Never trust a smiling Finn.
Exactly. The liquorice they are kindly offering you is in all likelihood actually liquorice, but that doesn't mean there is no hot chili in it, or other ingredients that may surprise you.
�� Who will host the Convention in 2021 - Tampere, Finland, postponed to 2023
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And maybe Portugal can consider a bid for the next convention? : )
I really would like to have a convention in Portugal, but it looks like the Portuguese forum and Portuguese BookCrossers are less and less active. Well, organising a convention could be a turning point 😁 But I don't feel there are any chances at this moment.
Well, you weren't there but a year or two before at one of the BC cons, someone mentioned that it would be lovely to have a con in Portugal. One concern is of course if there's enough members to form a committee. Romney told us that for the Gold Coast con, most if not all of the committee members live far from Gold Coast, but as many things can be arranged over the internet, having a member living in the host city is not as critical. And there were a few members have enthusiastically offered to help the organizing committee should you guys decide to go ahead. : )
Not even Skyring?
Our borders are locked at present (in and out for most people), and unless an effective vaccine is developed and distributed before then none of us will be allowed to leave (or likely want to.) There is the occasional repatriation flight with Australians arriving home from various parts of the world, but virtually no flights at all. Those people go into compulsory (guarded) quarantine for two weeks. The link is a photograph I took of the TV screen of all the international flights for one day out of Sydney airport. Flights are down 98%. The top one is an air-force flight, not a normal one, so in effect two flights that day. Skyring suggested the air-force flight might have been on the way somewhere overseas to bring back Australians; a repatriation flight, and they were refuelling in Darwin.
https://www.flickr.com/---/dateposted/
unless an effective vaccine is developed and distributed before then none of us will be allowed to leave (or likely want to.)
Where did you hear that? I haven't heard anything about Australian borders being closed until a vaccination is available, although I've seen media reports speculating that the borders may not open until next year. Who knows if it'll happen in time for the Convention?
I agree that there are people who would be uncomfortable travelling until an effective vaccination is available.
unless an effective vaccine is developed and distributed before then none of us will be allowed to leave (or likely want to.)
Where did you hear that? I haven't heard anything about Australian borders being closed until a vaccination is available, although I've seen media reports speculating that the borders may not open until next year. Who knows if it'll happen in time for the Convention?
I agree that there are people who would be uncomfortable travelling until an effective vaccination is available.
I have heard years if no vaccine. Extremely unlikely before the Norway Convention. We might have formed a travel bubble with NZ and perhaps some Pacific islands, but thanks to Victoria that's not looking good at present.
"“In terms of mass travel and holidays to Hawaii and Thailand and America, that’s going to be a while still I think, like late 2021 or even longer.”" https://www.sbs.com.au/---/how-long-will-australians-have-to-wait-to-travel-overseas-again
If the borders are opened up again too soon, we will have a Victorian situation in the whole of Australia. Can you imagine that being allowed to happen.
https://www.abc.net.au/---/12229114
"International travel will be one of the last coronavirus restrictions to be lifted"
"But while local and regional travel are set to resume first in step one, international travel is not part of any of the three steps."
"There's nothing on our radar which would see us opening up international travel in the foreseeable future."
"The Prime Minister said while he knew other countries were discussing it, it was not on the cards for Australia."
unless an effective vaccine is developed and distributed before then none of us will be allowed to leave (or likely want to.)
Where did you hear that? I haven't heard anything about Australian borders being closed until a vaccination is available, although I've seen media reports speculating that the borders may not open until next year. Who knows if it'll happen in time for the Convention?
I agree that there are people who would be uncomfortable travelling until an effective vaccination is available.
Here's a link to Brendan Murphy when he was Chief Medical Officer saying it as well.
https://www.abc.net.au/---/12393566?...
I had four international trips booked before end of 2021, I can't see any of them going ahead unfortunately.
I'd say Americans won't be allowed to travel to any country for the longest time.
A lot of Americans still believe one or more of the following: that masks don't work, that the tests are turning in false positives, that hospitals are faking the high incident rates, that it's all a hoax by the democrats to get Trump out of the office. They insist that living in the Land of Free, Home of the Brave means they have freedom not to wear a mask and courage to face down the virus.
Travel outside the country? I don't even know when I can eat outside my house!
A lot of Americans still believe one or more of the following: that masks don't work, that the tests are turning in false positives, that hospitals are faking the high incident rates, that it's all a hoax by the democrats to get Trump out of the office. They insist that living in the Land of Free, Home of the Brave means they have freedom not to wear a mask and courage to face down the virus.
Travel outside the country? I don't even know when I can eat outside my house!
I'd say Americans won't be allowed to travel to any country for the longest time.
A lot of Americans still believe one or more of the following: that masks don't work, that the tests are turning in false positives, that hospitals are faking the high incident rates, that it's all a hoax by the democrats to get Trump out of the office. They insist that living in the Land of Free, Home of the Brave means they have freedom not to wear a mask and courage to face down the virus.
Travel outside the country? I don't even know when I can eat outside my house!
Which would explain why we have the highest incidents and I will be in lockdown (except for groceries and other essentials) indefinitely to stay safe. I braved one masked trip to the used bookstore after it re-opened, which was very careful about not letting in too many people, but realize that is an unnecessary risk so probably won't even do that again.
I'd say Americans won't be allowed to travel to any country for the longest time.
A lot of Americans still believe one or more of the following: that masks don't work, that the tests are turning in false positives, that hospitals are faking the high incident rates, that it's all a hoax by the democrats to get Trump out of the office. They insist that living in the Land of Free, Home of the Brave means they have freedom not to wear a mask and courage to face down the virus.
Travel outside the country? I don't even know when I can eat outside my house!
That's really more bad news. Wonder how they explain the virus in other countries? Sorry, I know it's really sad. Please stay safe. Hope the internet will give you the chance for some social not-distancing.
Lets hope things change a bit faster than it looks at the moment.
If the Finnish team, and the rest of you, are ok with my suggestion, the convention in Tampere could be held in April 2023 if it's not possible to be done in 2021.
Good suggestion, as it seems the only American who could travel for sure would be Donald Trump.
After we had to cancel our Gold Coast thing, I became a little downcast, and have staid quiet.
It’s still months away, but unless there’s some major breakthrough, it’s unlikely any Australians or New Zealanders will be travelling overseas much in 2021. There’s a bit of a bubble going on across the Tasman, but I think anyone coming into NZ has to quarantine for two weeks, so there’s that as a huge disincentive.
Regardless of anything else, I’m not about to travel far without travel insurance, and nobody's going to be selling any policy that covers COVID-45 for a bit.
Going by the surge in numbers in Europe, I can’t see Australians wanting to travel there for a while. 2022 - touch wood - things should be back to normal.
2023 - wherever the convention is to be held and whatever time of year, I hope to be there.
It’s still months away, but unless there’s some major breakthrough, it’s unlikely any Australians or New Zealanders will be travelling overseas much in 2021. There’s a bit of a bubble going on across the Tasman, but I think anyone coming into NZ has to quarantine for two weeks, so there’s that as a huge disincentive.
Regardless of anything else, I’m not about to travel far without travel insurance, and nobody's going to be selling any policy that covers COVID-45 for a bit.
Going by the surge in numbers in Europe, I can’t see Australians wanting to travel there for a while. 2022 - touch wood - things should be back to normal.
2023 - wherever the convention is to be held and whatever time of year, I hope to be there.
It would be really nice, though I don't have a clue how to do that.
I believe Zoom has a limit to the number of people and time.
For Zoom you can have a one to one "meeting" in the free version.
If anyone would like to host a meetup with up to a 100 participants there is a fee. There might be/probably are possible for a higher number of participants for a higher fee (which I have not checked, as I have deciced to pay a monthly fee for up to 100 participants for a period to be able to host BookCrossing meetups in Scandinavia and Postcrossing meetups in Norway/Scandinavia).
In my opinion, it wouldn't be the same to hold the convention as a virtual gathering (but that would be totally up to TeamFinland).
In my opinion, it wouldn't be the same to hold the convention as a virtual gathering (but that would be totally up to TeamFinland).
it's absolute not the same, but it would be nice to 'meet' some people virtual. In holland we sonetimes use jitsy. I don't know with how many people that's possible for free. Most time we're just a small group (yesterday we were with 3).
