My first "Do" was at a pub in Mayfair, London over six years ago in 2004. And given this was organised by the BA board, the drinks were followed by dinner at the rather appropriately named "Gaylord" restuarant.

Infact the first three FTers I met in person were RhysUK, fbgdavidson and Jenbel. And IIRC, Jenbel did lead to another FTer rather heavily wetting his trousers that night.

And yes, despite those early mental scars , I've made some fantastic friends thanks to FT. Shared a lot of moments of joy (and of course, like Missi, slept with some of them ) and have had some great trips with them, and also, perhaps more importantly, been grateful for their unwavering support and comfort in times of sorrow.

Indeed, that was my first Do as well. However, as much as I enjoyed it, it was not my favorite Do. That one was The Fourth Annual PBI-FLL Meet.

I live on the Northern border of Israel. Another FlyerTalker, who has the user name of BEYFlyer, lives in Beirut. For six weeks in 2006, we exchanged posts while rockets were being shot at me from Lebanon and the Israeli Air Force was dropping bombs near his home.

We became very good cyberfriends, but had no opportunity to meet in person until we got together in Florida at that Do. It was a very emotional experience not only for the two of us but for the others who attended -- as most of them had been reading our posts during the fighting and joining in the discussion.

BEYFlyer believes he will be able to make it to the Athens Do this December and I will be there too. This will be only the second time we will meet, but it will be a much shorter flight for us both.

Nei. I could when I was 5-7 years old, but that was a long time ago. I also don't run on ice like a real Norwegian.

I've since re-learned to read Norwegian & also Swedish (my bosses & coworkers are with a subsidiary in Sweden). The only recent "conversation" (if you can call it that) in Norwegian was with a Pakistani girl working at the Burger King in Oslo S -- she hadn't been in Norway long enough to learn English.

There were two.

The "International Schools" are run by the British with normal British curricula. "American Schools" are usually (but not always) under the auspices of DODDS (Dept. of Defense Dependent Services) or DODEA (Dept. of Defense Educational Activity).

The Stavanger American School was privately funded and developed to serve families in Norway for the oil boom in the late 60's. It is now an International School on the British model.

The Oslo American School was a real DoD school to serve the families of servicemen assigned to the northern NATO HQ at Kols�s and with MAAG (Military Advisory & Assistance Group) at Fornebu (former Oslo airport). It closed in 1994 and the facilities were taken over by the British Birklea School, which renamed itself the Oslo International School.

We've already covered much of what a Hurtigruten cruise would see when we drove up Kystriksveien & through the islands, etc., to North Cape a few years ago.

I'm up for Svalbard. I would even bring my ragged old backpack (butt of a few comments on its final trip, an FT DO in Tasmania) out of retirement for Svalbard.

My first FT event wasn�t as much of a DO as a co-ordinated mileage run to SIN where we met up with several FTers including Transpac, 1K in Seattle, and Da1dan who were also in town. My MR partner Dogstar and I had never met face to face until we shared a ride to the airport and Dogstar became a very good friend over the years.

My first official FT DO function was the Feb 03 London DO where I met SkiAdcock, SweetWillie, Techgirl, Wingnut and others for the first time.

I�ve met countless FTers at lunches and dinners over the years, including dhammer53 who was kind enough to drive me around Manhattan after lunch on my first ever trip to NYC.

After a several year hiatus from attending DOs, I recently attended the DC DO where I renewed a few friendships and started may more.

Join us for a DO: the upside is they're very enjoyable, the downside is they can be addictive.

mpc1

I think my first DO was the Kiwi Mainland Do 2 in CHC. Since then, I try to attend as many as possible. I even invited whichever FTers wanted to come to stay at my bach in Waimarama (Hawkes Bay, NZ) one weekend last December. All of the FTers I've met so far are really fantastic, trustworthy people.

no-backpacker, there are a few Norwegians around here. Many cross over between here and another (Norwegian) board, Scanair. I had the chance to meet a few of them at the Star Mega Do last year, and some more in January this year. Although I couldn't understand a word they were saying, they seemed like cool guys.

