FOSDEM - Day 1
Posted by George Wright Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:22:00 GMT
The second day of FOSDEM was good fun. The night before was not so fun. After having dinner with a bunch of KDE developers, I decided to go and try to find the hotel I was staying in. After two and a half hours of running around Brussels like a headless chicken carrying a few tonnes of computers on my back, I finally managed to get to the hotel we were staying in - the Hotel Continental.
For those who don’t know, the Hotel Continental was the cheapest hotel I could find using Google that was in Brussels. It’s literally right next to the Bruxelles-Midi station and a twin room costs 61.50 EUR per night. The downside? The room is terrible. The wardrobe door fell apart when we tried to open it, the room was tiny and there wasn’t a shower anywhere near the room. However, it wasn’t all terrible. The staff were exceptionally friendly and courteous, the beds were comfortable and the breakfast was quite nice, which made the whole experience much more pleasant than it could have been. If you don’t mind a cheap place to stay that’s nicer than a youth hostel I think the Hotel Continental is quite a nice place to stay.
As for the conference itself, I finally managed to meet Lorn Potter today. I’ve known him for years due to my interest/work in Opie and Qtopia but as he’s located in Australia I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him, so it was great to finally meet him today. The rest of the time was spent trolling on the Debian booth and being viciously attacked by Nattie of #debian-uk fame, who has now surpassed Jes Hall and Lauri Watts on my top ten list of people to hate for touching my hair.
Anyway - it was a great conference and I hope to see many of you again next year!
Yes, yes, but you love me, really. Also, everyone knows that “jbex” is rot-13 for that four-letter word.
For only 10 or 15 euros more you’d have stayed at any of the well known business hotels at the Rogierplaats. For example Hilton goes for 84 euro during weekends. NH city center for 75 euro and so on. Frankly 60 euros for a place without private shower is a rip off.
If only I knew that you hate people who touch your hair …
I’ll have to wait for aKademy then, I guess >:)
bvh: note that I said “twin room”. I’m pretty sure those prices you quoted weren’t for a room for two people with two beds.. Also, I booked very late and it was rather hard to find anywhere to stay as most places were booked out.
@George : actually no. Hilton Twin deluxe room goes for 89 euro. NH Arenberg 75 for dual occupancy (ok, no twin there but a Queen bed is still plenty of space to avoid those akward touches if you are staying with someone else than your girl/boyfriend.) Thon hotels (former Tulip inn) has similar prices.