dreaming about the LLL conference

[jazminflower]

ok, so i'm not sure if this is the right forum, but here it goes..... i awoke from a rather good nights sleep dreaming about the LLL conference in san francisco!!! now i'm not able to go this year, but in my dream i was making hotel res, plane res, and even convinced my friend to go with me!!! i really want to hear peggy (and the many others) speak & would LOVE to see all of the vendors at a conference like this!!! i'm sure many of the mdc mamas will be there. i'm so bummed. we live in new york and really can't afford two vacations this year, as that's what it would be to travel to california. anyway, just wanted to vent and i'm looking forward to a conference in my area sometime...

[stayinghome]

Awww. I hear you. the dona conference is in that area too this summer and so I am doubly sad. One day, I'll have enough $$$ to go, or it'll be on the east coast somewhere!

[DaryLLL]

Well, if you can't afford the Int'l Conf, there is always your Area Conf. Or another nearby Area. They're good too. We always get at least a Founder at ours. I get a lot of info there I don't find by reading books and websites.

[Missgrl]

Moving this to the Breastfeeding fourm!

[mamacate]

So you guys are probably going to kill me for even considering NOT going, but here's the deal. I have to go to SF for business in early July, and it would be pretty easy to time the trip so that we can go to the conference. Since I'm nursing, the kids and DP come along with me to business trips, which I have cut down to the bare minimum this year (I work part-time for a college and normally travel 1-2 times a year).

I went to the website and the conference looks awesome, and I was impressed at the range of speakers, from the Searses to FlyLady, LOL!

But the cost is really high! I can almost get myself right with paying $460 for myself, and then the $70 for my partner seems ok, but then $40 x 3 lunches (FORTY DOLLARS FOR LUNCH????) and then $65 for the banquet dinner for DP? Ugh. So if we go to the whole thing, including all meals, we're looking at...$715! PLUS lodging! If we decide to not buy the lunches for DP, then we either eat separately or waste my $40 lunch tickets (can you sell these on the trading post board by any chance?). Plus, if I don't get this figured out by the end of the week we'll get charged an extra $100 for late fees! ACK! The whole thing just seems overwhelmingly expensive. I know it's awesome, and I know LLL is a great organization and I want to support them (and I do pay my dues), but TBH, it feels like a big expense and indulgence.

So, please talk some sense into me. We won't starve if we spend this money, it just feels like a LOT. Tell me I won't regret it. Give me some way to convince my partner that despite the fact that she brings home most of the $, she should take time off to go to this thing and fork over a big hunk of cash. Help!

Cate

[Little Bear's Mama]

I wish I could go,too. Oh well,there is always the Area conference next year and the International conference in Washington,D.C. in 2005!
And for you ladies who can't go...there will be online chats with some of the speakers!! Keep that in mind!

[Viola]

Flylady will be there? I had no idea! I'm signed up and have picked out my sessions, but now I can't remember what I chose.

I'm getting excited because my sister wants to come visit me this summer, and was going to come at the end of August, but said that she would rather come the first week of July. I told her she can't come then as I will be in San Francisco at the conference. Then immediately, my brain kicked in and I said, "Hey, you can come with me!" Now I'm so excited because I will have someone to watch my 4 year old. I have to pay the same amount for the hotel room anyway since I couldn't find someone to share with me, so my sister will take the other bed. Plus we had planned to go to SF when she was here anyway, so it all works out.

I had signed up for the conference and meals, and the price was daunting. Then I finally reserved the hotel room a few days ago, and the final price on that was as much as the conference. Sheesh! There is a 14% tax on the rooms, and the parking is $33 a day. Still cheaper than flying or the train, I've discovered, so I'm going to drive and pay $100 to warehouse my car there for the three days.

My family lives near the DC area, so maybe I can work a trip to VA next year and do a day of the LLLI conference then. I'm much more comfortable driving around DC than in SF where I've never actually been before.