[META] RACC-con 2012: The finalising of details

[EDMLite]

A few more thoughts to throw on the fire...

SAN FRANCISCO
Hotel rates: From about $99/night (for a hotel near the airport)
to about $225-$230 (for a hotel in Union Square).

Transportation: Easy (if confusing) access to most points
of the city via BART (rapid transit), MUNI (subways and streetcars)
and cable cars.

Advantages: If you can’t find something of interest to do in
San Francisco, you’re probably dead.  As one of North America’s
great cities, the city by the bay has it all: museums, great
restaurants,
an amazing mix of cultures and several terrific comics shops.
And because the whole city is only seven miles by seven miles,
getting around is fairly easy to do...

Disadvantages: ...if you don’t mind a few hills.
 And, to use the local parlance, it’s hella expensive.

BERKELEY
Hotel rates: From about $68/night to $249
(for the four-star Claremont); the average is
probably around $116 for the Super 8.

Transportation: Great access to San Francisco
via BART. Driving and parking are something
of a nightmare, however.

Advantages: As the intellectual center of the
West Coast, Berkeley is saturated with culture: art, music,
great bookstores and student life spilling over into the community.
There’s plenty to eat (pick a nation/culture in Asia, and you’re
likely
to find its cuisine somewhere along Shattuck Avenue).  As a
college town, some of it is even affordable.

Disadvantages: The recession has not been kind to Berkeley.
Many of its great bookstores and coffee shops are now empty
shells, and you’re more likely to find homeless encampments
in its parks than student protests.

BENICIA
Hotel rates: From about $86 (for the Best Western across
the street from my house) to $106 (for the Union Hotel,
which is old and funky and quite possibly haunted).

Transportation: It’s about a 45-minute ferry ride from
San Francisco to Vallejo (which is about 10 minutes by car
from Benicia).  Drivers will also find that Benicia is about an
hour from San Francisco, 45 minutes to Napa or Sonoma
and 45 minutes to Marin County.

Advantages: Benicia is where people in the Bay Area
(who have heard of it) go to have a quiet weekend.
It’s a small town on the water, with a surprising variety
of restaurants and a quirky history (the town was
California’s capital for 13 months, served as an alternate
 on the Pony Express route and was the first stop for
the Zodiac killer). Finding a good location for a meeting
of writers should be (relatively) easy and cheap.

Disadvantages: It’s a small town on the water.
Those traveling to the area and hoping to find the
hustle and bustle of San Francisco’s nightlife will
be disappointed.

--Easily-Discovered Man Lite
--Can check out any time he likes
--But can never leave