There is a plan to rent a bus for travel to St Petersburg Go Congress 2003. Most likely we will depart Saturday morning July 19 and return Sunday morning, on 3rd August. Here is a [list|MatkustusPietarinKongressiin2003] of those Finnish persons who are interested to go as well. Add your name below if you are interested.

-- [Matti_Siivola] 2.12.2002

||Name||
|Steve Bailey|
|Pauline Bailey|
|Ruurd Wiersma <ruurd.wiersma@raketnet.nl>|
|peter zandveld <paard@xs4all.nl>|

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I have got an offer from a bus company for a bus of 30 places return trip with a total of 2125 euro. That would go from Helsinki to the congress site directly. Departure would be on Saturday 19th July and return to Helsinki on Sunday 3rd August. A return train ticket from Helsinki to St Petersburg in the second class will cost 95,30 euro. A group of 6 -24 persons will get a 40% discount. It is possible that a bus will pick us at the railway station in St. Petersburg if we come by train. If a group by train is gathered we would depart by a Finnish train "Sibelius" on Saturday morning 7.42. For us finns to return
the "Sibelius" train on Sunday 16.50 would be convenient, but you may state your preferences. Other options are 16.50 on saturday and train "Repin" 7.50 on Sunday morning.

So, we have options: rent a bus, take a bus line to St. Petersburg Center (84 Euro return) or go by train.

Are you interested in travelling in a group?

!Confirmed entries:
||Name||train group ~60 euro||train return||visa status||rented bus (max price willing to pay
|Matti Siivola| yes|3.8. 16.50|applied|
|Sinikka Siivola| yes|3.8. 16.50|invitation received| 
|[Antti Holappa]| yes|3.8. 16:50|invitation received| <100 euro
|[JanneJalkanen]| yes|28.7.|invitation received|<80 euro
|Peter Zandveld| yes|?|-|<100 euro
|Steve Bailey|yes|3.8. 7.50|applied| <100 euro
|Pauline Bailey|yes|3.8. 7.50|applied| <100 euro
|Ruurd Wiersma|yes|3.8. 7.50|VISA ready on June 17th| <100 euro|
|Arend Van Oosten|yes| 3.8. 16.50|-|<100 euro|
|Thomas Gaebler|yes| 27.7. klo 16.50|waiting for visa|  <100 euroa
|Tuomo Salo| yes |?|-|X+1 euroa
|[Markus Runonen]| yes| 28.7 | waiting for invitation |
|[Jouni Kärkkäinen|Kyyni]| yes | 28.7 | waiting for  invitation |
|Olli Lounela| yes| about 28.7. | invitation received | <80 euro
|[Vesa Laatikainen|Vesa]| no| 27.-28.7.|invitation received|
|Sari Kohonen| no| 27-28.7.|invitation received|
|Jan Hlinovsky| one way| (31.7.) | waiting for invitation|
|Markku Jantunen|group yes, return only|3.8. 16.50|waiting for invitation|

!Non confirmed entries 
||Name||train group ~60 euro||train return||visa status
|Timo Puha| yes?|?|-|euro?
I will decide around 10th of June whether to rent the bus. Please confirm
you intentions before that.

[Matti] Siivola 23.5.2003

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It would seem that there are few of us who are planning to return on the 27th as well.  Does a group have to return back on the same train to qualify for the discount or should we gather 6 persons to return on the 27th?

-- [JanneJalkanen]



I'd prefer train over bus, because train has (atleast the russian coach) sturdy tables which should be very suitable for playing and the travel by train is more comfortable too. However the fallback is the need to change to bus or another train at St. Petersburg central station. 

-- [Jukka Lindström|Kijoe]

If one goes there for the first week, it is well worth noting that participating also in the weekend tournament is an excellent idea. [The schedule|http://www.egc2003.spb.ru/pages/schedule.htm] shows that the weekend tournament finishes around 8 pm on Sunday the 27th.

This suggests return by night train, although train schedules don't really support it. Looks like the realistic choice for direct train is the one called Sibelius, which departs 16.50 and arrives 21.12. Other than that, train to Tallinn and crossing the Baltic from there with fast ferry might be an option, though I don't have the schedules for the Tallinn trains nor time to find out, I'm afraid.

-- DonOlli

Good point.  Returning on Monday morning on the 7.50 train would also be okay with me.

-- JanneJalkanen

We have a flight to catch from Helsinki to London on Sunday 3rd evening __(17:25 flight, 15:25 check-in__(07:50 train arrives Helsinki 12:18)). We would probably prefer the bus as direct door to door.

-- Steve & Pauline Bailey

I got another offer for the bus: 1950 Euro for a bus of 45-50 persons.
If we onlly could get that many...

-- [Matti] Siivola

I'm planning on taking the first train Sunday, July 20th from Helsinki to SPb.  I used to live in SPb, so I'll have no problem getting from the train station to the University.  If anyone else wants to go Sunday morning, I'd be happy to have company for the trip.  It'd be REALLY cool if we had six Igo-niki so we could get the discount.  Interested, email me at james@bluedash.com.

-- James Acres

Don't forget to get visa to Russia early enough. It may take six to twelve working day at your local embassy.

-- VeT

We do not have enough persons for a bus, so the group travel will be arranged by train.
One group ticket from Helsinki St Petersburg on 19th July will be purchased. If we find six persons or more returning on a same train a group ticket for that group can also be arranged. Please insert information on your return plans! Indicate also whether you have applied or receivd your visa. I will soon need personal data of the people who will join the group ticket.

-- [Matti] Siivola 10.6.2003

I made reservation for a group ticket for the 13 confirmed entries on the list from Helsinki to St Petersburg. The following personal data is needed in the reservation: Name, nationality, date of birth and passport number. Please send those to me: [mailto:Matti.Siivola@Helsinki.fi].

I can still add person to the reservation until I get the ticket from the office.

-- [Matti] Siivola 11.6.2003

I removed myself from the list, because of unexpected money shortage.

-- [Jukka Lindström|Kijoe] 13.6.2003