In my opinion, it wouldn't be the same to hold the convention as a virtual gathering (but that would be totally up to TeamFinland).
it's absolute not the same, but it would be nice to 'meet' some people virtual. In holland we sonetimes use jitsy. I don't know with how many people that's possible for free. Most time we're just a small group (yesterday we were with 3).
I liked the virtual gathering we did on the day of the Goldcoast Convention. It’s not the same as a real convention, but it’s a nice way to keep in touch....
it's absolute not the same, but it would be nice to 'meet' some people virtual. In holland we sonetimes use jitsy. I don't know with how many people that's possible for free.
I don't think it would necessarily need to be for free. Someone is probably willing to pay. Most of us would probably be happy to toss some virtual coins into a virtual hat in order to make it possible.
We all know that it's not the same as a real Convention, but it's a whole lot better than nothing at all.
it's absolute not the same, but it would be nice to 'meet' some people virtual. In holland we sonetimes use jitsy. I don't know with how many people that's possible for free.
I don't think it would necessarily need to be for free. Someone is probably willing to pay. Most of us would probably be happy to toss some virtual coins into a virtual hat in order to make it possible.
We all know that it's not the same as a real Convention, but it's a whole lot better than nothing at all.
It is a sad decision, but given all the concerns - and honestly any one of those would suggest that postponement is the sensible thing to do. We have all held on to the little bit of hope that things may be back to normal for us to travel, but by this time it's pretty clear that even with working vaccines, it will be a while before enough of us can get it and stop the wide spread transmission.
Many people are affected economically, so I would love the gathering to be free. But maybe as you suggested, some fundraising can be done to make this happen.
Dear all,
Our host city for planned 2021 Convention, Tampere, is located in Pirkanmaa region which has one of the largest numbers of new Covid-19 cases in Finland at the moment. It is not alone though: the Helsinki and Turku regions where the main airports and harbours are located have elevated incident numbers as well. At the moment, Pirkanmaa region’s hospital district recommends that the number of participants at public events would be limited to 50 persons and safe distance should be kept to others indoors, and a mask be worn. The number of recommended participants is far lower than we had planned for at any stage. We believe that organising the event for only 50 people at most would bring the costs unnecessary high for the participants and it wouldn’t really feel like a proper Convention with such a limited number of people. We have no way of securing f.ex. planned visits to places of interest in Tampere, as most venues are not booking visits for groups at the moment. Neither will they send their staff out to give a presentation, as most workplaces are recommending working from home and not taking part in any public events. Having all the guest speakers giving their presentations over Teams/Zoom/WhatsApp would not really be fair to the participants either.
Incident rates have risen in Europe, and unfortunately in the very countries we would expect many Bookcrossers would be travelling from. Finland has adapted a “traffic light model” to assess the risk of Covid-19 infections. At the moment the only safe, “green light” countries are Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Uruguay, Singapore and Rwanda. You can enter Finland from these days without a quarantine period for the time being. Otherwise a voluntary 10 days’ quarantine is recommended to ALL passengers arriving to Finland. Though it is not monitored (at the moment at least), we wouldn’t want to risk anyone’s health! It might be that no participant would get sick, but what if they were to take the virus home and infect their child, friend or elderly neighbour?(You can find more on traffic light model https://thl.fi/en/web/infectious-diseases-and-vaccinations/what-s-new/coronavirus-covid-19-latest-updates/travel-and-the-coronavirus-pandemic)
Finnish Border Guard updates its guidelines on entry to Finland accordingly to the Covid-19 situation, and there’s no possible way of guaranteeing entry to Finland in case the Covid-19 case numbers keep rising. We have seen a period when all travel from abroad was restricted, and only those travelling to their homes/families in Finland or for work for essential reasons were granted entry to the country. Naturally everyone would be allowed to return to their homes, but there’s no way of knowing whether there’d be flights to all countries operating from Finland if borders are closed once again. Crossing land borders to Sweden, Norway and Russia was impossible in the spring, and marine traffic was put to a halt as well. If you didn’t have flights without a stop-over via a third country, you could be stuck in Finland… (You can find more on border traffic at Guidelines for border traffic during pandemic from 09.11.2020 - The Finnish Border Guard)
As we’ve learned, not all airlines have yet returned ticket fees to the passengers who had their flights cancelled last March. Not all hotels make refunds or offer the possibility to change the reservation dates, so travelling at the moment holds a great economic risk as well. We know it isn’t cheap to travel to Finland, nor are our hotels the cheapest ones in Europe, so at this moment with all the layoffs and downsizing in companies it wouldn’t be fair to expect anyone to tie their assets on travel that might not even happen.
