Travel Talkers Toastmasters

Wanderlust, the feeling that you need to be out exploring the world, visiting cities and countries new to you, finding that Island getaway, or enjoying the natural beauty of the forest. Wanderlust was the theme of the June 8th meeting of Travel Talkers Toastmasters. We heard a speech from Samantha Jamwal about her recent vacation exploring the National Parks of Colorado. Her speech was titled, “Go with the Flow.” She shared with us that being flexible and willing to make adjustments to your planned schedule can allow you to relax and enjoy your vacation. During her recent trip she visited four National Parks in Colorado: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. If you are looking for more information on traveling to the National Parks in the United States, check out this article in Travel + Leisure.

Our Destination Master, Tym Myers, also chose a National Park location. Here are his clues:

• President Abraham Lincoln protected this region in the 1864.
• It became the third National Park in the US in 1890.
• It is featured in numerous movies, including the opening sequence of Star Trek V, where Captain Kirk is climbing a granite monolith.
• Its features include iconic monoliths, verdant valleys, sequoia groves, waterfalls, hiking trails and lodges.
• It is home to the the world’s largest granite monolith.

If you guessed Yosemite National Park in California, you are correct!

Lynn Turnquest was our Travel Topics Master for the meeting. She asked us questions about our personal wanderlust and travel. She wanted to know:

• Where was our favorite place to vacation? Inagua Islands, The Bahamas
• What was our favorite type of transportation? airplanes and cars
• What was our favorite type of accomodations? high-rise hotels with a view
• How do we decide where to go next? National Park bucket list
• Do we try to the local food? ask the locals for recommendations
• Do we try to speak the local language? learn to say “hello” and “thank you”

Join us for our next meeting on June 14 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Thrills of a Lifetime.” We want to hear about your travel adventures. Where are you headed next?

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

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters

Our meeting theme for the June 1st meeting was “Summer Holidays.” Our Travel Topics Master, Vernitta Brown, asked us questions about our plans for a summer holiday this year, how soon we need to start booking our holiday, and any tips we had for how to start planning. She also asked us about tips for how to have a relaxing holiday (no mosquitos) and where we would like to go Island-hopping (in Hawaii to the farmers’ market in Hanalei on Kauai).

Our Destination Master, Meghan Burns, provided these clues:

• A popular US location along the Atlantic coastline.
• At the southern end of a 9-mile barrier island.
• Art Deco is a popular architectural style.
• Pristine beaches, celebrity homes, and nightclubs make this a hot spot for visitors in Summer, Spring, Winter, and Fall.
• A popular filming location in the 1980’s for television and movies typically featuring drug dealers and the law enforcement officers who pursue them.
• The tea and juice company “SoBe” borrowed this neighborhood’s name for one of their products.

If you guessed South Beach, Miami you are correct!

Our speaker, Helen Josephine, provided several stories about close encounters with nature during her summer holidays. She shared a story about a summer camping trip when her children were young (ages 1, 4 and 5). The children were far ahead of their parents on the trail returning from a picnic lunch. Suddenly they encountered a large rattlesnake on the path blocking the trail back to their campsite. This was the first time the children had ever seen a large and dangerous snake. Luckily no one was hurt and they were able to get back to camp. However, they did learn a valuable lesson: you need to be aware of your surroundings on the trail.

Join us for our next meeting on June 8 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Wanderlust” We want to hear about your travel adventures. Where are you headed next?

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

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters

Our May 24th meeting was a celebration of music and travel. Vernitta Brown’s speech, “Who Doesn’t Like Music?” was a tribute to her favorite songs in many types of music genres including Gospel, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Reggae. She started and ended her speech with the beat of the drum and the sound of the horn in the tradition of Bahamian Junkanoo. The colorful and musical Junkanoo is an annual event, with a parade of brightly costumed Bahamians dancing and “rushin” to the music of cowbells, drums, horns and whistles.

Our Destination Master was Lynn Turnquest and she chose an Island in the Caribbean as her destination. She provided these clues:

• The island is in the southern Caribbean near the Paraguana Peninsula of Venezuela.
• The island is 170 square miles and the highest point is 1230 feet.
• The island is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
• The population is 85% Afro-Caribbean and 15% European.
• It has a tropical climate and is known for its beaches and scuba diving.
• Cars drive on the right.

If you guessed Curaçao, you are correct!

For our Travel Topics, Kit Myers asked us questions about songs that we remembered from our childhood, songs that reminded us of the joy of travel and the most unusual song we knew. We were encouraged to sing a few bars of the song we described in our response to her questions.

Join us for our next meeting on June 1 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Summer Holidays.” We want to hear about your plans for a Summer Holiday this year. Will it be on a plane, train or cruise ship?

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

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The May 11th meeting of Travel Talkers Toastmasters featured travel to the capital cities of the world. Our speaker, Meghan Burns entertained us with her speech, “Three Dances in Mexico City,” about her recent work trip to meet with colleagues and enjoy Mexico City. The first dance 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.

Our Destination Master, Kit Myers, chose a capital city as a destination. She provided these hints:

• This city is the Territorial capital of the smallest and most western Territory of Canada.
• It has a population of only 28,000 inhabitants and it is the largest city in Northern Canada
• It is known as the Wilderness City located on the Yukon River and it was the gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.
• The city is connected to Alaska by the Alaskan Highway.
• The city was incorporated in 1950.

If you guessed Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, you are correct!

In keeping with the theme of capital cities, our Travel Topics Master, Tym Myers, gave us the choice of a continent and then he provided a capital city. In our responses, we talked about what we we do or see in this city even if we had never traveled there before. We enjoyed the challenge of imagining what we would do, what we eat and what we would see.

North America, capital city: Austin Texas

South America, capital city: Santiago, Chile

Asia, capital city: Tokyo, Japan

Africa, capital city: Cape Town or Johannesburg, South Africa

Europe, capital city: Dublin, Ireland

Join us for our next meeting on May 25 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Music Everywhere.” We want to hear about the music you enjoy on your trips . We are not meeting on May 18–everyone is out traveling. 😀

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

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The theme of the May 4th meeting reminded all of us that there is so much to explore in our world. Our meeting included a speech by Kit Myers, the mystery destination presented by Avis Russell, and travel topics led by Antoinette Thompson.

Our Destination Master, Avis Russell gave us clues about a city she hopes to visit soon because her daughter recently took a new job in this city. Avis presented these clues:

• It is a city in Japan founded in 1589 as a castle town on the Ota River delta.
• It was the first military target of a nuclear weapon in human history on August 6, 1945. Since the end of World War II, it has become the largest city in the region.
• The city will host the 2023 G7 Summit on May 19-21.
• It is known for “okonomiyaki,” a savory pancake cooked on an iron plate in front of the customer.
• The climate is humid, subtropical with cool to mild winters and hot, humid summers.
• This city has a professional symphony orchestra and professional sports clubs for football, baseball, basketball, handball and volleyball. This city hosted the 1994 Asian Games.
• On May 27, 2016, President Barack Obama became the first US President to visit this city since the atomic bombing.

If you guessed Hiroshima, Japan, you are correct!

The theme of the meeting, “Never Stop Exploring Your World,” prompted Kit to give a speech about how her Mother always found joy and excitement in the world. Kit told several stories about her mother, including one about her mother waking her up one night to share the amazing sight of an owl perched on the telephone wires outside of their home near San Francisco. She ended her speech by reminding us to never stop exploring our world, no matter how big or how small.

Antoinette Thompson was our Travel Topics master and she asked us questions about our travel experiences including how we prepare for travel, how travel inspires us and what was the rarest place we ever slept. Kit told us about her rare experience at a youth hostel in a villa in Italy.

Antoinette also stumped us with some unique travel questions:

• Which is the busiest port in the world?
  • Container Port: Shanghai, China
  • Passenger Port: Port Canaveral (#1), Port of Miami (#2)
• Which country has the most lakes? Canada (879,800 lakes!)
• In which countries can you NOT purchase CocaCola? North Korea and Cuba

Join us for our next meeting on May 11 from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Capital Cities.” Where will your next trip take you? We want to hear your stories. Join the meeting to participate in our Travel Topics session and guess the mystery destination.

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

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters.