Internet Engineering Task Force W. George
Internet-Draft Time Warner Cable
Intended status: Informational January 20, 2012
Expires: July 23, 2012
IETF meeting attendees' Frequently Asked (travel) Questions
draft-george-travel-faq-03
Abstract
This document attempts to provide a list of the common Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs) that IETF meeting attendees often ask
regarding travel logistics and local information. It is intended to
assist those who are willing to provide local information, so that if
they wish to pre-populate answers to some or all of these questions
either in the IETF Wiki or a meeting-specific site, they have a
reasonably complete list of ideas to draw from. It is not meant as a
list of required information that the host or secretariat needs to
provide, merely as a guideline.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
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Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on July 23, 2012.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
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to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Why is this document necessary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Helpful information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1. Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1.1. Transit between the airport and primary hotels . . . . 5
3.1.1.1. Taxi information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.2. Mass Transit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.2. Getting to and from the conference venue . . . . . . . 6
3.2. Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2.1. Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2.2. Other Food items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3. International considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3.1. Health and Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3.1.1. Water availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3.2. Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4. Communications and electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5. Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.6. Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7. Tourism and Souveniers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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1. Introduction
IETF attendees come from all over the world. The typical IETF
meeting has representatives from in excess of 50 countries. As such,
it is quite likely that a large portion of the participants in any
given IETF are newcomers to the specific location where it is being
held, even if an IETF meeting has been held in the same location in
the past. It is also possible that this is their first trip to the
country or region. As such, they are going to have questions
regarding their own personal travel needs and logistics that may only
be answerable by someone who has either been to the area before,
someone who lives there, and/or someone who speaks the local
language.
While the IETF, its secretariat, and any local host organizations
responsible for the logistics of making IETF meetings happen are not
travel agencies, there is a set of information that most travelers
wish to have while they are planning their trip. This document
attempts to cover the most commonly asked questions and categories
for information. This document is not intended to provide answers to
these questions for every possible location in which IETF meetings
may be held. Rather, it is intended to provide a set of FAQs for use
by the hosts and others who have experience with the area where the
event is being held, so that the questions and answers can be handled
more efficiently than waiting until someone sends an email to the
XXattendees@ietf.org list in the days leading up to the meeting.
2. Why is this document necessary?
In reading this document, one may ask, "why would such a
technologically advanced and internet-savvy organization need such
help? Isn't that why search engines exist?" And the answer is that
yes, we can sometimes find what we're looking for with search
engines, but that results in hundreds of people spending their time
searching, which is not very efficient. In addition, despite the
widely held belief that if it is published on the Internet, it
therefore must be true, sometimes the information that is available
is either inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, so it may be less
reliable than firsthand info from someone who has been there. Also,
no matter how good online translation is getting, some of the most
informative sites may be difficult for non-native speakers to
navigate and find information - navigation buttons, graphics, and
other active content are typically not machine-translatable, and non-
native speakers may not realize when machine translation is
inaccurate in a critical way. Lastly, while the companies which
serve as hosts for IETF meetings often have participants attending
IETF, the folks who are responsible for handling the details of
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hosting an IETF may not be regular attendees. Therefore, this
document is intended to be something that can be provided to host
event organizers that may not have much familiarity with the IETF, so
that they have a better sense of the information that attendees will
find helpful.
As stated in the introduction, the format of this document was chosen
so that it captures the Frequently Asked Questions, but usually not
their answers. This is because IETF RFCs are typically static and
infrequently updated, which does not make them a particularly
suitable format to contain location-specific information. The
questions found in this document are a result of informal survey of
multiple past meeting attendees mailing lists and the feedback of
many individuals, and are believed to be reasonably static from one
meeting to the next. This document is not necessarily all-inclusive,
but should serve as a reasonable baseline such that a static format
like an RFC is appropriate. It is likely that the RFC will need to
be revised periodically - a clue that this is necessary will be when,
over the course of multiple meetings, multiple additional questions
that are not covered by this document surface on the attendees list
and start becoming frequently asked questions.
The answers to this document's questions are expected to be stored in
a location which is more easily updated by multiple parties, so that
site-specific information can be refined and updated as often as
necessary, thereby creating a living document. There are several
options as to where to store the location-specific living document.
For some past IETF meetings, the hosting organization has set up a
special website, usually containing "IETF" and the number of the
meeting (e.g. ietf75.se [STOCKHOLM], ietf71.comcast.net [PHILLY],
etc). This has been a source of much additional information about
the location, and is always quite helpful. If the host decides to
set up a site like this, the hope is that this document will provide
guidance as to the sorts of information with which to populate such a
site. However, it is by no means a requirement that the host set up
an external website. Further, not every IETF meeting has a local
host, or even a host at all. In these cases, the need for the same
set of information is not lessened, but the IETF will be more reliant
on the willingness of those with experience in the area where the
meeting will be held to share the benefit of that experience with
others. The IETF has provided a hosted Wiki [WIKI] which can simply
be populated with the same sorts of information. This has the added
benefit of having a single location where additional information can
be provided by experienced travelers, locals, and host
representatives alike, and is therefore not completely reliant on the
host. In the case where the IETF-hosted Wiki is to be used, this
document may serve as a framework of categories that could be pre-
built when the site-specific page is set up, so that others can begin
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populating the information.
