2006 dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour takes place May 6, Saturday
 

dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour Saturday May 6, 2006
Here we go again.

The 6th annual Brooklyn Tour will take place Saturday May 6, 2006. This is the weekend after the Freddies Awards.

The first 5 Brooklyn Tours were sellouts. The past two years, due to an overwhelming response, I rented an airport type shuttle van. We split the cost. The cost will be about $27 per person based on a full van of 25 passengers. Paypal details to be announced at a later date.


Pick up 10:30 Saturday morning. Probably around Grand Central Station.

Besides touring Brooklyn (my home town), we eat, and eat, and eat. Can you say 'real' Brooklyn pizza? Can you say 'delicious' bakery? Just ask any of the folks who have been on this tour. We drive. We tour. We eat. :D

Open to ALL Flyertalkers.

After we finished the tour last year, we went for dinner. We went to an authentic Italian place in an authentic Italian neighborhood. Lots of jewelry showing.

Figure about $25 a person. This is less than what you would pay in Manhattan; and twice the portion.

The dinner will be open to everyone. If you're not on the Tour, you'll have to take the subway to the restaurant. It's about 40 minutes and $2 one way. I'll start a dinner thread soon.

Start planning now. Springtime in New York is beautiful. Consider yourself invited.

If you've been on the tour before and want to go again, please sign up, and consider yourself waitlisted. If you're from New York, you're waitlisted too. Thinking about bringing a friend or relative? They have no status; so we'll have to wait and see if they clear. :p All of the above lists will clear by March 1. Don't wait to decide.

Past tour highlights include:

2001...poor AnnaS having a cold.
2002...Lisamcgu making us stop for White castle hamburgers.
2003...mjm insisting on a Starbucks break. After I stopped laughing at him for thinking that Brooklyn would even have a Starbucks... we found one.
2004...gorging on food at marysunshine's house...and this was a snack!
2005...cawhite knocking on the door of my childhood home; while I ducked for cover. It was a priceless moment. Details towards the last page of the 2005 thread. Also, a Tony Soprano type sitting at the bar added some extra flavor to our experience. ;)

Note:

We rotate seats in the van. Seat 1A is reserved and comes with pillows and milk. :p
We make plenty of stops.
New Yorkers are 'standby' for the tour. Preference goes to out-of-towners.

NO talking miles and points when I'm (ahem) lecturing on Brooklyn.
If you want to talk miles and points, visit Chat. ;)


mjm will post and host a website for the tour attendees, and the dinner attendees.

It takes a certain type of person to put up with other Flyertalkers for an entire day. If you're looking for an excuse to visit NY (Brooklyn) in the spring, the dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour is it. :o

Please post below if you're interested.


If you're interested in coming along, I need you to e mail me your:

Flyertalk handle and real name.
Hotel you're staying at, when available.
Cell #

Let the fun begin.


So far:

Attendees
 

The List * = paid

SanDiego1k *
dhammer53 *
flygirl555 *
abelscc plus 1 *
squeakr plus 1 *
Hunki plus 1. ;) *
anty *
catman *
kudzu plus 1 *

iluv2fly (bumped from 1a). :p
Darren *
cfischer *
da1dan plus 1 *
studley *
work2fly *
platbrownguy
KathyWaldorfAstoria *
cawhite *
lili *
stef

Note: We pushback on time. 10:30








Here's the link to mjm's website

http://home.inter.net/mjm/realitytour06.html

re:
tour attendees
dinner plans

* = paid as of 3/27

edit May 5

May 6 sounds like a good date for us, but since we were on the bus last year, I know that we will be put at the bottom of the standby list. This is no problem because the meet place is ten minutes from our house and Dan can let even let us know as he boards the bus if there are any no shows.

The only priority that we might have is that I actually spent some growing up time in Brooklyn so that I might get a few nostalgia points when the list is finalized.

Please list me as a “maybe” to visit this magical place called Brooklyn, of which you speak.

Perhaps I can finally get in on one of these legendary tours, hosted by the one and only dhammer53.

BONUS: Perhaps if enough former and current Brooklynites attend this year, we could re-visit the idea of HEY! Go Home, Former and Current Brooklynites: The Return to Brooklyn Gathering either immediately prior to or immediately after the official dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour.

The dhammer53 Brooklyn Reality Tour would be for those who want to intimately learn about Brooklyn. The HEY! Go Home, Former and Current Brooklynites: The Return to Brooklyn Gathering would be for those who want to reminisce about the good ol’ days in Brooklyn and recount the memories of growing up there, as well as visit favorite Brooklyn neighborhoods and places and compare notes. Of course, all FlyerTalk members would be welcome to this supplemental Brooklyn gathering, if it indeed becomes — pardon me, dhammer53 — reality.

I hope I can still get fresh, hot bialies at my favorite place. I sent them an inquiry via e-mail, but I never received a response...

Mark us down as definite and confirmed for "Hey! Go Home..." if it looks like it will happen on that weekend.

Am I confused? :confused:

It says pickup on Fri AM, but the tour is all day Sat. Is this a 36-hr tour? And I thought it was Grand Central Terminal, not Grand Central Station.

So noted and changed. ;)

New Yorkers just say Grand Central.

Canarsie,

You may want to bump your old thread, or start a new one to include a date.
Don't want to waste any bandwith on this thread. :rolleyes: :p

How does a bialie differ from a bagel?

This tour sounds fabulous, but I will have to be a maybe. It comes right on the heels of the LYS do.

That is why I included a link to that thread — to offer a possible additional supplemental option in which other FlyerTalk members might be interested if they wanted to extend their visit to Brooklyn.

Anyone who is interested may please post in the HEY! Go Home, Former and Current Brooklynites: The Return to Brooklyn Gathering thread so that it will not be mentioned in this thread again.

Regardless, please accept my apologies, dhammer53. I was not intentionally attempting to sidetrack this thread.Please see this milepost for additional information, Dorlee.

I've been on the tour three times before. Obviously, I hated it. ;) And I've had the Italian dinner in Brooklyn three times as well. Hated that too. :D

Please put me on the waitlist. I'm putting on my thinking cap and designing creative itineraries that include SoCal (Freddies, and college reunion), somewhere in Europe or the east coast of the US (filler ;) ), and NYC (for the annual Brooklyn pilgrimage). The toughest part will probably be finding a reasonably-priced hotel room in NYC! :eek:

Whaaahoooo! I am the first "official" YES!!!

Can hardly wait! Please reserve seats 1C and 1D for Mr. Flygirl and me. :D

Hoping I'm already on the WL!

Put me down for the waitlist. And there is no such thing as a reasonable-priced hotel in Manhattan - or even Brooklyn now that it's getting trendy! Might be a use up some hotel points type of weekend. Cheers.

You're forgetting about Priceline and Hotwire. Oh wait -- you've never used them, right? ;)