Travel Talkers Toastmasters

SHARE YOUR STORIES

Welcome to Travel Talkers Toastmasters!

We invite you to Travel Talkers Toastmasters on Thursday, January 8, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pacific (-8 UTC). Our meeting theme is New Year, New Destinations. Join our meeting to share your travel plans for 2026. Where are you headed next?

Our meetings are for all travel enthusiasts. Engage with fellow members to share your joy of travel. Focus on your public speaking skills and get valuable feedback in a supportive Toastmasters-style environment. Let’s hit the road for storytelling and inspire each other to embark on new travel adventures. Mark your calendars for an unforgettable evening with the Travel Talkers community!

You are invited to join us and bring a friend. Thursday, January 8, 6:30-7:30 pm Pacific (-8 UTC).
Register for the meeting link: https://tinyurl.com/TravelTalkersZoomLink

Join the Travel Talkers group for a fun evening sharing your plans and trips.

We meet on Thursdays from 6:30 to 7:30pm Pacific time (-8 UTC). Use the link to register for our Zoom meetings.

Guests are always welcome at our meetings! We look forward to meeting you and hearing your travel stories.

Travel Talkers Toastmasters, club number 04670726, District 101, Division A, Santa Clara, California. We are an online club with members from all over the world.

Why Toastmasters?

Travel Talkers

Travel Talkers Toastmasters–Oceania
Beautiful blue ocean and endless beaches were the themes of our April 11 meeting as we explored the countries of Oceania. Our Destination Master, Meghan Burns, provided theses clues for a country in Oceania:
- This island nation was first encountered by Europeans in the 17th century and colonized by the British in 1974. The country gained its independence in 1970.
- In addition to its native language, you can also hear English and a variation of Hindi, as a result of indentured servants from India during the colonial period.
- The main airport, Nadi International Airport (NAN), is on the largest island. It welcomes over 2 million international visitors a year.
- This country welcomes visitors seeking blue waters and white sand beaches, SCUBA diving, surfing, and other tropical activities.
- Exports including sugar cane and bottled water.
If you guessed Fiji, you are correct!

Kit Myers presented her Presentation Mastery, Level 2 speech for the Understanding Your Communication Style project. Her speech, “Aye, if We Both Spoke Ainglish,” was about her challenges communicating with travelers from Australia when she was a tour guide in the United States. The words and phrases in Australian English used by the Scotsman and the Welshman in the tour group frequently confused her. Her strategy was to initiate communication and learn from her travel guests.

The Travel Topics master for the meeting was Samantha Jamwal. She asked us about traveling to the 14 difference countries in Oceania and what we might want to do while visiting. Judith wanted to sample the foods of Papua New Guinea especially anything made with coconut. Tym wanted to spend a week relaxing on a beach hammock in French Polynesia. Megan wanted to hike to the water falls on Fiji and go snorkeling.

At our next meeting, our travel around the world concludes with a trip to Antarctica. The travel season lasts from November through March, during the Antarctic summer. You would be traveling to the coldest and windiest place on earth. But wouldn’t it be fabulous to see the penguins flying off the snow? Join us as we share our adventures on Thursday, April 17th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans.

Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. 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.

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters
Travel Talkers

Travel Talkers Toastmasters–Southeast Asia
At our meeting on April 4, we explored the culture, food and travel adventures in Southeast Asia. Our Destination Master, Helen Josephine, provided these clues for a country in Southeast Asia:
- This country has influences from India, France, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
- There are 4,000 temples in this country. The 900-year-old temple, Angkor Wat, is the best-preserved example.
- The largest economic sector is the manufacturing of clothing.
- The second largest economic sector is Tourism.
- Soccer is one of the most popular sports and was brought to this country by the French.
If you guessed Cambodia, you are correct!

The Travel Topics portion of the meeting also covered travel ideas and locations in Southeast Asia. Meghan Burns asked us if we would rather visit Cambodia or Vietnam, if we had ever seen the constellation of the Southern Cross which is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere, if we had ever stayed in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and which was our favorite Vietnamese dish.

