[Tinytimrob]

Introduction
After visiting the USA with the Concert Band I have concluded that I would like to visit there again. Rather than go alone or with just my brother, it seems more sensible to turn the trip into a Ginever Block Tour of America. This means that other Ginever Block members will be entitled to attend and can sign up to join the tour.

The current plan is that the tour will last 14 days and take place during the Elk Grove school district holiday break of July 2011. I understand that this is a long time away, but I also know how disorganised people can be so I am making the announcement NOW so that parents/guardians know when the TGB USA tour is and can plan appropriately for it.

As part of the Tour of America we will of course be visiting Elk Grove in California where our USA-based Ginever Block members are currently located. We will be staying in the house of Kian Bradley (frogg), because his father has very kindly and generously offered to host us for the duration of the tour.

The tour is currently planned to start on the early morning of Monday July 4 and finish on Monday July 18 or Tuesday July 19.

====================================================

REQUIREMENTS
You will need:
- A valid machine-readable biometric UK passport issued after October 26, 2006.
- A valid VISA waiver if you live in the UK (see below)
- A parent or guardian willing to help pay for the cost of the tour
- Sufficient spending money

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
You must meet the following criteria to attend the tour:
- You must have a Ginever Block account which is in the Level 5 "Trusted" group or higher.
- You must be aged 18 by 23:59:59 on August 31st 2010 if you are not currently residing in Elk Grove
- You must have no medical condition that will cause a problem on the tour
- You must attend ALL tour meetings (unless you have a very good reason not to attend). The first will be held at my house on August 21st 2010 at 7.30 PM UTC+1.

These restrictions are there to limit the number of people coming on tour exclusively to those who have earned the privelege. If I allowed everyone to come on the tour it would turn into complete chaos, it is supposed to be strictly small scale (even with the few people that are going, it is hard enough to manage the tour plans as it is)

THE FLIGHT
We will hopefully leave London Heathrow Airport and arrive at either Sacramento or San Fransisco. The return flight will probably be a direct reverse of this.

COST
Air fare will be roughly £700-800 for a return flight. Additionally we must buy food, and pay for transportation costs and other such things, plus have a backup fund in case of emergency. I therefore estimate the cost of a 14-day stop in California to be roughly £1050.

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
Where possible we will be co-ordinating travel arrangements with parents and guardians from both the UK and California. In order to be environmentally friendly AND stick to a sensible budget for travel, we will attempt to organise car-sharing to get to and from the airports and to travel around California. We will meet at my house on the morning of departure. The current plan is then to split up into two groups for the journey to Heathrow, one group travelling in my father's car and the other group travelling with George's father. We will then be collected when we get off the plane by Kian's family. Travelling around California itself is currently up for further debate.

VISA WAIVER
The United States government states that all travellers to the United States who are citizens of the United Kingdom must fill in a Visa Waiver application and have it approved in order to travel to anywhere in the country. This application is free until September 8th 2010, after which point a charge of $14 will be made for each subsequent application. Since the waivers are valid for 2 years, I therefore strongly suggest that everyone should apply for their waiver before September 8 (assuming you won't have to replace your passport before the date of the tour). If you require help or assistance in your application please contact me. I will explain the situation r.e. visa waivers at the tour meeting on August 21st.

CONSULTATION WITH PARENTS AND GUARDIANS
At all times during the tour's planning process, we will be consulting parents and guardians to ensure that they are happy with the arrangements. A meeting has been arranged on 21 August 2010 at 7.30 PM to begin the initial planning stages of the tour.

SPONSORSHIP AND FUNDRAISING
If you would like to try and get your friends and colleagues to sponsor you towards the cost of this tour, please ask me for a sponsorship form, although I personally feel that it is unlikely you will get much money from this method. In addition to the option of sponsorship, there will also be several fundraising events.

MONEY TO BE PAID BY CHRISTMAS
Those of you who wish to attend the tour will need to pay a non-refundable fee which will be used to pay for the flight tickets. Payment of this fee indicates that you definitely wish to attend the tour. We currently estimate that the money will be due in December 2010 and will be a value of roughly £700-800. Further information relating to payment will be available soon.

LAPTOPS, TOUR BLOG AND MAILING LIST
If you have a laptop, it is recommended that you bring it. In the run up to the tour we will be setting up an official tour blog, and anyone going on the tour will be able to post messages to it whenever they desire (which is infinitely superior to the poor shoddyness that was the Concert Band tour blog). I also set up a mailing list, usatour2011[at]thegineverblock.com, which can be used to contact everyone involved with the tour.

FURTHER UPDATES
I will post updates relating to this tour as soon as I have them.

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CURRENT TOUR ROSTER
Robert Dennington (Tinytimrob)
Paul Dennington (Paulicus25)
Martin Commins (TheOriginalTitch/MDC)
George Holt (Basin is BACK)
Ashley Langford
Jesse Allen (Jesan)
Trevor Sparks (Medessec)
Kian Bradley (Frogg)

[frogg]

ah excellent, and i will be happy to have me and my parents (or maybe just my dad, my moms weird about computers) confer in the meeting u emailed. i will reply when i sort out the dates we could do.

