2024 Reunion at French Canada – Logistics
Introduction:
This note describes the following aspects of Reunion 2024, September 8-13, 2024:
- Cost
- Book Your Spot: Send Your Deposit by June 15, 2024
- Planned Hotels
- Arriving Logistics and Travel
- If You Come a Day Early – Hotel in Montreal
- Departure Logistics and Travel
- Visas/Passports Itinerary-at-a-Glance
Cost:
Per person, based on double occupancy:
- Common Cost: US $ 1,025
- Plus Hotels: US $ 329
- TOTAL: US $ 1,354
For single occupancy, the per person cost of hotels will double but the common cost will stay the same.
The above price is our current best estimate. It is based on overhead costs — such as the bus and the Adda rooms — being spread over 40 participants. We are pretty confident that this number will be achieved (forty-six attended the Las Vegas reunion last year). Nevertheless, if fewer people join the upcoming reunion, everybody may need to pitch in a bit more.
Book Your Spot: Send Your Deposit by June 15, 2024
The “Commitment Deposit” is US $200 or Canadian $250 per person, i.e. $400 USD or $500 CAD per couple.
The above deposit will be credited towards the Common Expenses.
The balance of the Common Cost – US$ 825 per person — will be due by July 25, 2024, and will be requested later.
Hotels will need to be booked separately. Details for that will follow shortly.
Please send your deposit by June 15, 2024, as follows:
In US $:
You have the following three options to send the commitment deposit of US$ 200 in U.S. dollars to Prem Gupta:
- Deposit the money directly into the “IIT-K 65 Batch Reunion Organization” account at any Wells Fargo branch. A deposit slip is attached (third attached file). After depositing the money, let Prem know by sending an email to him.
- Send the money to Prem Gupta by Zelle to his mobile or to his email ID. The account name “PJG Family Trust” will show up.
- Send a check, made to “IIT-K 65 Batch Reunion Organization”, to Prem Gupta. His address is:
In Canadian $:
E-transfer Canadian Dollars $ 250 to Raj Khanna at his e-mail.
The process will ask for a secret question; say: “What is the purpose?”. The secret answer should be: “Reunion”.
From India:
We know that it can sometimes take a long time to arrange foreign exchange from India. Therefore, if you live in India, it will be sufficient that you let us know that you are seriously considering joining the reunion. You can pay the full price in one go by July 25, 2024.
Planned Hotels:
(There is currently a small possibility that some might change):
- Quebec City: Hotel Must/Jaro o https://www.hotelsjaro.com/en/must
- Montreal: Sandman o https://www.sandmanhotels.com/montreal–longueuil
- Ottawa: Holiday Inn East o https://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/ottawa/yowoe/hoteldetail Blocked rooms for our group are/will be available in the above hotels. You will need to book the rooms yourself. Details will follow shortly — please wait for them (e.g. group codes etc.) before booking your hotels.
Arrival Logistics and Travel
The reunion will formally start in Quebec City on the evening of September 8 and end in Ottawa on the morning of September 13. In between, we will travel through Montreal.
Among the three cities above, Montreal’s airport has the most flights, followed by Ottawa, and then Quebec City. Therefore, some of you may find it more convenient to first fly into Montreal or even Ottawa as your Port of Entry (POE) into Canada, and then reach Quebec City via a connecting flight, or via a train, or via a bus.
Since many of us might undertake that journey, Team Reunion 2024 has arranged a more enjoyable and less expensive option for that “pre-reunion” journey – our own chartered bus in which we can all travel together doing मस्ती, as described next.
The Bus Ride will start from Ottawa on September 8 at 9:00 AM. The Bus will proceed to Montreal and pick up folks around noon and then proceed to Quebec City that afternoon. Atul has volunteered to organize serious amounts of fun during this ride (pun intended).
There will be no additional charge for this ride – except you will need to buy your own lunch.
Details of the meeting point and timing will be provided in due course.
The third option is to fly to Quebec City in time for the opening event in the evening (likely with connections).
In summary, we have three options to get to Quebec City for the opening event.
- Catch the Bus in Ottawa on September 8 at 9:00 AM
- Catch the Bus in Montreal on September 8 around noon
- Fly to Quebec City for the opening event on September 8 evening
If You Come a Day Early – Hotel in Montreal
If we want to catch the Bus Ride, many of us may prefer/need to travel to Montreal or Ottawa the previous day, i.e. September 7 in order to meet the Bus on September 8. Ish Sud has researched the area’s hotels and reserved seven cancellable rooms for us for the night of September 7 at the “Comfort Inn, Montreal Airport”: https://www.choicehotels.com/en–ca/quebec/pointe–claire/comfort–inn–hotels/cn334
This hotel is outside the formal reunion and is not covered by the “Hotel Cost” mentioned earlier for the reunion. Its rate is CAD $ 183.42 (or about USD $ 134).
Ish will hold the rooms till a couple of weeks before the reunion. You can make your own reservation – it will be cheaper if you use a non-cancellable rate. If the hotel sells out, you can use Ish’s rooms as back-up.
Those arriving early in Montreal might consider a boat cruise on St Laurence River.
Departure Logistics and Travel
The last event of the reunion will be on the night of September 12 in Ottawa. We will need to depart from Ottawa on September 13 after breakfast. Again, we will need to look at the travel logistics to get from Ottawa to our city.
Visas/Passports
Visa from India: If you are coming from India, you would need a valid visa for Canada. Even if you plan to reach Canada via USA, it is best to arrange the visa in India – it is not easy to get a Canadian visa from USA. It usually takes 6 to 8 weeks to get a visa for Canada from India. If you need further advice/help, please contact Raj Khanna his e-mail.
Passport: Everyone – including Americans – should have a passport with expiry date 6 months after the reunion.
Itinerary-at-a-Glance
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Itinerary
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