New year, new try... Any suggestions for a meetup?

By now, with Els aiming for 1.000 and Europe's WHS plus loads of scheduled tentative sites conquered by most of us, I think it's a fool's errant to try to find an unvisited site. Meanwhile, long distance travel is hard to do on a short notice, if it doesn't fit the schedule. Last year, US was interesting, but without public transport options and too large distances between sites, it didn't make sense for me.

So, I would propose to stay where most are based (Europe) and relax on the new requirements and rather go for ease of meetup.

Questions:
Where?
When? -> End of Aug-Sep seems established.

It would be nice to do sth new or have a special experience even if it's not a new site (but maybe a new component).

Ideas:
* Benelux -> Close to Els. Plenty of WHS. Maybe do a 24h WHS rush before/after.
* Finland for Seal Archipelago.
* Italy, piu bella, I have no issue with a revisit
* Algeria, outside Europe but nearby.

As well as a place, we need to pick a date as well (I have most of my trips for 2024 planned already so unfortunately I am not that flexible).

The best I can do in this time frame would be the weekend of 24/25 Aug.
Will be in Asia (Japan, Korea) afterward til late Sept.
Oct 5/6 would be the next possible opportunity.

Open to anywhere in Europe for a day or two, also when I have been there already.
Would be nice if someone could take on the organization near his/her hometown.

I tentatively may be able to join this year, but don't base anything on my participation.

Benelux whilst widely covered, is rather easy for many on here to get to and could throw up the opportunity to do something a little quirky like a World Record attempt (or even an unofficial blitz with our own transport to see how many are possible in a set time frame), I also have a few running routes around there I have been planning for a decade or so.

Perhaps factor in a bespoke Horta Townhouse visit, or we could all dream that someone could get a contact at the Stoclet Palace :)

I have a free period at the moment from about the 5th September - mid October, but again don't factor me in too heavily.

@meltwaterfalls:
Benelux is logistics-wise a good choice. And a proper Horta House tour would be nice.

Personally, I wouldn't mind a meetup in Bologna for the Evaporite Karst. We visited but a proper cave tour would be nice.

We are planning to go to Finnland. Apparently, May is the seals month.

I haven't planned anything fixed yet (only Finland in May-June), so I'll gladly meet up if I'm around.

Wouldn't mind a special Horta visit, or a collective Guinness attempt. Wouldn't mind Algeria either, although southern desert area requires planning, not last minute.

Perhaps I can suggest Lebanon too since most might have missed the late WHS addition there and it is close to several other WHS (albeit close to a conflict zone at the moment).

Thanks for getting this started! I'm sorry that North America didn't work out so well for folks to make the meet-up last year. Now that I'm a bit closer, I should be able to make a meet-up sometime from late August through October. Any of the proposed European locations (Benelux, Italy, Finland) would work, and Algeria seems intriguing. Lebanon would be a no-go for me, though.

I would be in for Italy or Benelux. Aug 24/25 sounds good. Stoclet would be awsome, but unrealistic. Most important for me, that we meet during the weekend in a city I can reach. E.g. last meeting I would have joined in Chicago, if the Chicago part would have been during the weekend.

It remains an ambition of mine to make it to a meet up. I'm not sure it will be this year though. I am actually on leave the weekend of 24th/25th August - but even then my chances of making it to a new WHS rely on me 'missing' a left turn at Inverness and driving a campervan 2 hours north to Forsinard without my wife and kids noticing...

Shall we already fix the date at Aug 24/25 ?

We can then further look into options for where to go in the coming weeks (I will be travelling from tomorrow until Jan 19 so I won't participate much in the discussions in that period).

if dates fit i can be in as i plan algeria this year anyway. but haven't fixed dates.

and if easy to reach in Europe happy to join anywhere. 24/25 august, i think i'm free.

It's about time for us to return to Europe (it's been over 5 years!), so Joel and I might also try to join the meet-up. We're leaning towards visiting the Balkans, but there's plenty of newer sites across Europe that we haven't yet visited, so I'm sure wherever it happens will mean some ticks for us. I have vague commitments for my book being released at the start of August, but late August (or September) should be good. Oh, and we'll only be visiting for a month (or maybe two?) this time, not a couple of years, as our little pup will be staying behind.

In the interest of planning, is 24-25 August still the preferred weekend for the meet-up this year?

I am still available on 24-25 August. But we haven't been very successful yet in finding a venue or attracting too much interest.

Are newbies allowed? There's some likelihood I'll be near Benelux on those dates. If that's where folks end up, I'd be happy for the opportunity to meet and to visit a few sites.

Very much so.


I would say yes.


I think we just fix it. Options were caves near Bologna or Belgium for ease of travel