London Calling? Need British input

[The Gipper]

Question for the Brits here:

 

I may be tasked with organizing a Family Reunion, perhaps as soon as next year.

I will have to determine the location and the timing of such an event if I am to do this.

A cousin of mine has given me certain advice about this, as she has organized a few of these.

(noter: there are more of us "over there"...in the UK and Ireland than are here in North America).

 

Her first advice is that the Brits, and particularly the Irish are likely reluctant to come to the USA for an event like this. That they are far more likely to go to one "over there". I had contemplated possibly having it in Sedona, Arizona, as I have connections with someone at a hotel there. I thought about this location because: A. my brother lives near there B. Sedona itself is fabulous and C. It is close to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, both of which I thought may be attractive destinations or Europeans to go to if they came here.

The other option for the US is to have it here in Ohio where I and my branch of the family live.

 

First Q. for you all: Is the Sedona idea attractive? Or would Ohio be attractive?

 

Her next bit of advice to me was: have it in summer. (I had contemplated spring break or October...as the weather in Sedona would be too intensely hot in the summer to be enjoyable). But she says that the Brits and Irish don't travel well at those times of years because of "holiday time" traditions. That they just don't get off from work/school to allow them to come over here at any other time.

 

So, first, I am interested in hearing your input on this whole scenario.

 

Next...in light of this....I am considering the option of not coming to America, but going to Britain instead. Note, in the past, we have had since 2000 three family reunions held in Ireland near our ancestral home there. (In the Tipperary/Cashel vicinity). I am thinking of changing that up and going to the home where my grandparents lived in the UK....to the Gillingham or Maidstone, Kent area.

Many, if not most of my cousins on my mother's side still live in that vicinity somewhat.

If we go there, that I would think would have to likely be summer. I know there is one of you on here who is also from Gillingham area (sorry, can't remember which of you).

 

Nevertheless, any input on this as well would be appreciated. Would a Gillingham area reunion be attractive to Irish/UK dwellers?

[gftChris]

I don't know much about Gillingham apart from it being in Kent. I think Howie is from there, but could be wrong. Anyway, most places around there are a lot closer than Sedona to Vegas - Gillingham to London is about an hour ad half by car, under an hour by train (usually a better option but if there's a big group it *might* work out cheaper to go by taxi). There's not much to do in Kent specifically, but it has plenty of semi-generic things - Canterbury cathedral is lovely, though there are cathedrals across the isles, and there are a few nice castles, but again castles aren't exactly in short supply.

 

Another option is going over to France, or Belgium since Kent is obviously in the southeast tip of the country, closest to mainland europe. There are ferry ports, or the Eurostar from Ashford perhaps into Paris. My guess is that most people in the family will have done most of those things anyway, so the Sedona idea might be more attractive in principal, but obviously it's the best part of a thousand pounds to fly to Vegas (from recent personal experience) and similar around there I guess. Might be a stumbling block.

 

You can't get direct from London to Cleveland as far as I know, Colombus might be better or perhaps Detroit, but you'll know better than me.

 

Another idea for you to consider, you can rent out large enough small stately homes or farm houses in the countryside over here, for relatively decent prices, like this

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16062538?guests=15&adults=15&children=0&infants=0&s=7mSbuLec - £950 per night for 16 people is around £60 each obviously, not so bad.

 

There are companies that specialise in that kind of thing.

[The Gipper]

I don't know much about Gillingham apart from it being in Kent. I think Howie is from there, but could be wrong. Anyway, most places around there are a lot closer than Sedona to Vegas - Gillingham to London is about an hour ad half by car, under an hour by train (usually a better option but if there's a big group it *might* work out cheaper to go by taxi). There's not much to do in Kent specifically, but it has plenty of semi-generic things - Canterbury cathedral is lovely, though there are cathedrals across the isles, and there are a few nice castles, but again castles aren't exactly in short supply.

 

Another option is going over to France, or Belgium since Kent is obviously in the southeast tip of the country, closest to mainland europe. There are ferry ports, or the Eurostar from Ashford perhaps into Paris. My guess is that most people in the family will have done most of those things anyway, so the Sedona idea might be more attractive in principal, but obviously it's the best part of a thousand pounds to fly to Vegas (from recent personal experience) and similar around there I guess. Might be a stumbling block.

 

You can't get direct from London to Cleveland as far as I know, Colombus might be better or perhaps Detroit, but you'll know better than me.

 

Another idea for you to consider, you can rent out large enough small stately homes or farm houses in the countryside over here, for relatively decent prices, like this

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16062538?guests=15&adults=15&children=0&infants=0&s=7mSbuLec - £950 per night for 16 people is around £60 each obviously, not so bad.

 

There are companies that specialise in that kind of thing.

GFT:

 

So the price of a flight to Arizona/Las Vegas may be an impediment to many. Fair to say? And that would limit the travel from there to here?

Also, while some of us are here in Ohio, most of the rest of the family is spread out both here in the US from Minnesota to Florida to the west coast, and the European family is in Ireland, northern UK, southern UK, even some on the continent. So the travel costs/arrangement to and from would vary widely by person.

