FLIBS...Who's going?

[ThirdHatt]

I just booked my tickets! I missed last year when the show was cancelled/postponed due to Hurricane Wilma. I can't WAIT to get down there this year! I arrive late Thursday and leave early Tuesday for four full days of boat show FUN!

So, who's all going?

[Liquid Asset]

I will be there Thursday to Sunday.

[SeaEric]

I'm going to FLIBS and to IBEX in Miami. I fly in Oct. 25 and back out Nov. 5. Always have to see Steve and get my new SAM's Marine T-shirt! By the way, if anyone has boat show tickets that they aren't using, I could use them. I made very good use of the ones sent to me last year by 2 forum members. Thanks again! PM or e-mail eric@bayport.biz

[Paul45c]

I'm always in...can't not go with it in my backyard.

[solanderi]

I am also interested in show tickets for Ft Lauderdale and Miami if there are extras available. Thank you,

Greg

[SeaEric]

The Miami show is free for the most part. That is; the Brokerage Show which is the in the water section along Collins Avenue is free. That's where all the "good" stuff is anyway. As far as Ft Lauderdale, there are always plenty of comp tickets around and the nice folks that aren't going to use them generally pass them on to those of us who will.

[Genesis]

My biggest problem with the shows down there is that the hotels jack their rates to the maximum during the duration, and most also impose minimum stay requirements.

They take every opportunity to screw you, to be blunt. Now I'm not normally that much of a tightwad, but when a city goes out of its way to see how much they can extract from me, I have to really want to be there to show up.

If I lived there I'd see it diferently, I suppose...... but I don't.

[ThirdHatt]

My biggest problem with the shows down there is that the hotels jack their rates to the maximum during the duration, and most also impose minimum stay requirements.

They take every opportunity to screw you, to be blunt. Now I'm not normally that much of a tightwad, but when a city goes out of its way to see how much they can extract from me, I have to really want to be there to show up.

If I lived there I'd see it diferently, I suppose...... but I don't.

I agree about the hotels and restaurants for the weekend of the show.

One thing though, flights got CHEAP in the last week or two since I last checked. Non-stop flights from New Orleans are $59 and return is $49. I booked as soon as I saw that! I've got a cousin with a condo on Las Olas, so luckily I don't have to fight for a hotel.

I hope to run into some of you down there!

Hopefully the weather will cooperate this year.

[SeaEric]

If I lived there I'd see it diferently, I suppose...... but I don't.

I own a condo in Ft. Lauderdale, and it still costs me $350. a night to stay there. If you take my annual cost of ownership and divide it by the average # of nights I spend there in a year, thats what it costs. Bummer.

Lets not do the math on the cost per night aboard my boat.

[Angela]

For the Miami Boat Show, IF I have the interior renovation completed by then, I'm going to run a dockside bed and breakfast on the boat during the week of the show. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to try to get a slip for the week at one of the marinas that is nearer the show on the mainland than I am here on the key so that transporation to/from the show will be a snap.

I, too, remember how hard it was to find lodging and at what price it came. Geez....that was unbelievable. We hadn't really made plans to attend the show last year; rather, we found ourselves in Miami all of the sudden that week, looking at this boat which was for sale at the time. So, finding lodging at the spur of the moment was difficult. We eventually started looking for a nice bridge to sleep under.