RenDezvous 2011 - It's a date!

[Blushing]

That sounded a lot more amusing in my head ...

The official RenDezvous 2011 weekend at the Colorado Renaissance Festival will be July 2-3.

Yes, that Monday is the Fourth of July which gives everyone a holiday for traveling, or better yet, a day to explore all the other treasures in Colorado!

We are so very excited to be hosting ... and we spent some time during the recent season researching and scheming.  A lot of such information will be forthcoming in the months ahead.  We hope ALL of you can make it!

_{But for the record, we will welcome any of you, any weekend.} 

[Lady Kett]

Huzzah! Count me and my trusty Sidekick in! <looks around> ... Now we need a countdown thread, LOL!

[Bonny Pearl]

Oh man I hope we can make it!   

[LadyStitch]

It is now programed into my e-calandar, and written on my paper calandar.  Is it too early to put in for the time off?

[Lupa]

Wow... that might be difficult coming from the East Coast.  Since it is a holiday weekend, airfare is going to be expensive.

[Lady Mikayla of Phoenicia]

Wow... that might be difficult coming from the East Coast.  Since it is a holiday weekend, airfare is going to be expensive.

That's what I was thinking Lupa!

[angusmacinnes]

book early. 

[LadyStitch]

Some one was talking about some sort of special accomidations idea they had.  And then we were all hoping for a driving caravan out of the DFW area, and picking up people along the way up there. 
Now that we have dates we may see if we can drag a couple of our friends up there with us. 

[Gauwyn of Bracknell]

Castle Rock will be busy 

[Lady Kett]

Rule #1 of traveling by air: Airfares make no sense. I needed to buy a 1 way ticket from MN to DFW for our daughter for Tuesday after Labor Day and scored an under-$80 ticket direct from the airline (with a confirmed seat) less than 1 month in advance. As I have continued to share my incredulity at a $700 ticket transforming into under $80, I've had a lot of people tell me it's because airlines have "deals" they pop out on Thursdays and I bought it on a Thursday. Long way of saying...don't assume a holiday weekend automatically pops prices up. I think the airlines are seeing lots of decline in pleasure travel so are doing some bit to entice it out of the masses. Check fares often and through various sources. Start now, you never know what will crawl out of the woodwork.

To Lady Stitch: Oh yes, the caravan from Texas. We MUST do that. It would be sooo much fun!!!!

[Zoë]

It's helpful to poke around sites like Travelocity, Expedia, etc....they really come in handy when it comes to finding good deals, and they often give discounts if you book a plane ticket along with a hotel or rental car, things like that.  Options options options!

[Lupa]

I use all sources to find airline tickets... coming in/out of Baltimore tends to be expensive.

[Lady Nicolette]

Several of the RenDevous' have been held over holiday weekends, the three days off work for so many people who work "regular" jobs make it more convenient.  It IS actually more crowded travel and can be more expensive, but it also potentially gives everyone one more Faire day or a travel day without losing work.  At least there's a long time to plan/save...And remember that many people work regularly through the weekend and some especially over holiday weekends and need to arrange to get time off (if they can).  No matter what day is chosen it's always good for some and not good for others. 

[LadyStitch]

I'm going to toss this out there for the Pink Pirate.  This is just a thought he came up with.  Considering the rough area is a tourist area, why could we rent say a condo or something for the weekend.  Basically have a house that a bunch of us go in on. If it is $1000 bucks for the weekend split by say 10 couples/people  that is $100 for 2-3 days hotel.  Not a bad price.  No management to tell us to stay quiet at the pool.  Besides we take over hotels anyway, why not a whole house/cabin?

Then someone said something about their being a camp ground near by.  Having a massive Rendevous camp, the only thing is the people coming in from out of town on planes would either need to bring their own tent, OR have tents waiting for them when we they get there.  If you stay in camp chip in say....$50 a person. It pays for meals, TP, Sodas, and any basic camp supplies we would need.  If we have  a caravan going out, borrow or rent a trailer to haul all the stuff up there.  Have a true "Invasion" camp.

These are just thoughts I'm tossing out for discussion.

[Blushing]

A lot of thought went into the date ... including weather, crowds and travel.  And there's almost a year to save!

I second the thought that airfares make no sense.  I will say that Fourth of July fares should be noticeably less than Memorial Day of other holiday weekends - it's not a typical travel weekend.  And there are two airports to choose from: Denver and Colorado Springs.  Airfarewatchdog.com is a great site for tracking/comparing airfares - I have several faire routes set so I can get regular updates to snag the best deal.