.

(I vote for Mannheim - nearest for me!)

I'fve seen that there are direct flights from London, so MMF should be able to get to Hannover if we vote for that.

My sister would attend, as would one of her friends (probably) who could do a guided tour of Hannover and give tips/arrange accommodation, so I'll vote for Hannover after all.

Hanover: 1
Mannheim: 2 (Gnomon voted for Mannheim way back. He has the right to change his mind yet, though)

For MMF re Mannheim: Flights are available from Stansted to Baden-Baden, but I think getting to Stansted might be the problem in that case - especially getting round the airport in Stansted. I could pick him up in Baden Baden and, if necessary, put him up as well.