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Attending PAX from the UK
The Rather Dapper Chap
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm very interested in heading over to PAX, but I have no idea of the general cost of the 3/4 days I'd be over there.
Could any UK chaps who attended this year give me a few pointers?
1) How much does it cost?
2) How did you find the city? I'm uh...not too fond of what I've seen of America
3) What should I bring?
4) Is there anywhere that serves proper drinks?
5) How appalling was the American airport?
Could any UK chaps who attended this year give me a few pointers?
1) How much does it cost?
2) How did you find the city? I'm uh...not too fond of what I've seen of America
3) What should I bring?
4) Is there anywhere that serves proper drinks?
5) How appalling was the American airport?
The Rather Dapper Chap on
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1) 24 million pounds sterling.
2) Pure coincidence.
3) Bring lots of toilet paper and water purification tablets.
4) No. Nowhere in America do they serve proper drinks.
5) So awesome.
You want to try again without sounding like a prick?
I generally don't like America, that's just my opinion. Doesn't mean I don't like Americans, particularly folks on here.
You have different bugs and climates to here, hence why I wanted to know what to bring.
Number 4 I agree on. :P (in jest, if humour is beyond you)
Your airports suck. I just want to know if I'm going to be violated because I look like a hippy and have a funny accent.
I think he meant Kyouteki, and not you, old bean.
[10:24] * @BigRed-Worky cums the water
[12:32] <+prox> lawl you kickbanned me so hard my client crashed
I'll answer as best I can without the attitude.
1. Orbitz says airfare is $700-$1000 round trip (this was for flying out Wednesday to Seattle and flying back to London Monday; obviously this will change depending on how long you want to stay, how far you in advance you book, etc, etc). Hotel will run you $200-300 a night if you go to one with the PAX rate (of course, the rates might change next year, so don't hold me to that). $40 for early-bird registration, since you'd be crazy to not pre-register if you're flying a bazillion miles to get here. Probably $50 for cab fare to and from the airport (I probably overestimated that, but gas prices will affect it). Food/swag is totally up to you.
2. Now, I'm more or less a native Seattlite, since I go to college there, so I might have a slightly biased view, but Seattle is a lot like other cities. Is there crime? Yes. Are there shady areas? Yes. Are there ridiculously shady areas? Yes. Do they cover the entire city? No. Generally speaking, violent crime is low compared to other metropolises, so you don't have to worry about getting shot every time you turn a corner. Plus, Seattle is on the west coast, which tends to be nicer than the east coast (so I hear, haven't been near the Atlantic since I was 8).
3. Passport (obviously), clothes (despite the myth, Seattle does actually have a summer, and this year's PAX temperatures were in the high 70s, low 80s, so summer attire is quite appropriate), toiletries, cash, camera, probably an extra bag for swag. Not sure what else since your trip is a much greater distance than mine.
4. Can't help you there. I don't really go to bars, and I'm assuming by "proper drink" you mean "proper beer", and I avoid beer. That being said, don't be afraid to try the local stuff. Stuff like Budweiser and Miller you'll probably want to stay the hell away from, but the smaller stuff like Rogue or Stone Brewing might whet your appetite.
5. Well, SeaTac is an airport, so you'll have to deal with the usual airport issues. I don't want to say you won't get searched, since I got searched, along with my mom and my little brother, at the Spokane airport (which means nothing to you, but those who know of/have been in Spokane knows how re-goddamn-diculous that is), but it's not as though every other person gets searched. The airport is 15 miles away from downtown, so you'll definitely need to take a cab (I doubt you'll be packing light enough to want to take the bus in, plus you'll probably be dissapointed in the bus service, even though it is one of the better ones in the country).
One of the most important things to remember is that there will be somewhere between 40,000-100,000 (you never know) like-minded individuals (which kind of sounds contradictory), so help is definitely available.
Thanks for a good reply whypick1.
Looks like it'll end up around £1000-£1500 ($2000-$3000) for the whole event, so I may have to leave it a couple more years until I finish university and have a job.
Thanks for all the details. I have another thing to look forward to when I have money now then. 8-)
1. Not applicable to me as I came here as part of a bigger trip. If you can afford to spend Summer out here the flights are much more reasonable offpeak
Living costs in the US are currently very favourable for us at the moment thanks to the exchange rate: pretty much everything is pounds to dollars, so you'll pay $6 (£3) for a footlong sub at subway and $20 (£10) for a half-decent restaurant meal. Beer tends to cost the same as the UK, though - $2-£2.50 a pint, in most places. Obviously this might change in a year but for now you can live at half the UK price while you're here.
2. America isn't that bad! You don't have to see much of the city anyway: I only saw the streets between the hotel and the convention center, and some mall a block downhill where my friend bought a DS. The area around the center was full of PAX people all day and all night so it was perfectly safe.
3. Seattle basically gets English summer weather. Pack for cold and warm days. the center is pretty well air conditioned and I actually found I was cold most of the time. Take a camera.
4. Taphouse has 140 odd beers, and is just around the corner from the center.
American breweries are surprisingly good - they don't come up to the European standard but you'll find something you can't complain about here, for sure.
5. American airports are fine, just, y'know, don't bring any bombs into the country and you'll be fine. Less chaos than Heathrow in my experience.
---
Also, it's totally worth it. Get saving
Also, while a lot of American airports are crap, SeaTac is pretty nice. Security there doesn't typically target brits unless you act like an ass, so you should hopefully be okay.
I just know I'd get frisked for being a sarcastic arse to a security guard. :x
Thanks for the replies guys, I'll have to start saving. And find a job in my holidays.
1) How much does it cost?
Overall a flight on British Airways and sta in the shearton for 5 days i belive was £800 (including the pax rate on the hotel) overall including food and drinks, plus merch it cost around £300 ($600).
2) How did you find the city? I'm uh...not too fond of what I've seen of America
The city was alright, the mall was good especially the food court, but i found some of the people in the shops to be dicks.
3) What should I bring?
Money, travel plugs, a DS, you British accent (the americans i met loved it) and just general stuff
4) Is there anywhere that serves proper drinks?
Theres a small store near the conventon center which sold drinks was a good store
5) How appalling was the American airport?
the seattle airport (SEA) was terrible in ther terminal i went to there was 2 shops a news shop and a duty free nowhere to buy a game for the plane (forgot to buy on in the city)
Sorry this is so short, hope it will help
Also as far as airports go, SeaTac is pretty boss.
I make costumes.
You need to explore a bit more, there are TONS of shops all over the SeaTac airport, all beyond the security gates. And the central court area, with its entire wall of windows is pretty nice. But I don't think there's anyplace there that would sell a videogame; I seem to remember a place that rents DVD's/players for the length of the plane trip, though.
Well, I guess there is the tiny old satellite terminal, you could have been there - I'm pretty sure you can take the subway to the main terminal to where all the other shops are, though.
For example, instead of implying "proper drinks" are impossible in the US, describe what specifically makes a proper drink in such a way that we'd know how to identify it.
Do that (for each of your five questions) and then you'll get some helpful responses. (For example, I flew from Omaha to Seattle, and this was my first time in a Pacific timezone. But I'm not sharing my experiences here because it seems the original poster doesn't actually care to hear them.)
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There are some helpful responses here, of which I'm very grateful.
Don't expect me to put 50 winky smilies in each post so you realise when I'm poking fun.
Maccy already covered all the points perfectly fine but I must disagree with the last one. The customs was so unbelievably aggressive I doubt I'll go back until things over there calm the hell down. It was Kafkaesq to say the least, my girlfriend and I landed in Chicago and it went downhill from the start. We weren't even getting out there, it was just to transfer to our plane to Vancouver (spent 3 days there to acclimatise before PAX) but they forced everyone to get off and check into the States.
They split us up, questioned us, took my passport away for "inspection" (I've never let anyone take my passport away before, terrifying) and then searched our bags. I was told it was all "Standard Procedure" but when I got my passport back I saw that it was in a pile of other Irish passports (that's what I fly under) so I guess they were targeting that.
The whole way they went about it was as terrifying as possible, my girlfriend was questioned and her answers were checked against mine, we didn't agree on what year we meet so that also might have triggered it. Leaving was much the same, passport taken away, questions, outright hostility from all the staff. The hostility was the worst, everyone got it not just me, just an out and out "We hate you, please die" vibe from everyone we met (in customs that is, once past that everyone was great), totally crazy.
I bet some of you think I'm some 7 foot tall bearded arab guy wearing a Buck Fush T-Shirt by now, I can assure you I'm just an average white english speaking dork. Much like many people in modern Europe I have a fairly complex citizenship mix that might have upset the customs. I'm a New Zealander with Irish citizenship who lives in London, more than once this was commented on, in America this seems odd but for New Zealanders this is practically average.
Don't get me wrong though, it was well worth it Dapper Chap, PAX made for the best birthday trip ever, it was so fantastic that the whole ordeal of getting into the States was worth it. Just keep your head about you, don't let them get to you.
I do understand British humo(u)r, but it's still difficult to pick up sarcasm of any kind when you're reading it on a screen. You don't need 50 smileys to get a laugh across, but you might want to reread your posts before you submit them and make sure they're coming off as lighthearted jest instead of "Your country sucks, but I'm visiting anyway."
And in response to Malenfant: That's one of the reasons I don't like to fly. Chicago is probably one of the worst places to come in on an international flight. From the sounds of it you landed at O'Hare (Midway tends to be a little less gruff when it comes to security, last I knew anyways).
oh well. /goes back to being quiet
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Not sure how much this will help, but the cab fare directly from the airport to downtown was about $35 there and $35 back. We had to take a bus, though, as there were four of us + luggage + swag bags. Food wasn't terribly expensive, IMO, as long as you do it decently. I bought a loaf of bread and some things to put on it at the Public Market for about.. $6 and it lasted me a decent bit of the trip (a few days).
And yes, definitely bring the British accent. We do love it here.
Also, Roxy, are you torturing the foreigners already? They haven't even GOTTEN here yet.
Well, be sure to give them a cookie or somethin'.
We can't have them think we were raised in barns or none of that.
Wait are you Mac's friend Goth Paul?
First we are because well we are biritish
and whos mac? and im not a goth lol
Thirdly it is worth coming from the uk you meet loads of great people and have a great time so come next year!!!!
Goth Paul won't lower himself to using forums, I'm sure.
Hello, I'm Mac. You're not the Paul I know. Pleasure to meet you.
Apparently there was enough people from the Uk to have 2 people named Paul.
Nancy reporting in! Hope you all are doing well! Will be back next year (if all goes well) but hopefully as an enforcer... as long as people can understand my Jamaican (English) accent