Travel Talkers Toastmasters

Our travels around the world continued at our February 22nd meeting with a stop in North Africa. 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.

Our Destination Master, Natasha Barr, provide these clues for a country in Africa:

• This country is known as the “frying pan” of the world.
• It is the second largest land-locked country in Africa.
• The official language is French and there are 8 indigenous languages spoken.
• It gained its independence in 1960 and has experienced civil unrest.
• It is the poorest country in the world.
• There are 2 modes of transportation to travel to this country: by air or by vehicle.
• The ancient empire of Sokoto also includes dinosaur bones.

If you guessed the Republic of Niger, you are correct!

Helen Josephine was our Travel Topics Master and she asked us questions about what we would like to visit and experience in North Africa. The three main natural features of North Africa are the Atlas Mountains, the Sahara Desert and the Nile River. She asked if we would want to visit the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the number one top destination in North Africa. She also wanted to know if anyone had ever ridden a camel and what did they like about that experience. Finally, she asked if we would prefer to visit Egypt or Morocco to experience the culture, food, and historical artifacts.

Our speaker, Meghan Burns, entertained us with her speech, “Three Dances in Mexico City.” She had given this speech to our club last year and she wanted to give it again to provide more body language and vocal variety. Her presentation was about a work trip to meet with colleagues and enjoy Mexico City. The first dance in her speech was an evening performance of the Ballet Folklorico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) in Mexico City. The second dance was a highly choreographed Lucha Libre wrestling match with teams of wrestlers working together to defeat their opponents. The third dance was the airport tango, a dance of go fast and then go slow, which required Megan to pirouette and two-step through unplanned connections, plane changes and an overnight layover before she was back home to San Jose. We enjoyed experiencing the speech a second time with the addition of energetic body movements to illustrate the wrestling match and the many different voices of the airline personnel on the trip home

At our next meeting the theme is “Bonus Trip.” Join us to share your adventures on a bonus trip that you had not planned to take. We will meet on Thursday, February 29th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Pacific time. Be inspired to travel somewhere new. 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.

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters