Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The theme of our October 5th meeting was “Traveling Solo,” which gave everyone the opportunity to talk about what we like and dislike about traveling solo. Our Destination Master, Raji Bandanapudi asked each of us questions related to the theme.

Lisa Hamil told us about several long road trips she took and how she enjoyed the opportunity to visit US National Parks and friends along the way. Lydia was asked what three things she would be sure to bring on her upcoming solo trip to Dubai. Her answer: cell phone, headset and charger. All three would be need for the long airplane trip, to take photos to document the trip and to stay in touch with friends and family at home.

Helen was asked about how to take photos of herself to document solo trips. She commented that it is difficult to get herself in every shot, but that she has found many friendly strangers willing to help her get a perfect shot of the background scenery with her in the foreground when a selfie just won’t capture the scene. Samantha was asked what three lessons she has learned from traveling solo. While she hasn’t taken very many solo trips, she did comment that while traveling by herself she did enjoy the ability to relax, think and meditate.

Avis shared the craziest trip adventure she experienced while traveling on a ship from the Bahamas to Florida. Her grandson decided to try to jump from the couch to the bed and ended up on the floor with a split lip. This was the first time Avis discovered that the ship had an infirmary with staff to help her care for her injured grandson. Adventures come in many forms.

Our Destination Master, Vernita Brown, gave us these clues about a country:

• It is the third smallest country in Europe, after Vatican City and Monaco, and the fifth-smallest country in the world.
• The official founding date is 3 September 301 AD.
• It covers a land area of just over 61 km² (23+¹⁄₂ sq mi), with a population of 33,562.
• It is condsiderd the oldest constitutional republic in the world.
• The main industries are tourism, banking and manufacturing.
• Traditional soup made of beans and bacon is served at Christmas and is one of the most famous dishes of this country.

If you guessed San Marino, you are correct!

The featured speaker at our meeting was Avis Russell who shared her Ice Breaker speech, “Envisioning a Better You.” She shared her reasons for joining Toastmasters two years ago and introduced us to her family and work experience. She chose her first educational path, Leadership Development, to conquer her fear of public speaking. Now she has embarked on her second path, Visionary Communication, to seek innovative ways to develop her interpersonal skills. She challenged all of us to “take the necessary steps to learn to communicate effectively and become a better version of yourself.” Brava, Avis for a well-organized speech with an important message for all of us.

Communication is your ticket to success if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively.” — Theo Gold

Join us for our next meeting on October 12th from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Australia and New Zealand.” Are you planning a trip “down under?” We want to hear about why you would like to visit Australia and New Zealand. If you have trip advice to share, please join our meeting. 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

Within Toastmasters, Pathways is the educational program we follow to become better speakers, evaluators, and leaders. As part of this program we learn about our own communication and leadership styles and we learn how to recognize those styles in others. The speaking projects in the program encourage us to try new skills in our speeches such as using vocal variety and body language or adding humor to a speech. The levels within each of the Paths in the program build our confidence and skills.

At our September 21st meeting, DTM Derek Rolle, from District 47 shared his presentation on how to get started in Pathways. Derek encouraged our members to enroll in Pathways and complete the first project in Level 1, the Ice Breaker Speech and then work on the other projects within the first level to master the fundamentals of public speaking.

We started the meeting with our Destination Master, Tym Myers, providing these clues for city in Europe:

• This city is the Capital of Tuscany and its the 8th largest city in the country.
• The entire historic center of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage site.
• It was the first European city to pave its streets in 1339.
• It is the birthplace of the piano.
• The city is known for luxury fashion and Guccio Guccci founded his brand here in 1921.
• It took over 140 year to build its famous cathedral.

If you guessed Florence, Italy, you are correct!

Our Travel Topics Master, Meghan Burns challenged us to use our 1-2 minute Travel Topics responses to build a mini-Ice Breaker speech that we could develop into a 4-6 minute speech and present at the next meeting to get started on our Level 1 Pathways project. First, Meghan asked Tym to start his Travel Topics response with the sentence, “My life as a traveler.” Tym told us about the 192 different cities he had traveled to and how each one was unique. Meghan then asked Helen to create a speech about breakfast, lunch and dinner at her favorite travel destination. Helen described three perfect meals in Paris: breakfast with croissants and Café au lait at a sidewalk cafe, a picnic lunch of baguette and cheese in a park, and a romantic dinner on boat floating down the Seine. Finally, Meghan asked Samantha to talk about a tour guide who had used vocal variety and body language to engage visitors. Samantha told us about a trip to Italy when she was in high school. The tour guide stood in front of the famous statue of David by Michelangelo and pointed to what he considered the largest feature of the the statue, the face of David. Which caused the audience of American High School students to laugh out loud.

Join us for our next meeting on October 5th from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Traveling Solo.” We want to hear about your adventures traveling solo. Where did you go and who did you meet? 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

The theme of our September 14th meeting was “Choose Your Destination” and we enjoyed two speeches at our meeting. Vernitta Brown gave a speech on positive thinking and Meghan Burns gave a speech on passports as souvenirs. Vernitta encouraged all of us to think positive and never give up. She told us about her first speeches in Toastmasters and the encouragement she received that helped her to overcome her fear of speaking. Meghan shared pictures of her passports, including her first passport with a photo of her as a baby. She encouraged us to keep all of our old passports, filled with travel visas and entry stamps, as reminders of the trips we took.

Our destination master was Helen Josephine. She gave us these clues:

• This country is in Northern Europe.
• This country is dominatd by forests and many lakes, including the largest lake in Europe.
• The climate is mild, with dry winters and sunny summers in most of the country.
• This country is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy.
• Historically this country has maintained an official policy of neutrality, although in March 2023, the parliament voted to join NATO.
• Tourists visit this country to enjoy the forests, lakes, seacoast, and the local food, including fermented herring, crayfish, and meatballs.
• While visiting, tourists can also enjoy music, beer bars and the Northern Lights.
  

If you guessed Sweden, you are correct!

Our Travel Topics Master, Judith Ferber, shared pictures of locations around the world and travel quotes. She asked each of us to respond to the slides she displayed. Kit talked about her love of travel and food. Cathy talked about moving to Florida when she was in high school. Linda talked about a long drive from San Jose, California to Phoenix, Arizona where she saw her first Saguaro cactus. Deanna shared her story of participating in a Bocce Ball tournament in London, Ontario. Samantha talked about a YouTube channel that explores life in remote villages.

Join us for our next meeting on September 21st from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Travel and Pathways.” We will have a speaker about the Pathways educational program and we will include both the Destination Master session and Travel Topics in the meeting. If you would like to join the club, please 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

We love to travel and explore new cities and countries. Sometimes we might discount the appeal of a small country thinking there might not be much to explore. In our meeting on September 7th, with the theme of “Small Countries,” we explored the many wonderful and exciting experiences we have had visiting small countries. These countries might be small in land mass, but they do offer big travel adventures.

Our Destination Master, Carlette Curry, gave us these clues:

• This country is the smallest country in Asia.
• This country is located in the Indian Ocean.
• This country has beautiful beaches and attracts tourists (1.7 million tourists in 2019).
• This country is one of the smallest Muslim-majority nations.

If you guessed the Maldives, you are correct!

Our speaker at the meeting was Samantha Jamwal. Her speech, “Motorcycle Negotiation,” was a humorous speech on the discussions she had with her husband about his plan to commute to work on his motorcycle. Her concerns and fears were summed up in this sentence in her speech, “I like my man to have a beating heart.” After a few days of discussions, a trip to the motorcycle training center, and a new life insurance policy for her husband, Samantha was convinced that her husband would be a careful driver and not take unnecessary risks during his commute. She also revealed that he did look “hot” in is motorcycle jacket, pants and helmet. An added bonus she had not expected.

Our Travel Topics Master was Avis Russell and she asked us to describe a visit to small country and share what we liked or disliked about the visit. Derek, Antoinette, and Vernitta, all talked about visiting different island countries in the Caribbean. They described what made each island country unique and why we should plan a trip to visit these small gems. Tym talked about visiting the Vatican City. A small city-state with big museums, cathedrals and monuments. Meghan talked about visiting museums in small cities and small countries to immerse yourself in the culture and art of the area. Helen talked about visiting Israel and the city of Jerusalem to experience different religions and ancient sites.

Join us for our next meeting on September 14th from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Choose Your Destination.” Where are you headed for your next adventure? Join our meeting to share your travel plans. If you would like to join the club, please 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

Do you try to find the perfect memento of your trip? Do you collect postcards, magnets, matchbooks, t-shirts, or city maps–small tokens that remind you of your adventures and gifts for those at home? At our August 31 meeting, Kit Myers shared her lifelong habit of collecting and sharing postcards in her speech, “Souvenirs from Postcards to Spices.” She also told us that she likes to collect special spices and cooking ingredients that she finds while traveling. The postcards help to enhance the memories of her trips and allow her to share quick notes and trip highlights with friends and family at home. The spices and cooking ingredients she collects make her memories last even longer, when she uses the ingredients to prepare meals from the countries she has visited.

Our Table Topics Master, Tym Myers, asked us about the types of souvenirs we like to collect. Vernitta likes to collect shells and coins. Avis collects magnets. Meghan reminded us to visit the museum shops to find unique items along with postcards and t-shirts. Judith commented that she doesn’t like to collect things, but she will look for a special gift for someone who is helping her with her travels. Tracy Baker commented that the best souvenirs are the memories you have of the people that you meet and the experiences that you have while you are traveling.

Our Destination Master, Vernitta Brown, provided these clues:

• The destination is an island in the Caribbean.
• The island is 193 miles east of Miami, Florida.
• The island consists of two slender islands.
• The island is known for its beautiful sand beaches.
• The island is popular with tourists.

If you guessed the Island of Abaco in The Bahamas which is located in the Lucayan Archipelago, a part of the Caribbean region in the North Atlantic Ocean, you are correct!

Join us for our next meeting on September 7 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Small Countries.” If you would like to join the club, please 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