On 03/19/2013 03:12 PM, Ana Guerrero wrote: > > * Airport / Transport > > Portland International Airport doesn't have too many international connections > so some attendees might land in the USA via Seattle Airport or even Vancouver > (Canada), and then continue by land (because personal preference or price > difference). > What are the transport possibilities from these cities to Portland?
In my experience (with extensive international travel), the connecting flight to Portland rarely adds much to the cost of the flight. So, attendees should do a price comparison first, before choosing other transportation from Seattle or Vancouver. Seattle is 280km from Portland, it's 4 hours by train (fare $33-$50, amtrak.com) or a 3 hour drive. I've taken this trip many times, by both train or car. Most of the trains have free WiFi. The LINK light-rail service connects the Seattle airport to the main Seattle train station. Vancouver is 500km from Portland, it's 9 hours by train (fare $79-$92, amtrak.com) or a 5 hour drive. Once attendees reach Union Station (the main train station) in Portland, it's a 10 minute ride (fare $2.50, trimet.org) on the MAX light-rail "Green Line to City Center/PSU", getting off at the "PSU/SW 5th" stop. > How difficult and expensive is to go from the airport to PSU? PSU is directly on the MAX light-rail service, and so is the airport. It's a 55 minute ride (fare $2.50, trimet.org), with one change from the "Red Line" to the "Green Line". > * Visas > > I'm assuming we would send invitation letters to known people who want to > attend DebConf as we do every year. > Can we count with the help of somebody specialized in visas and/or from the > Government to help us in some of the difficult cases? I'd like to find out if the service used in New York is available again (and what those costs were). If not, or if it's better to have someone local in Portland, then we can arrange a local immigration specialist. It's good to have the connection established just in case. And, I definitely want the template for the invitation letters reviewed by an immigration lawyer. Allison _______________________________________________ Debconf-team mailing list Debconf-team@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team
