Re: Prague

[Lucy Lynch <llynch at civil-tongue.net>]

On Wed, 7 Mar 2007, John C Klensin wrote:

> --On Wednesday, 07 March, 2007 10:54 -0500 Edward Lewis
> <Ed.Lewis at neustar.biz> wrote:
>
> > I will attest to Prague being survivable.  I have been there
> > once already and suffered no ill effects and was not robbed.
> > I.e., don't panic.
> >
> > Location for location, the IETF (only) goes to the tamest and
> > most accessible places in the world.  Compare it to other
> > Internet organizations.
> >
> > At 14:52 -0500 3/6/07...:
> > ...
> > > Under the entry for taxis from the airport they say "Warning:
> > > Prague's taxi drivers ...
>
> Ed,
>
> I have not suggested "don't go to Prague", and certainly don't
> want to set off a panic -- any more than I would have suggested
> avoiding Paris.   I am just suggesting that the IASA apparatus,
> including the Secretariat and the IAD, should be taking a little
> more responsibility for both the decisions and for informing the
> community about good and bad alternatives than has been the case
> here... and, in the longer term, for making sure that all of
> these issues are considered as part of the decision.

In choosing Prague here are the factors I considered:

We had willing and eager local folks who could provide both transit and 
local hands. They are warm, smart, and hardworking folk who traveled to 
San Diego and worked in the NOC there in order to be prepared to help 
host. We knew they understood the IETF, understood the technical
requirements, and really wanted to welcome us to their country.

Thanks go to both CZ.NIC and CESNET:

http://www.nic.cz/en/
http://www.ces.net/

We had a very nice hotel, capable of holding the IETF and the meeting
as a one-roof venue AND it helps meet our Hilton contact threshold.

It's an EU venue and we're loaded with US/NA meetings.

Both hotel costs and flights are reasonable and connections to
the city are pretty good.

We had a host (thanks Neustar!) who was willing to step up to the added 
costs of an EU meeting and they were happy to work with our local transit 
providers.

Factors I didn't anticipate:

- folks with no insurance are tempted to go to a country with
  socialized medicine and never leave, causing said country to
  require proof of insurance from non-citizens
- changes in US passport laws clogging our system

Factors I didn't consider

- pick pockets
- badly behaved taxi drivers

but then, I used to live on the lower east side of New York
(pre-gentrification), so I think every taxi driver is suspect.

- Lucy

>       john
>
>
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