Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The theme of the second meeting of Travel Talkers was “Expectations.” Do you plan your trips in great detail and never deviate? Or do you arrive at a destination and take advantage of what you find ? If your first choice for a tour or a place to eat is not available, how do you react? Do you take the time to reset your expectations and enjoy what the new city has to offer?

Those joining the meeting came from California, Arizona, Minnesota, The Bahamas, and China. Our speakers took us to Sydney, Dublin, and Yosemite National Park. We are a diverse group of members with diverse travel stories. But what we all have in common is a love of travel and a desire to share our stories.

Meghan was our Destination Master and she provided clues for a destination she is planning to visit later this month to enjoy a large glass of dark ale. Her clues about the destination: It is a city on the coast with a body of water with the same name as the city. It has a University founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is the home of many writers including James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and William Butler Yeats. If you guessed Dublin, you are correct.

Our speaker was Raji Bandanapudi. Her speech, “Top of the World at 8,831 Feet” was a travel story about determination and beauty. Raji and her friends hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. The start of the hike through the forest passing by Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls was beautiful, cool and relaxing. Then the trail became a very steep switchback with no grass or shade. The last push to reach the top required the use of cables on the smooth top of the giant granite dome. The hike was 16 miles one way, with a gain of 2,500 feet in the final 5 miles. Before reaching the top, Raji wondered if she would make it or if she should turn back. She faced her fears and proceed ahead. Once she reached the top of Half Dome, she felt like she was standing on top of the world. As we heard her speech, it brought back memories of other hikes and personal fears we had faced and overcome to reach our goal.

The final segment of the meeting was Travel Topics with great questions prepared by Elma. Meghan was asked where would she go if someone gave her unlimited money for a trip. She said she would go to the only continent on Earth that she has never visited, Antarctica, to see the penguins. Viji told us about her packing tips–she always make sures she has extra toiletries. Shanthi told us about a train trip that was almost a catastrophe when part of the travel party missed the train connection and had to take an uber to the next station to meet the group. Kat was asked about how the internet has changed travel and she said that researching trips, looking for reviews and shopping for the best prices is all much easier on line. Raji was asked to tell us about the best way to visit India, where she has many friends and family. She suggested that talking to your friends from India before you go would help you focus your trip on the best sights and the best food in the area that you want to visit. India is a huge country with many big cities and national shrines.

Join us for our next meeting on October 13 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm Pacific (-7 UTC). The meeting theme is “Travel on the Cheap”. Toastmaster, Helen; Destination Master, Katsuko; Speaker, Vernita; Travel Topics Master, Viji.

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

Looking forward to hearing your Travel Stories!

Helen Josephine, Travel Talkers Toastmasters

The format of a demo meeting for a new club is a bit different from a regular Toastmasters meeting. The only required roles and segments are a Toastmaster for the meeting, a speaker, a speech evaluator, a Table Topics segment, a timer and an Ah counter. With Travel as the overall theme of the club, we modified this a bit to add the fun role of Destination Master and renamed the Table Topics segment to Travel Topics.

The zoom format allowed everyone to choose travel locations for their backgrounds. We enjoyed the view of the 12 Apostles in Melbourne, Australia, chosen as the background by the Toastmaster of the meeting, Raji, and the overlook at Stavanger Norway, chosen by the speech evaluator, Solarzar.

Our Destination Master, Kalpana, was tasked with describing a city or location in detail without revealing the name. All of the meeting participants then sent their guesses via private chat to the Destination Master. Kalpana’s hints included, multiple airports, many universities and colleges, skyscrapers, deep-dish pizza, and the public sculpture known as the bean. The correct answer? Chicago!

As the speaker for the meeting, I gave a short speech on a travel adventure I had in Bangkok. My trip to Bangkok was supposed to be just an airline connection from Manila on my way to my final destination,Tel-Aviv. But the plane arrived late and I was not able to meet the 4 hour security clearance requirement of the airline. I had to spend the night in Bangkok and take a flight the next night to Israel. The airline arranged for a hotel and the next morning I was determined to see as much of Bangkok as I could in the next 12 hours before my late night flight.  I booked an all day tour with a guide to take me to explore the Grand Palace and the Wat Pho Temple with the reclining Buddha, plus a trip to the gem district where I saw amazing gemstones and watched artisans create beautiful jewelry. I also sampled yummy grilled street food and ate delicious fresh fruit.  By the time I needed to go back to the airport I was exhausted, but happy.  I didn’t mind the 4 hour wait in security or the 10 ½ hour flight to Tel-Aviv.  The unexpected trip made me want to return to Bangkok someday to explore more.

Table Topics, or in the case of our club, Travel Topics are an opportunity for all the meeting attendees to give a short 1-2 minute speech in response to a travel related question or prompt. For the demo meeting, Kalpana was also our Travel Topics master and she prepared 5 questions for the meeting. Meghan respond to a question about travel tips to help you in difficult situations with the tip to grab the business card of the hotel or have a printout of the hotel address in case the taxi drivers can’t communicate with you in English. This advice was based on her experience of trying to get back to her hotel in Shanghai and the taxi driver did not understand her and she only had the address on her phone. Elma told us she prefers to travel by boat, when she was asked to give her travel preference. Seems there is more room on board a boat for souvenirs and gifts than on an airplane. 🙂 Stephen shared his memory of his first airplane trip when he was a teenager, traveling to New York to be reunited with his Dad who he had last seen when he was three. Liz responded to the question, “why do you travel?” She told us that she travels to see new things, places, scenery, eat new foods, get out of her comfort zone and just “get out there and go!”

Join us Thursday, October 6th from 6:30-7:30 pm Pacific time for the next meeting of Travel Talkers. The meeting theme will be Expectations. I will be the Toastmaster of the Meeting, Stephen will be the speaker, Meghan will be the Destination Master and Elma will be the Travel Topics Master. Meeting link: https://tinyurl.com/TravelTalkersZoomLink

See you there! We look forward to hearing your Travel Topic responses.

Helen Josephine, Travel Talkers