There isn’t much more we can say than this: We are awfully sorry, but we don’t see a safe and sensible way we could host the Convention in Tampere on April 2021. We are truly hoping the world will soon see vaccines turn into reality and for us to have a safe way to meet each other again!
Anyhow, we would be more than happy to invite you all here in April 2023.
Our host city for planned 2021 Convention, Tampere, is located in Pirkanmaa region which has one of the largest numbers of new Covid-19 cases in Finland at the moment. It is not alone though: the Helsinki and Turku regions where the main airports and harbours are located have elevated incident numbers as well. At the moment, Pirkanmaa region’s hospital district recommends that the number of participants at public events would be limited to 50 persons and safe distance should be kept to others indoors, and a mask be worn. The number of recommended participants is far lower than we had planned for at any stage. We believe that organising the event for only 50 people at most would bring the costs unnecessary high for the participants and it wouldn’t really feel like a proper Convention with such a limited number of people. We have no way of securing f.ex. planned visits to places of interest in Tampere, as most venues are not booking visits for groups at the moment. Neither will they send their staff out to give a presentation, as most workplaces are recommending working from home and not taking part in any public events. Having all the guest speakers giving their presentations over Teams/Zoom/WhatsApp would not really be fair to the participants either.
Incident rates have risen in Europe, and unfortunately in the very countries we would expect many Bookcrossers would be travelling from. Finland has adapted a “traffic light model” to assess the risk of Covid-19 infections. At the moment the only safe, “green light” countries are Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Uruguay, Singapore and Rwanda. You can enter Finland from these days without a quarantine period for the time being. Otherwise a voluntary 10 days’ quarantine is recommended to ALL passengers arriving to Finland. Though it is not monitored (at the moment at least), we wouldn’t want to risk anyone’s health! It might be that no participant would get sick, but what if they were to take the virus home and infect their child, friend or elderly neighbour?(You can find more on traffic light model https://thl.fi/en/web/infectious-diseases-and-vaccinations/what-s-new/coronavirus-covid-19-latest-updates/travel-and-the-coronavirus-pandemic)
Finnish Border Guard updates its guidelines on entry to Finland accordingly to the Covid-19 situation, and there’s no possible way of guaranteeing entry to Finland in case the Covid-19 case numbers keep rising. We have seen a period when all travel from abroad was restricted, and only those travelling to their homes/families in Finland or for work for essential reasons were granted entry to the country. Naturally everyone would be allowed to return to their homes, but there’s no way of knowing whether there’d be flights to all countries operating from Finland if borders are closed once again. Crossing land borders to Sweden, Norway and Russia was impossible in the spring, and marine traffic was put to a halt as well. If you didn’t have flights without a stop-over via a third country, you could be stuck in Finland… (You can find more on border traffic at Guidelines for border traffic during pandemic from 09.11.2020 - The Finnish Border Guard)
As we’ve learned, not all airlines have yet returned ticket fees to the passengers who had their flights cancelled last March. Not all hotels make refunds or offer the possibility to change the reservation dates, so travelling at the moment holds a great economic risk as well. We know it isn’t cheap to travel to Finland, nor are our hotels the cheapest ones in Europe, so at this moment with all the layoffs and downsizing in companies it wouldn’t be fair to expect anyone to tie their assets on travel that might not even happen.
There isn’t much more we can say than this: We are awfully sorry, but we don’t see a safe and sensible way we could host the Convention in Tampere on April 2021. We are truly hoping the world will soon see vaccines turn into reality and for us to have a safe way to meet each other again!
Anyhow, we would be more than happy to invite you all here in April 2023.
