Pre-SMOFcon tour of proposed London in 2014 site and facility
Taking advantage of the fact that so many North American SMOFs will be on this side of the Atlantic at the same time, and knowing the interest many have in ExCeL, (the proposed new Worldcon venue for London 2014), the London bid committee have organised a tour of the site on Thursday 1st December 2011, the day before SMOFcon.
A group of approximately 16 SMOFs will be touring ExCeL with the the bid co-chairs Mike Scott and Steve Cooper, meeting at 1:30pm at the reception desk at the East end of the venue, for a tour starting at 2pm.
The reception desk is on level-1 of the ExCeL centre, which is on the same level you should come in from the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) station "Prince Regent (ExCeL East)". The London in 2014 bid website has details of the various options for getting to ExCeL from London's numerous international airports and train stations: http://www.londonin2014.org/content/how-get-excel-outside-uk
The tour should be complete by 4:30pm at the latest, giving people plenty of time to travel on to Amsterdam, or to wash and brush up for an evening in London at the Tun *, where they'll meet a whole host of London fans.
If anyone else is interested in in joining the group, please let Steve Cooper know at steve@londonin2014.org
* The Tun is currently (and has been since 2006) held at the Melton Mowbray (details on the ansible page http://news.ansible.co.uk/london.html) There is a very convenient Tube stop "Chancery Lane" that's on the central line. But "Farringdon" (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines) and "Holborn" (Central & Piccadilly lines) aren't bad either. Simplest options if coming from ExCeL would be a direct DLR to "Bank" and connect to Central line to "Chancery Lane" (short walk in tunnel from DLR to tube station), or alternatively a direct DLR to "Tower Hill" and connect to Circle line to "Farringdon" again with a short walk through a tunnel from DLR to tub station, and longer walk then to the pub from "Farringdon"