The PROs of CONcouver

Come one, come all to beautiful British Columbia and spectacular Vancouver this July to experience the delights of this year's NPL Con!

Promptly produce a prosaic prospectus for proceeding to this profoundly provocative program. Proudly propose to profit from the promised prospect of prodigious prologues and puzzling with a profusion of prolific prominent propagators of prodigal problems. Don't procrastinate. Proclaim, “I'm pro Concouver. Progress to the Con. Pronto!”

This year's Con will be held July 11 - 14 (Thursday - Sunday) at the Coast Plaza Hotel and Suites, 1763 Comox Street, in Vancouver's trendy West End. Only minutes to the downtown core, it lies between the beaches of English Bay and world-famous Stanley Park. The phone number (NOT for reservations. Read on!) is 604/688-7711.

The hotel has over 250 rooms and suites, all with balconies, and many with kitchens or kitchenettes. The meeting facilities are impressive, with numerous spots for group solvers to do their thing. It also has a large indoor pool, whirlpool and sauna as well as excellent health club facilities that include a weight room and squash courts. The hotel provides a shuttle service within the downtown area.

Because non-residents do not have to pay Goods and Services Tax, there are two sets of rates. The rate for Canadians is shown in brackets, but all rates are in US dollars. The convention fee for each registrant is $145 [$150] and covers five meals from Friday evening to Sunday breakfast, meeting rooms, hospitality suite, photograph, etc.

The room rate is $127 [$135], single or double, and is available up to three days before the Con (i.e., from Monday) and three days after. Each room has two double beds or a queen. Some rollaways are available at $11 [$11] extra. One-bedroom suites, which have two double beds or a king as well as a sofa bed, are available at $148 [$157]. A few two-bedroom suites, with one king and one double, are available at $190 [$202].

Do not contact the hotel to make your reservation. Please send your check [cheque] in U.S. funds made out to the National Puzzlers' League to Kite (see the member directory). You need to indicate:

• Names and noms for everyone you are paying for, and (for Con registrants only) T-shirt sizes
• dates of arrival at and departure from the hotel
• names of roommates, if you plan to share room expenses
• room/suite type desired and bed choice
• smoking/nonsmoking preference
• e-mail address, if available

Please mail it to Kite.

Please do not delay. The deadline is June 1, 2002.

The airline of choice is Air Canada, which has a code-sharing arrangement with United Airlines and serves many major U.S. cities. Simply contact Air Canada at 800/361-7585 or your travel agent. You must mention the convention code when making your reservation to get the 10% discount. A further 5% comes off if you book two months in advance of your travel date.

In June you will receive a confirmation package with your room information, directions, information on Vancouver and other exciting goodies.

There will be the usual host's reception chez Witz on Wednesday evening. An outdoor event is planned for Friday daytime. Thursday and Friday evenings and all day Saturday, we will be in the merciless hands of our puzzlemeisters.

Please refer any questions to Witz, Andreas, Dart, or Kite. Or call Kite. If you phone, remember that we are in the Pacific time zone and we, being Canadians, use the metric clock. We'll see you all in BC, eh!