*ahem*... is this thing on?
Oh boy, oh boy. Some twenty-five months ago, I remember our social media guy sliding into my DMs shortly after I dropped the previous post of this kind and going "hey, you better remove that bit about Covid you put into your travel thing, we're not going to know how this whole affair with the virus will pan out."
I can't even find the original post in this forum anymore, guess I junked it when we called off the whole con the following month. Shouldn't write these things at 3:30 in the morning, it's currently two posts below this one, duh.
Over two years later, and we still don't quite have a clear picture, although we
hope we're heading into the right direction.
Anyhow! There's a con this summer (I hope), and believe it or not, time to get prepped for a few things.
What has changed from 2021 2020 2019?First things first, I'd like to point out that any
Covid related questions are handled through the
Eurofurence Help Center now. Unfortunately they are a bit all over the place, but if you enter the keyword "corona" in the search box, you will get a list of all Covid-related information in the system (don't blame me for it, that's just how it works.)
Also, believe it or not,
BER airport is now open. That also means that by extension, TXL and SXF airports are now ex-airports.. BER airport currently only uses
Terminals 1 and 2, the former SXF (which is now Terminal 5) is closed at the time of writing.
Aptly, the train station underneath BER has been renamed to BER Terminal 1+2 before it even opened.
The
easiest way to get from BER to the convention venue is to take line
S9 trains to Treptower Park and change there onto line
S41. Alternatively, you can take
FEX trains to Ostkreuz and change onto line
S41 trains there. All these connections can be used with a standard Berlin ABC ticket. For more information, please consult the
Berlin S-Bahn web site.
Alternatively, a taxi from BER to the Estrel Convention Center should come up to somewhere between €30 and €40 and take about 30-50 minutes, depending on traffic (unfortunately, the A113 is quite prone to traffic jams).
Overflow hotels still exist. There's a list
on the Eurofurence web site. Most of the hotels in the vicinity are still in business and open to guests again, but the 2A Motel has stopped trading (no big loss, if you ask me...)
Please note that
overflow hotels may have different Coronavirus-related restrictions in place than Eurofurence and the Estrel. While it is generally expected that there won't be many rules left to enforce in August, this, as everything Covid-related, is of course subject to change and with no warranty.
Regarding overflow
hotel shuttles that were normally provided to the Andel's on weeknights, we're still sorting them out for this year. Bus companies, like everyone else, are suffering from the fuel price crisis, meaning they'll have to adjust their prices accordingly.
As a consequence of this, it might be that we have to run a reduced bus service or no service at all this year. We'll let you know in due time.
Other than that, the usual stuff I've been saying year after year still applies. Make sure to check your passport and health insurance validity, if you need a visa to enter Germany it is highly recommended to sort that out early, stay hydrated and don't forget the sunscreen.