Oh, and Dear Leader tommy777 , one of the creators of the one of biggest FT DOs in history, is also Norwegian, if you can get past the chicago accent.

No
Do's
Atteneded

My first was Catman Do III (see end of this post) in New York City, March 2001. I went with another FTer, and we had arranged to meet up with a few others before the formal festivities began, so I wasn't too worried. As it happens, I needn't have been anyhow. It was a truly fun time. I've been to several dozen more since, on five continents, from half a dozen people up to about a hundred.

I think I was there too - Legal Test Kitchen?

I can second the London suggestion. There are often several activities scheduled. This year, for example, we had a tour of the 2012 Olympic site construction with a manager of the firm that's coordinating the project (also an FTer).

If you can get there, the annual OzFest in late May is also a whole weekend of experiences that attracts quite a few people. (Next week's has 76 confirmed as of now.) I've been to three. Hats off to the folks who put in a huge amount of effort planning these.

I remember that one well!

This was my wife's (at the time GF's) introduction to FT Dos. She had a few misgivings beforehand, but none as soon as it began!

No mystery here. It's standard UK English slang for a party. FT adopted it after an FTer with the handle CatMan organized a party and called it "CatMan Do" as a pun on "Katmandu." He followed up with two more, CatMan Do Deux and CatMan Do III which was my first. (Some FTers insist on writing "Doo." I have no idea why, though early toilet training problems have been suggested as a possible explanation .)

I hadn't heard. Congrats!

Do the Norwegians run on ice? I thought it was the Dutch who ran on ice? Well, maybe they do in Oslo...

Yes, I know the International school is based on the British-school system, but I think they have made in between the British and American now. That's what we heard when we thought about sending our son to the IS in Bergen. I very much regret we didn't do that since he went to school for one year when we lived in Liverpool. Luckily he still speaks fluently English (he was 10 when we lived in Liverpool and is now 15). AND luckily he left the Liverpool-accent in Liverpool...:-D

To be honest, Svalbard has never been a place I have wanted to go to. Too cold and too far away from Bergen!

Xxx.

It's very fun to read about all the DO's you have attended and I have now decided to try to find one that I can go to. I wished I could be positive on the DO in Prague, but since it looks like I am going to be a student again next year, I have to put it on hold until I know when my exams will be. LOL, student... Funny to write it... :-D

Xxx.

I've never been to a major Do. I had planned this year on going to the Brooklyn Reality Tour (BRT) Do but I lost my job and decided it wasn't financially feasable.

My first Flyertalk gathering was way back in 2003. I don't think it ever had a name, it was merely a dozen or so people (no major names) meeting at a Chinese restaurant on the lowest westside in New York City. I was a bit nervous as I was 18 at the time about how I would fit in but it ended up being really enjoyable. They even refused to let me pay for my share as I was a college student.

This sounds very familiar to me, but when I read "no major names", how could I have possibly been there...

I think my first FT event was Catman's Soup Do.

My first and most major FT events were actually in Australia, including OZ fest in Cairns, QLD.

Looking forward to more.

--Russ

My first FT gathering was in September 2001. It was a mileage run/DO with a bunch of AA FTers. I still count people I met that weekend among my circle of friends.

Eighteen Hours in Taipei

My second FT gathering was in my own backyard in DFW in September 2001. One of the hosts of that DO actually serves on the board of my company now.

Party in the Metroplex

Over the years, I've had friendships with many FTers - even dated a couple of them. Many of those bonds have long outlasted their posting duration on these forums. I can count people I met through FT among my inner circle in real life and I love that I've got more than a couple dozen cities around the world where I will never lack a dining companion for the friends I've made here.

I don't find much time to attend DOs these days... I still try to make London every February as I have for close to a decade. And I do scan Community from time-to-time to see if anything matches up with my travel plans.

Thanks, Carol! Coming up on six weeks this weekend.