Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Assuming you can get a tent on the plane.

I thought Med was riding his bike through the east coast?

^^Bingo. Although I fit my tent in my backpack for canoe/hike camping so I see no reason why I couldn't bring it on a plane. Are people driving or flying out?

Hi Maureen,
I am very interested. Funds are limited since I planned a trip with my son to Boston for the beginning of August as well.
My questions will be:
1) How much per person for all the accomodation?
2) Are people driving or flying? I would prefer to carpooling with someone and share the cost of driving myself.
TIA
May

Discussing with Maureen, the rough plan is to fly Toronto to Sydney on Westjet, and rent vechicle(s) there. We may be looking at inquiring about a group rate for the flights.

I believe most are flying but if you are planning on leaving about 3 days earlier and leaving about 3 days later to arrive home a list can be generated for those wanting to drive instead,

I have up dated the list on page one.

We can start looking at who wants to share accomodations to now that the list has gotten longer.

Thanks Maureen. If the majority is flying and we can maybe get group rate, then I will definitely go with the group. A quick check last night TO-Sydney return is around $440, better than I thought.
BTW, I will definitely need accomodation. I don't do well tenting, especially for 1 week

Who plans on driving?

If the timing were different, I would consider going and driving out, but since I need to be back at work during that last week of August, it just doesn't seem feasible... I'm not sure I could afford this trip anyway right now.

Please start thinking about booking flights and accommodotions. The Garden Court Cabins will be out base camp. They are located at 2518 Kings Rd, Sydney Forks, NS. Almost directly across the street from my parents place. Please call Linden at 902-564-6201 to book your reservation.

Our accommodations for the trail will be Hideaway in Dingwal, 401 Shore Rd. You can reach them at 902-383-2116 for one night reservation.
Please note that there is a farm house that we can have all to ourselves and if divided, it can be VERY cheap. http://www.campingcapebreton.com/find-h ... round.html

If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks all!

Hi Sarah,
1) Is Linden a travel agent? The booking with Garden Court Cabins, do they have a group rate for us?
2) For the accomodation for the trail, are these individual rooms? Again are they aware of our group therefore offering a group rate?
3) For the farm house, I guess we are splitting the cost of renting it based on the number of people going?
4) With flights, are we able to get a group rate from Westjet?
Thanks. I am very excited about this trip
May

Hi May and others

Sarah and I are working to get this all organized and set up as soon as possible as it is about 6 months away now.

Linden is the owner of the cabins for booking them (if I am not mistaken). There are 8 cabins in all
-- all have 2 beds except one, one has 2 bedrooms and 1 has a single bed, 7 of the cabins have a kitchen to make lunches or breakfast. One has a BBQ but is a bit more money. All cabins also have a pull-out sofa.

So it would be shared accommodations of either 2 or 3 people if one person is willing to sleep on the pull-out sofa bed.

We can start working out room mates based on who is coming and try and get the cabins booked in the next week maybe.

The farmhouse on the trial has the main farm house that sleeps 9 so some people can double up and share or there are also 7 other cabins that have bunk beds and lofts where you and your roommates at the the other cabins can just simply share as well. They are solar powered and you would use the campground or main house for the facilities.

I've been working on a list of possible pairings or groupings to help get people booked with someone they know or would work well for sharing for a week. This is TPMG & BPC together and there are a fair amount of members who are in both categories so it should be no problem working this out and getting it booked. This way noone gets left out with out someone else to share with

PM me and I can help with making sure everyone has another roommate or 2, which will help with the finances.
also let me know if you are :
* interested in sleeping in a bed or pull-out sofa
* prefer more privacy -- ie in the 2 room cottage etc.
* shared accommodation for the one night on the trail or same grouping at one of the cabins
* prefer to pack your tent and camp in Sarah's yard
* other ideas or suggestions

West jet does group discounts and we can book this and they allow everyone to pay separately. I don't have a quote on a price as of yet. But we are working on that too.

We would also rent mini vans which we will book and all will share in the cost of that and the gas on a daily basis.

