Almería half marathon 2009

[Sweder]

The price on the hotel website is 63 euros a night before tax for room and breakfast, or 202 euros for 3 nights including tax.

How do we get the organisation rate?

I think Niguel did this once - I think you book the room via the race entry site.
Only problem I see with that is the race site isn't up until after Christmas usually Oh, and it all has to be done in Spanish (at least it did when Niguel went that route - might be an English option now).

[Antonio247]

I think Niguel did this once - I think you book the room via the race entry site.
Only problem I see with that is the race site isn't up until after Christmas usually Oh, and it all has to be done in Spanish (at least it did when Niguel went that route - might be an English option now).

Yes, that´s right, Sweder. That´s the way. Unfortunately, the race site takes it very easy and it isn´t usually up until December. Anyway, you needn´t book so soon. I´ll try to talk to the man in charge in the hotel to see if you can a special offer if you book as a group.

Saludos desde Almería

[Simon Ho]

Hi,

I'm in, I think my friends are going to sort out their own travel as they are coming from Milton Keynes.

Numbers can probably be based on:

Me (21K) don't mind sharing/paying extra for a room with breakfast departing Tuesday.

Wendy (21K) & Steve (10K) double room with breakfast departing Monday.

Dan (21K) & Karen (21K) double room with breakfast departing Sunday.

I will get my friends to confirm ASAP, they are looking into flights.

I spoke to Mark Price this evening and he seemed interested in the trip.

Cheers,

Si

[Antonio247]

I´ve talked to the man in charge of group booking and He´s told me that the room fee has gone up a bit for next year but you can book the rooms at this year fee, only 50 € + VAT. The room can be for one, two or three people. Breakfast would be 5.90 € if you wanted to have it.

I´ve already booked twelve rooms but I´ll need the names of the people staying in each room at least two weeks before. Perhaps someone can get the names of all the people interested in staying at the hotel and the nights they are going to stay.

Saludos desde Almería

[Sweder]

That's terrific, thank you Antonio.

I have most of the names/ room sharers already. I'll send you a list by e-mail showing people by room. Regarding payment can this be made individually on arrival or should be submit our credit cards in advance? If the hotel will accept one deposit for all the rooms I'm happy to give them my credit card information.

Thank you once again. I think trying to book through the official race site may have been challenging for many of us who don't speak Spanish.

[Antonio247]

I think there´s no need to pay in advance anything or give any credit card information, S. I´ll just have to confirm the amount of rooms and the nights you all are staying. If anyone couldn´t come, they should tell you or me as soon as possible to tell the hotel.

I´m glad to be able to help all of you.

Saludos desde Almería

[ladyrunner]

After talking to Ash over a coffee this morning I thought I'd check out the flights at Monach to see what the cost is including Taxes & Charges. Only 4 tickets can be purchased at a time. Cost at the moment is £76 per return not including bags or insurance. Seems like a good price to me.

Breakdown of cost of purchasing 4 tickets:-

Sat, 31 Jan 09 (ZB 724)
London Gatwick to Murcia
07:45 11:15
Fare £63.96
Taxes & charges £121.20
- extras £0.00
- seats £0.00
- bags £0.00

Tue, 03 Feb 09 (ZB 729)
Murcia to London Gatwick
20:00 21:30
Fare £63.96
Taxes & charges £55.48
- extras £0.00
- seats £0.00
- bags £0.00
- travel insurance £0.00

total price £304.60

[Sweder]

Yes, time to book up I think.
Shall we split the group into 4's then?
I'll book for me, Mrs S, SP + 1

On the rental cars Europcar have what they call 9 seaters (probably comfortably seat 7). We'd need 2 at the moment. Cost is GBP 205 per vehicle for the 3 days which works out GBP 30 each + fuel based on 7 per vehicle.

If everyone's in agreement with this I'll book them this week.
Antonio I'll mail you the Hotel list later today.

Important Note
I want to confirm what we discussed this morning too - that is that although the trip is broadly under the RC umbrella this is very much a group of individuals traveling as opposed to an organised tour. Each person is responsible for being in the right place at the right time and for paying for their travel (and travel/ flight cancellation insurance), accommodation, completing race entries etc.

A guide to all this will be published here but it is only a guide. Running Commentary accepts no liability or responsibility for anything that may or may not occur with this trip. This may seem an odd thing to say but in this litigious world it is important that we all understand this.

If you are in any doubt feel free to PM me at any time.

[Simon Ho]

Finally got my numbers sorted. It will be me for the whole trip from Gatwick. Only two other friends are coming, as the other couple couldn't find suitable flights to get them back on Sunday.

The couple that are coming are Wendy Webber and Steve Parker, they will be making there own travel arangements from Milton Keynes. They will need a double room for Saturday and Sunday to include breakfast. Their plan was to leave on Monday and get a boat to Morocco for a bit of a more relaxing holiday!

Cheers,

Si

[Sweder]

Cheers Simon, I'll add them to the list I send Antonio today.

[Sweder]

Here's what I have so far:

Gatwick
[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]El Gordo (21K)
Sweder (21k) + 1 (NR)
Seafront Plodder +1
Ladyrunner (21k)
GaryChristie (21k)
Gillybean (21k)
Simon Ho (21k)
Steve Sheekey (21k)
Jeremy West (21k)
Terry May (10k)[/COLOR]

Other UK airport
Wendy Webber
Steve Parker

Espana
[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Ana (10K?)
Javi (10K?)[/COLOR]
Jorge (10K?)?

