Dale Yu: Getting Ready for Essen

Well, to be honest, I’m starting to get psyched about heading off to Europe.  However, before I go, there is a whole boatload of things to be done to make sure that the trip is a success.  I thought I’d give you a glimpse into my quirky list-oriented mind and let you go over the preparations with me in the coming week! 

First – a list of the gaming necessities to take care of:

1) Print out the BGN Essen Preview at some point during the week – I’ll need something to read during the flights and layovers, and it might as well be this!

2) Look for any rules of new releases that are available online.  Print them out to try to get a better feel for the games to save time at the Fair

3) Get my pre-order list setup.  This year, I am not pre-ordering that many games.  The list right now includes: Galactic Trucker, League of Six, Antler Island, the 3 Winsome games, the Age of Steam expansions from France, Ted’s 6 Age of Steam boards, Laboriginals, Guild of Merchants, and Keyharvest.

4) Try to estimate game costs – of course, due to the pathetic exchange rate – the cost of the trip is going to be much higher than previous years… I still remember that on my first trip to Essen in 2004, the exchange rate was 1 Euro = 0.79 USD.  That is in stark contrast to the rate this week which is about 1 Euro = 1.41 USD.  My buying power is just more than half of what it was three years ago.  Right now, I’m thinking that my game expenditures will be in the range of 600-700 Euros.  I’m going to be much more selective about which games that I bring home due to the crappy exchange rate.  I’ll be a lot more willing to wait for a game to make it to the US this year than in years previous (i.e. why pay 40 Euro for a game that will later be released by Rio Grande Games and only have a list price of 40 dollars?  It may not be available for an extra month or two, but it’ll still be effectively half-price!) I’ll likely try to buy games that I think will be difficult to find back in the States when I get back.  Of course, until you’ve been to Essen yourself, it’s really hard to explain the kid-in-a-candy-store feeling that you get as you wander the halls in Essen! 

Second – packing issues

1) Find appropriate bags.  I have a nice set of luggage – you know those matching 25” rectangles with a matching rollerboard to go with them.  (Something like this: http://www.luggage.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku=XR1012&refid=FR52-XR1012 ) They are expandable and can hold more games than you could want to bring back (OK – that might be an exaggeration!) However, I did find that my nice luggage is too heavy!  The bag alone WEIGHS 11 POUNDS!  With the new restrictions to 50 pounds per luggage, I’m not sure that I’m willing to give up 20% of my weight allowance for just the bag.  I do have a large Eddie Bauer duffel bag which seems pretty big – and it appears to be similar in volume to my large 25” rectangular suitcases.  I stuffed the rectangle full of the following games:  Indonesia, Torres, Amun Re, Einfach Genial, Hacienda, Zendo, Dschunke, Finistere Flure, Stimmt So, Kohle Kies & Knete, NY Chase, Goa, Ubongo, Vinci, Wettstreit der Baumeister, Project X, About 12 Amigo sized card games, Terra Nova, Tsuro.  There was some room to spare in the rectangular bag, but I was already over the weight limit as this bag now weighed 56 pounds!  These same games fit into my duffel bag, with only a little extra space – but it weighed 48 pounds!  I didn’t lose much volume, but gained eight pounds of cargo weight.  Seems like a fair trade to me – so I’ll travel with one 25” rectangle and one humongous duffel bag.  The rectangular luggage will provide some extra volume when I need it, and the duffel bag will save me some weight.

2) Find appropriate carry-on items – I’m allowed to bring a traditional carry-on (not to exceed 45 linear inches) as well as one “personal item”.  The personal item includes things such as briefcases – as long as it does not exceed 15” x 11” x 6”.  I figure that the laptop bag that I will bring (without a laptop in it!) will hold a fair number of boards and instruction manuals

3) Expandable tote bag – I will bring at least one expandable bag to help me carry all the purchases around in the fair.  I have the advantage that I’m staying in a hotel close to the main hall, and I have a Press Pass that allows me to come and go as I please through the entry gate, but I’d rather limit my trips back to as few as possible!  The bag looks something like this – but not in pink!  http://www.ebags.com/baggallini/expandable_tote_rip_stop_nylon/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=19226

4) Scott-E-Vest Jacket – I got this for Christmas from my parents last year.  It’s a nice jacket that has about 55 pockets in it.  It will serve as a de-facto third carry on.  With all the pockets, I can probably bring back about 50 card games or other small trinkets in the pockets.  Additionally, it’s cold in Europe – so I’ll likely be wearing it anyways!  The jacket can be found here:  http://scottevest.com/v3_store/40_Tactical_Jacket.shtml

5) 1 box of Ziploc bags – There is a definite possibility that I’ll need to nest game boxes in order to make them all fit.  It’s nice to be able to keep all the different pieces to a game together in one place so they don’t get lost.  If I put the pieces in a separate Ziploc bag, I’ll also be able to move them around if I have weight issues.

6) Figure out how to minimize the clothes that I pack.  Let’s face it – Essen is not a fashion show.  To drive home the point – we can likely all agree that I’m never going to be mistaken for a model.  My plan is to bring just enough to make it there.  Luckily, my preferred style right now is “athletic casual” so I’m bringing all sorts of lightweight sports jerseys.  I’ll likely try to manage on one pair of shoes – but that won’t be a problem.  I’ll bring my favorite orthopedic shoes to try to reduce the strain on my poor back… (It is the shoe pictured in this review:  http://www.spareviewmag.com/06/products6.html )

Third – other random travel issues

1) Confirm the flights and hotel reservations

2) Find my passport

3) Get my travel scale – a handheld scale that you can use to weigh bags.  Given the new lower weight allowance (fifty pounds per bag) as well as the increased cost for overweight bags ($175 for a bag between 50.01 pounds and 70.00 pounds on Northwest; $275 for an extra bag up to 50 pounds), it is quite important to know how close you are to the weight limit.

4) Make sure that my calling card still has minutes on it – I like to bring an international calling card to make sure that I can check in on my family and friends.  The card I usually buy is from Costco—$20 for the card.  I think it costs $0.75 to place a call from a pay phone and then 8 cents a minute.  It’s a nice inexpensive way to be able to check in each day.

5) Find trade booty – usually before I go over to Essen, I try to find things that people in Europe might want.  In the past few years, it has been Heroscape stuff.  It’s nice to have something to fill my bags with as I travel to Europe, and it’s also nice to have some way to generate Euros other than using the ATM machine!  Heroscape has really worked well in the past as it is insanely expensive over there.  As an example, the last time I went, the Heroscape base-set was selling for 70 Euro at the Mattel booth at the fair.  I picked some up at the TRU buy one get one free sale for $20 each.  In the end, I think I sold them each for 40 Euro—a nice profit for me, and a nice bargain for my European friends.  This year, I’ve also contacted a few of my friends and they have placed orders for things that they need (comic books, barbeque sauce, American game bits, etc).  There won’t be any profit in it, but it’s still a nice thing to fill my bags with.

6) Call the credit card companies – need to make sure that my card isn’t denied (or suspected to be stolen) because it’s making a charge in Ohio in one day and then in Germany the next!  Also need to make sure that my ATM card will work over there.

The puzzlehunt is on hiatus while I’m getting ready for the trip – look for it in a few weeks!

