Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The theme of our July 13 meeting was “Follow the Sun,” a phrase which reminds us to seek out and celebrate the long days of summer and to enjoy the world. Our speaker, Samantha Jamwal, gave a speech on optimism. She concluded that even though she tends to be a pessimist, seeing the worst in everything, she realized that the leaders and teachers she admires are optimists. In her research on optimism she discovered several interesting facts she shared with us.

• Optimists live longer, studies show that optimists are more likely to live to the age of 85 or older.
• Optimists have a better love life because they tend to work harder to improve their relationships.
• Optimists are more successful because they tend to be happier with their work, can shake-off disappointments, and look to the future.
• Optimistic leaders inspire others and stay positive when facing adversity.

She encouraged all of us to stop negative thinking and self-pity and to start focusing on the positives in our lives. She ended her speech with this quote by Nicholas Butler on courage and optimism:

“Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also essential to courage and true progress”.

Our destination master was Stephen Andert. The clues for the desintaiton were:

• This country is known as the land of volcanoes.
• It has the highest official capital city in the world.
• The official currency is the US dollar.
• It is a biodiversity hotspot.
• This country is a major exporter of bananas.

If you guessed Ecuador, you are correct!

Travel Topics were led by Avis Russell. She us asked questions about our summer travel adventures, including our worst summer vacations and our best summer vacations. She also wanted to know about our favorite mode of travel–plane, train, boat or automobile, For Stephen, his favorite way to travel is by motorcycle, including a long motorcycle trip from Minnesota to Arizona. For Charles, he is learning to love long bicycle rides. Asked where she would go if she had unlimited time and money, Helen responded that she would like to travel to Australia and New Zealand to see the the native plants and animals.

Join us for our next meeting on July 20 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Moonshot,” in honor of the 54th anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Are you planning a complex project or trip that is just beyond your reach? Do you have a personal Moonshot to share at our meeting?

Register for the meeting: https://tinyurl.com/TravelTalkersZoomLink

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters