Posted: 6/15/2017 5:59 PM
(Edited: 8/9/2017 10:04 AM)
Post subject: moozooh's August'17 trip to Europe (updated 08/09)
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
Hello, everyone. I'm currently planning a ~3-week-long trip to Europe. One of the original goals was to visit two demoparties, namely Assembly and Evoke. They will take place in Helsinki, Finland (August 03–06), and Cologne, Germany (August 18–20), respectively. I'm not super keen on tourist attractions—most of all I would like to meet up with some of you wonderful people whom I have oppressed with long-winded posts during the past twelve years. If this history of unimpeded loquaciousness didn't deter you from the idea of meeting me IRL, we could definitely talk life, hobbies, recent events, Trump and Putin memes, etc., take walks in the park, have a beer or two, take selfies with lamp posts, go to an arcade, watch a game of water polo, pet stray cats, scorch ants with a magnifying glass, get mugged, or whatever else you have in mind. EDIT 07/22: Travel route has been finalized. The countries are Finland, Sweden, and Germany, in that order. Tentative schedule (last update: 2017/07/27): 
03–06  Helsinki, Finland (Assembly, probably won't have a lot of time off until the 6th)
07–08  Turku, Finland (free to roam around the greater area)
09     Stockholm, Sweden (hanging out during the day, leaving for Arboga in the evening)
10–12  Arboga, Sweden (free to roam around the greater area)
13     Stockholm, Sweden (mostly commuting to and fro, leaving for Munich in the evening)
14–17  Pasing (Munich), Germany (free to roam around the greater area)
18     Marburg, Germany (staying there for a day, leaving for Cologne next morning)
19–21  Cologne, Germany (Evoke + hanging out in the city until the flight home)
The schedule has ended up a little bit more cramped than I initially envisioned, but it's workable.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 6/15/2017 8:00 PM
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KusogeMan
Active player (434)
Joined: 2/5/2012
Posts: 1693
Location: Brasil
that's pretty cool,good luck on the trip!
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Posted: 6/15/2017 8:09 PM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
Thanks! <3
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 6/19/2017 2:53 PM
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Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
This seems like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to know moozooh in exchange for a couch. Not sure yet if I actually want to take it (or how my wife feels about offering couches to internet strangers (or if moozooh even remembers me (and if so, if he'd rather avoid me))). Did you plan to visit Evoke's opening ceremony, or just saturday/sunday? I might offer a couch from friday to saturday, then go to evoke with you for saturday. I live about 3-4 train-hours away from Köln though, so we'd have to get up early and I'd probably leave during the animation compo. If you insist, I can also mug you in your sleep.
m00
Posted: 6/20/2017 8:34 PM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
Getting to know me in exchange for the couch? A great deal, I assure you! Satisfaction guaranteed, or your money back!* In all seriousness, I would gladly take your offer. The opening ceremony seems enticing, but I don't really know anyone there personally, and it's likely that most conversations would be held in German which I know very little of, so chances are I wouldn't enjoy it as much as your company. (Besides, we'll probably have a chance to see it streamed.) As for the Saturday events, we don't actually have to get there in time for the first compo or two, so we can travel at a comfortable pace. By the way, can anyone confirm whether I would be able to get e.g. a prepaid Tele2 sim card in Finland and use it in Sweden, Germany, etc., without (significant) roaming surcharges? Because talking and texting via my Russian number wouldn't be the most frugal thing to do; our operators' fees are downright enormous even on the best tariffs/options. * A text in tiny font.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 6/20/2017 10:34 PM
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Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
If you can guarantee satisfaction, you can have the bed and my wife takes the couch. <3 Seriously, I'll talk to her and get back to you in a day or two. PM me your email address please; I don't check these forums as often as I should any more. Roaming costs within the EU should have been completely eliminated... 6 days ago, actually. But you may need to provide your passport when buying a SIM (because, you know, terrorists couldn't possibly buy a SIM on ebay), and I don't know if a russian passport will do. Maybe someone from Finland knows details.
m00
Posted: 6/21/2017 4:05 AM
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MUGG
Editor, Expert player (2315)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3856
Location: Germany
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I could meet you in Cologne if I was willing to take a bus overnight and then take a bus back again overnight. I took a school trip in a bus overnight once to Rome and I remember it was somewhat terrible, having to sleep while sitting. Actually I remember some of us slept on the bus floor while the others would try to lie down on 2 seats, but I doubt this sort of thing would happen in a commercial bus with strangers.
