Last year I attended the onsite of the Google Code Jam. It was a great experience, but getting from the airport to the hotel, and back from the hotel to the airport seemed a little disorganized to me. We were responsible for finding our own way to the hotel from the airport, and not given much information to go on. I happend to run into ploh in the airport, and haha on the bus from the airport to the train station. This was great, as haha had interened at Yahoo in the area, and knew his way around. It would have been great to know a little more about the area, the hotel we were staying at, and when others were arriving at the same airport as me around the same time. So, I'm going to try to do that for people this year.
The onsite finals of the 2005 Google Code Jam will take place on Friday, September 23rd at the Googleplex. According to the rules, "Each finalist must confirm his/her attendance in the Championship Round by September 8, 2005, 5PM EDT." This includes having acquired a visa for those who need one.
Google will provide all travel accomadations, overnight accomadations, and travel arrangements to and from the airport, and to and from Google's headquarters.
Google is housing onsite finalists at the Wild Palms Hotel in Sunnyvale, CA. If you have any questions about the hotel, please contact the hotel and forward the question and answer on to me. I will post them here so we don't all ask the same questions.
I recommend writing down the hotel's contact information and carrying it with you:
Hotel Phone: 1-408-738-0500
Hotel Address: 910 E. Fremont Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Here is a table with flight and contact information for people who will be attending. This will hopefully help us travel together to and from the airport.
Here is a page with pictures of all the finalists.
Round 2 odds are here.
Onsite odds are here.
Onsite odds after SRM 263 and with final? advancers list are here
Onsite odds after SRM 264 are here.