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

India is home to eight of the fifty largest cities in the world and has a diverse population of over 1.4 billion. Samantha Jamwal had the opportunity to travel to India to meet her husband’s family and attend a wedding, Her speech at our meeting provided several tips for Americans travelling to India for the first time. In her speech, she included information about the diverse languages you might encounter, advice on drinking water and eating street food, tips on the appropriate clothing to wear and her reaction to impromptu selfies and locals staring at her as an obvious outsider. She concluded her speech by encouraging all of us to visit this truly amazing and complex country.

Avis Russell was the Table Topics Master at our meeting and she asked us questions about our future trips to India including modes of transportation we might experience in India and the types of hotels and accommodations we might find. Meghan Burns suggested that if you are travelling with a group of friends or work colleagues, have each one take on a task to help organize the trip. For example, one person could research and book the hotels, another could research places to eat, and someone else could investigate the must see palaces, monuments and other tourist destinations. Among her group of colleagues on a recent trip was a self-appointed safety officer who reminded everyone about the need to use anti-mosquito spray to prevent dengue fever.

Our Destination Master, Tym gave us these clues for a country:

• Largest per capita of cows to people (4.1) in the world
• Most unique way of making a grill to cook their meat
• Third highest output of wine in South America (to go with all the beef they eat)
• Known for “Chivito” — the national sandwich–thinly sliced grilled beef, topped with slices of ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, melted mozzarella cheese, and a fried egg
• Hosted the first World Cup ever (1930)
• Has 3.5 million people
• Known for its beaches
• Second smallest country in South America

If you guessed Uruguay, you are correct!

Join us for our next meeting on February 23 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-8 UTC). The meeting theme is “South America.” Tym Myers will give a speech about his adventures in South America. You can 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