AirlineSim's 20th anniversary is coming up: How should we celebrate?

Believe it or not, but in January 2022, AirlineSim will be 20 years old. I feel like that warrants some kind of special celebration!

2022 might still be quite some time away, but I wanted to start looking into this early, just in case we come up with something that requires an extended a planning period :slight_smile:

There has been this inside joke with the team and quite a few community members that one of these days we’ll have a meet-up at SXM, preferable to celebrate some important milestone/anniversary. While I am not completely opposed to the idea, cost and practical considerations (especially in times of Covid 19…who knows when travel will be truly unrestricted again) make this relatively unlikely. Then again: For the 10th anniversary, we celebrated on Mallorca, which might be a bit more down-to-earth for European players, but was just as exotic (and hard to get to) for our international audience.

And obviously, there are all sorts of options in between: We could do a “boring” but traditional meet-up in Frankfurt, with Schnitzel and the usual spotting tour around FRA. Or we could have several meet-ups in different parts of the world.

Long story short: I am a bit undecided and I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you have any ideas for an appropriate event? Which options would work for you? Please let me know on this thread!

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Frankfurt sounds good for me albeit just for the reason that I live close by and don’t have to worry about any travel restrictions… Asides from that I always wanted to go to SXM. Though that isn’t nearly as cool anymore since KLM retired their 747s :frowning:

I see the same problem with the uncertainty about travel, so I would prefer a local solution in Germany - if there is no travel, you will not be able to travel as much as anyone else.
In terms of predictability, Germany would probably be best.

Wooow thats really nice, I think, why not Dubai? is open for all the world can travel to there and we can spot at DXB many many flight carriers and A380?

There is also flights from nearly ALL the world to Dubai, thats a good bonus.

And after spot we can relax on the beach :slight_smile:

SXM is on the top of my “I-first-need-a-reason-to-visit”-shortlist for several years. And I’m jealous, each time I see a new YouTube video of people getting knocked over at the end of the runway. AirlineSim, please give me a reason to go there :sweat_smile:

FRA will have most potential for European visitors (connections, budget), albeit BER would be a much more interesting airport to visit in Germany. Never been to that one. However, I am not sure if the airport will be open by January next year (pun intended).

Speaking of newly opened airports, most of us haven’t seen yet (due to the pandemic): IST may be interesting? It’s a mega-airport that allows us to do a lot of things. It’s (hopefully - by January) well connected globally. And for those looking for a short week-end trip: The city of Istanbul has a lot of good sights.

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If I can use your sofa I’m there in FFM! :smiley: <3

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Just for clarification and because this already came up on Discord as well: The “official birthday” is in January. That does not and probably shouldn’t mean that our festivities have to take place that month as well. Any time in 2022 would be fine, I think :slight_smile:

Im still up for we all meet in Dubai, its easy from ALL the world to connect to there and NOT the most expensive place you can travel to. and we can spot many A380 and MAYBE arrange a trip to Emirates facilyties :-)?

Great! I’m coming to this one. Why not north of Germany? To keep with the German origin of the game. Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck would all be incredible. We could do an Airbus factory tour in Hamburg.

Or we could go to Poland. Krakow, Wroclaw or Poznan would all be incredible.

Thats not a “spcial” celebration, special celebration will be Intercontinental.

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I’m from the UK and did the factory tour in Hamburg - I saw the first ANA turtle A380 being painted :slight_smile: Incredible seeing the huge ass production line for the A320 family, as well as the Boeing Super Guppy, which the tour guide said is the only Boeing plane allowed to land at XFW :wink:

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I was too young last time I was in Hamburg so I missed the tour but it’s something I really want to do. We could also go to Hansa Park. Second best park in Germany in my opinion. Only Phantasialand is better.

SXM is a brilliant idea, one of my favorite destinations in the Caribbean.
I could warm up to that! Let’s do it!

@Suzy_Rose
You are always welcome, darling, but you knew that before you posted the question :wink: :heart:

@ChristianPalsson
German origin, yes, but not the north of Germany though.

Regarding the main topic:
As it seems right now travel will ease up a lot by the time we get to it. That could open up more options again.

IIRC Hamburg has already been done in AS history? I know Airbus @ TLS had already been a meeting location, not sure about HAM.
If not, the Miniatur Wunderland and especially its Knuffingen Airport might be worth a day’s time spent? I know a slightly different focus, but I think it’s not too far off (and again: Knuffingen Airport! :joy: ).

IST is an amazing airport. I had the joy of being there while travel was very much restricted, thus it wasn’t overcrowded. Absolutely amazing. Don’t know though how easy it would be to get a tour there, if at all. And IST is a beautiful city to visit.

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I would suggest maybe France as it is open to more countries.

I would hope that by the time we actually do the event, most countries will be open to most other countries. While I wouldn’t ignore the possibility that some restrictions might still be in place, I am somewhat hopeful that travel in general will be possible again.

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How about Bangkok? BKK is a great spotter place with many heave birds?

While SXM certainly would be cool, it is definitely too far for me. But with BKK, I’d probably be able to finally join one of those happenings too.

I heard that OBF is also a very interesting airport… -:slight_smile:

Just kidding.whereever your party will take place, enjoy and have fun!

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I like the idea Dubai. A lot of airlines and aircraft around which most of us are not able to see in good old Europe or the Americas. And somehow affordable and Covid resistant :stuck_out_tongue:

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Let’s see, for what destination you decide :wink: As SXM really was a long discussed target.