Anyhow, we would be more than happy to invite you all here in April 2023.
As I have suggested earlier, the convention in Tampere in April 2021 is postponed to April 2023.
This way we already have a team for 2023 (as for the convention in 2024 this will hopefully be decied at the convention in 2022).
Hopefully there will be vaccines available in 2021, which will set things back to "normal" (or at least as normal as can be and travels and gatherings are possible).
If this is ok, I can update this in the list in this tread.
It was a real kick in the guts to postpone the Gold Coast convention, so you have my heart on this one.
I don’t think too many from my side of the world will be travelling in 2021, vaccine or not, but I think - touch wood - we'll be somewhere close to normal once more in 2022. I would love to visit Finland in 2023.
I don’t think too many from my side of the world will be travelling in 2021, vaccine or not, but I think - touch wood - we'll be somewhere close to normal once more in 2022. I would love to visit Finland in 2023.
Anyhow, we would be more than happy to invite you all here in April 2023.
As I have suggested earlier, the convention in Tampere in April 2021 is postponed to April 2023.
This way we already have a team for 2023 (as for the convention in 2024 this will hopefully be decied at the convention in 2022).
Hopefully there will be vaccines available in 2021, which will set things back to "normal" (or at least as normal as can be and travels and gatherings are possible).
If this is ok, I can update this in the list in this tread.
I can't see why it shouldn't be ok. There is no official role that decides. To me it seems natural that the planned conventions that are postponed, pushed forward by the pandemic will take place when the pandemic is over. It makes no sense for someone else to start planning for a convention when it is such an uncertainty when things are back to normal.
So MLA, if you update the list it is official - isn't it?
Easter in 2022 is 17 April. As I understand it, Australia is to host the world convention on the Gold Coast, but with our borders closed until the end of this year, we may well be closed or requiring quarantine.
Then again, I’ve got to pick some dates for my postponed Japan trek next year, and if that goes ahead I’d like it not to conflict wth a convention.
I’ve also heard the suggestion that maybe Finland and Australia could swap years, because Europe will most likely be more open in 2022 than Australia.
A bit like trying to predict the Oscar winners for 2023, given the way things are changing in the world, but if there’s any news, I’d love to hear it.
Then again, I’ve got to pick some dates for my postponed Japan trek next year, and if that goes ahead I’d like it not to conflict wth a convention.
I’ve also heard the suggestion that maybe Finland and Australia could swap years, because Europe will most likely be more open in 2022 than Australia.
A bit like trying to predict the Oscar winners for 2023, given the way things are changing in the world, but if there’s any news, I’d love to hear it.
Easter in 2022 is 17 April. As I understand it, Australia is to host the world convention on the Gold Coast, but with our borders closed until the end of this year, we may well be closed or requiring quarantine.
They are not closed to New Zealanders
True, but for a world convention, a wider horizon could be handy.
Besides, although you can fly in, on returning home it's two weeks in quarantine. I’d love to have spent the past week on the Kapiti coast like last year, but had to content myself with the ice cream brand.
Easter in 2022 is 17 April. As I understand it, Australia is to host the world convention on the Gold Coast, but with our borders closed until the end of this year, we may well be closed or requiring quarantine.
They are not closed to New Zealanders
True, but for a world convention, a wider horizon could be handy.
True, but it is mainly New Zealanders and Australians who attend the Australian conventions. To deny the majority of guests in the hope of a 10-20 others seems a poor plan.
it is mainly New Zealanders and Australians who attend the Australian conventions.
I had a ticket for last year's, I know of several other European members who did.
To deny the majority of guests in the hope of a 10-20 others seems a poor plan.
If people from outside of those countries cannot hope to join, it's not the BookCrossing International Anniversary Convention, but an UnConvention. Which is fine, but a different thing.
(What does "a 10-20" mean?)
To deny the majority of guests in the hope of a 10-20 others seems a poor plan.
If people from outside of those countries cannot hope to join, it's not the BookCrossing International Anniversary Convention, but an UnConvention. Which is fine, but a different thing.
Indeed,. The uncon in NZ was not run for people to attend this year. It is virtual. Guess we will proceed to create events on the requirements on the minority of attendees, which is grand.
