Not sure what you mean Elegran by ‘perhaps we are more accustomed to travelling to meet our friends’ ??
Am sure that we all travel to meet our friends, and we go and stay with them ( husbands included) and they with us,
But you have to think of the time, travel and sheer expense of what is being touted here.How many would travel by any means to the North when they live say, on the South coast,
Or Kent or Devon or even London, and then the cost of the hotel for a few days to be with strangers?
A meet up in a central point for one night only is different, but would have to have several GN groups to be really central for all IMHO.