PAX Travel Guide

Fooswashere1

I am going to take a picture when it costs me more than $100 to fill up my tank for my SUV.

AngelHedgie

VThornheart wrote: »

ASimPerson wrote: »

Use those sites to find fares, but don't buy from them. Once you find the fare you want, go to the airline's website and buy from them directly. This ensures you avoid any booking fees and that you will get frequent flier miles, and perhaps even a small amount of bonus miles for booking directly from them.

Sometimes those sites can discount hotel rooms enough such that their packages are actually a good deal, but if you want to be in one of the official hotels I suspect the best discount is the PAX discount anyway.

Personally, I avoid sites like that entirely and use this guy: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/
It's like the Orbitz matrix display but without the ads and crap. Extremely useful.

Ah, cool! I've never seen that. I'll be sure to use it.

I've got to look up more about the potential for getting weekly discounts etc... from hotels. I know you can, so I'll have to do some searching tonight after work. The wife's birthday is about a week before PAX, and she dropped the "heavy hint" that she wants to go to this Gluten-free restaurant for her birthday... which, for better or worse, means a week and a half to two weeks in Seattle counting PAX.

Hmm... maybe at that rate, I'd be better off renting part of a duplex, or the upper floor of someone's house or something... I've heard that can be economical for extended stays. So many things to think about.

Well, in your case, I'd recommend looking into a suite-style hotel. They usually have extended stay rates, are a bit bigger, and can come with a kitchenette.

VThornheart

AngelHedgie wrote: »

VThornheart wrote: »

ASimPerson wrote: »

Use those sites to find fares, but don't buy from them. Once you find the fare you want, go to the airline's website and buy from them directly. This ensures you avoid any booking fees and that you will get frequent flier miles, and perhaps even a small amount of bonus miles for booking directly from them.

Sometimes those sites can discount hotel rooms enough such that their packages are actually a good deal, but if you want to be in one of the official hotels I suspect the best discount is the PAX discount anyway.

Personally, I avoid sites like that entirely and use this guy: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/
It's like the Orbitz matrix display but without the ads and crap. Extremely useful.

Ah, cool! I've never seen that. I'll be sure to use it.

I've got to look up more about the potential for getting weekly discounts etc... from hotels. I know you can, so I'll have to do some searching tonight after work. The wife's birthday is about a week before PAX, and she dropped the "heavy hint" that she wants to go to this Gluten-free restaurant for her birthday... which, for better or worse, means a week and a half to two weeks in Seattle counting PAX.

Hmm... maybe at that rate, I'd be better off renting part of a duplex, or the upper floor of someone's house or something... I've heard that can be economical for extended stays. So many things to think about.

Well, in your case, I'd recommend looking into a suite-style hotel. They usually have extended stay rates, are a bit bigger, and can come with a kitchenette.

Aye, in the end we decided to get a room at Extended Stay America for the time before PAX, and then a corner suite at the Sheraton for during PAX (to avoid a daily commute in for PAX itself).

I did see a few really interesting - if not somewhat unusual - "extended stay" hotels in downtown PAX in case anyone's interested in them. Some of them look questionable in nature, but for an extended stay they're very cheap and some of them seem to be well positioned downtown (i.e. near interesting things).

http://www.vermont-inn.com/map.html
- This one's actually many different hotels with different names, all around Seattle and all with more "extended stay" features like kitchens etc... reviews online claim they're sketchy, but I imagine no more than a hostel would be.

http://www.innatqueenanne.com/default.asp
- Another option that appears to be in a central spot, though having never been in Seattle itself for more than a few hours I don't know for sure.

SlickShughes

So, there's this Bumbershoot thing going on the same weekend as PAX, apparantly in the Seattle Center. Which seems like Burning Man in the middle of Seattle, but toned down like crazy and with big name music. Here's my question/issue: the majority of the other things I wanted to see in Seattle while I was in town are in the Seattle center (Space Needle, the Monorail, the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi hall of fame). Do I have any chance of seeing said tourist traps without cutting severly into my PAX time? or is the Seattle Center big enough that the other attractions won't be impacted?

BigRed

SlickShughes wrote: »

So, there's this Bumbershoot thing going on the same weekend as PAX, apparantly in the Seattle Center. Which seems like Burning Man in the middle of Seattle, but toned down like crazy and with big name music. Here's my question/issue: the majority of the other things I wanted to see in Seattle while I was in town are in the Seattle center (Space Needle, the Monorail, the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi hall of fame). Do I have any chance of seeing said tourist traps without cutting severly into my PAX time? or is the Seattle Center big enough that the other attractions won't be impacted?

Seattle center is big enoug... but bumpershoot is bigger, it will take over seattle center. Its probably best to avoid that :P Unless you really like people.

VThornheart

SlickShughes wrote: »

So, there's this Bumbershoot thing going on the same weekend as PAX, apparantly in the Seattle Center. Which seems like Burning Man in the middle of Seattle, but toned down like crazy and with big name music. Here's my question/issue: the majority of the other things I wanted to see in Seattle while I was in town are in the Seattle center (Space Needle, the Monorail, the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi hall of fame). Do I have any chance of seeing said tourist traps without cutting severly into my PAX time? or is the Seattle Center big enough that the other attractions won't be impacted?

Ah, what good timing!

We just started an RFC for a potential Pre-PAX tourist group:

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=48225&page=3

If you can get to Seattle a day or two early, you'll be able to join fellow PAXers and see all the sights without having to cut into PAX time. It sounds like we're planning on hitting all the spots you were mentioning and more, if you're up for joining.

SlickShughes

I saw your thread, and thought about posting this in there, but my schedule is predestined by Amtrak - I'm going on the WCTT, and I was hoping to squeeze in some sightseeing during hangover time on fri-sat-sun.

VThornheart

Ahh, understandable.