Attending EGU on a budget, my experiences and suggestions. #EGU16

Enjoying the lunch break with flatmates.

As those will have ever attended EGU will testify - it is very very expensive. This year, I was only partially funded by my department (many thanks to them for the money that was provided!), so I tried in earnest to keep costs down. So here are a number of hopefully helpful tips:

• Plan ahead and well in advance where possible - this is something I failed miserably on. This will allow you to take advantage of low cost flights with EasyJet (from the UK) and also to pay the reduced fee for conference registration.
• If possible go with friends/colleagues from your department, this will help cut costs down looking for accommodation or enable a large group to share a flat from AirBnB.

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• Food:
  • Bakeries are cheap for breakfast (and the pastries are quite nice!). Expect €1 - 2. 
  • The conference has plenty of free water and tea/coffee. The water is dotted around everywhere. The coffee and tea can sometimes take a bit of hunting down. Good places to look are the main poster halls during the allocated break periods. 
  • Use the Early Career Scientists Lounge. They have assorted drinks and fruit. Although, everything seems to run about by early morning.
  • Attend your sections meeting - if you get their early enough you can get free lunch. It's also a good insight into what it takes to run a section.
  • Don't be afraid to go off the beaten track for food - eating in the city centre is generally quite expensive.
• Transport:
  • Not much to be done here, free travel in the city during the days of the conference (Monday to Friday).

So how did I fair? Cheaper than previous years, mainly because I only attended two days of the conference. I managed to cut my accommodation costs in half (on a per day basis). 

I hope these will be of help to someone!