Did I miss a post stating why Friday night's dinner is limited to a certain number? I'd rather have 3 tables of 10 (or whatever combo) in separate rooms than leave people out in the cold.

Having helped organise a few FT DOs I appreciate how tricky it is to decide the number of places to reserve for any meal. Post #124 did say ‘there may be some wiggle room for people who try signing up after all "tickets" are gone, but not much’. Since it looks like the whole of Vancouver is packed that weekend the restaurant/brewery may not be as flexible as we would like unfortunately. :(

Note: both the Friday and Saturday dinners are full now ...

@boxo I appreciate the concern about "leaving people out in the cold", it's not ideal, but no option really was.

The big problem was that all restaurants I contacted (aside from Yaletown) were requiring any group over 15-20 to order specifically from a catered menu offering about 3 choices for mains, which meant I would also have to take into account allergies/food restrictions/preferences - a much bigger undertaking than I wanted to consider! AND they wanted pre-payment.

To book 3 separate reservations in a place like Craft Beer Market (it's huge, can accommodate 500 people), they would need to be made by different people so we didn't trigger the "party >20 restriction" and we would likely not be seated remotely together, so it would be like we weren't even at the same restaurant. We can still look at making a separate booking if enough people want to.

Sorry, I did try for something better, but between minimum spends on one tab for the group and pre-set menus, this was the best I could do as a non-event planner! ;)

For Friday activities (for those in town already), there are a couple things I can help put together, but I am not sure where the majority interest lies:
- a trip up Grouse Mountain, can get to the base via transit or shuttle bus, costs $56 ($43US) includes a scenic round trip Skyride, Peak Chairlift, Lumberjack Shows, Birds in Motion Demonstrations, Ranger Talks at the Bear Habitat, and more.
- trip out to Museum of Anthropology out at UBC $16-18 (~$14US)- small but beautiful museum with large First Nations component on University campus
- *small group - max 10 reasonably - craft beer me-guided tour in East Van (yes I know, more beer for dinner, but it's likely to be quieter on a Friday afternoon than Sunday)
- rent bikes and ride around the Sea Wall (aka around Stanley Park) - long loop ~ 12 km **I have not ridden a bike in maybe a decade, but still would be willing to try ... it's flat and car-free.

OMG, THIS. Sign me up as #1 .

The bike thing sounds kinda fun, but we should do beer first. Duh. ;)

My +1 and I are fine with whatever others prefer. Love the beer and bike options for sure. :D I'm sure all are enjoyable though!

The same here though I’m not sure about beer followed by bike. :p I’ll join whatever is the choice.

I'm interested in the craft beer tour option. I did bike around all of Stanley park last time I was in town, and it was great!

So, for someone with complete ambivalence towards all things beer, I am beginning to feel a bit out of water. Is this Pepsi or Coke country?

Can we do a beer tour Sunday afternoon as well? :D

do you have a grudge against BOB W? :p

Yeah, nomadic.relief can't be left alone near an open tap.

That being said, I can't either.

:D

The darker the better ^

Argh
 

Aren't I glad I checked EF to see how my upgrade chances look - I found out AA changed the flight from a 7 am departure to a 10:10am departure. :mad: Now getting in to YVR a little before 1 pm, so may or may not be able to join the bike brewery tour :p depending on time.

So I have just now confirmed that I will be in town that weekend. But from what I am reading, I am too late to get in on anything? Well, other than biking around SP but considering I live here, I can pass on that. The Eventbrite doesn’t show any activities. Am I too late to meet you all? No way to get in on dinner?

Well you have my number so text me and I am there. Would still love to get in on the dinner, though.

And yes, my first legit DO as well. While I have met some FT-ers, yourself included, there are some names on this list that I would love to meet. Maybe I should host a deck party at my place? Weather permitting. Although I am quite out of the way to get to.

I would like to suggest everyone who wasn't able to officially register for dinner(s), start a roster in the wiki and from there hopefully a plan can be developed.

Some people are arriving on Thursday and/or staying until after the weekend. (I’m arriving on Thursday and leaving on Tuesday.) We’d welcome the opportunity to get out and about whether or not (especially the latter for some :p) it involves beer. 🍻 I also suspect nomadic.relief might appreciate some respite before/during/after the DO if some locals can suggest alternative/additional activities.

