Toronto Blogger Meeting (aka Blogstock)

While surfing Facebook today looking for a few photos from the blogstock that was in Vancouver a few months ago, I stumbled upon a Facebook group talking about the Toronto version of blogstock. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that it’s on the same weekend that I’ll be in Toronto.

Photo by Corinna, taken during the Vancouver blogstock

So not only will I get to see Matt’s show in Massey Hall (which has been sold out for a long time now), but I’ll also get to meet a bunch of the bloggers from out east. In addition, I just checked with Tony and he’s going to be in town as well, so it should be a pretty awesome weekend.

Dale and I are planning on meeting up before the show for a few beers, so we’ll see who else is around at the time. I’m totally looking forward to the trip, and am excited about the heading to Ottawa before hand as well (since I’ll probably get to see a few old friends).

It also looks like a few other Vancouver bloggers will be around. Raymi is organizing a pre-show get together, along with some Tony-insipred Karaoke for Saturday night.

On another note, I seem to be in the minority of people who know what Hotwire is. I do a lot of traveling, and for the most part, I generally always use Hotwire to book my hotels. Hotwire negotiates rock bottom rates with all the hotels and provides access to these rooms via Hotwire.com. The only catch is that you don’t find out which hotel you’re staying in until after you pay. I know it sounds a bit weird, but once you get used to it it works out pretty well. You basically pick the area you want (i.e. Downtown Toronto West), and the type of hotel/services you want (i.e. four star with internet access). Hotwire will then quote you a price, and if you pay, you’ll get an email with the actual hotel name.

I’ve used Hotwire probably about 15 times now, and I’ve never stayed in a bad hotel. On my Toronto leg of my upcoming trip, Hotwire gave me The Westin Harbour Castle, which is a nice hotel right on Lake Ontario (it is only about a 10 minute walk from Massey Hall). The listed price via the website is about $249/night, but through Hotwire I got it for $89/night. Slightly cheaper, wouldn’t you agree? In fact, I’ve never paid more than $100 per night in any major city I’ve been in with these guys, and I’ve stayed in some nice rooms. I shared my secret with Tony, so hopefully he got a good deal as well.