[Tinytimrob]

Excellent.

[Ninjaboi2]

i will check with my parents if i can help with housing if i am levle 5 before the tour

the only problem is that my parents are unshure about you being who you say you are

[Tinytimrob]

We have that same problem here with Basin's parents, that's why I'm setting up a meeting via webcam which parents should attend - everyone will be physically able to see our faces, and assuming the Elk Grove people have webcams the same will be true in reverse (we will be able to see you), so it can be proved to their parents that everyone is who they claim to be.

The meeting is to be held at my house (and broadcast by webcam to you in Elk Grove via Skype) at 8.00 PM UTC+1 on Saturday August 28th.

[Jesan]

Are you going to have some sort of meeting test to determine how well 8-12 computers connected to skype works?

[Tinytimrob]

AFAIK it will only be 5 computers, unless I'm missing something here.

[Jesan]

Who all then?

[Tinytimrob]

My house: Me, Basin, Paul, Ash (if he turns up)
Martin at his house
Jesse
Trevor
Kian

5 computers.


Also, if you have a webcam, INSTALL IT because it will ease parents fears greatly if they can see you aren't 90 year old paedos.

[frogg]

jessie, they're on to us!

[Tinytimrob]

Lol

[Jesan]

do you really spell it paedo over there???


that explains the weird pronunciation on the inbetweeners.

[Ninjaboi2]

my parents will probably be at trevors house for this since we are neighbors

[Ashley J.L]

Jesan, on 07 August 2010 - 03:35 AM, said:

do you really spell it paedo over there???


that explains the weird pronunciation on the inbetweeners.

How do you yanks spell it across the pond?*

* to be spoken in very stereotypically English voice.

[Ashley J.L]

I propose that in order to get to know each other better, as I have communicated with almost all of the US membeers at some point but i still do not feel i know much about any of you, that everyone right a short paragraph or just a few facts about themselves. is that OK? I will start.

my name is Ashley james edward langford
i am 18 years old
i hae travelled abroad many ties to many countries as far afield as serbia and former Yougaslavia.
i love flight and know a hell of a lot about it
i do not know as much about computers as the rest of you (except Basin maybe!?)
i have an older brother and sister both of whom are married
my favorite Film is Bullitt (thus my desire to see san francisco)

thats about enough for now. would anyone else like to participate?

[Medessec]

I am Trevor James Sparks a.k.a. Medessec!
I am 16 years old, turning 17 this 10-10-10!
I have never left my home country, with the exception of us driving south across the border from San Diego into Mexico, which was interesting. I have traveled to Ohio and North Carolina and lived in Georgia at one time, so I have been around.
I know quite a bit about computers, bit I wouldn't know as much as I do now if it wasn't for my fat arse(Jesse! ) and Robbo.
I have a stepbrother(who is incompetent) a sister(who is abnormally short and spoiled) and a stepsister(which is overly dependent). And I have a friend named Scott who has ADD and makes fun of me all th time but I think is still awesome, and Kian who is competent, but is childish and has no initiative and is really lazy.

And I like to complain about everyone.

A film I liked that I saw recently is V for Vendetta, which is what I hope is not the fate that awaits Great Britain.

[Basin is BACK]

I'm George Alexander Holt aka Basin aka NeilInnes
I'm 19 years old, and studying physics at lancaster university.
I frequent dens of iniquity with various depraved perrson (I like to go to the pub with freinds)
I Have travelled to bits of Europe, some of Britain, and Disneyland Florida (before 9/11)
I do not understand computers, despite Rob's best efforts to educate me.
I have a dramatic sister, freinds going to University, and my housemates have a couple of gerbils.
I am fanatical about music, Especially The Clash (best eponymous debut album ever), the Beatles, Oasis, and LaRoux (I have a celebrity crush on Elly Jackson)

My favourite film is Yellow Submarine.

[Tinytimrob]

My name is Robert James Dennington, aka Tinytimrob.
The name Tinytimrob comes from combining the name of my first computer, Tiny Tim, with Rob.

I am 18, turning 19 on 11 September, and I am about to start studying Computer Games Programming at Teesside University. I am known amongst my friends as being very intellectual and knowledgeable in the field of computing, and people frequently turn to ask for my help, because I charge much less than everyone else and only accept the highest quality of work. I am a supporter of logic and understand things more easily when they make logical common sense. I also like to share, and hold the opinion that team-work is better than working alone, but I am a strong supporter of my own methods and ideas, and find it difficult to work with others when I think that their work isn't of a high standard. I also hate to make people feel bad, and for that reason I find it hard to tell people their work sucks, especially when they can't accept constructive criticism and believe I am simply being insulting.

I am also a decent musician, and play the trombone at roughly grade 6-7 standard. I am a competent composer, achieving a B grade in A2 musical composition.

I have travelled to numerous countries: Ireland, France, Spain, Slovenia, and the East Coast of the USA (New York, Boston, Chelmsford).
I have also been on holidays around the UK, mostly to Devon and Cornwall, but also to Wales.

I find it extremely frustrating when people are incompetent or just fail to understand my point of view, because I have the personal opinion (with my logical approach to life) that I am always right, and dislike being told off, someone making me look bad, or someone finding a flaw in my logic.

My brother is Paul Michael Dennington, aka Paulicus25. Like me, he takes a logical approach to things. He is a decent pixel artist and model painter (I guess he takes after my mother who paints watercolours). He enjoys playing Warhammer Fantasy and a card game called Magic the Gathering. I also enjoy MTG but I am not fond of Warhammer.

I temper easily and have a very complex psychological disorder that the National Health Service (NHS) refuses to diagnose (because they are idiots).

I like most music and the majority of films. In terms of TV, I personally hate "basic soaps" with no substance that deal solely with normal lives (Eastenders, Coronation Street, etc). I believe that if you are going to watch a soap-style program, it should have something unique about it. For this reason I enjoy "complex soaps" such as Charmed, Doctor Who, and Star Trek. They deal with the aspects of daily life, but only as a side-story, using the core focus of the series (usually magic, mystery, or sci-fi) as the primary plot. I really like these sort of programs.

Enough about me!

[Medessec]

Gah where is Kian? He must post on here his introduction...

I'll be sure that he does!

[frogg]

Hello, my name is Kian , and I'm an alchoholic.
just kidding
My name is Kian Bradley
I am 16 years old
I have traveled around the us, and i went to Peru last summer.
I'd say i'm decent with computers... I built this one, and I managed to hack the admin accts on the school comps.
I have 2 siblings and am so the oldest of all my siblings and cousins, which is awesome.
Its awesome that british people are traveling to see me, however creepy the thought of it is.
Trevor calls me lazy, but he is a big whiner. I am doing better in classes than he is.

[Medessec]

Aight... fair enough. There's Kian for ya.

Anyways, I have been talking to the parents of "gsch" and "Ninjaboi2"(my next door neighbor) about attending the Winter Webchat. I think in a party or something that we host you may end up meeting them, so I thought I'd ask if they wanted to attend and get an idea of what you guys are about.

[Jesan]

My name is Jesse Allen, aka Jesan. The name is from a little gimmik article from the old Lego magazines on how to create your "Star Wars" name. It took little bits like your name, your mother's maiden name, your father's mother's maiden name etc. and combined them all into one name. My full "Star Wars" name is Jesan Fafon.

I am 18 and will be turning 19 in June 2011 shortly before the tour. I will be leaving on September 29th to head off to Utah and Neumont University where I will be studying Computer Science. As you may or may not know, my astrological sign is a quarters Gemini (meaning my five signs are quarter years apart with Gemini as a duplicate on the first and last sign) and thus you can get to know me quite well as long as you read a pretty good astrology text on Geminis.

For those of you who don't believe in Astrology or only care enough about it to read the horoscope in the newspaper or have learned all you know about the signs from websites, I'll continue with a description of myself.

I'm known to be pretty smart and most of my teachers number me as one of their favorite and brightest students they have ever taught. I'm not a teacher's pet though, although I have had a small reputation as a know-it-all. I only offer opinions on what I know for fact although I (as many Gemini's have) have been known to synthesize something that sounds good rather than admit we don't know. I enjoy a good challenge, but dislike a challenge that involves a lot of failure unless I can witness the progress. I frequently start something to never complete it OR to complete it sporatically over several several days, weeks, months, years etc. I have only two enemies, one because she is an insufferable prick and Scorpio; the other because she decided she'd rather have a cowboy than a valedicorian.

I was a musician. I sucked. I am physically incapable of anything faster than an eigth note at a tempo of 140.

I am a very talented writer, when the need strikes me.

I love history, when it strikes me.

I resent almost all of the pop-culture in America, especially that of the Californian youth and 20-26 crowd.

I have been to just about every state in the U.S. at some time or another besides the south (YES, I have been to Alaska, Hawaii, AND as an embryo Guam). I learned that if you want to go visit anywhere in the world, you can find a replica of it somewhere in the United States.

I have one sibling, my sister Jaime. She is very taken with Californian Pop-culture and the moderate hippy movement etc.

I would like to point out to Rob that I have coppied his post and that I am somewhat offended that he has proclaimed Star Trek, Doctor Who and Charmed as "complex soaps". I prefer to call them Serials.

I enjoy any and all music that sounds good, and am often prejudiced against a show or music just because a certain person liked it. For instance, Linkin Park, Beastie Boys, and Tupac (or whatever) I will never listen to for this reason.

Also, I can be somewhat moody and prone to odd endeavors like outlining a religion of my own creation or suddenly being taken to reading the whole Harry Potter series (did that this weekend, HENCE I wasn't on this site.)

[frogg]

wait a minute, you believe in astrology?

[Medessec]

Indeed Jesan's odd endeavours are awesome.

In fact, would you still happen to have an image of your Zeonis Imperialis flag?