Internet Engineering Task Force W. George Internet-Draft Time Warner Cable Intended status: Informational November 28, 2011 Expires: May 31, 2012 IETF meeting attendees' Frequently Asked (travel) Questions draft-george-travel-faq-00 Abstract This document attempts to provide a list of the common Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that IETF meeting attendees often ask regarding travel logisitics and local information. It is intended to assist those who are willing to provide local information, so that if they wish to pre-populate answers to some or all of these questions either in the IETF Wiki or a meeting-specific site, they have a reasonably complete list of ideas to draw from. It is not meant as a list of required information that the host or secretariat needs to provide, merely as a guideline. Status of this Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on May 31, 2012. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 1] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Why is this document necessary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Helpful information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.1. Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.2. Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.3. International considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.3.1. Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.4. Communications and electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.5. Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.6. Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.7. Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 2] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 1. Introduction IETF attendees come from all over the world. The typical IETF meeting has representatives from in excess of 50 countries. As such, it is quite likely that a large portion of the participants in any given IETF are newcomers to the specific location where it is being held. It is also possible that this is their first trip to the country or region. As such, they are going to have questions regarding their own personal travel needs and logistics that may only be answerable by someone who has either been to the area before, someone who lives there, and/or someone who speaks the local language. While the IETF, its secretariat, and any local host organizations responsible for the logistics of making IETF meetings happen are not travel agencies, there is a set of information that most travelers wish to have while they are planning their trip. This document attempts to cover the most commonly asked questions and categories for information. This document is not intended to provide answers to these questions for every possible location in which IETF meetings may be held. Rather, it is intended to provide a set of FAQs for use by the hosts and others who have experience with the area where the event is being held, so that the questions and answers can be handled more efficiently than waiting until someone sends an email to the XXattendees@ietf.org list in the days leading up to the meeting. 2. Why is this document necessary? In reading this document, one may ask, "why would such a technologically advanced and internet-savvy organization need such help? Isn't that why search engines exist?" And the answer is that yes, we can sometimes find what we're looking for with search engines, but that results in hundreds of people spending their time searching, which is not very efficient. In addition, despite the widely held belief that if it is published on the Internet, it therefore must be true, sometimes the information that is available is either inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, so it may well be less reliable than firsthand info from someone that has been there. Also, no matter how good online translation is getting, some of the most informative sites may be difficult for non-native speakers to navigate and find information - navigation buttons, graphics, and other active content are typically not machine-translatable, and non- native speakers may not realize when machine translation is inaccurate in a critical way. For some past IETF meetings, the hosting organization has set up a special website, usually containing "IETF" and the number of the George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 3] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 meeting (e.g. ietf75.se [STOCKHOLM], ietf71.comcast.net [PHILLY], etc). This has been a source of much additional information about the location, and is always quite helpful. If the host decides to set up a site like this, the hope is that this document will provide guidance as to the sorts of information with which to populate such a site. However, it is by no means a requirement that the host set up an external website. Further, not every IETF meeting has a local host, or even a host at all. In these cases, the need for the same set of information is not lessened, but the IETF will be more reliant on the willingness of those with experience in the area where the meeting will be held to share the benefit of that experience with others. The IETF has provided a hosted Wiki [WIKI] which can simply be populated with the same sorts of information. This has the added benefit of having a single location where additional information can be provided by experienced travelers, locals, and host representatives alike. In the case where the IETF-hosted wiki is to be used, this document may serve as a framework of categories that could be pre-built when the site-specific page is set up, so that others can begin populating the information. 3. Helpful information There are a number of general categories of information listed below. Some of it is necessary for travel, the rest can be considered nice- to-have at best. All of it has come from actual frequently asked questions from the attendees mailing lists. Much of this information may already be available in another form online. Simply pointing to information already available in other locations is quite appropriate, but some validation and vetting of the provided information is greatly helpful so that information provided acheives the goal of avoiding outdated or inaccurate information. 3.1. Travel o Recommended airport(s) for international travelers o Transit between primary hotels and the airport * estimated time * Taxi information + credit cards accepted? George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 4] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 + Estimated costs for Taxis + description of "official" taxis if appropriate + printable local-language address card to show taxi driver in case of language barrier * Mass Transit + English map + Where to purchase farecards/tokens + nearby stations * Shuttles o Getting to/from the conference venue * same info as for airport transit o Parking availability and costs for those driving to the venue or hotel 3.2. Food It's generally helpful to note whether restaurants require/recommend reservations, if they have busy/rush times, etc. o Restaurants, categorized by: * price * proximity to venue + useful to highlight quick options for lunch breaks * type of cuisine + this is a great place to highlight local specialties and favorites * special dietary needs + Vegan/Vegetarian + Halal/Kosher George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 5] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 + a more in-depth discussion of this can be found in [I-D.barnes-healthy-food] o Local grocery/convenience stores - for those who cannot find restaurant options which meet their dietary need o Coffee shops nearby - specifically, where is the best espresso? o Bars/pubs nearby o restaurants/pubs with private rooms or large seating areas for big groups 3.3. International considerations o Plug type/voltage - this can simply be a reference to electricaloutlet.org [PLUGS] unless there are specific exceptions or details that need to be highlighted o Health and Safety * tap water safe to drink? * areas of high crime to avoid * common local scams * smoking rules + are most bars/restaurants smoking or non-smoking? Separate smoking section? + Rules on smoking in public places? + Rules on smoking outdoors? o Visa requirements, pointers regarding travel documents o Languages commonly spoken 3.3.1. Money o General credit card acceptance in common locations, including any restrictions (requires a PIN or chip, no AMEX, etc) o ATM locations near the venue, at the airport George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 6] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 o Tipping customs o Currency conversion rate - a reference to a currency converter site, e.g. Yahoo! [CURRENCY] will suffice unless there are specific conversion details that one believes to be relevant 3.4. Communications and electronics o Places to purchase local SIMs o places to get replacement electronics and accessories (power cords, adaptors, etc) o Public Wi-Fi access (outside of hotel and venue) 3.5. Weather o link to a site or brief info on temperature and humidity norms for the time of year when the meeting will be held o this also refers to indoor weather: what is the common indoor temperature? 3.6. Fitness o Soccer: If the weather cooperates, it is common for some IETFers to try to hold a "soccer BoF" - a pick-up soccer game sometime during the week of IETF. If you know of a field appropriate for soccer in proximity to the venue, this is useful information to have. o Running/walking paths or routes - some folks prefer this method for exercise over using a treadmill 3.7. Tourism While this is certainly not necessary information for the primary goal of an IETF attendee, many attendees earmark a day or two on either side of the conference for sightseeing, and this is an opportunity to highlight local attractions. Links to sites containing information about walking tours, local tourist attractions and the like are certainly appreciated. George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 7] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 4. Acknowledgements Thanks to Dave Crocker, Simon Perreault, Joe Touch, and Lee Howard for feedback. 5. IANA Considerations This memo includes no request to IANA. 6. Security Considerations This document is not a protocol specification and therefore contains no security considerations. 7. References 7.1. Normative References [min_ref] authSurName, authInitials., "Minimal Reference", 2006. 7.2. Informative References [CURRENCY] Yahoo!, "Yahoo! Currency Converter", 2011, . [I-D.barnes-healthy-food] Barnes, M., "Healthy Food and Special Dietary Requirements for IETF meetings", draft-barnes-healthy-food-04 (work in progress), October 2011. [PHILLY] Comcast, "IETF 71 Philadelphia microsite", 2008, . [PLUGS] electricaloutlet.org, "Reference site for plug types by location", 2011, . [STOCKHOLM] .se, "Internet Wayback Machine version of ietf75.se", 2009, . [WIKI] IETF, "IETF hosted meeting-specific Wiki pages", 2011, . George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 8] Internet-Draft george-travel-faq November 2011 Author's Address Wesley George Time Warner Cable 13820 Sunrise Valley Drive Herndon, VA 20171 US Phone: +1 703-561-2540 Email: wesley.george@twcable.com George Expires May 31, 2012 [Page 9]