Change of Plan?

Have had my organizing head on today, trying to sort out our trips to London and Munich. The good news is that the London trip is practically done and dusted. The not so good news is the Oktoberfest. The first problem is the reason we were going. Crespos 30th is no where near the date, and the Boy dazzler is umming and ahhing, which isn't good. The next problem is the hotel. Anywhere in Munich that is available for the dates we are looking at is expensive. Eye wateringly expensive. Yes, they are all 5 star joints, but £500 plus for three nights, per person is pretty bleeding rich. The alternative is to stay a ways out of town, about 16 kms, or to split up the group. I am even considering consulting with a travel agent to see what they can come up with. I haven't yet checked out the specialist sites (and I don't mean the ones featuring naked Dutch women and horses) but I am beginning to wonder if we shouldn't be looking at some alternatives. As it stand we are looking at, with flights around £500. Each. Before spends. Now don't get me wrong, I love the Oktoberfest big time, and I wasn't really on the ball when it came to booking some rooms. But I haven't had a lot of people committing definitely to going, and shy of a lottery win tonight, I cannot afford to just cough up untold amount's of cash on a "maybe."

So that's as it stands at the moment. I can either just book for the definite, and pass on the details to the maybes, who can book on their own, or we can start thinking about alternatives. For the prices I have so far checked we could go for a long weekend to New York, or get a week in Greece. If we went into the former Eastern Bloc countries of Europe we could probably party all weekend, and still have change for what we would spend in Munich. Even Western Europe, excepting Italy, would a more economical choice. There is much to discuss, but at the moment, Oktoberfest 2011 is looking a bit of a long shot.