Almeria Natives
[COLOR="darkorchid"]Antonio (21K)
Encarna (21K?)[/COLOR]

[ladyrunner]

All agreed Ash.

I don't mind booking 4 flights. I've already confirmed that I will book Gary's flight, but I'm also willing to book Simon's and Gill's and they can reimburse me with a cheque. Payment will be made on the credit card. I will send them a PM to confirm if they want me to do this.

If Daryl decides to come we can sort his flight separately over the next few days.

Do you know if we need dob's or any other info to book flights??

I'll contact you Ash when I've heard back from Simon and Gill and I'm ready to book our 4 flights.

[Simon Ho]

I'm also willing to book Simon's and Gill's and they can reimburse me with a cheque.

I'm happy with that!

Thanks!

I think you might need full names and passport numbers to book the flights, I'll give you my D.O.B as well just in case.

[El Gordo]

Thanks all for pushing the arrangements on a bit further. I'm presuming that it doesn't work out any cheaper to book 4 tickets at a time? Just to keep things simple, I'll book my own. M was unsure what to do -- an old friend of hers is celebrating her 50th that weekend, and is having a do -- but on balance thinks she's unlikely to make it to Almeria this time. To simplify planning, I'll presume she won't be joining us.

I'm happy to do some of the driving if a volunteer is needed. £35 or £40 for 3 days of transport sounds very reasonable to me. (Sweder -- I'm assuming your estimate does take into account that we'll need the vehicles for part of a 4th day i.e. midday Sat to Tuesday evening...?)

Parking near the hotel will be fun .

Apart from getting us from the airport, having transport will be useful for storing bags on race day, and getting us all up that mountain on Monday or Tuesday afternoon.

Sweder's disclaimer is probably wise, especially as there'll be more of us this time. I'm having no complaints about my driving, after 14 pints of Guinness and a bottle or two of fine Riserva Rioja...

I'll get my flight booked and let you know when that's done.

[Sweder]

(Sweder -- I'm assuming your estimate does take into account that we'll need the vehicles for part of a 4th day i.e. midday Sat to Tuesday evening...?)

Apart from getting us from the airport, having transport will be useful for storing bags on race day, and getting us all up that mountain on Monday or Tuesday afternoon.

Some good points here, especially about parking near the hotel !!!
Although I do seem to recall a section of pavement nearby that might hold a couple of minivans . . .

Raceday bags is a serious issue.
If anyone would like to know what the bag drop can be like, click here. We'll definitely use the buses. Keys to be stored with the WAGS :RFLMAO:
SP has offered to drive up the mountain on Monday. Shame, I was looking forward to rolling him down like a big ol' cheese . . .

I'll double check the dates I looked at for the vehicles . . . I may have lopp-ed a day off by mistake in which case the cost may be closer to GBP 40 per person, though still pretty reasonable at that. I'll confirm before booking.

[ladyrunner]

Ash

Please highlight following names on your list as the flights has been booked for us:-
LR, GC, SH & GB.

Julie

[El Gordo]

I'll double check the dates I looked at for the vehicles . . . I may have lopp-ed a day off by mistake in which case the cost may be closer to GBP 40 per person, though still pretty reasonable at that. I'll confirm before booking.

It depends how they calculate the days. In my experience most vehicle rental firms regard a part day as a day. I well recall hiring a car after the Hamburg Marathon. We booked it for 3 days. It was due back at 4pm to complete the 3 x 24 hour booking. Unfortunately it was 4:10 when I reached the head of the queue, and I was charged for 4 days as I'd gone into the 4th 24 hour period. Harsh, but they were the rules I'd agreed to.

I guess we'll need the vehicles for roughly 3 days + 6 hours, so may well be charged as 4 days. I don't mind, but it's as well that we know that in advance if that's how they calculate it.

The WAGS -- I like that.

Is Niguel definitely out of the running for Almeria? I see he's not in your list.

Now that we (or some of us) have done this trip a few times, what might we do differently this time? For instance, one thing that occurs to me is that we need to brief everyone in advance about getting the meal tickets when we register, and ensuring they're for the first sitting. Antonio may have to be on hand to help out here. There's always a last-minute panic about someone not getting a ticket, or not being able to get into the same sitting.

There was also confusion last time about eating on the last night. We demanded tapas in the Bullfighters Bar, not realising that had we ordered raciones, we'd have been able to sit down. We ended up leaving prematurely. A language mix up that deprived us of our usual hour of cross-cultural jousting in the Bullfighter's.

Any thoughts about post-race Sunday lunch? I enjoyed last year and the year before that. Don't mind repeating either of them or finding somewhere different. What does Antonio think? Any new places opened that we should try? Or should we stick with the tried-and-tested?

[Simon Ho]

Just got a text from Cynthia, she is in. She was thinking of going out on Friday and returning Sunday, I guess she will have to book her own flights.

I told her to put a posting on here to confirm what she intends to do.

[ladyrunner]

She will probably have to book her own car too. It's a 3hr drive from Murcia or Malaga to Ameria. She might be able to book direct flights to Almeria if she is travelling on different days to us.

[Gillybean831]

Everyone is workin hard to get this booked, just want to say a real BIG
thanks!!!!
Im so lookin forwards to going,i so need a holiday.
Just let me know if i need to help in anyway.