10th Annual Presidents Weekend (US) London Do: Feb 17-20, 2012
Dec 7, 2011, 8:19 am
#1
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10th Annual Presidents Weekend (US) London Do: Feb 17-20, 2012
10th Annual London Presidents (US) Weekend Do: February 17-20, 2012
History
Feb '03 was the first-ever FT event I attended. I was going to London for my Annual Birthday/Presidents Weekend (Prez Weekend ia 3-day bank holiday in America) get-away, and noticed that there was a London Do that weekend organized by wingnut. Having really only discovered/started reading FT threads the month before, I was quite excited about meeting some other people who travelled.
I remember arriving at Wagamama's a bit nervous about meeting other FTers, and the hostess saying - 'oh you're with the group that doesn't know each other'. LOL... Not quite so nervous after that.
I had the pleasure that night of meeting wingnut, sweetwillie & mrssweetwillie (aka judi), letiole, techgirl, lala, amongst others, and a tradition was born.
It's also a nice weekend to start racking up re-qualification of status on airlines/hotels & take advantage of cheaper winter airfares.
Date: Feb 17-20, 2012
Location: London England
Happenings:
FRIDAY, FEB 17th
Day free for shopping, museums, sleeping, etc, for those who are in town. Those flying to the UK that night will eat, drink & be merry on the planes.
Location for Friday drinkies: The Groucho Club, 45 Dean Street, Soho, +44 (0) 207 439 4685, www.thegrouchoclub.com. It's on Dean St near the corner of Old Compton & Dean St. Leicester Square & Tottenham Court Road are the 2 nearest tube stops.
Time for Friday drinkies: 5:00pm-8:00pm
The Groucho Club is the private club I belong to & they are giving us a private room (The Club Room) to meet for drinkies off the upstairs bar. This means we'll have room to ourselves to gab miles & points.
When you arrive, tell them you're part of my party & they'll direct you to the club room.
NOTE; THIS IS IMPORTANT POINTS 1-7:
1. I need to have your 'real' name (not handle) for the guest list @ reception, so please PM me your real name so you can get in.
2. Because it is a private club I am responsible for you all & you need to behave (ie, no getting into fisticuffs over who has the highest status ). I'm joking about the fisticuffs, but serious about the behaving part.
3. No matter how much fun we're all having, 8pm is the witching hour for our group & non-members can't stay behind after I've left the building.
4. Cell phones are not allowed to be used in the club; if you want to use a cell you'll need to trot back down to reception to use it there.
5. Photographs, whether from your cell phone or from a regular camera, are not allowed.
6. If by chance there are any celebs there when you're there, asking for photos, telephone #s, email addresses, dates, autographs, passing along scripts or resumes, is not allowed.
7. They'll only allow one bar bill, so bring GBP with you. We can do a coin toss to see if one person wants to put it on their credit card, but for the rest of you you'll need GBP.
Options for those who want to grab a bite to eat/dinner post-drinkies:
Some 'FT-recommended' options for Friday that are in Soho. Marsala Zone; Pizza Express (no they don't just serve pizza & they actually have decent wine); Wagamama's (noodles). Busabi eathai (Thai; similar to Waga's) & Y Ming (Chinese). The hummus place that FTers like (Pea/Pod; something like that is one block away).
If folk want to continue drinking/gabbing post-drinkies or restaurants, there are plenty of pubs in the area. The only part I am organizing is the drinkies location at 5:00pm.
SATURDAY, Feb 18th (my birthday!),
BTW - feel free to give me birthday gifts of SWUs, CR1s, bottles of wine, champagne, etc
Day open to sleep in, go to museums, shopping, restaurants, matinee theatre, London walks, etc.*
* If someone decides to organize something for during the day such as walking tours, museum visiting, please post in the thread and I'll update this section to reflect it.
4:00pm-6:15pm, Ye Grapes Pub, Shepherd's Market. It's a 5-minute walk from the Green Park tube stop on the Picadilly line. I'll try to get the area we always sit in reserved for us if I can.
6:45pm Dinner Pierre Victoire, 5 Dean Street, Soho, + 44 (0) 20 7287 4582, http://www.pierrevictoire.com/london...revictoire.asp
We have a private dining room at the restaurant; reservations are under the name of "Sharon".
The restaurant has an ala carte menu, but it also has a 2-course 'set menu' pricing of 12.90GBP with options to choose from on the 2 courses. Example here: http://www.pierrevictoire.com/london...e_set_menu.pdf
They're quite busy because it's a Sat night, so we'll probably be out the door by 9pm so they can get the later group in. I debated doing dinner later, but the set price menu wasn't available then & I was thinking of the exchange rate etc.
After dinner on Saturday - pubs, clubs, casinos, or back to hotels to drink and/or sleep; to each their own. In the 9 years previous, people did their own thing. Some as a group or individuals went to a pub, some went for coffee, some went back to their hotels, some went clubbing.
A gentle reminder: I am organizing the drinkies on Friday, the drinkies on Sat, the main dinner on Saturday - that's all. Events/activities during the day before drinkies on Fri & Sat or in the evening post-drinkies pn Fri & main dinner on Sat are up to individual FTers.
