IZEAFest - will I be able to go?

I'm really not sure if I'm going to be able to pull it off or not, but, just in case, I'm gathering all the information that I can. I want to know (as close to) exactly how much everything will cost, so that I can really figure out if I can go or if there is just no possible way.

IZEAFest happens in Orlando, Florida from September 11-13, and I think it is going to be a TON of fun! I know my friends that went to PostieCon, as the conference was called last year, had a REAL blast!! And it would be great to - NO - WONDERFUL, to meet face to face other people like me who obsessively stay on their computers - that alone would be priceless!

I've been looking into the various hotels in area, to see how much they'd cost. I just love the internet, ya'll. You used to have to get on the phone and call each hotel and ask a million questions, just to get the information you needed. Then the internet came around, and at first, you had to go online and check out each hotel's website to see how much they cost and what all they provided. Now, however - there are websites that gather all of that information for you. However did we function before this thing called 'internet' came around? Ha!

The first one I'm looking at is Hotels Combined. On their site, I enter check in date and check out date, number of guests and rooms, and the city - and it does a search for me based on those criteria. It comes back with a list of 327 possible hotels, but, also - more search parameters, so that I can dig deeper. I like the way the search results are laid out, though. They are each boxed off, and easy to read, with a little picture of the hotel, and user ratings, and 1-5 smileys for reviews. And most importantly, the price is clearly and boldly marked. There is a Holiday Inn for $80 or $89/night. If I got three other people to share the room with, that is not bad at all. I would just need to find out how far that is to the convention, as that could be an issue.

Oh darnitall! That is eighteen miles away from the conference - that would definitely be too far. Ok, back to the drawing board! I'm definitely going to keep digging around and try to figure all of this out. I think I'm going to also look on Expedia.com and there is a new one that I haven't yet heard of, TripAdvisor.com. Well, ok, it might not be new, but, I haven't heard of it before. Oh yeah, it's definitely not new - SEO for Firefox tells me it was created in 2000! Duh me! Anyway, I'm going to keep looking and see if I can make this happen.

I think the most expensive part is actually going to be getting there and food. And I do actually know that quite a few Punkymoms live in Orlando - so who knows...