Road To SteemFest - Planning, Wanting, Doubting
Ah SteemFest, the biggest meet up of steemians of the year is only 4 mths away 😱
This year it will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on November 6th - November 10th. Check out this post for more details on the event itself.
The lovely Eric (@anomadsoul) has started back up his #roadtosteemfest initiative which asks individuals to share about their experience of getting ready for the event. His recent post asks those who are considering, doubting or already planning on going to write about it...and since I’ve been asked quite a few times if I will be attending, I thought I should write about it.
First a bit of background
For those who maybe aren’t aware, I was able to attend last years SteemFest held in Kraków Poland and it was one of the best experiences of my life. (I recently wrote about the experience here).
The thing is that I sort of just randomly decided one day I was going to go. I was a small minnow here, pretty much completely unknown who worked in the background.. and didn’t even have an image of myself online. Due to some life changes and having a desire to do something crazy, I decided to go on an Unexpected Journey. Sort of a list of goals I wanted to achieve, all for reasons that would help me grow, and going to steemfest was one of those things. A goal I happily achieved, and I’m so grateful that I did.
So what about this year?
Well of course I want to go, but not just for the social aspects and amazing experience but also due to something @roelandp and @firepower discussed...
Turning SteemFest into an outreach opportunity as well.
There is literally nothing better than being in a room full of steemians, and that is reason enough to go.. but what if we could use this opportunity to actually showcase Steem to the region as well? What if we could not only have a representation of the community, but invite the public in and show them everything we have to offer?
That is something I would really like to be a part of.
Representing Steem in the region itself to help get our name out there. It’s something I plan on trying to plan in my local area, crypto conferences focused on getting Steems name out to the world.. and I would love to do it in Bangkok as well.
Now for the doubt
Ok, now that we know my intentions for wanting to go.. let’s talk about why I am unfortunately doubting it will happen.
Distance/Travel Time
Last year getting to Poland was an adventure and this year will be no different -
As I would have to travel over 8,000 miles
To put that in perspective for you Europeans-
Now here is the best part - In order to arrive on the day of the event (Wednesday the 6th), My flight departs on the Monday before (Nov 4th) ... and since I’m a good drive from the airport, that means I leave my house the night of the 3rd.
Ridiculous, right? 😂 I mean, it’s doable and I did it last year.. but just to show that it’s a bit tough to even get there for me.
Expenses
Cost I’m sure is an issue for most people. We are in what seems like an endless bear market and things are tight for many.
I don’t live off STEEM, in fact I’ve not pulled anything out at this point, so this means that not only is going to SF cost out of pocket, but I have to take off time from the way I actually pay my bills... my job. Again, doable, just another hurdle.
Last year I paid out of pocket with the idea that I would pay myself back with STEEM I earned, which was going very well, and then the price crashed 😕 SO.. I still haven’t paid myself back for that. Seeing that I am technically still “in dept” to myself from that makes it a bit harder to just say hell with it and buy the tickets.
With doing the budgeting of Flights, hotel, transportation and just general expenses it would cost me about $1500 USD to make the trip, at least.
And with STEEM at its current price, that would be over 4,000 SP 😬... over half of my current stake. It’s just not something I can do right now.
Conclusion
I would love to go to SteemFest this year and who knows, I may be able to still make it happen.. You never know.
But currently I would be in that ”Doubting” group, as I’m just not sure if it’s going to be doable.
A lot can happen in 4mths though, when moon? So I will watch the #roadtosteemfest initiative and cheer you all on while you begin this awesome journey that you will forever cherish 🤗
And who knows, maybe I’ll see you in Bangkok 😉
Much Love and Steem On,
Justine
See...If you lived in Australia none of this would be much of an issue because we're closer...Although having said that, if you lived in Bangkok it would be even easier to get to than living here so...Yeah, just ignore what I just said. Just ignore this whole comment. My brain isn't working because I haven't had my Vegemite today, or kicked a kangaroo.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
you are so funny XD
....dont kick a roo! they kick back! HARD :O
I normally don't kick them. I shoot them when I go culling on the farm but sometimes I like to give the buggers a fighting chance.
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theres a bunch of them that lives near me and im always scared of 'em XD
are you going to SF4???
jetstar has cheapo tickets there i think. tiger, too.
I'd like to but I only get back from an NZ holiday the week prior so getting time off work will be hard and so I haven't tried. It's quite a cheap trip for us here in Aus as you indicated (I'm in SA) but the timing really sucks. I've heard it's good though, my bro in Finland went last year and said it was awesome and of course if @justineh gives it the thumbs up then it must be good. We all know her thumbs have good taste. 😉
Edit: Kangaroo's won't hurt you if you leave them alone. They're more scared of us then the other way around. I like them generally, but have to control them of course, hence the culling. I don't really kick them but don't tell Justine that...Bloody Americans are about 15 hours behind us so a little slow on the up-take. Shh, don't tell her I said that. 🤣
i've got a lot of holidays banked at work, so it'll be doable for me if i didn't have debilitating shyness (HELLO NEIGHBOUR!) (I'm in Melb)
yesh, justine's thumbs sure do have the best of tastes alright !
Haha, only a stones throw away huh?
Don't worry about the shyness so much, most probably will be that way also. It'll ease up. We have a meetup here for steem each month with 10-17 people each time and whilst it may be initially confronting for any people. It wears off. If you can go to SF you should make it happen I reckon.
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This thread made me really happy 😊 you guys are hilarious lol
😂😂😂😂 problem solved! I’ll just move to Australia! But seriously that vegemite stuff is disgusting and I would probably be eaten by a giant spider, snake or one of the other 1000 deadly creatures you all decide to share an island with.. I’m not sure I would last long...
American is the favourite food for Aussie spiders, crocs, snakes and sharks! Even koala's have been known to bite off chunks. 😉
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Definitely a tough sell as I too have all but discarded the possibility (unless Steem goes to $10). An additional consideration is that I would like to take the family but that triples the expense and also gets into the difficulty of school! Hopefully, it will be streamed again this year!
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Oh yeah, taking the whole family really changes things haha. Yep, I believe they will stream it again, the team there was pretty great at ensuring that the whole community could take part 🙂 I’m sure it will be the same again and I look forward to that!
Any event that lele attends automatically becomes 100% more awesome and justine's absence automatically makes the event 100% less awesome if justine was not attending
It's like one of those Magic the Gathering card
If you play the Justine card, it adds awesomeness.
...... dont pay attention to my blathering, I dont know what I'm saying. My head is still in flu land!
You’re amazing and the idea that you may be there pretty much is reason to go enough. I hope you are doing well and haven’t let the bastards get you down 😉❤️
I'd love to go to the next steemfest! I couldn't make it to the last one because I am and still living in India... soon I'll move back to Berlin and they decide to hold the event in Asia? They are kidding me? HAHA. I think they don't want me to attend. However, maybe I can attend. As you said, it's all about the expenses. Flying from India to Thailand would be cheap but from Germany to Thailand is a different thing...
Haha that’s always how it works! I hope you can go soon or at least go to a local meetup ❤️
Yeah, I hope so too! Would be pretty cool to meet all the internet people in real life! :)
I've been to Bangkok before and I can tell you even with my big African booty that plane ride takes a toll on your ass! It's a pain I wouldn't wish on anyone.
As for paying for it with crypto, yeah unless you shilling some pump and dump or you're day trading like a maniac you're not going to have a good time earning your way with crypto. It's a bummer but ey we in it for the long haul and im just here diversifying my portfolio.
No way getting around having a job for a while longer lol If you figure out how to do it, holla at me!
i would love to go to steemfest this year, i remember doing a video to go to kracow and i had that dream of go and play some live music there, the plus this year is that im reading english so well (things of being surrounded of a languaje and enjoy it (:! )
so i think maybe i can, i had my guitar so, i will not starve that's for sure.
i like to dream things, good to read you (:
plus there is increasing number of unhappy steemians and if they show up , SF4 can turn into big mess