It would be fine with me, but it seems that the others want it a bit later. I am going to put you on the list and we will see how things work out.

Are you going to be in the city for those days?

I second that. Ralf, do you go by car, train or plane? ;)

Okay, let's start looking at this from a practical viewpoint.

1. I agree that Lugano is nicer than Milan but I doubt I will be able to make the restaurant reservations there. Do we have anyone who can take that on?
Making the reservations in Milan would not be a problem.

2. If you are flying in, it makes no difference -- either way you will fly to MXP.

3. If you are driving from the North, Lugano will be about an hour less on the road.

4. Is the middle of the week okay? Otherwise the only Saturday between Christmas and New Year's will be Dec 30 and I think most of you will want to be home for Dec 31.

You can reach Lugano via ZRH, unless I am mistaken.

You can, but it is (if I remember correctly) about 3 hours on the train. The Lugano Airport is a tiny one which offers only the following destinations:

Swiss: Zurich
Flybaboo: Geneva
Darwin Airline: Geneva, London-Bern, Olbia, Rome.

I have never flown into it, but it is my understanding that the prevailing winds, and tiny aircraft, make it the single bumpiest flight approach in civil aviation.

If I am in Germany (and currently it seems as if) then mid-week would be fine as my company will be closed anyway. Time to pack the skis into the car and head through the alps...

It should be no problem for me to make reservations if we can agree on a restaurant. Maybe post something in Dining Buzz? Maybe Rudi could recommend something?

Well, it was summertime when I flew CDG-ZRH with AF, connecting to LX, so the flight was acceptable and thankfully short. As for wintertime, it may be, as you said, more bumpy ;).

In the center of Lugano itself, there is no place I would particularly recommend other than a pizzarria.

Outside of the city there is a restaurant called "The Romantic" which is quite good.

However, about 4 kilometers from the heart of the city, in the village of Cannobio, there is a small but excellent (and surprisingly inexpensive) restaurant which has excellent grilled meats of all types.

It is within walking distance of my UIG's Swiss home, so if this sounds good to everyone, I can ask her for the name and telephone number.

As I have spent only a few days in Lugano for a conference in summer 2004, I am anything but an expert. I remember having a pleasant dinner with some friends at the Romantik Hotel Ticino. No idea if it is good by local standards.

Saturday Dec 30, 2006 sounds good to me. I only have to secure a trip down to MXP. That could be a challange from BGO. I will keep looking, but most flights I have checked out so far are full until after January 2nd.! :( :( Will try to work it out through other airports. If I make it it will be 1 or at most 2 days total!! ^ :td: :D

I presume you are talking about award tickets. I can't imagine that all flights are sold out.

You might also want to look at Linate Airport. It is actually more convenient if the Meet will be in Milan (although less convenient for Lugano).

SAS flies into Linate from Stockholm and Copenhagen although I don't know about BGO.

Depending on the airfares by (most probably) train or plane. There are affordable night-trains to Lugano and Milano. And with a Bahncard the standard train fare should also be bearable. Train would be via STR, so if you want to join in...?

The grilled meats place sounds very good to me. I would definitely prefer a small local place.

It is called the "Grotto Ticenese" and is very easy to get to from the Lugano city center -- either by car or by taxi.

Unless we have a very large contigent of FlyerTalkers coming to this meet, I should be able to make reservations there myself once I get to Europe in mid-December.

I second that. and will probably show up by car.