SUNDAY, FEB 19th
Day open to sleep in, go to museums, shopping, restaurants, matinee theatre if any are open, London walks.
* If someone would like to organize something for those still in town, please post on the thread & I'll update this section. Could be a meal (lunch or dinner), drinks, museum, London walk, etc. I know in the past folk have gone to a wine bar that KathyWdrf organized.
Attending:
* SkiAdcock; Grosvenor House; (birthday girl!); arr Feb 10th; dep Feb 20th
* qbrain; arrives on Fri on AA50; departs Sun on AA51
* Top of climb
* HPN-HPL; Hilton Metropole; arr 17th mid-morn-dep 19th early
* 1P
* ironmanjt
* servus
* capritz78; arrive 17th LH3414 6:40pm; dep Sun 7:20pm; Holiday Inn Mayfair
* thegrailer+1
* KMA (enjoying new retirement!)
* JohnnyColombia; quick drink on the 17th or 18th
* mechteach; drinks or dinner on Sat; possible drinks on Fri
* lsk5013; arr LHR 2/17 KL1017
Maybe:
* Skye1
* tuxtraveler
* bostonoski on 17th
* spotwelder strong def maybe on 18th
Will update the thread as people respond & as the weekend gets closer.
Cheers.
History
Feb '03 was the first-ever FT event I attended. I was going to London for my Annual Birthday/Presidents Weekend (Prez Weekend ia 3-day bank holiday in America) get-away, and noticed that there was a London Do that weekend organized by wingnut. Having really only discovered/started reading FT threads the month before, I was quite excited about meeting some other people who travelled.
I remember arriving at Wagamama's a bit nervous about meeting other FTers, and the hostess saying - 'oh you're with the group that doesn't know each other'. LOL... Not quite so nervous after that.
I had the pleasure that night of meeting wingnut, sweetwillie & mrssweetwillie (aka judi), letiole, techgirl, lala, amongst others, and a tradition was born.
It's also a nice weekend to start racking up re-qualification of status on airlines/hotels & take advantage of cheaper winter airfares.
Date: Feb 17-20, 2012
Location: London England
Happenings:
FRIDAY, FEB 17th
Day free for shopping, museums, sleeping, etc, for those who are in town. Those flying to the UK that night will eat, drink & be merry on the planes.
Location for Friday drinkies: The Groucho Club, 45 Dean Street, Soho, +44 (0) 207 439 4685, www.thegrouchoclub.com. It's on Dean St near the corner of Old Compton & Dean St. Leicester Square & Tottenham Court Road are the 2 nearest tube stops.
Time for Friday drinkies: 5:00pm-8:00pm
The Groucho Club is the private club I belong to & they are giving us a private room (The Club Room) to meet for drinkies off the upstairs bar. This means we'll have room to ourselves to gab miles & points.
When you arrive, tell them you're part of my party & they'll direct you to the club room.
NOTE; THIS IS IMPORTANT POINTS 1-7:
1. I need to have your 'real' name (not handle) for the guest list @ reception, so please PM me your real name so you can get in.
2. Because it is a private club I am responsible for you all & you need to behave (ie, no getting into fisticuffs over who has the highest status ). I'm joking about the fisticuffs, but serious about the behaving part.
3. No matter how much fun we're all having, 8pm is the witching hour for our group & non-members can't stay behind after I've left the building.
4. Cell phones are not allowed to be used in the club; if you want to use a cell you'll need to trot back down to reception to use it there.
5. Photographs, whether from your cell phone or from a regular camera, are not allowed.
6. If by chance there are any celebs there when you're there, asking for photos, telephone #s, email addresses, dates, autographs, passing along scripts or resumes, is not allowed.
7. They'll only allow one bar bill, so bring GBP with you. We can do a coin toss to see if one person wants to put it on their credit card, but for the rest of you you'll need GBP.
Options for those who want to grab a bite to eat/dinner post-drinkies:
Some 'FT-recommended' options for Friday that are in Soho. Marsala Zone; Pizza Express (no they don't just serve pizza & they actually have decent wine); Wagamama's (noodles). Busabi eathai (Thai; similar to Waga's) & Y Ming (Chinese). The hummus place that FTers like (Pea/Pod; something like that is one block away).
If folk want to continue drinking/gabbing post-drinkies or restaurants, there are plenty of pubs in the area. The only part I am organizing is the drinkies location at 5:00pm.
SATURDAY, Feb 18th (my birthday!),
BTW - feel free to give me birthday gifts of SWUs, CR1s, bottles of wine, champagne, etc
Day open to sleep in, go to museums, shopping, restaurants, matinee theatre, London walks, etc.*
* If someone decides to organize something for during the day such as walking tours, museum visiting, please post in the thread and I'll update this section to reflect it.
4:00pm-6:15pm, Ye Grapes Pub, Shepherd's Market. It's a 5-minute walk from the Green Park tube stop on the Picadilly line. I'll try to get the area we always sit in reserved for us if I can.
