Manchester, UK March 7, 2026:
I really want to go. UK is pretty far from Colorado. How is the UK weather in March? Worth staying for a while?
Anyone else considering/planning/fantasizing about it?
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hmm… interesting…
I wonder if I could strategically plan one of my work trips to coincide…
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Would check this out if I happened to be in the UK. But, guessing Open Sauce would have better Joy/Fun ROI if US based, especially if bringing young kids to entertain and inspire.
It’s the UK, it’s raining all the time except for two days in June. Don’t miss them… 
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Don’t be a sook! I am presently sitting in an airport about to board, 19 hours into this day, 21 flight hours to go with a two hour break. Colorado looks to be a neighbour to the UK!
This is what the weather looks like in March. It’s also what the weather looks like in April, May, June, July and seven other months, but you will love it.
Just go!
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Ooooh. I wonder if it would coincide with a work trip.
Looks like United Airlines has direct Denver-Manchester flights, and they’re potentially fairly affordable. Looking at their webite now it shows $653 for a flight in July.
Would be worth it just to push my status up a rung 
I’d need to figure out trains over to France / Germany if I was going to piggyback a work trip.
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Easy peasy, if you need a hand give us a shout.
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Pop in for a coffee once you are in Germany.
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Oh man, I would love to. That timeframe almost seems doable.
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Need to further develop the idea of a combo LR4 carrying case and table that I think @jamiek mulled about on one of the threads, maybe with participation by @Jonathjon .
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Making the same joke but telling it louder… Pft!
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Damp. Like every other month. Though March is unpredictable even by our standards…
It’d be awesome to meet all you awesome people in meatspace even if it does mean going to Manchester 
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You guys make the UK sound terrible…
I was there for 4 weeks in April and May, and it rained like 1 day
I won’t disagree with you about the winter months sucking, but spring/summer hasn’t been that bad in my experience there
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We’ve had all four seasons just today 
It’s not that bad unless it’s winter, and then it’s worse…
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I was making the joke about UK weather and you all bit on it.
IDK how realistic this is. But it sounds pretty cold. Definitely not going to keep me from enjoying the outdoors there. No bad weather. Only bad gear.
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Look, if any of you want to come early, we’ll be there Sept-October. @FreneticScribbler be careful what you wish for - stranger things have happened! I think I’ll be bound to the schedule of others, but I live in a world of hope and fractured planning! 
Heck it’s only 150 miles out of our way!
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Sill mulling about my participation in SMRRF 2026.
Sufficient interest, in fact, that I may do a site survey visit later this summer to explore flights, rail transit, and to check out the maker community in the local area.
Looks like there are at least 3 V1 builders somewhat nearby.
Also looks like there are a few makerspaces around, and the event is on a campus where I bet eduroam would work for me when there aren’t a flurry of show particpants.
I wonder what options might be for person-portable V1 machines, and what might be worth taking.
A small LR4, maybe a portable ZenXY, even a portable V5 printer?
If I decide I want to book a site survey visit, I’ll reach out in the coming week or two on the forums looking for locals who might offer additional advice.
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That would be cool. It would be my largest biz travel expense ever, though.
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You make that sound like a negative. Don’t US tax laws allow write-offs for business travel? My life completely changed after I incorporated and learned how to take advantage of the tax perks of running a business. Yup - wrote off all my V1 builds. And legit, not some shady pencilling.
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What most people don’t understand is that write-offs are not some sort of freebie, they are effectively a discount of whatever your rate of tax might be. That’s nice, if you are making tons of money but if you are on the margin and paying say…20%tax, if you take your entire cost of travel off your taxable income, you don’t pay tax on that amount ie you’ve saved 20%, you still need to find the other 80% to pay for the deduction! 