08-15-2005, 07:25 PM
|
#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posts: 610
| Travel planning advice? Miami NAC
I'm planning on going to the Miami NAC and doing the Div II and III WS, which means fencing on Friday and Saturday. The Div II on Friday is slated to start before 10 AM; the Div III on Saturday is not.
Here's the question. Given that I'll be fencing on Saturday at some post-10 AM start time, is it safe to schedule a return flight that leaves Miami at 8:40 PM on Saturday?
I am hoping to do well, so I want to count on being in the last few rounds of the DEs 
I am usually super-cautious about these things, but with the long flight back to San Diego I'd really much rather fly overnight than waste my whole Sunday on a plane, so I'd prefer to go with the Saturday night flight. On the plus side, at Nationals none of the events seemed to go really late, so one might hope for the same thing here.
Thoughts? | 
|  | | And now for this message... |
| |
08-15-2005, 07:46 PM
|
#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 474
| I'll leave it to others to predict how late it might go, but offer this advice:
Delta, for one, and I imagine other airlines now allow you to change a flight to an earlier flight the same day for a nominal charge or change to a day earlier flight for slightly more. Call around to check the policies, but you can probably book a Sunday morning flight to be safe, and have the flexibility to get on the late Saturday flight if your event is over and seats are available, for not too much of a change fee. Good luck. | |
| | |
08-15-2005, 11:28 PM
|
#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 318
| Where is the NAC being held in Miami? I see there is a schedule posted, but no hotel listed. Since this is our first year doing the NACs, when can I look for this to appear on the USFA website? I know that I didn't get to the hotel reservations at Nationals soon enough and we had to drive in. It wasn't a bad thing at all, just for the NACs I thought it would be more convenient to be at the venue.
When they post the venue, then I'll know where to land the plane.
Any thoughts? | |
| | |
08-15-2005, 11:36 PM
|
#4 | | Member
Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New England
Posts: 73
| See the latest posts on the related 2005-06 NACs thread. Brad has posted the Miami NAC info there. | |
| | |
08-15-2005, 11:36 PM
|
#5 | | Scrub
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Miami
Posts: 2,573
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Phincer Where is the NAC being held in Miami? I see there is a schedule posted, but no hotel listed. Since this is our first year doing the NACs, when can I look for this to appear on the USFA website? I know that I didn't get to the hotel reservations at Nationals soon enough and we had to drive in. It wasn't a bad thing at all, just for the NACs I thought it would be more convenient to be at the venue. | Ouiyt's most recent posting in the other NAC thread:
Quote:
This is information on the NAC A Miami Tournament for the USFA Website - please post & thank you!
HOTEL: For All USFA Hotel Reservations:
Contact Tournament Housing Services (THS) The Official Housing Company of US Fencing
Host Hotel: Wyndham Miami Airport (free airport shuttle)
Reservations by Phone: 888-536-TEAM
Reservations Online: www.thsweb.com
VENUE: Miami-Dade Fair Expo Center
10901 Coral Way
Miami, FL 33165
TRANSPORTATION: For assistance with travel arrangements, call Diane from Guide Travel at 800-836-6072 or United Airlines Olympic Desk at 800-841-0460.
There will be a shuttle from the Wyndham Hotel to the Expo Center on Competition days only (October 7-10) beginning at 6:00 am each day. | |
| | |
08-16-2005, 04:30 AM
|
#6 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 23,534
| Maybe someone local can clue you in on how busy the Miami airport is on Saturdays, and how far it is from the venue---both may be factors if your margin of error is already tight. An 8:40 flight ought to be fine IF the event (a) starts early and (b) runs smoothly. Then you only need worry about the occasional glitch in starting-times or DE assignments. I recall an NAC in Orlando where the WS event was delayed over 3 hours due to insufficient strips and refs. If that happened, you'd be looking at a 2 p.m. start instead of 11 a.m...or 5 p.m. instead of 2. Suddenly things get very scary flight-wise. And since they aren't identifying HOW post-10 a.m. the event will start yet, you take your chances.
I hate that about NAC scheduling: they cannot work out any way to get the times set until after the entry deadline, so you either have to wait until the last minute to make travel and lodging arrangements or do it early and pay for possibly unnecessary hotel stays... | |
| | |
08-16-2005, 02:27 PM
|
#7 | | Scrub
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Miami
Posts: 2,573
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Inquartata Maybe someone local can clue you in on how busy the Miami airport is on Saturdays, and how far it is from the venue---both may be factors if your margin of error is already tight. | On a Saturday night, you can get from Tamiami Park to MIA in about 25 minutes; traffic at the airport, however, is always dreadful, and lines in the airport are almost always dreadful. As I said in a previous posting, do not fly into and out of Fort Lauderdale unless the savings are absolutely huge. | |
| | |
08-16-2005, 04:12 PM
|
#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indiana
Posts: 851
| Have we heard any prices yet? I did some quick checking for special rates and the lowest I could find were $138 at the Hyatt and the Wyndham. Anyone know if they've negotiated a better rate? | |
| | |
08-16-2005, 04:55 PM
|
#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 474
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by lindajdunn Have we heard any prices yet? I did some quick checking for special rates and the lowest I could find were $138 at the Hyatt and the Wyndham. Anyone know if they've negotiated a better rate? | thsweb.com has now posted the link to book rooms. They're $105 at the Wyndham and $109 at the Crowne Plaza | |
| | |
08-16-2005, 05:27 PM
|
#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indiana
Posts: 851
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by foildad thsweb.com has now posted the link to book rooms. They're $105 at the Wyndham and $109 at the Crowne Plaza | Excellent! Thank you. | |
| | |
08-17-2005, 10:45 AM
|
#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: 40D 34' 7.046" N by 74D 26' 23.503" W
Posts: 765
| I would advise against trying to leave for home on the same day you're fencing because it will affect your fencing.
You want to be as relaxed as possible and thinking only about your fencing. You don't want to be thinking about how much time you have to get to the airport while you're trying to get into the 16 or the 8. That messes with your mind and may end up perturbing you more.
Stay the night, ENJOY MIAMI!, go for the morning or afternoon flight home. Think of it as a vacation, because it is.
__________________
Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.
| |
| | |
08-18-2005, 01:37 AM
|
#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posts: 610
| Thanks for all the advice! I decided that it did make a lot more sense, as you guys all suggested, to leave Sunday morning instead of trying to go for Saturday evening. It would have made it hard to enjoy the fencing (or concentrate) if I had to worry about catching a flight. And I'm happy - I found that Continental had a better schedule, so I'm leaving really early on Sun. morning and I'll be home for lunch | |
| | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:43 PM. |