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

© 2007 Dale Yu

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Comments:

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When I was traveling to Europe in 2000, I was getting 1.10 euro for every $1. Posted by Phil Schwarzmann on Oct 10, 2007 at 04:38 AM | #

I cringe at the thought of baggage handlers throwing around a duffel full of game boxes compared to a hard shell suitcase.  At least put your clothes in the duffel instead… Posted by Greg Williams on Oct 10, 2007 at 08:20 AM | #

Greg, just to be clear, the large rectangular suitcase is still fairly soft-sided.  There is a metal frame to it, but only on the edges of the case.  The rest of it is a very heavy canvas-like cloth material.  It does certainly provide more protection than a simple duffel bag, but it is not a hard-shell case by any stretch of the imagination. Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 10, 2007 at 08:42 AM | #

I’ve never seen shoes like that before.  Tell me, do these shoes let you leap tall buildings in a single bound? How come you’re not waiting for the RGG version of Key Harvest? Have you printed out your Messe maps?  Do you highlight the map with proposed routes so that you don’t miss your key objectives, or do you just wing it? Don’t pack the BBQ sauce in your carry-on—it may be considered an explosive. I look forward to your commentary.  Have a great time! Posted by Phil Alberg on Oct 10, 2007 at 09:28 AM | #

I misspoke about the hard shell, I actually looked at the picture of your suitcase.  :^D Posted by Greg Williams on Oct 10, 2007 at 10:07 AM | #

Dale and others, I plan to make a printer-friendly version of the Essen Preview available for BGN Members by the end of this weekend, Sunday. Oct. 14.  Mostly this will be me pulling the company name out of the left-hand column to make the tables easier to break up during printing so it doesn’t take up so many pages. Any Essen updates after that time won’t be included in the printer-friendly version. Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Oct 10, 2007 at 12:39 PM | #

When it comes to packing for a trip to Europe, I suggest checking with Doug and Shelley.  When they took their two-week trip to France earlier this year, I believe their total luggage for the whole trip was two small backpacks.  MAYBE they had one other small carry-on, but even so, that’s amazing. Posted by Jon Theys on Oct 10, 2007 at 02:01 PM | #

Dale; Good summary - I actually found something I’d missed (call my CC company and let them know my travel plans). One of the perks of being a frequent flyer with Star Alliance is the increased luggage allowance - my bags can weigh up to 70 lbs each.  Add to that the fact that this a family vacation for us and you have a total of 340 lbs luggage allowance.  Gee, I hope it’s enough! ;) If anyone is interested, I have made up 11x17 sheets (Word docs, actually) - one for each hall - with the hall plan and list of exhibitors in each hall.  Email me if interested; if there’s enough demand I’ll pass ‘em to Eric to put up on the site (’cause I can’t remember how to do it myself). I actually went through mine and highlighted the booths I want to visit: Green for places I’m buying stuff, Yellow for places I want to try stuff, and Orange for places I want to visit and maybe try something if it looks interesting.  Fun fact: Czech Games Edition is stuck in the Galeria, far away from most of the other folks I was interested in. Oh, and I marked up where all the new and used vendors are. :) pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Oct 10, 2007 at 02:59 PM | #

Patrick, If you are a gold member with the Star Alliance (at least on United flights) you get a third bag for free at 70lbs.! See you all in Germany next week. Tom McCorry Posted by Tom McCorry on Oct 10, 2007 at 08:39 PM | #

Tom, unfortunately for me—the cheapest flights from around here are usually Northwest (At least to Essen).  Furthermore, this flight to Essen is oftentimes the only flight I take all year.  That will put me just a bit short of the 100,000 miles or 100 segments that I would need annually to get the extra bags! Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Oct 10, 2007 at 08:55 PM | #

Tom: I’m flying Lufthansa, and really, from Canada, the only viable options (i.e. that don’t involve lengthy layovers) are LH or Air Canada.  And LH keeps it at two bags, sigh. Dale: All the more reason to move to Canada.  Besides our stronger dollar, you only need 50 segments or 35,000 miles to hit AC Elite status, which comes with Star Alliance Gold.  Easiest threshold in the entire system. :) Anyway, back to games.  I’ve finished my list ‘o games to buy and should have a column up before I leave.  Darn that Corne!  Making Territories a freebie if you buy Gipsy King means I’ll be singing Volare! as I hand over my cash… pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Oct 10, 2007 at 09:12 PM | #

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