I will try and get out a rough budget tomorrow so people have an idea of costs and where corners can be cut to help save some money for those who would like to keep the costs reasonable -- ie sandwich lunches, breakfast at the cabins as there are kitchens to keep the food cold. We could simply just eat dinner out. Or even plan a BBQ meal or more if someone is in the larger cabin with the private rooms and the BBQ.

Hope that helps everyone out a bit.

Maureen

Everyone is more than welcome to throw some steaks on my campfire

I would definitely like to get in on one of the van rentals as it wouldn't be very practical traveling with the group on a bike. I'd also like to put my name in for the Dingwall cabin/farmhouse night. I'm not picky...

Just bumping this along to see whether any updates are available. Thanks.

I got a writeup of proposed schedule from Sarah. Maybe she should post it here?

Hi All

UPDATED LIST OF CONFIRMED PEOPLE

1) Sarah --Sarah's house
2) Marilyn -- Sarah's house -- already there
3) Matt (med) -- motor bike & camping Sarah's house -- driving out/back

4) Maureen -Sharing -- flight booked cabin booked
5) Chris -sharing -- $89/night cabin with 1 bedroom, 2 beds, sofa bed, kitchen -- flight booked and cabin booked
6)Pam -sharing -- -- flight booked and cabin booked

7)May - own cabin -- $69/night - single room 1bed, sofa bed , NO kitchen -- flight booked, cabin booked and farmhouse for all of us booked

Eric D - sharing -- flight booked and cabin booked
9)John W - sharing -- $89/night cabin with 1 bedroom, 2 beds, sofa bed, kitchen -- flight booked and cabin booked


STILL DECIDING

10) Michael B --No
11) Toni -- No
12)Catherine -- pending ???


NO RESPONSE

14)Alice ???


SEPARATE GROUP
-- may join in or be self contained
a)Dmitrijs (PotatoEye)
b)Chris (Ions) and
c)Ashley (utsc2006)

Still contacting people about sharing cabins and the farmhouse, etc. Would like to get this wrapped up by Feb 15th and have the cabins booked that we need anyone deciding after that will book upon availability.

Then we need to bet the flights booked.

Yes Sarah has more details she can likely post for more details.

Maureen

DETAILS -- have been sent out about booking cabins and we will be looking at 3 cabins

Anyone else still interested in coming there is still room and space available

Maureen,
Do you have an idea how much cabin/farmhouse will cost roughly per person for the week? Just a rough figure. Thanks.

Cabins are $69/night, $89/night, and $120/night. The farmhouse is $130/2 + additional $10/person added divided by all sharing plus tax on all prices.
If sharing it cuts the cost down.

Tax in NS is 15%.

wouldn't mind setting up a tent as well

Welcome to my back yard!

Hopefully everyone can confirm and book soon. I am very excited about this trip

PM sent with some details of the trip. Hopefully if helps with your decisions to come.

As Sarah said camping is available in the backyard of her parents place.

Thanks for updating me on your plans. Perhaps we'll hook up with you out there.

Call my cell # if you want to hook up anytime.

Maureen

I am BOOKED!! Cabin and flights
May

UPDATES

I am getting excited about the trip everything is falling into place

So the farmhouse has been booked for all 9 of us. May has requested the single room all to herself. The rest of the rooms are shared accommodations, will the get exact configurations and let everyone know.

Many people have booked their cabin and their flights already.

We are departing on Sat Aug 20th on the 2:55pm flight to Sydney NS arriving at 6:09pm on West Jet
We will be departing on Sat Aug 27th on the 6:50pm and arriving in Toronto at 8:25pm on West Jet

Garden Cabin are booked for most people.

Just need to book the van and that should be done after the weekend.

The count down begins only 27 weeks away (6 months 1 week or 189 sleeps)

Have a good weekend everyone I will be away on a winter yurt camping trip to Pinery (Grand Bend) for the weekend and will check back in after the weekend.

Maureen

If we go, and if we go at the same time, there are a handful of us in the maybe list that will be driving. Perhaps we will meet up with you guys for some fun photography times. We'll keep an eye on your itinerary to see what we can do.

I am booked! Yay!