Expedition planning - what to put in your suitcase
There is a German saying, “when someone goes on a journey, he will experience many things.” Maybe it loses something in translation. However, the sheer size of Drupa means it really can feel like an expedition as much as an exhibition.
If you wish you can book accommodation via the Drupa website, www.drupa.de. You should be aware that the hotels are really expensive during the show period, and the lower-cost ones on the website tend to be booked up early. If you can’t find what you want, try one of the specialist exhibition travel agencies – they’ll usually be able to help because they’re the ones that have block-booked the hotels already.
If you’ve not been before, you need to be aware the Drupa show area is vast, even bigger than the British NEC, and this year there will be 19 halls.
So, take your walking shoes. Literally, because getting from diagonally opposite corners of the exhibition area can take a good 15 to 20 minutes even if you resist the temptation to stop and look at things on the way, or to sample some of the surprising variety of decent eateries in the wide open spaces in the centre.
Some of the halls have interconnected high level walkways, which keep the rain off but can be uncomfortably hot on sunny days. The longest walkways have moving floors to save you the effort.
If you can’t face the walking, there are also free shuttle buses running around constantly.
Fortunately most of the halls follow broad themes, so if you’re only interested in narrow format digital or flatbed inkjets, chances are you’ll only need to visit a few of them. You’ll just have to work out where they are. Image Reports will be providing guides on this site once the layouts are announced.
The weather is a factor. German weather is pretty variable, though perhaps slightly more predictable than Blighty. This year it will be held from 29 May to 11 June, about three weeks later in the year than the 2004 show. This means the weather will probably range between fairly warm and pretty hot (previous years averaged 25 C in the daytime), but go prepared for rain.
In the last few years, May and June are generally sunny with temperatures hovering around the 25°C mark. But will this be the case again in 2008 with global warming confusing everyone? Unfortunately, there is no way to tell.
So a rule of thumb, you should pack lightweight clothing, a raincoat and something warm for the evenings. Düsseldorf offers a very wide range of nightlife, a lot of it conveniently packed together in the Altstadt area, so bear that in mind when you’re packing too.
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