In late December, I offered to organize a conference call for those interested in hearing about travel to Kenya, given our upcoming ICANN meeting in early March, 2010. Andrew Mack, AMGlobal principal, has traveled to Kenya numerous times, and has accepted my invitation to participate in a call with interested BC [and other contstituency members] regarding his experiences. My conversations with Andrew who is a regular attendee at ICANN meetings, and with other colleagues from Kenya, are all very positive about the options for travel. This takes into account that, like all countries [including the US inner city locations'], there are cautions to be taken. In fact, India, which ICANN traveled to without incident, later experienced a shocking experience just before the IGF 2008' yet many of us who also attend ICANN meetings, traveled to Hyderabad, even though the Mumbai incidents had just occurred. My point is that we can learn from our experienced colleagues, and that may help in informing your decisions about travel, and about attendance. I propose a call on Wednesday, January 6, at 10 a.m./EST, which will be mid afternoon Europe, and 6 p.m.in Nairobi, and 8 pm in Karachi, Pakistan. To simply this, I can provide a bridge but it isn't toll free in other countries. This isn't intended to complicate the BC list, or to compete with any organized BC activities. I am merely responding to interest from others who are planning to travel to Kenya, or who have concerns, and would like to hear from seasoned Kenyan travelers. If you want to participate in the call, RSVP to me at marilynscade@hotmail. I'll then post a bridge. On Dec 20, 2009, at 4:12 PM, Marilyn Cade wrote: I have been doing more research on the options for travel and hotels in Nairobi, Kenya,for the upcoming ICANN meeting and wanted to share my experiences, for what they are worth, with other BC members. I also looked into the security issues; talked to a couple of folks who travel to Kenya regularly, and got some helpful information and advice. If anyone is interested, I'll volunteer to set up a call with those 'regulars' who travel or who are in country, before we travel. In the meantime, of course, I closely watch the various 'alerts' from US State, Canadian, UK government, and a couple of other sources, since I travel rather frequently to a wide number of countries around the world as part of my business. If there are business constituency members who want to 'get the scoop' and hear about what the advice is from an experienced group of travelers, we can do a small and low profile 'discussion' call. No need to make this a big deal, since only those who are thinking of attending would be interested. Several of you will be booked at the venue hotel, or may be booked by the ICANN staff [e.g. Councilors] so you may not be interested in these additional options, but for some members, who may be considering but haven't finalized travel, this might be useful. Let me know, off list, if you would like to have such a call and I'll coordinate with those friendly advisors I have beneffitted from. . Hotels: for what it is worth: Through various sources, I've learned: There are several 4 star and 5 star hotels within walking distance. The Nairobi Safari Club may not actually be walking distance. It was difficult to get a clear answer on that. Hotels that are within walking distance are the Intercontinental, Hilton, and Stanley. Hilton: I booked at the Hilton, after some review and discussion. It isn't as fancy as some Hilton's in US or Europe, but is a 4 star. I got a rate of $184/plus taxes /USD per night by pre paying at the Hilton. The Intercont. which is always a preferred hotel, was a little more pricey at $295 plus taxes/USD. Pre pay at the Intercont. didn't reduce the price per day. the Stanley, which seems to be lovely, was a bit higher at around $325 USD/+ taxes. Other hotels that are recommended by a number of sources include the NAIROBI SERENA @ ABOUT $250-300 USD. Taxi to venue. Fairmont the Norfolk at around $430 USD. Taxi to venue. I'm not a qualified tour guide, so take all this into account, and assume you should do your own due diligence, but if you want to join a call with me and a few other experts on Kenya travel/because they live there or travel there, let me know atmarilynscade@hotmail.com. We might benefit from sharing information informally. Marilyn Cade - - - - - - - - -phone 651-647-6109 fax 866-280-2356 web www.haven2.comhandle OConnorStP (ID for public places like Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.)