Travel destinations in Western Europe were the focus of our February 15th meeting. Western Europe is defined as including these 9 countries—Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, and Switzerland. These countries include art museums (The Louvre in Paris, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam), castles (Versailles in France, Neuschwanstein in Germany), vibrant cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna), and mountains (Mont Blanc and the Alps).
Our Destination Master gave us these clues for a country in Western Europe:
- This is a land-locked country in Western Europe.
- It is a largely mountainous country.
- It is known for musical geniuses, Olympic medalists and movie stars.
- Delicious desserts, beer and schnizel are on the menu in this country.
- The sugar block candy dispenser, Pez, was invented in this country.
If you guessed Austria, you are correct!
We had two speakers at our meeting. Kit revised and presented her speech from last week, Presentation Mastery, Level 1 speech, “They tried to make me fly standby and I say NO, NO, NO!” Helen Josephine presented her speech, “Midnight flight to Tel Aviv” for the Dynamic Leadership, Level 3 project, “Negotiating the Best Outcome.” Her speech was about how negotiations during business travel can be stressful and sometimes have surprising outcomes. At the end of a 3-week business trip to Southeast Asia and India, Helen needed to negotiate with airline security before she could board her connecting flight in Bangkok, Thailand for her flight to Tel Aviv, Israel for a 2-day training session on the final leg of her trip. She discovered that these three negotiation tactics, be convincing, be confident, and be comfortable, did help. But the most important tactic was being calm and comfortable with whatever the final outcome would be. While she was not allowed to board the flight, she did have the bonus opportunity of spending 24 hours in Bangkok.
Our Travel Topics Master, Kit Myers, presented photos of places to visit in Western Europe and then asked us which location we would prefer to visit and why. Would we prefer to visit the London Bridge or the Alexander II Bridge in Paris? Would we prefer to visit the cave paintings in France or paintings inThe Louvre? Would we prefer to visit the sculptures of Michelangelo in Florence, Italy or the paintings of Gustav Klimt in Vienna, Germany?
At our next meeting we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to North Africa on Thursday, February 22nd from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The United Nations subregion of North Africa consists of 7 countries in the northernmost part of the continent — Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. Be inspired to travel somewhere new. Let’s hear about your adventures at our February 22nd meeting. Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. If you would like to join the club, contact Helen Josephine for an application form.
Register for the meeting: https://tinyurl.com/TravelTalkersZoomLink
RSVP on MeetUp to let us know you are coming to the meeting. Guests are always welcome!
Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.
Helen Josephine,
Travel Talkers Toastmasters
Travel Talkers Toastmasters 
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