///////////// FIELD TRIP ! ! ! ////////////////

hi everyone

(this is my first blog post ever so pls excuse if it looks funny)
(how do i fix this silly line spacing??)
here's a very outline itinerary for the trip:
sat 6th
6.59am (yes) - 10.03 London-Brussels. rental cars pick-up / drive to koeln, kolumba museum, cathedral, drink a few meters of beers, stay overnight in koeln

sun 7th
7am wake up to the sound of my military whistle... only joking. day for: zeche zollverein / gasometer oberhausen / landschaftspark nord

mon 8th/tue 9th
possibly more zeche zollverein or landschaftspark / museum island hombroich / pilgrims church in neviges / maybe wuppertal, maybe not

wed 10th
drive to rotterdam via eindhoven. theo jansen workshop / effenaar center (MVRDV) / glasshouses / kinderdijk polders / evening in rotterdam. got one or two friends who could give us a guided tour, both in rotterdam & polder area.

thur 11th
day in rotterdam - walk through city / docklands etc. / if anyone fancies a quick trip to amsterdam (1h on the train) that would be an option, if possibly stressful. drive to brussels. drop off cars. 20.17 - 21.33 Brussels - London
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rough draft of envisaged costs for the field trip (above) ... it's fairly conservative i'd say, and it's got an allowance for food in it (excl.booze!!), and admission fees etc.. so should roughly reflect the actual costs.
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and here's a list of questions for you:
1 are you happy with the costs? (note: my investigations resulted in the ferry rotterdam-hull costing £110 single, so i think we can ditch that idea, but feel free to do your own research)

2 are you happy with accommodation in hostels/large dorms (say up to 10 people)?

3 how many drivers are there? and do the drivers feel confident to drive up to 4people in their car, on german autobahns, on the right side of the road? I'm volunteering as a driver, too.

4 do you want to book the eurostar & rental cars separately, or shall we make a big kitty and book collectively? I personally think a centralised booking makes sense. if you agree, you'd have to pay a deposit next week. i suggest to book the hostels collectively too.

5 are there any people who have friends in any of the visited cities, i.e. somewhere they can stay instead of the hostel? let me know early enough if that's sth you want to do. anyone who needs to leave earlier/join later let me know too.

6 are you generally happy with the itinerary / amount of places visited (too many, too little?) etc.

7 anyone fancies researching possible funding for the trip?

8 will post a separate post about the brochure!

9 regarding that item 'boris sieverts tour' on the cost spreadsheet:
boris sieverts is the son of one of my old uni professors, thomas sieverts, a well-known german urban planner. boris, amongst other career meanders, developed a very unique approach to visiting places - through the backdoor if you want, cross country, choosing the opposite of obvious routes, involving climbs and other (semi-)risky activities. he always asks his tour guests to bring wellies, torches etc.. I've been in touch with him and he'd be up for taking us on one of his tours, I believe it could be a truly amazing experience. the ruhr area is kind of 'his' natural biotope, so he's the perfect expert for our wastelands tour. except he's expensive - works out at ca.55quid each, for a whole day. so you have to let me know how you feel about it. here's some blurb about him:
http://www.walkinginplace.org/weblog/archives/000031.html
"In his urban travel agency, Büro fur Städtereisen in Cologne, Boris Sieverts has been operating for the past five years as a walkers' guide for hikes which he organizes on the edges of cities. According to him, "the wild outskirts of large cities are one of the last adventures."
"The artist Boris Sieverts, son of the well-known urban planner Tom Sieverts, on the other hand, has been making it possible for years to experience certain elements of urban landscapes very directly in his Büro für Städtereisen. He takes groups on extensive tours through the outskirts and non-site zones of cities. To date these have been in the Ruhrgebiet, Cologne, Paris, Orleans and Rotterdam. In so doing, he aims to make it possible to experience a structural wealth that remains hidden from conventional view and attempts to communicate new aesthetic and emotional connotations. A typical situative and atmospheric reinterpretation was his "Park Deck Restaurant", realised during the architecture week plan03 in Cologne. He issued invitations to come to the top floor of a city-centre car-park to have grilled fish and cooled white wine during the summer weather. With a view of the surrounding houses, visitors enjoyed a light Mediterranean mood that transcended the tristesse that usually prevails in such places."
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ok!! I think that's all from myself. may I suggest, rather than getting back to us each individually, you talk through everything between yourselves, and write 1email in reply. would be good to book the eurostar tickets next week so let us know your replies by wednesday.
so long,

cathrin