6:45pm Dinner Pierre Victoire, 5 Dean Street, Soho, + 44 (0) 20 7287 4582, http://www.pierrevictoire.com/london...revictoire.asp
We have a private dining room at the restaurant; reservations are under the name of "Sharon".
The restaurant has an ala carte menu, but it also has a 2-course 'set menu' pricing of 12.90GBP with options to choose from on the 2 courses. Example here: http://www.pierrevictoire.com/london...e_set_menu.pdf
They're quite busy because it's a Sat night, so we'll probably be out the door by 9pm so they can get the later group in. I debated doing dinner later, but the set price menu wasn't available then & I was thinking of the exchange rate etc.
After dinner on Saturday - pubs, clubs, casinos, or back to hotels to drink and/or sleep; to each their own. In the 9 years previous, people did their own thing. Some as a group or individuals went to a pub, some went for coffee, some went back to their hotels, some went clubbing.
A gentle reminder: I am organizing the drinkies on Friday, the drinkies on Sat, the main dinner on Saturday - that's all. Events/activities during the day before drinkies on Fri & Sat or in the evening post-drinkies pn Fri & main dinner on Sat are up to individual FTers.
SUNDAY, FEB 19th
Day open to sleep in, go to museums, shopping, restaurants, matinee theatre if any are open, London walks.
* If someone would like to organize something for those still in town, please post on the thread & I'll update this section. Could be a meal (lunch or dinner), drinks, museum, London walk, etc. I know in the past folk have gone to a wine bar that KathyWdrf organized.
Attending:
* SkiAdcock; Grosvenor House; (birthday girl!); arr Feb 10th; dep Feb 20th
* qbrain; arrives on Fri on AA50; departs Sun on AA51
* Top of climb
* HPN-HPL; Hilton Metropole; arr 17th mid-morn-dep 19th early
* 1P
* ironmanjt
* servus
* capritz78; arrive 17th LH3414 6:40pm; dep Sun 7:20pm; Holiday Inn Mayfair
* thegrailer+1
* KMA (enjoying new retirement!)
* JohnnyColombia; quick drink on the 17th or 18th
* mechteach; drinks or dinner on Sat; possible drinks on Fri
* lsk5013; arr LHR 2/17 KL1017
Maybe:
* Skye1
* tuxtraveler
* bostonoski on 17th
* spotwelder strong def maybe on 18th
Will update the thread as people respond & as the weekend gets closer.
Cheers.
Last edited by SkiAdcock; Feb 14, 2012 at 10:40 am
Dec 7, 2011, 9:00 am
#3
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You already have me as a maybe so that's great!
I'm still planning that weekend with a few of my hometown girlfriends - it's my 40th birthday, so spending time with my friends is my MAIN focus, but if London is our final destination, we WILL join for drinks on Friday night for sure as we have for MOST of the past 10 years. (We are narrowed to London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, or Barcelona... and it's going to be tough to pick!)
I'm still planning that weekend with a few of my hometown girlfriends - it's my 40th birthday, so spending time with my friends is my MAIN focus, but if London is our final destination, we WILL join for drinks on Friday night for sure as we have for MOST of the past 10 years. (We are narrowed to London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, or Barcelona... and it's going to be tough to pick!)
Dec 7, 2011, 9:27 am
#4
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2002
Programs: UALifetimePremierGold, Marriott LifetimeTitanium
Posts: 71,113
You already have me as a maybe so that's great!
I'm still planning that weekend with a few of my hometown girlfriends - it's my 40th birthday, so spending time with my friends is my MAIN focus, but if London is our final destination, we WILL join for drinks on Friday night for sure as we have for MOST of the past 10 years. (We are narrowed to London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, or Barcelona... and it's going to be tough to pick!)
I'm still planning that weekend with a few of my hometown girlfriends - it's my 40th birthday, so spending time with my friends is my MAIN focus, but if London is our final destination, we WILL join for drinks on Friday night for sure as we have for MOST of the past 10 years. (We are narrowed to London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, or Barcelona... and it's going to be tough to pick!)
) to celebrate our mutual birthdays will be in order, and especially a big one!Cheers.
Dec 7, 2011, 4:45 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London, United Kingdom
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Posts: 4,936
Am barely thinking beyond Christmas at this point, but if in town, will pop down for drinks & dinner. Mileage run on the Jubilee line.
Last edited by skye1; Dec 8, 2011 at 4:19 am
Dec 7, 2011, 8:22 pm
#10
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Posts: 2,275
Count me in! I had a great time last year, and look forward to this year's festivities. Flights are already booked - flying home via the FCT in FRA!
Dec 11, 2011, 8:21 am
#14
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: DL Plat
Posts: 145
Please put me down as a maybe. Currently arrive into LHR at 1:50pm on 2/17 (KL1017) but leave out of Amsterdam on 2/20 at 1:30pm (KL691). Supposedly meeting a friend, but always open for making new friends along the way as i sit in MSP right now with a fellow FT'er!! 
Dec 11, 2011, 8:49 am
#15
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