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Shobac is isolated. It's located on the south shore of Nova Scotia, about an hour and forty minutes from the Halifax Airport and about twenty-five minutes from the nearest town, Lunenburg. This means it's going to be a bit logistically complicated to get us all there and back, to keep us all fed, and so on. But it's a cool enough place to make it worth the trek.
According to our tentative schedule, talks will begin on Monday, July 24th at 2:30, and our last talk will end on Friday, July 28th at 12:30pm. So, to get to all the talks, you should fly into Halifax no later than Monday morning and fly back out no earlier than Friday late afternoon/evening.
However, we have the venue for a whole week, from the afternoon of Saturday the 22nd until the morning of Saturday the 29th. Participants are welcome to stay for as much of that as they like.
If you're flying to Nova Scotia, book your flight to Halifax Stansted International Airport.
If you're flying into and out of the Halifax airport, you will need to arrange for drives between there and Shobac. At least a couple of us will have our own cars, and will be able to pick up and drop off a few people. But it is likely that at least a couple of cars will have to be rented.
You'll also want a rental car if you plan to explore Nova Scotia before or after the conference, or during our Wednesday afternoon off.
When you know what time you're flying in and out, please email this information to Dan, and he'll try to coordinate drives and car rentals as much as possible.
If you're thinking about driving to Nova Scotia from somewhere in the northeastern United States, there are a couple of options.
Option 1: You can drive all the way there, through the upper reaches of Maine and through New Brunswick. This route would take about 16 hours from New York City. Some of it is a nice drive, but some of it (most of New Brunswick) is pretty boring.
Option 2: Drive to Portland, Maine and take the CAT ferry from there to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, then drive about two hours and forty minutes to Shobac. This will take slightly less time, will cost more money, will involve considerably less driving, and will probably be a nicer drive.
Although there are some good restaurants in Lunenburg, and we're planning to have some food delivered to us, the idea is that we'll cook at least several meals for ourselves. We'll have five kitchens and several grills to work with. We'll need a few volunteers to plan meals and we can take turns pitching in. If you would like to be head chef for a meal (or just part of a meal), please let us know.
In order to make the logistics of food shopping as simple as possible, we have a (tentative) plan. We're going to collect a Conference Registration Fee from each participant (approx. $150). We'll use this fund to pay for shared expenses, including food and other supplies. The organizers will pick all of this stuff up in advance. So, eventually, we'll need grocery shopping lists from those of you who'd like to organize a meal.
Anyone who has dietary preferences or restrictions should let Dan Harris know about them. They will be taken into account in the planning. You can also feel free to pick up anything that you like to eat on your way
The studio has two bedrooms with double beds, and each of the four cabins has one room with a double bed, one room with two single beds, and a sleeping nook under the staircase. There isn't enough space for everyone to have a private room, and so some people will have to have a roommate. (Some may also have to take a sleeping nook, or may opt for a sleeping nook instead of a roommate.)
If you have any other kind of strong preference about this stuff, let Dan Harris know. In particular: it would be helpful if at least some participants could find roommates for themselves and let Dan know.