All of the conference hotels are GT $200 USD. The Inter-Continental is $270 USD. When we were in Seattle, I chatted with a SAS person about this, and she suggested the Holiday Inn at Chinatown. I find it listed on Travelocity as Holiday Inn Select Montreal-Centre Ville, the rooms are around $170 USD. It is a four star hotel. I believe you can take a lot of taxis for $100 a day! When Ron and I were in Toronto (post NESUG) we found it was actually cheaper for the two of us to take a taxi than to take bus or metro. But Patrice makes a good point, Montreal is very easy to get around. It's pretty flat (remember it is an island).

The airfares we got in 2001 from DC to Montreal, and returning to DC from Portland ME were $204 each (for 3 of us) round trip. We booked on Orbitz. But caution if you fly into YUL you may find yourself on a very small plane. We hopscotched from DCA to Logan and flew from Logon on a prop plane with three seats across and one flight attendant. At one point we had to ask the captain to turn on the heat (it was early September!) because the cabin got cold and we could hear ice in the AC. Coming back from Portland our flight was cancelled and we were moved to another flight on a "normal sized" plane direct to DCA. My friend Paul was greatly relieved because in the little planes you can get quite sea sick!

I've heard a rumor that I had two papers accepted so I will be there, somehow. There is an Amtrak train that goes via DC called "The Montreal Express", which is what we in Worcester Mass (where I went to Clark Univ) also called the arctic winds that whip through this time of year.

Dianne Louise Rhodes Sr. Systems Analyst Westat