3. Helpful information
There are a number of general categories of information listed below.
Some of it is necessary for travel, the rest can be considered nice-
to-have at best. All of it has come from actual frequently asked
questions from the attendees mailing lists.
Much of the needed information may already be available in another
form online. There is no need to reproduce information that can be
found on external websites, so simply providing pointers to
information already available in other locations is quite
appropriate. However, it is very helpful if some validation and
vetting of the provided information is performed in order to avoid
outdated or inaccurate information. Additionally, because this is a
static and location-agnostic document, it's quite likely that some
questions are either irrelevant or confusing for some locations.
Therefore, "not really relevant here" and "we don't know" may be
valid answers to some of these questions. In those cases, it's
better to say this explicitly than to simply omit the section, as
this will confirm that the information was not simply omitted. The
main thing to remember when providing information in these categories
is that those traveling to the event have not been there before, and
so one should not assume a high level of background knowledge about
the area, its customs, etc.
3.1. Travel
o Recommended airport(s) for domestic and international connections
- include the appropriate IATA Airport code(s) whenever possible
to avoid confusion.
3.1.1. Transit between the airport and primary hotels
Information in this section is especially critical if the airport is
significantly distant from the venue or use of a taxi is otherwise
impractical or not recommended (e.g. if attendees must use a train or
long-distance bus to get to the venue locale from the airport)
o estimated travel time
o Shuttles (if applicable)
o Arranging transit directly with the hotel (if applicable) - hotels
sometimes provide car service or are willing to pay taxi bills
upon your arrival so that the charges can be added to the hotel
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bill instead of requiring local currency. It is helpful to know
in advance if this is common or uncommon in the local area.
3.1.1.1. Taxi information
o credit cards accepted (yes/no and which ones, if yes)
o Foreign currency accepted?
o Estimated costs for Taxis
o description of "official" taxis if appropriate
o Links to websites or phone numbers for remote/pre-booking Taxis
o printable local-language address card to show taxi driver in case
of language barrier
o Ride sharing - the IETF Wiki usually has a section where attendees
can post arrival times and work out Taxi sharing
3.1.1.2. Mass Transit
Navigating an unfamiliar mass transit system can be challenging.
Things that seem obvious to the locals may not be as obvious to out-
of-town travelers.
o English map
o How and where to purchase farecards/tokens
o How to use tickets/tokens (where to insert them, get them stamped,
how to transfer, etc)
o how trains/buses are labeled and how to identify the destination
of a particular train/bus
o nearby stations
3.1.2. Getting to and from the conference venue
The same info relevant for airport transit will likely be relevant
here.
Additional items:
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o Parking availability and costs for those driving to the venue or
hotel
o Walking directions if the venue is not co-located with the hotel
3.2. Food
The nature of IETF's schedule means that food and drink provide both
a welcome break as well as a venue to continue discussions with
colleagues, either related to IETF work, other shop talk, or anything
*but* shop talk. During IETF's lunch break, approximately 1000
people are simultaneously looking for reasonably priced lunch
options, with timeframes ranging from "grab and go" for a working
lunch to 75 minutes for a sit-down meal. When meetings have
concluded for the day, the wide variety of attendees means that
people are looking for all types of food, all price ranges, and
atmosphere ranging for someplace suitable for an in-depth
conversation to a table at the bar. The more information that is
available about the food and drink options nearby, the better.
3.2.1. Restaurants
It's generally helpful to note whether restaurants require/recommend
reservations, if they have busy/rush times that should be avoided or
planned for, etc.
It's helpful for Restaurants to be categorized by:
o price
o proximity to venue - It's useful to highlight quick options for
lunch breaks.
o type of cuisine - This is a great place to highlight local
specialties and favorites.
o special dietary needs
* Vegan/Vegetarian
* Halal/Kosher
* It's also extremely helpful to discuss methods for
communicating these needs to restaurant staff when ordering
* a more in-depth discussion of dietary concerns can be found in
[I-D.barnes-healthy-food]
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3.2.2. Other Food items
o Local grocery/convenience stores - for attendees who cannot find
restaurant options which meet their dietary needs
o Coffee shops and Tea Houses nearby - specifically, where can we
find the best espresso/cup of tea?
o Bars/pubs nearby
o restaurants/pubs with private rooms or large seating areas for big
groups
3.3. International considerations
o Plug type/voltage - this can simply be a reference to
electricaloutlet.org [PLUGS] unless there are specific exceptions
or details that need to be highlighted
o Visa requirements, pointers regarding travel documents
o Languages commonly spoken
3.3.1. Health and Safety
o phone numbers to access local emergency services (e.g. 911, 999,
etc)
o areas of high crime to avoid
o common local scams
o hostile flora and fauna and how to identify/avoid
o smoking rules
* are most bars/restaurants smoking or non-smoking? Separate
smoking section?
