Thanks for the email, Carol. Put me down tentative also.

Well, if iluv2fly will be there practicing his vocabulary, I guess I will have to come as well to help him with the 3-letter words ;)

Count me in!

Paul Palmer and Roy - what can I say, you honor me by coming.

richlond, the sizzzzzzle factor has just jumped!

tazi, you are my hero. You stand your ground and articulately defend it.

chemist661, a newlywed come fall! What happy news. We look forward to meeting your by then wife.

IceTrojan, think of how this trip will aid you in your quest for EXP this year!

alex0683de, we don't know each other - and let's change that.

michswiss, are you living in Australia and golfing? You have gone quiet in recent months. Do I remember that you are the person with the vvvvvvery interesting pictures of Wingnut from his first ever London Do?

beaubo, I am already braced for you to decide on November 8 that you really can come to London via Zanzibar and Nepal, and would I please add you to the dinner list.

connex2me, haven't seen you since Munich last summer - it will be great to catch up.

GK and Sean - try, do try! Entice Sean with the info that Jerri is coming, so they can talk photographic art.

LLM, it will be great to have another San Diegan if you are able to come. Help me encourage JulieAA.

I believe you can count me in for at least part of the weekend. Depends on TH's dissertation schedule. Booking hotel room now and will look at plane tickets as well.

BingoSF and joanek and I had a great brunch at St. John, so I'm up for a suckling pig experience if we want to get 14 peeps together for lunch on Saturday.

So, standby.

Put me on the list please! ;) Now all I have to arrange are the minor things, like time off from work, airfare & hotel. ;)

At least I only have to deal with two of those ;)

Count me in.

Count me in, please. Looks like I better book a hotel while there are still some rooms left in town.

JulieAA start making arrangements now, so we don't have to kidnap you.

I think this might be Do-able :) for Saturday only due to work and hockey schedule.

Sheraton Heathrow has refundable 54 and 40 quid prepaid rates. (need to leave early Sun am :( )

Yowch. Sea-Lon that weekend, 721 bucks. I'll still book, but geez, its fun living here. Definitely not worth upgrading as I scored 31A and 22H. :)

Churchill is also weighing in at 185 GBP a night. I wonder if they will have construction specials? Time to use up some of those hilton points.

lala

Redbeard911: "Honey, there's a Flyertalk get together in London over Veterans Day"
Mrs. Redbeard: "Can we go?"

:D

I'm getting $650 fares on UA. Is that the best it can get, or are there sales coming up? I'll probably buy my ticket, upgrade with miles, and get award tix for Mrs. Redbeard and Little Miss Redbeard.

I know it's a bit early to talk about food plans but I'd be willing to host a lunch or dinner at The Ivy on Friday, Saturday or Sunday for anyone in town. I can do up to nine people (including me) in the main restaurant (that's their largest table) or we can do the Private Room for between 32 and 60 confirmed. I hosted the London SIN Do III for nine there just over a week ago and it's safe to say that folks enjoyed it very much. I'll need to check the Private Room availability that weekend if anyone is interested. Lunch is possible from 11.30am until 5.00pm and dinner from 6.30pm until 1.00am.

The Ivy is centrally located near Leicester Square tube station.

If there is enough interest in this I'd need a non-refundable deposit of £10 a head via PayPal and there are set menus which are shown on the Ivy's web site. There are lots of set menus so we'd need to agree on a per-head food budget that works for everyone. They won't split the bill in the Private Room but the Sarah West Bistromathics Tally Card™ which had its inaugural test flight at the London SIN Do III will get round that problem as folks who attended that Do will confirm.

Private Room info is here.

Another possibility will be Scott's on Mount Street in Mayfair which is London's second oldest restaurant after Rules. It's currently closed for major refurbishment having recently been bought by the group that runs The Ivy and it promises to be pretty good too. it used to be highly regarded as a fish restaurant and cocktail bar and is likely to remain so. It's safe to say that the decor will be glorious when it reopens. It's unlikely to open until about August and I'd need to wait until much nearer the time to firm up on details.

Are Delta flyers from Florida invited? How cold will it be in November? :eek:

lalala, I've got you on the list to host a lunch at St Johns on Saturday. Suckling pig sounds amazing. Once we get the email distribution list set up - and much closer to the event - we'll remind people of your offer and ask those who are interested to contact you.

SeeYa, see you in London!

tom911, five years of Dos together!

Spiff, a hotel near Heathrow? I guess it will be a late late late night bus for you!

lili, great, another San Diegan. We'll have San Diego on the Thames that weekend!

redbeard911, is the $650 an upgradeable fare? If so, that sounds like a good fare. It will be nice to meet the pretty side of the family. ;)

SarahWest, I was hoping this would draw you out! Dinner at the Ivy sounds amazing. I've eaten there just once. Or Scotts sounds good as well. If you could chose Friday or Sunday night, that would be appreciated. Our main evening event will be Saturday night, and I'd like nothing to distract from that. I'll do the same for you as for lalala, with sending out reminder emails. How far in advance will you need to make a decision as to whether, when and where?

Traveller, of course Delta flyers are invited! (I just made my first Delta award redemption, and am very excited about my upcoming Emirates flight.) And I don't do cold well - but in my experience, early November is still quite tolerable.

I'll keep a running summary of offers others have made to host events.

OK - I'll throw it back to the forum and ask people to state whether they would be interested in dinner at The Ivy on Friday night, on Sunday night or either or whether we should wait and hold out for Scott's nearer the time. I'll find out the availability of the Private Room in a couple of days. If we only get nine people interested in each night then either (or even both) should be possible in the main restaurant. As for Scott's it's a bit early to make any predictions. It was due to open in June but during the initial building work they discovered asbestos and are having to clear all that out first before the restoration can continue. That has put a bit of a spanner in the works for their original planned opening date.

It's a pity that polls aren't enabled for this forum (the software supports them) as that would make it much easier to collect the required information. I don't suppose any Mod or Administrator could consider adding a poll option to this thread could they?

I should post a bit to clarify the the £10 deposit. I'll only require this if we reach a threshold of 32 for The Ivy and decide to go ahead with the Private Room. The Ivy requires this deposit per person for the Private Room at the time of booking (it's stated on their website).

If we only get a few people interested and end up slumming it in the main restaurant (it's a hard life, but someone's got to do it :) ) no deposit will be required but I do appreciate people who say they are coming giving 48 hours notice before the dinner if they are unable to make it so I we can find another FTer to take their place. It would be a shame to have a spare seat for dinner. Obviously, if we end up in the main restaurant we'll all be eating à la carte so no set menus.