There's a more up-to-date Web page here.
A bunch of WetLeather folks are going to do an Edelweiss tour of the European Alps on July 21-29 (of 2001). This date is mid-Summer, and avoids the month of August when most of Germany seems to have the month off. We have another date scheduled (July 27 thru August 4, 2001, overlapping with the 21-29 tour), thus Group One can regale Group Two with tales/lies of their adventures on our Saturday night get-together bash (July 28th, 2001) in the Hotel's resturant/bar.
The 10th annual GPNDG Boss has graciously scheduled 2001's Gather so as not to conflict with our Alps tours.
As of 1/19/2001, Group 1 is completely full. There is some room in Group 2 (which is not exclusively WetLeather, like Group 1), but that group will probably be filled by Feb 1st. If you want to go, act quickly and contact Marc Lewis ASAP and he will attempt to fit you into any open slots that become available. Here's the URL for the outfit doing the tour for us. Just choose World/European tours, and then EUROPE HIGH ALPINE ADVENTURE:
http://www.edelweissbiketravel.com/
This particular tour is one favored by real motorcyclists, who like the twisty bits. Apparently other tours are preferred if motorcycling is less important than the touring and the lodging and the food. I've done these roads already and assure you they are awesome and you will come back with wonderful memories and photos. This has the potential to be a Good Thing™, and may even start a new tradition of an annual WetVacation tour each year.
Lee Hart did a similar Edelweiss tour last year, and wrote a trip report which is on his Website.
The 'organizer' of such a tour gets 5% of the total $$$ if they fill an entire tour (20-30 people). We've already got more than that number. The 5% usually covers the organizer's entire tour price. As the 'pseudo-organizer', I have negotiated with Edelweiss Travel to instead discount the per-person price by 5% for each of you who decide to go, plus giving us the year 2000 prices. I hope this becomes the tradition for these deals (and I hope I don't regret giving up the $3k :-).
Note that the tour prices DO NOT INCLUDE AIRFARE, though I already have a lead on getting some excellent prices (Mary Etta says she should have firm prices by the 3rd week of January, and expects fares in the $900-1000 range for Seattle to Munich). It will be quite possible to depart early, or stay in Europe for awhile after the tour. Just ask. Several of us plan to do this.
Here are some example prices for 2000 (not including the potential 5% discount) -- see the Web page for the full info:
Here are the lists of folks who have signed up and paid their deposits. Group leaders are shown in bold red text.
| Group #1 (7/22--7/28) | Group #2 (7/28--8/3) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| Waiting list for Group #1 | |||||||
|
Most questions are probably answered on the Web page mentioned above, or by calling Mary Etta at:+1 (800) 582-2263 (she's our travel agent). Otherwise, email: H. Marc Lewis, the reluctant cat wrangler, but be prepared for a terse reply if you haven't RTFM...
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