A FT-er emailed me last night about getting to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. If any of you are interested in going there, they have a free shuttle service from Canada Place and from some downtown hotels.

https://www.capbridge.com/visit/shuttle-service/
https://capbridge-capilanosuspensi.n...edule-2018.pdf

Would love to do the bike thing. Not a beer drinker, but maybe I can get a cooler or glass of wine or dare I say, a margarita? :D

Thinking bike THEN beer is the safer option.

Generally I think it's a pretty even split. Perhaps you can BYOB some finds from earlier in the week. ;)

But of course! And I believe I even read there was a food truck festival somewhere downtown. ;)

:p

Heyyyyy :p I may have closed out a few bars in your presence, but I don't recall any running out of libations!

WHAT?! That's a pretty big difference not to get an email a week out!!

There are still the walking tours, which I've done as a local and learned new things about the city on, so you maybe you'd be interested that? There will definitely be groups breaking off for lunch together. Heck we can even try showing up at the same restaurant and present ourselves as smaller groups of 4-8 and see how it goes!! (After the Chinatown walking tour should be the best success for that, there are a couple places around that should be able fit a couple large groups.) For the dinners, I will call the restaurants Monday, but I am not hopeful based on the conversations I've had up until now.

Yup!

I suspect we should be able to accommodate that in some places. ;)

Okay, so there are still some seats left on the sight seeing flights - I'd really appreciate any last minute takers signing up this weekend!

Well if you can add one more to dinner, I am in! Or if you add in another lunch or dinner. Just let me know. I had back surgery recently so walking/biking isn’t really in the cards, I’m afraid as I am a bit on the limp. But eating, I can do. Would love to meet everyone.

Where's the fun in that?! Also, beer is obviously the more important of the two, so I'd rather make sure we get that one taken care of and then if we run out of time, we can cut the bike ride short. :p :p :p

@nomadic.relief is correct, there is a food truck festival going on near False Creek on the Sunday of the 'Do'.

Here's the details: Vancouver Street Food Fest in 2018

Granted I haven't been on a bike since High School, I might need the bike free version ;)

Still need to look into the plane tour... but just off the ground from PIT :D What a weekend ^​

Hmm anything on a stick? :D

Basics
 

I would be available for something beer-oriented on Friday afternoon and Sunday.

I need assistance on what could be overlooked, seeing that many people on FlyerTalk use their credit cards for everything. ;)
When I get to the Airport SkyTrain station on Wednesday night, I envision a machine vending transit tickets which wants cash; and Canadian cash at that. (No, I've now seen an image of the machine. It takes a credit card.)
I bet there are money exchangers in YVR, but if my experience in Tokyo is a lesson, those banks will be gougers. I will not exchange at Travelex under any circumstance. :td: So I'll exchange a minimum of U.S. Dollars for Canadian at YVR.
In Japan, I know to look for Daikokuya shops. What is the Vancouver equivalent? :confused:

We're pretty cashless up here.

And you can tap (if your Credit Card supports it) in and out on transit with your CC - no tickets required. Taxis take cards too. The exchange will be set by the bank issuing your card.

Oh, and if you want pretty, coloured, plastic cash use a) any bank's ATM or b) Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange (lowest rates in town)

Is there anything that you can think of relevant to this event that would require cash?

The inevitable late night poker game at the Sheraton Wall Centre?

The prospect of being in action somewhere, having a glass or two, and just walking down the hall to my room afterward is irresistible. Count me in.

If the nightmarket is still on and someone wants to go, then I'm not sure they all accept cash.


Otherwise I second this post. yeah, nearly all places accept cash. Hell, some will even take your USD cash straight up. Bullion Exchange is best if you don't have a bank account with a bank that operates here. (e.g. if you have a TD account, you can probably get your cash exchanged at the TD branches here. Or HSBC comes to mind.)

Good point.

I forgot to mention that many/all small retailers here won't touch Amex - the transaction fees are really high.

Interesting! I do enjoy forward-thinking transit agencies.

If it's implemented anything like (or hopefully better than) Chicago's Ventra system, phone NFC (i.e. Apple Pay, etc.) should work, too. That'd be good, since I think the only tappable credit cards I have with me charge forex...

Phone NFC (both Apple Pay and Google) works too for transit.