 

While the country home might be a nice idea, the fact is most everyone will be on their own to pay for their room. My thought was to request a block of rooms at a hotel. Plus, we will need a banquest facility for about 50--75 people, plus a place...like an in hotel pub, that we can gather informally.

 

We would probably gather for over a 3 day period. While the one we had here we had some organized events, like taking in a ballgame and going on a boat ride, for the most part at the Irish reunions people were more or less on their own to determine their own sightseeing events. If we did Sedona I had thought of doing one organized event, but it looks more and more like Sedona may be out of the picture.

 

I guess my main question is: is summer really the time to do this to comply with travel schedules? I think for Americans coming to the UK, it probably is, as, again, time contraints on jobs and school pretty much disallow more than one week travel during other times. And I think most of us coming over there would want to spend a minimum of two weeks. I personally thought about going up to Scotland for a post or pre union week's trip. I have a sister that would want to go to Paris. Perhaps that is not as important....two weeks...for the UK/Ireland dwellers. But if they came here to the US, it would probably the same, fair to say. When you came over you planned on staying at least two weeks, no?

 

Note, also: Howie/Gareth live in the Cotswolds, not Kent.

[gftChris]

I came over for about 2.5 weeks, yes.

 

It's basically going to be a toss up for you where you do it, just try to minimize the cost. Bear in mind flying around western europe is pretty cheap. you can quite easily get return tickets from wherever to wherever for under a hundred bucks or so, esepcially that far in advance.

 

You *can* find places here and there that would allow you to take over a place if your group size is that big in the country home category - perhaps even a castle. Have a look at something like this maybe:

http://www.large-self-catering-accommodation.co.uk/groups/Large_Holiday_Accommodation.html

Obviously you'd struggle to get a pub or something close enough to gather there and do stuff so maybe look at somewhere that has a common area included - I'm sure plenty of those do.

 

If you're thinking sports, it's important to note offseason for soccer is may to early august, and for the biggest teams tickets sell out early, if you can get them at all. A block booking would be easy in the lower leagues. Cricket would be much more achievable and is a summer sport so might be a better idea, but there's nothing that's comparable to a tailgating thing - maybe you should start it! I'm not sure about rugby dates, but it's generally a winter sport. Other big audience things are like plays and concerts and stuff. There'll be plenty but it's not the thing you're after I suppose.

[The Gipper]

I came over for about 2.5 weeks, yes.

 

It's basically going to be a toss up for you where you do it, just try to minimize the cost. Bear in mind flying around western europe is pretty cheap. you can quite easily get return tickets from wherever to wherever for under a hundred bucks or so, esepcially that far in advance.

 

You *can* find places here and there that would allow you to take over a place if your group size is that big in the country home category - perhaps even a castle. Have a look at something like this maybe:

http://www.large-self-catering-accommodation.co.uk/groups/Large_Holiday_Accommodation.html

Obviously you'd struggle to get a pub or something close enough to gather there and do stuff so maybe look at somewhere that has a common area included - I'm sure plenty of those do.

 

If you're thinking sports, it's important to note offseason for soccer is may to early august, and for the biggest teams tickets sell out early, if you can get them at all. A block booking would be easy in the lower leagues. Cricket would be much more achievable and is a summer sport so might be a better idea, but there's nothing that's comparable to a tailgating thing - maybe you should start it! I'm not sure about rugby dates, but it's generally a winter sport. Other big audience things are like plays and concerts and stuff. There'll be plenty but it's not the thing you're after I suppose.

I have checked some hotels in the area that might suffice. A place called the King Charles, and one called The Inn on the Lake. Plus there is a Hilton in Maidstone, less than 10 miles away. All see to have fairly reasonable prices, banquet rooms and pubs in house. I don't think we would need more than 20 or 25 rooms.

Sports is not really a factor in this venture. Each to his/her own.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I came over for about 2.5 weeks, yes.

 

It's basically going to be a toss up for you where you do it, just try to minimize the cost. Bear in mind flying around western europe is pretty cheap. you can quite easily get return tickets from wherever to wherever for under a hundred bucks or so, esepcially that far in advance.

 

You *can* find places here and there that would allow you to take over a place if your group size is that big in the country home category - perhaps even a castle. Have a look at something like this maybe:

http://www.large-self-catering-accommodation.co.uk/groups/Large_Holiday_Accommodation.html

Obviously you'd struggle to get a pub or something close enough to gather there and do stuff so maybe look at somewhere that has a common area included - I'm sure plenty of those do.

 

If you're thinking sports, it's important to note offseason for soccer is may to early august, and for the biggest teams tickets sell out early, if you can get them at all. A block booking would be easy in the lower leagues. Cricket would be much more achievable and is a summer sport so might be a better idea, but there's nothing that's comparable to a tailgating thing - maybe you should start it! I'm not sure about rugby dates, but it's generally a winter sport. Other big audience things are like plays and concerts and stuff. There'll be plenty but it's not the thing you're after I suppose.

Just watch out for German pilots who decide to crash into mountains, or arabic looking flight crews.