Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The theme of our March 23 meeting was “Trekking.” Exploring the great outdoors with a hiking stick, a backpack and wide-eyed enthusiasm for nature. Jacqueline provided the perfect word of the day for the meeting; peregrination, a noun meaning to take a long meandering journey, usually by foot.

Our speaker, Raji Bandanapudi, entertained us with her description of a 4-day, 20 mile round trip trek she tooks with friends to see Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Tribal lands deep within the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Raji was able to convince 8 friends to join her on this backpacking trip in February of 2019. In early Spring, the falls are full of water and the weather is sunny but not the scorching heat of summer when temperatures of over 100 are common. Raji shared what she learned, based on this experience of her first backpacking trip,

• All you need to be happy is: Good companions, good boots, a good tent and a warm sleeping bag.
• Be one with nature, enjoy the adventure.
• Your bed at home is so comfortable when you return.

She encouraged all of us to step outside our house and enjoy nature. As John Muir said, “The mountains are calling, I must go.”

Our Destination Master, Meghan Burns selected a location that is known for enjoyment of nature.

• A US National Park in California that is famous for trekking and climbing.
• One of the earliest National Parks, receiving US Federal protection in 1864, long before the creation of the US National Park Service.
• It is home to over 90 species of animals, including black bears, marmots, bighorn sheep, mountain lions and mule deer.
• Famous hiking trails include the trials to Bridalveil Falls and to Vernal Falls and the Half Dome trail
• Don’t confuse this National Park with that other National Park that also starts with the letter “Y” and stretches across Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. You won’t find “Old Faithful” here.

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

Travel Topics were led by Vernitta and Helen. Each took an opportunity to ask about favorite trips and hiking adventures. Jacqueline shared her experiences in the Holy Land, walking in the desert and among sacred sites in Jerusalem. Samantha shared her love of camping, but only with a tent, she is not fond of sleeping out under the stars with just a sleeping bag.

Join us for our next meeting on March 30 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Greatest Trip Ever.” 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

We travelled to Canada for our March 16 meeting. Our Destination Master, Natasha Trunquest provided these clues for the mystery destination:

• This destination is a major city in Western Canada.
• It has a natural harbor facing the sea and mountains.
• There are sizeable numbers of Vietnamese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Iranian residents, along with a great number of South Asians, primarily from India. It is the most ethnically and linguistically diverse city in Canada.
• It is one of Canada’s warmest cities in the winter. August is the hottest month. The wettest month is November.
• This city is home to the third largest film and television production industry in North America.
• It has the largest port in Canada and the third largest port in the Americas, by tonnage.
• Of notable mention is the fact one of the city’s neighborhoods shares a name in common with the capital of Grand Bahama Island, West End.

If you guessed Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, you are correct!

Our Travel Topics Master, Raji Bandanapudi, continued the theme of the meeting by asking us questions related to Canada. She asked if we would ever consider traveling to Canada during the winter, what winter sport is our favorite and if we had ever visited Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. She also asked us about Canadian food, if we had ever visited the Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta Canada and which of our favorite movie or TV actors is from Canada.

Meghan Burns’ speech, “The Languages of Scrabble,” introduced us to the game of Scrabble and the world champion of Scrabble tournaments, Nigel Richards from New Zealand. Mr. Richards has won many Scrabble tournaments. Megan included in her speech the details of Nigel Richards winning the 2015 French World Scrabble Championship in Belgium even though he does not speak French. He studied the French lexicon for two months prior to the tournament. We learned that Scrabble is played in 30 different languages and for each language the letter distribution and score for each letter differs because the frequency of each letter of the alphabet is different in each language.

Join us for our next meeting on March 23 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-7 UTC). The meeting theme is “Trekking.” Raji Bandanapudi will give a speech about her adventures. 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

Visit the National Parks. Take a Road Trip. Hike the Rocky Mountains. The meeting theme for the March 9th meeting was “See the USA.”

Samantha Jamwal and Deanna Mcinroy asked Travel Topics questions about our favorite places to visit in the US. Tim recommended the “most underrated place,” his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Raji recommended the National Parks in particular Yellowstone National Park in Montana and Wyoming. Meghan reminded us that Mark Twain was once quoted as saying, “There are only four unique cities in the United States: New Orleans, Boston, San Francisco, and San Antonio”

Our destination master for the meeting was Kit Myers. She gave us these clues for a region in the United States:

• It is located the the southwest
• It is about the size of the State of Virginia (25,000 square miles)
• It is primarily arid desert with elevations from 5,500 to 10,500 feet
• The region straddles the states of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico
• It is the home of the largest tribe (400,000 enrolled members) and is the largest Native American nation covering 18 million acres
• It is the home of the World War II “code talkers”
• The scenery is iconic American Old West vistas

If you guessed the Navajo Nation, you are correct!

Elma Knowles was our speaker at the meeting. Her speech,”Nothing Can Stop My Divine Intervention” was about her experiences that have reinforced her feeling that nothing can interfere with her faith. She experienced an earthquake while on vacation in Mexico City. However, even though the hotel shook and things fell, she was unhurt. She felt that the Lord was with her; protecting her from accidents and death. She encouraged all of us to be aware of the setbacks and challenges beyond our control and to embrace our own divine destiny to overcome them.

Join us for our next meeting on March 16 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-7 UTC). The meeting theme is “Oh Canada.” Meghan Burns will give a speech. 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

Cruise adventures was the theme of our March 2 meeting. Pamela McHenry gave a speech, “To Cruise or Not to Cruise” in the Engaging Humor path about her cruise adventures. She detailed two cruise experiences. A Pirate Ship cruise with very high high winds, choppy seas and seasick passengers and a luxurious cruise in the Western Caribbean with resort amenities, entertainment and shore excursions. She concluded that endless days on the ocean can be boring, but the entertainment and shore excursions of a Caribbean cruise can be fun.

Our destination master for the meeting was Tym Myers. He gave us these clues for a city in the northern hemisphere:

• Frequented by cruise ships year-round, the 6th busiest cruise port in the world.
• Largest metropolitan area on the Mediterranean.
• Second largest football (soccer) stadium in the world, seats 99,534.
• Two legends about its origins, 1. Founded by Hercules 400 years before Rome or 2. Founded by the father of Hannibal, Hamilcar Barca in the 3rd century BC.
• Has the largest metropolitan park in the world, 84 square kilometers, 22 times the size of Central Park in NY City.
• Hosted the 1992 Olympics
• One of its four cathedrals, La Sagrada Família, is still uncompleted after 141 years.
• Currently has 20+ Michelin star restaurants.
• Its famous shopping boulevard, “Las Ramblas” is actually 5 separate streets.

If you guessed Barcelona, Spain, you are correct!

Our Travel Topics Master for the meeting was Meghan Burns. She asked us questions about our favorite cruise adventure, what activities we liked the most on a cruise, how we stayed fit and exercised on a cruise to counter all the delicious food, if we had an all expense paid 2 week cruise where would we go and who would we take with us, and finally what is the number one cruise on our list of cruises we would like to take. An Alaskan cruise was mentioned in two of the Travel Topics responses, as both the favorite cruise adventure (Tym) and the number one option for a “cruise I would like to take” (Helen).

Join us for our next meeting on March 9 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “See the USA.” Elma Knowles will give a speech. 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

The theme of the February 23 meeting was South America. One of our regular members, Tym Myers, was a pilot for American Airlines for 37 years. For fourteen of those years, his main route was flying from Miami to various cities in South America. American Airlines is the leading US carrier for flights to and from South America from their hub in Miami. In his Icebreaker speech, Tym introduced us to how he became a pilot and shared some of his favorite South American cities, foods and experiences including El Alto, the high altitude airport (13,325 ft.) in La Paz, Bolivia, the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, and the Brazilian churrascarias or steakhouses.

Our Desitnaiton Master was Natasha Barr, she gaves us these hints about the country:

• A country in western Asia, situated between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
• It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, by Syria to the northeast, by Jordan to the east, by Egypt to the southwest.
• It has a parliamentary system of government.
• The Prime Minister serves as the head of government.
• It is a member of the OECD (The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).
• It is the most developed and advanced country in its hemisphere with a very high standard of living, performing exceptionally well in measures of education.
• It has a population of over nine million people, it has the world’s 28th largest economy by nominal GDP.
• It has a typical Mediterranean climate with cool rainy winters and long, hot summers.
• It has two official languages.
  

If you guessed Israel, you are correct!

The Travel Topics session was led by Helen Josephine and she asked members and guests to share their experiences with taking a cruise to South America. She also asked if anyone wanted to travel to Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica to see the penguins and if anyone had ever sampled food from South America. After Tim’s speech on his adventures in South America, we learned that the continent is very diverse and has something of interest for each of us to discover.

Join us for our next meeting on March 2 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “Cruising.” Pamela McHenry will give a speech, “To Cruise or Not to Cruise” about her cruising adventures. 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