So the time has arrived !!!

It took more than usual (for understandable reasons) but it's here! SteemFest 3 is happening !!!!

Me, all happy, from last year in Lisbon

Unfortunately though, even though many friends, especially @redrica, @teodora and @sjennon (and probably also @things) were expecting me to go, I'm afraid I won't be going - and here are some valid reasons:

It was announced kinda late.

I understand very well that @roelandp was doing is best to find the best, also researching in the US etc etc but still it is kind of late for me to schedule something like this at moment. If only I knew say...a month or two earlier than that... :(

The air tickets are expensive.

The country (and specifically this city) might be cheap but I already checked for air tickets and they are already very expensive considering it's 4 months in advance and for what they are (1,5 hours from Copenhagen, direct flight with Norwegian Air -which is supposed to be the 'low cost' of Scandinavia...). Since it took me too much effort and money to get to Lisbon (I ended up paying 600 euros only for air tickets), this time I'm not keen into trying to go via all possible stops (because there is a flight from neighboring Malmo for example, in Sweden, but it takes waaaaay more time and money).

Most of my US Steem Friends won't be there.

Even though I understand that it was hard to book it for the US, and I wouldn't make it there either, most probably, maybe I would take the extra step for my American friends that is unlikely to meet somewhere else at this point. I'm glad for us Europeans that it is held in Europe, and easier for the most part for all of us I guess, but yeah... such a shame for the States, once more :(

I have a very demanding full time job now

Fortunately for me in life but unfortunately for me as MeanMommy, I got a full time job now who takes up all of my time. And the problem is that according to the contract I have I can't take days off -I mean, I can, but I won't be paid for them, so I'm not sure I want to do that, especially now that I'm new - for SteemFest. I guess I would only do it for something super serious - good or bad.

So...on top of that, I wouldn't pay the whole SF ticket just for the closing dinner on Sunday.

Since the situation at my job is the way it is, I was thinking I would possibly be able to come only for the weekend - Friday evening to Sunday evening. But in this case I would miss most of it, but I would probably pay the ticket to go to the closing dinner - which sounds a lot just for that... Then again, we still don't know how much it'll be exactly.

@creutzy is not going again - and he has quite a few reasons about it:

Writing his thesis at the moment plus working in the weekends doesn't leave him a lot of time ...but the most important reason, which is also a reason for me personally is....

...we are not fans of Poland.

3 years ago we had the worst trip of our lives with @creutzy.

Yes, you guessed right - it was in Poland. To be fair, it was in Warsaw, and Krakow they say it's very beautiful, but you know, when you get an idea in your head it is difficult to get it out.

Besides the fact that we were almost robbed by a gang, in the city center, with the police a few steps away [thank God @creutzy convinced them we are poor so they left us alone...but they were 5 of them - I got REALLY scared...], we got ROBBED in an ambulance - YES you read right:

While in Poland, we got robbed in an ambulance. How you say? Well here's how:

@creutzy had a really bad reaction to a super-strong espresso and we had to go to the hospital. Besides the fact that NO ONE spoke ANY English - at the pharmacy, the ambulance or the hospital, which made things REALLY difficult for us (including initially not letting me go with him!), after we left and went to a restaurant to forget the whole thing we realized that all @creutzy's money were missing from his wallet

-including an old rare Romanian bill which actually had no value to this day. Yes, the ambulance guy took them so we went to the police....

GUESS WHAT : NO ENGLISH THERE EITHER...... so they booked an appointment with an interpreter for the next day, to which we never went in the end because we thought that at that point it made no sense anymore...

@creutzy wearing the T-shirt I brought him from Lisbon, with the new Steemit logo

And lastly, the reason we all mention: Crypto is (super) down

...which means, less interest, less participants, less money. Of course I am sure it is going to be a blast like always, but not sure I want to be a part of it this year - considering this though the least important reason. It is all the rest that count more, this is just the cherry on top. I feel very away from Steemit these last couple of months so I am not sure how I would fit within the SteemFest environment this year to be honest.

Plus one silly reason: I know some people in Krakow I have no interest in seeing

Two very annoying female figures of my life are currently located in Krakow, and they are - honestly - the last people I wanna see. As @sjennon very correctly mentioned, I can avoid them, but this means I need to limit my facebook post or adjust my privacy settings which sounds too much work just to avoid two people...Too much effort for nothing really.....

So here we are - those are all my reasons against going, nevertheless I have reasons to go as well, such as

• Exploring a new -supposedly- beautiful city!

• Seeing all my real life friends by now including @redrica, @teodora, @sjennon, @things, meeting new web-friends like @soyrosa who we met through @steemsugars and probably many more, plus seeing again people I met at the last SF (too many to mention now at this point!)!!!!

• Having a blast - well, that's a given now isn't it...??? :D

I will sure miss THIS....!

We'll see how it goes. I might be a bit negative now but it's mostly because I'm very busy and tired at work and I'm not thrilled with the Polish idea. BUT I might manage to get out of work and decide to ignore past bad experiences in that country and actually decide to go - who knows! I will certainly keep you posted but probably will be decided after the SF ticket prices will be out :)

I'm wishing you all an amazing weekend as I know you're all already super excited about this !!!!!!

Talk again soon I hope...and until then...Don't forget to smile!

Yours

MeanMommy

P.S. Please don't get me wrong: I don't want to sound ungrateful in any way. I appreciate more than anyone @roelandp's efforst, because I tried myself with @creutzy to organize @copensteem (the first Steemit meetup in Scandinavia, in Copenhagen) and we failed terribly because we didn't get participants and it was really hard trying to - it is still on hold but I do know how hard that can be. It's just that I don't get the ''feeling'' this year and I really hope, at least some of you, can understand (and respect) that :(