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Posted: 6/21/2017 11:09 AM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
Hey Mugg, that would be nice! If you don't mind losing a bit of sleep, you can catch both Tub (probably) and the better part of Evoke while in Cologne.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 7/22/2017 5:08 PM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
To give everyone concerned a head's up: I'm currently waiting for my visa to be approved, which should (hopefully) happen within the next few days. I have the route and accomodations secured for the most part (will be keeping a small leeway just in case), so once the formal things are out of the way, I'll be doing another round of confirmations and stuff, so if anyone else has anything to ask me in person, now's as good a time as any to speak up. I'll update the opening post in a moment.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 7/27/2017 12:49 AM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
Visa acquired! I'll be PM'ing everyone potentially involved tomorrow afternoon.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 8/3/2017 2:51 PM
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
So, this is officially on. Right now I'm at Assembly, chilling out and eating a salmiakki mix. Nothing interesting going on yet, but that will change soon(-ish). Naturally, as it is always the case with my trips abroad, I almost immediately met random Russian people at a convenience store.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 8/3/2017 4:19 PM
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MUGG
Editor, Expert player (2315)
Joined: 5/15/2007
Posts: 3856
Location: Germany
Gameboy TASer of 2015 NES TAS of 2013 Gameboy TASer of 2011 Gameboy TASer of 2010
sorry to say but it doesn't look like we're going to meet. Hope you have a blast though!
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Posted: 8/9/2017 3:58 AM
Post subject: You are in Sweden now. Oh-ooh-oh, you are in Sweden. No-ow.
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
MUGG wrote:
sorry to say but it doesn't look like we're going to meet. Hope you have a blast though!
Thanks. Hope everything is alright on your end. Meanwhile my ferry is arriving in Stockholm. My stay in Finland was surprisingly eventful—I even managed to visit an arcade hall in Helsinki (yes, there is one) and pick some garden berries in Turku. :) Many thanks to Brushy and his incredible hospitality!
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Posted: 8/10/2017 1:11 AM
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£e_Nécroyeur
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moozooh wrote:
arcade hall in Helsinki
Candy cabinets! I would not have expected them to be prevalent in Finland.
Posted: 8/13/2017 8:48 AM
Post subject: Re: You are in Sweden now. Oh-ooh-oh, you are in Sweden. No-ow.
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Shinryuu
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moozooh wrote:
MUGG wrote:
sorry to say but it doesn't look like we're going to meet. Hope you have a blast though!
Thanks. Hope everything is alright on your end. Meanwhile my ferry is arriving in Stockholm. My stay in Finland was surprisingly eventful—I even managed to visit an arcade hall in Helsinki (yes, there is one) and pick some garden berries in Turku. :) Many thanks to Brushy and his incredible hospitality!
Oh! I totally missed that you were visiting at Finland. I was also attending Assembly as well. I was in the robot war section and spend around 3 days at Boozembly too. I too played on an old arcade machines there. After that I was at Turku from Sunday to Thursday. We've been in same places but we didn't meet! I looked like this during Assembly, http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=457477#457477
Posted: 8/24/2017 1:48 PM
Post subject: Finally back
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moozooh
Senior Moderator
Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5770
Location: Away
I returned home earlier this week. Exhausted as hell; my body and mind doesn't take this concentration of experiences and associated strain very lightly anymore. /o\ By my calculations, I walked no less than 10 km per day, and at some point even managed to climb Bavarian Alps and swim to the middle of Tegernsee within the span of three days. Quite the change compared to my Moscow lifestyle. Cardboard, Truncated, Tub <3 Tompa </3
Shinryuu wrote:
Oh! I totally missed that you were visiting at Finland. I was also attending Assembly as well. I was in the robot war section and spend around 3 days at Boozembly too. I too played on an old arcade machines there. After that I was at Turku from Sunday to Thursday. We've been in same places but we didn't meet! I looked like this during Assembly, http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=457477#457477
Well, :( Might not be my place to say this, but maybe you should come on IRC more often. :p All in all, despite a couple unfortunate blunders and unexpected health issues, I consider this trip a great success. I greatly enjoyed both of the demoparties as well as hanging out with you guys and just walking around and living in the moment, so to say. As to whether this could become a recurring event... Thanks to your hospitality that let me significantly cut down on living expenses, I would say it wasn't that great of a burden financially; in fact, I managed to spend just over 600 euro in total, about 2/3 of which went to traveling, urban commute, and associated expenses (visa, etc.). (But that's not counting optional purchases I took back home, obviously.) This is hella cheap for 19 days in three different countries imo. The problem, however, is time. Technically I was unemployed at the time of being in Europe, so taking some 2.5–3 weeks off wasn't an issue. But as long as I have a regular job, the overall amount of time I can take off is very limited, and other things start competing for this time. I would say I'd certainly jump on the opportunity to go the Finland+Germany(+some nearby country or two) route any time Assembly and Evoke happen to be only one week apart rather than two weeks, as that would allow a lot more flexibility. In any case, whenever I visit Europe again, I'll post about it here, so stay tuned I guess. :p
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.