Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The members of Travel Talkers Toastmasters love taking road trips to explore back roads, scenic highways and National Parks. However, sometimes those road trips can turn into “rocky road” trips when unexpected events happen. We used the theme of the May 16th meeting to share our stories about road trips–unexpected, interesting and challenging.

Our Travel Topics Master, Avis Russell, asked club members and guests to talk about interesting road trips. Max talked about an impromptu trip from Phoenix, Arizona to Sedona. He found a meditation retreat on this road trip and enjoyed the unexpected opportunity to disconnect from social media and the internet for the weekend. Helen talked about a trip to the Redwoods in Northern California on the Avenue of the Giants with her husband and three small children. Unfortunately, the Chevrolet Suburban they were traveling in for the camping trip had engine trouble and leaked oil onto the highway. Helen and her children stayed at a motel for a few days while the Suburban was being fixed. From the window of their motel room, they noticed the stop sign swaying back and forth. Earthquake! This was a rocky rocking road trip!

The Destination Master, Tym Myers, asked us to name the city where the famous Rocky Road Ice Cream was invented in 1929. He gave us these clues:

• The city is in California.
• The city includes an 140 acre salt-water lake.
• Famous residents of this city include Jack London, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Bruce Lee, and Zendaya.

If you guessed Oakland, California you are correct! Rocky Road Ice Cream was invented by William Dreyer and Joseph Edy in Oakland California.

Meghan Burns was the featured speaker at our meeting. She presented her Presentation Mastery, Level 1, Evaluation and Feedback speech. She chose a travel theme for her speech, “It’s the Journey and the Destination.” Meghan has traveled to almost all of the continents (except Antarctica). She is a savvy traveler and she shared travel tips about airport terminal amenities in her speech. Tip number one is to use your time between flights to exercise by walking around the terminal from gate to gate exploring every hallway. Her second tip is to find a window seat to watch the planes arrive and depart. She suggested that you can also use an app to tune-in the tower radio frequency to listen in on the pilots’ final instructions before take-off. The third tip is to find somewhere quiet, perhaps an airline lounge or a small restaurant, to recover and relax between flights. At some airports you can even get a massage or go to a foot spa. Her final tip, for those long flights with many airplane and time zone changes, is to pack a second set of underwear in your carry on bag. You can make a quick change between flights and feel somewhat refreshed. She cautioned us to also pack a ziplock bag to stow the used undies for the remainder of our trip. In her humorous and engaging speech, Meghan provided great tips to help us navigate airports and long airline trips.

At our meeting on May 23rd, the meeting theme is “Cinema Scenery.” Join the Travel Talkers group for a fun evening sharing your stories of visiting the cities and locations featured in movies. This event is for all travel enthusiasts. Engage with fellow members as we share our stories about exotic vacations and scenic locations from favorite movies. The meeting is on Thursday, May 23rd from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans.

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.

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

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters