If you're here then that means you're either interested in meeting at Buck '16 or just curious what I'm cooking up. In either case, read on.

Attending Buck can be pretty pricey for people outside of UK. As such I devised a way, so that we'll pay much less than we normally would. We would crash together in the same room and split the costs. Yes, I know what you're thinking right now. I must be crazy to suggest that 5/6 people who don't know each other would be so trusting to do it. Except let me say we're not normal. We're Bronies, we're cool, welcoming, accepting people and I think it's entirely possible to organize such a thing. You also might be thinking that it's still 7 months to Buck, that we have time. Well, we're back to the money problem. With each passing day the prices go up. The earlier the cheaper and you know it.

For example, we could stay at, YHA Manchester. It's located at Potato Wharf, Manchester M3 4NB, UK(I lol'd at the street name). It's ~30min away from Buck by bus or ~20min by car. The room I looked up with four beds, right now costs 1789PLN, which divided by 5 people is 357,8PLN. Why four beds, but five people? Firstly, I don't expect more people to take up this offer(you can surprise me though!). Secondly, I'm more than willing to sleep on the floor if it means attending Buck and getting to hang out with you guys. Anyway, 5 beds costs 447,4PLN. I'm too lazy to convert all of this into your respective currencies, so you have to do it yourself.

Now, this is all just suggestions, but it'd be pretty awesome if we managed to pull off something like this. I'm open for any and all suggestions you might have. Also, it'd be pretty cool, if someone who actually lives in England could try and find something else, because y'know, that someone would actually know where and how to look.

I would love to do this. I can't give a 100% guarantee I'll be there, but I probably will, given there's enough interest. I'd most likely be travelling with one of my parents, though, so I unfortunately wouldn't be able to room with you or hang out outside of the con all that much. Still, though, I look forward to it!

I also have an idea. How about a Noble Jury discount on tickets?

4780332 If possible, it would be incredibly awesome. It's pretty official stuff tho, so I dunno how would you plan for it to work. Another thing, do you maybe know of a cheap place to stay?

I'm also thinking about posting a notice on Austraeoh group that I'm trying to organize something like this. Maybe someone from 'Murica would like to come. What do you guys think?

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tagging you for the sake of letting you know there's a new post

/EDIT
I made a thread on the main group, maybe there's someone from outside of Europe that would like to do this.

As much as I like the idea, the path to BUCK is a bit longer than I'd like. The westernmost I have ever been was Galacon (3 times).

If I do decide to participate next year, I'll join with a group of friends who travel to most of the European cons as a group (incl. travel and lodging).

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Heh, I'll tell you something. If this idea succeeds, then it'll be my first convention ever. Like, I even know there's a group of Bronies in my city, but I've never been to any meet-ups. For me personally, this is a "that one crazy thing to do in my life". So, are ya really sure, ya don't wanna do it with the Jury this one time?

I might be interested in making the long trek from the states to meet up with you guys if there's enough interest in this. I've always told myself I'd go to a pony convention someday and I've always wanted to take a trip to England, hopefully this'll be an opportunity to cross two things off of the bucket list.

Besides, there are worse things I could blow my money on than traveling east!

Cons in general have kinda dropped off my radar besides the local MCM event. PAX East is one I've been talking over with another FiMFictioner for a while now, but at this rate it'd be a long shot if I wanted in on it next Spring. Especially since a good chunk of spare time and money will almost certainly be going towards one or two trips to the continent later in 2016 (all for the sake of motorsport).

BUCK itself hasn't been one I've been so keen on in recent years, especially after I lost contact with the old con gang (I never do cons solo). But I'd be lying if I said a mini-Euro-Jurist/Ninthist meet-up wasn't something to really think about. I mean it's near enough that I don't have to worry so much about getting there and back. Plus I can always rally a couple more guys over on Skype that might express their interest.

So let's say either one of my planned excursions ends up going down the toilet, I get a little extra time off or whatever. I suppose I'd probably be down as a "maybe" as things stand.

Best of luck to ya, whatever happens.

4782053 F1 I can understand, hell, I'd go myself if I had the money, but 24h? Really?
Anyway, everyone who is interested is on 'maybe'/'yes, if there's enough interest' stage, right now. Including you, there are 4 people interested. It's supposed to be kinda Jury-themed, so I dunno 'bout your friends, but if in a, I don't know, ~10 days, there'll be no one else interested, then sure, why not. I mean, at first I intended it for 4-5 people, but not even a full two days passed and there are possibly 4 people already, so I guess it may be a bigger escapade than what I expected.

I've already booked my BUCK ticket for the whole weekend, so I'd be up for this for sure.

As for discounts like 4780332 suggested, I don't know how that would work, but the tickets are still early bird right now, so they are slightly cheaper than the BUCK site shows (~£85, so £103 after the VAT and fees as opposed to £116 after that the price suggests)

Looking at the YHA, site (here), it seems a heck of a lot cheaper if we were to book as a group but have individual beds booked in a dormitory. I'm assuming they'd try to group us together in the same room as we would book as one group, and we'd all be able to meet up in the hostel lobby or something if we were in seperate dorms.

Another really cheap option is Hatters on Newton Street. It's further from BUCK than YHA, but still in the city centre. A 6 bedroom dorm where we book all beds in that room would also work out to £279 overall for two nights (1606.62 PLN) or £46.50 each (267.77PLN).

They also do 10 bedroom dorms if we get more than 6 people, though we'd be sharing with randoms if it was less than 10 people, (but hey, we're all gonna be strangers to each other anyway at the start)

EDIT: I have SSC tickets too, so odds are I would book 1 extra night at where ever we are staying on top of the group booking, since I'd need to wait til 5am to get a train otherwise, and spending ~4 hours in a train station is something I never want to have to do again.

Regarding ticket discounts for Noble Jurists attending BUCK, the easiest method is if the convention partially refunds an already purchased ticket. If Noble Jurists can directly email director@buckevents.co.uk with their Noble Jury name *and* IM Lassie on Skype (so that there is proof of actual Noble Jury membership) then you will get your £40 back. That makes a Full Weekend ticket getting near enough to half price (a standard ticket would indeed be half price).

For those wondering how I can magically do this, it's because I own the company that runs BUCK.

Not sure what you mean by Early Bird tickets as they are fixed price this year and won't be going up from what you've already paid. The Full Weekend tickets are £83.33 + VAT which is £99.99 total (the price shown on the website is VAT inclusive) and then the 3% fee on top from the payment company. Around £102.99 it ought to be. Not sure where you get the £116 figure from?

As I recall from last year, the Hatters hostels will let you book a whole room of beds as a group. This does work out cheaper. I won't be joining you there as I have to be near to the venue or the guests. One or the other.

The last #250 bus to Manchester Piccadilly Gardens leaves the Trafford Centre at 00:10 on the Saturday night. The SSC finishes at 00:00 and the bus stop is a 5 minute walk outside the venue, just on the corner with the main road. The bus probably reaches the bus stop at 00:12 so you'd not miss anything much of the SSC to ensure you get your bus back to the city. http://ukofequestria.co.uk/threads/transportation-info.16627/ (as linked from the BUCK travel page).

Ah right, I thought the 99 was price before vat, that makes more sense I suppose

A couple of things.

1)

where we book all beds in that room would also work out to £279 overall for two nights (1606.62 PLN) or £46.50 each (267.77PLN).

I was actually thinking about three nights. As in, settle up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is the con and leave on Monday. The reason mainly being the price of the flight. Were I to arrive on Saturday, I'd have to pay twice the price of a Friday flight. The Friday one is 368PLN(~£63.88) and the Saturday one is 727PLN(~£126.21). That's a rather big difference.

2) This whole thing is difficult to organize for me "money-logistically". I don't have all the money needed at once. If we go through with this, then the first order of business for me is to get a flight ticket, so I won't wake up to insane prices one day. Then, in the time between booking a flight and christmas(including it) I'm gonna try to sell something+collect pocket money for Oct, Nov and Dec+money from christmas. That should cover the costs of accomodation and a little bit of the Full Weekend ticket(if accomodation cost will stay ~270PLN). After that, my birthday comes in January and that should cover the rest of the ticket. The pocket money from the remaining 4 months will cover buses and other expenses. I'm just telling you that, so that you are aware of the situation, 'cause that probably means changes in when we book our stay. Unless it's just a reservation and we'll be paying after New Year's Eve.

3) How exactly do we plan to split costs?

4) £40 refund, that's a lot. A question though, would there be, um, 'optional option' for something else than a refund?

1) Hatters and YHA would both work out to roughly the same for 3 nights, since there's a price spike for 3 nights from 2 nights at hatters. It'd be roughly the amount you said in the OP. In that case YHA is closer so it might be a better choice.

3) In my eyes: We decided where we are staying and numbers, then works out the cost per person. One person then books the room (I know some banks charge currency exhange fees when processing, so a Brit booking makes sense in case that happens). In a 100% ideal scenario, everyone else bank transfers/paypals their cut of money beforehand. (But for example if I was to be paying, I know for a fact I'll have enough of a bank balance combined with my student loan to cover costs if some people can't afford to pay til after the accommodation is booked.)

(Or y'know, we could always pull what my friend did for MCM Scotland this year and sleep in tents :P)

4) Actually, thats an interesting idea, Instead of getting the £40 back, maybe an option for us to instead add on the Fast Pass, the poster, or the tee-shirt? (Or give it as 4x Generosity's)

4) That's what I was thinking. If we could maybe pay these £40 less at check-out(through a kinda discount code or something), then probably i'll have enough to get the t-shirt.

Anyway, I'm waiting two more days and then I'm tagging all the interested people to see if it's enough people for everyone to agree to go with this. Flight ticket already went 100PLN up

Actually, I just realized I might be moving out somewhere around summer-ish (haven't really laid out exact plans yet), so that might interfere with this. I'll still go if I can, but don't count on it.

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I kinda forgot about that yesterday. Anyway I tagged you peope, 'cause you said that you're interested. It's 5 of us. 4782053, you could ask someone, so that we have 6 at least. So, guys, are you in or are you not in? I know that I am in.

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I asked around earlier in the week, but a lack of money seems to be a recurring issue for others.

At this rate, I'd sooner say I'm down for BUCK instead of PAX. Logistically, it'd be little more than a 2 hour commute north and just one day off work, which is fine with the boss. So it's almost definitely doable. Might as well mark me down as in for now.

4806852 I'm 100% in.

4809109 As far as I'm concerned we're looking for Friday/Saturday, Saturday/Sunday and Sunday/Monday.

4806852 A buddy of mine wants me to head out to Vegas with him for New Year's so money might be kinda tight but I think I should still have enough to make it as long as air fare hasn't jumped and getting a passport isn't too expensive. I'll let you know for sure in a day or two once I've had a chance to look at my finances a little more closely.

4811226 I've just had my Uni midweek break, so odds are it might not be a school break at that week

4806852 Sorry for the late reply, but go ahead and count me in! I just found out I'm going to have to work a TON of overtime coming up here soon but on the bright side it should mean that I'll be able to make the trip.

4785014 The discounts are still a thing, right? Also what do I put in the email besides my NJ nickname, how do I title the email and what is the estimated refund time as I just got around to pay for the ticket and it's important I get refund before the con.

5139057 Yes. The discount is still a thing for Noble Jury members. Just title the email Noble Jury. Refund time depends on the bank. It can take up to 5-10 days from refund to actually get the money back. So the sooner I get the email the better.

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Regarding ticket discounts for Noble Jurists attending BUCK, the easiest method is if the convention partially refunds an already purchased ticket. If Noble Jurists can directly email director@buckevents.co.uk with their Noble Jury name *and* IM Lassie on Skype (so that there is proof of actual Noble Jury membership) then you will get your £40 back. That makes a Full Weekend ticket getting near enough to half price (a standard ticket would indeed be half price).

Ah-ha, I remembered this group is here.
I'll be coming with a few other Czech people (non-jurists, though) like I said.
For anyone interested, I'll arrive on wednesday to have time for a look around Manchester before the con, and apparently we have beds booked in the same hostel as you guys.
Hope to have a chance to greet you personally in a week (and day).

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I understand the skype group is a requirement, from what Lasairfion answered me a few weeks back. Since I hardly ever log on to skype, I decided to just forget it. But who knows, perhaps I've misread or you'll have better luck.

5144478 I'm pretty sure that you can do that now. Just log onto Skype, find Pilate and ask him to add you to the chat like he says in the skype group thread on the main group.