* Rules on smoking in public places?
* Rules on smoking outdoors?
3.3.1.1. Water availability
o is local tap water potable/drinkable (if not, is it truly unsafe
because of impurities or contamination or does it simply taste bad
by local standards?)
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o How does one differentiate between tap water and bottled in a
restaurant when ordering?
o are water fountains/bubblers or watter bottle refill taps commonly
available in public places?
3.3.2. Money
o General credit card acceptance in common locations, including any
restrictions (requires a PIN or chip, no AMEX, etc)
o ATM locations near the venue, at the airport - note whether these
accept foreign cards, which systems they participate in, whether
they have an English language option
o Tipping customs, particularly for Taxis, restaurants, and hotel
staff
o Currency conversion rate - a reference to a currency converter
site, e.g. Yahoo! [CURRENCY] will suffice unless there are
specific conversion details that one believes to be relevant
o Where foreign currency is accepted either for purchase or for
exchange, note whether this is recommended or not due to favorable
or unfavorable exchange rates, etc.
3.4. Communications and electronics
o Places to purchase local SIMs, and types of mobile voice/data
service supported, (e.g. GSM, LTE, UMTS, CDMA, etc)
o places to get replacement electronics and accessories (e.g. power
cords, adaptors, batteries, etc)
o Public Wi-Fi access (outside of hotel and venue) including Wi-Fi
availability in the recommended airports, mass transit, etc.
3.5. Weather
o link to a site or brief info on temperature and humidity norms for
the time of year when the meeting will be held, e.g Weather
Underground [WEATHER]
o If this is an area know for extreme weather, note any amenities to
make travel easier, such as enclosed walkways or indoor passages
between buildings
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o this also refers to indoor weather: what is the common indoor
temperature?
3.6. Fitness
o Soccer: If the weather cooperates, it is common for some IETFers
to try to hold a "soccer BoF" - a pick-up soccer game sometime
during the week of IETF. If you know of a field appropriate for
soccer in proximity to the venue, this is useful information to
have.
o Running/walking paths or routes - some folks prefer this method
for exercise over using a treadmill
3.7. Tourism and Souveniers
While this is certainly not necessary information for the primary
goal of an IETF attendee, many attendees earmark a day or two on
either side of the conference for sightseeing, and this is an
opportunity to highlight local attractions. Links to sites
containing information about walking tours, local tourist attractions
and the like are certainly appreciated.
Additionally, many attendees choose to purchase souvenirs as gifts or
for personal use. In addition to the standard "tourist-trap" items
such as t-shirts and knick-knacks, many attendees are looking for
items that are locally crafted, local specialties, or otherwise
significant to the local area and culture. This is another area
where the local area can be highlighted in the information provided
to attendees.
4. Acknowledgements
Thanks to the following folks (and probably others the author has
unintentionally forgotten) for their valuable feedback.
Dave Crocker, Simon Perreault, Joe Touch, Lee Howard, Jonathan
Lennox, Tony Hansen, Vishnu Ram, Paul Kyzivat, Karen Seo, Randy Bush,
Mary Barnes, John Klensin.
5. IANA Considerations
This memo includes no request to IANA.
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6. Security Considerations
This document is not a protocol specification and therefore contains
no protocol security considerations. However, some of the above
items refer to the physical security of IETF participants and their
property. This document is not intended to be a comprehensive
discussion of physical security matters for IETF attendees.
7. Informative References
[CURRENCY]
Yahoo!, "Yahoo! Currency Converter", 2011,
.
[I-D.barnes-healthy-food]
Barnes, M., "Healthy Food and Special Dietary Requirements
for IETF meetings", draft-barnes-healthy-food-04 (work in
progress), October 2011.
[PHILLY] Comcast, "IETF 71 Philadelphia microsite", 2008,
.
[PLUGS] electricaloutlet.org, "Reference site for plug types by
location", 2011, .
[STOCKHOLM]
.se, "Internet Wayback Machine version of ietf75.se",
2009, .
[WEATHER] Weather Underground, "Weather Underground", 2011,
.
[WIKI] IETF, "IETF hosted meeting-specific Wiki pages", 2011, .
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Author's Address
Wesley George
Time Warner Cable
13820 Sunrise Valley Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
US
Phone: +1 703-561-2540
Email: wesley.george@twcable.com
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