Hijacking the Pycon train

Ontario Startup Train

Chris Charles

I'm a software developer. I like to learn things. I run the ThreeFortyNine Beer Club, which is pretty fun. I recently built BeerTime, an Untappd client for the Pebble smartwatch.

In less than two weeks a bunch of Ontarians are heading to Montreal for Pycon, and they’re doing it in style. How much style, you ask? The most style. They have two dedicated train cars, one of which contains a bar.

I’m not going to Pycon, but I am going to be on the train.

See, Montreal’s not just for conferences. It’s a pretty cool town! With museums and culture and stuff! It also has a great pub scene, and I happen to be a bit of a beer nerd.

Beer taster at Dieu du Ciel!

Courtesy of Paul Joseph http://www.flickr.com/photos/sashafatcat/4052075222/ CC BY 2.0

So I’m going to Montreal with some people from my Beer Club, and we’ve decided to ride the rails with the Pycon folks. Many of us have tech backgrounds, and the opportunity to unconference with other tech people is too hard to resist. I’ll get much more out of the trip this way.

Here’s a short list of things I remember from my trip on the Startup Train two years ago:

  • I met a bunch of really cool people with whom I had great discussions about technology, business, and the environment.
  • I saw some pretty good presentations.
  • I found out why so many people love to travel by train.
  • I laughed a lot.

I expect to have an equally good experience this time around.

Do you love beer too? Food? Live music? Art? Fashion? Comedy? Do you have a background or an interest in technology? Maybe you should join us. You don’t have to go to Pycon. Ride the rails, spend a day (or two, or a week) in Montreal doing something you love, and come back.

It’s going to be a blast!