Wisconsin 2006 - Alternative Idea (likely for 2007)

[j0ram]

Hmm.. Now, this is another idea that has sort of worked its way up the last 24 hours...

After looking at the seemingly large-ish response for Wisconsin, I got to thinking... these things are tough without a "hq" to work outa. So, i got to thinking... Well, what about week/weekend house rentals. So I went to google.

And it turns out, there's a lot of nice woody/lakefront area in this part of the state, with a good deal of vacation rentals.

What is a vacation rental? Well, 3 to 5 bedroom houses in the woods and/or on a lake, that you can rent for a weekend or a week. Some of these are -very- nice, very large 4-5 bedroom houses, on the water, sometimes even with a private beach, in the area of 1100 - 1500 for a week.

Now, given this situation, a whole week is really the only way to go. Now these places can very comfortably sleep 10. So lets say we gather 10. That's around $150 per person for housing. Mind you, that's $150 for a whole WEEK... unlike the Atlanta APM which is $150 per -night-. We stock up on food and beer on day #1 and go from there.

Full blown one week get-away.

So... what sorta interest is there? The two notes you should touch when you voice your voice is... a) the timespan of a week, b) the ability to contribute your $150 (ish.. whatever it ends up being) a good few months ahead of time, to make sure things are covered.

So... speak up!

[House Rising Sun]

If the place gets filled out, this sounds like a really fun idea. Start saving for a couple hundred now, folks, and we could have a grand old time in House Armageddon. The Real World: Armageddon.

I'm more in for this than just a regular, possibly equally expensive weekend somewhere.

[sarahjc]

Vacation rental houses are awesome and yes, not very expensive.

Two issues are that someone will most likely need to foot the cost of the house up front and that same person will need to trust that everyone is going to pay up. Also you will really not know how much your vacation will cost until everyone shows, eats and leaves. That said, you can bank on it being a ton cheaper than Atlanta for a good deal longer.

I've never been to a lake, I have heard that they can be muddy and murky, but that you can do lots of stuff on them and that there are swamp monsters.

I am an east coast girl and am an Ocean fan, which you can also do stuff on. Something else you might want to check out is beach houses on the coast. They are the same deal, come fully equipped (meaning towles, fully stocked kitchen with utensils, blenders, ice machines, cable) and have a TON of bedrooms. Some of these places can sleep 25 people easy with 10-12 bedrooms.  And you can have that many around and not really notice all of them/any of them unless you really want to. I am pretty sure you can rent something all up and down the coastline, but check out the Outerbanks NC/Jersey shore NJ / Fire Island NY (personal Fav)/ And Hiltonhead NC.

You'll find them a bit more pricey than a lake house most likely, but still if you get 15 people, it's way less than Atlanta and for longer.

Either way, I'd be in for something like that for at least a 5 day weekend if not a week.

[Sanvean]

We do something similar for the AIM - rent a beachhouse on the Outer Banks for a week  and split the costs, which end up being surprisingly cheap, including food - I think last year ran about 230 per person total, but I may be off there.  But yeah, you need someone to handle the money and who's willing to take the risk of getting stiffed.

Be aware that some of these places don't want rowdy college students and go to some pains to avoid it (Outer Banks usually insists on "family" rentals).  You may want to selct your destination accordingly.

[j0ram]

Well, as I was sort of hinting at, get the folks to pay ahead of time. Most of these places look to want either half or everything paid within 60 days of the rental date.

I figure everyone can pay for their own beverages, simplifies that. That just leaves food, which should be easy enough to work out.

[buzz]

Personally, I'm more apt to be able to get a weekend free, rather than a whole week.  Spouse is non-Armageddon friendly, and all that.  It sounds fun, and if I could swing it, I would do it.

[path]

That's right. You killed my buzz.

Just as I was getting all excited about the idea it stuck me. My spouse would also be deeply unsympathetic to this kind of venture. He would douse my flame within instants if I tried to slip the idea past him. He's got lightspeed reflexes for sufficating any conversation that touches on Armageddon.

A weekend.. in Madison, where two of my best friends live, where I myself spent a blissful year, that I think I could work out.

[Irulan]

Something like this sounds like alot of fun. Red Ranger and I would need a good bit of notice, so that we can arrange time off and what not, our schedules are quite stringent. Probably a long weekend would be what would work best for us, I don't know if we could do a whole week.

I really like this idea, though, it sounds like alot of fun.

[paramecium]

I am game, if amoeba is?  

[Scarborough]

I would not be interested in contributing to a week long vacation house.  I only planned to come for a day initially as it was.  I think there are some other alternatives that would work too, and for less.  

Hotel suite -- some hotels are meants for business travelers are an entire apartment with a kitchen, living room, and multiple bedrooms, but they are located in a hotel so there are pools and workout rooms.  I've seen these for almost the same price as a regular hotel room in some places (like where I live).  Something like that could be a central meeting place and then everyone could pay for their own sleeping accomodations either in the same place or elsewhere. Cost for something like this would be less; in fact the weekly rate for these kinds of hotels is way below $1000.

University commons -- another option for a larger number of people would be to have a common meeting place each day on a University in a commons area.  That doesn't allow drinking and smoking and general mayhem, but it's FREE and there's lots of room for big numbers of people.  The people would find their own sleeping accomodations.

[j0ram]

Well this is really meant more for a possibility of next year.

This year is still going as planned. A long weekend in Madison in April...

Btw, anyone else interested, let me know ASAP.

[Larrath]

I'd like to show up to a week like that, though it's pretty very extremely unlikely I'll be able to.
Stupid Israel.

Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky next year.

[mansa]

I got lucky last year.

[Maybe42or54]

Will we be reenacting famous scenes from Armageddon?
Can we have elections that first day to to pick nobles, templars, bynners, commoners, and my slaves?

[path]

Since Maybe42or54's post I've reconsidered my previous stand.