We enjoyed hearing two speeches at our meeting. Jacqueline Maynard-Campbell presented her Icebreaker speech to begin her next Pathway project, Motivational Strategies. In her speech, Jacqueline introduced herself to the club with details from her life. Jacqueline shared with us that she is “American by birth, Bahamian by marriage, and a citizen of the Kingdom of God by invitation and acceptance.” Tym Myers presented his Level 2, Understanding Your Communication Style speech. Tym shared that he took an assessment test in junior high school which recommended he study to be an Accountant. He made an attempt to study accounting in College and he hated the experience. However, he developed an interest in Aviation and became a commercial airline pilot, an occupation that was not even an option on the junior high school assessment test. He concluded that you should not always go with the first thing that comes along, it’s better to find your own path.

At our next meeting, our travel around the world continues with a trip to Oceania, the water hemisphere which includes the countries of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Palau, Tonga, and Papua New Guinea. If you love to sail, snorkel, or relax on the beach, the countries of Oceania are waiting for you. Join us as we share our adventures in Oceania on Thursday, April 11th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans.

Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. 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.

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters
Travel Talkers

Travel Talkers Toastmasters–East Asia
At our March 27th meeting we explored traveling to East Asia. Our Travel Topics Master, Helen Josephine, asked us questions about places we had visited in Asia and our favorite Asian food. Samantha has just returned from a trip to Japan where she visited the Sacred Deer Park in Nara. The deer in the park are protected and visitors are encouraged to walk among the animals and feed them. Samantha told us that the deer are very tame and comfortable getting food from humans. Unfortunately the bigger deer are bullies and if you don’t feed them they follow you and head-butt you. Samantha had one deer bite her leg when she was trying to feed the smaller deer. Megan also had a strange encounter with wildlife at the Singapore Airport where she tried a Fish Spa with little fish nibbling on the dead skin on her feet.

Our Destination Master, Jacqueline Maynard-Campbell, gave us these clues for an island nation:
- This nation is two islands at the conjuncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the leward islands part of the Lesser Antilles.
- The islands were first settled by hunter-gatherer native tribes called the Ciboney and the Caribs.
- The Islands were colonized by Great Brtiain in 1672 and 1678.
- The economy is largely dependent on tourism, which accounts for 80% of its GDP.
- Both of these islands have very irregularly shaped coastlines that are dotted with beaches, lagoons, and natural harbors.
If you guessed Antigua and Barbuda, you are correct!

Kit Myers presented her speech, “It Started at the Shanghai Cafe,” about her first memories of eating Chinese food when she was a child. That first introduction turned into a life-long appreciation of Asian cooking. In particular her family enjoyed making Chinese chicken wings and she shared recipes for several versions of this dish. The slides for her presentation included copies of family recipes and photos of the finished dish.

At our next meeting, we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to Southeast Asia on April 4th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans.

Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. 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.

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters
Travel Talkers

Travel Talkers Toastmasters–Eastern Europe and Central Asia
We explored traveling to the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia at our Travel Talkers Toastmasters meeting on March 21. Our destination master, Kit Myers, provided these clues for a geologic feature or landform in Eastern Europe:
- This geologic feature covers 1770 miles from the Black Forest south to the Black Sea.
- It connects ten European countries, running through their territories or marking a border.
- It can be seen in the towns of Rousse, Bulgaria and Bucharest, Romania.
- The rock sculpture of Decebalus, a colossal carving of the face of Decebalus (AD 87–106), the last king of Dacia is visible from this landform.
- It terminates in Belgrade, Serbia where it joins the Black Sea.
If you guessed the Danube River, you are correct!

Our Travel Topics Master, Meghan Burns, took us on a journey to explore the food, cities, castles and railroads of Eastern Europe. She asked us questions about visiting Bran Castle in Transylvania, taking a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and visiting a spice market on the historical Silk Road in Uzbekistan

Helen Josephine was our speaker for the meeting. She presented her Dynamic Leadership, Level 4, High Performance Leadership speech. Helen’s speech was about the teamwork required for the development and implementation of the Division A event on February 24th, “Supercharge your Communication Skills.” This event was an opportunity for members from the 17 clubs in Division A to meet in person for the first time in 4 years. Helen’s vision for the event was to encourage networking among club members, offer a workshop on how to give effective evaluations, and introduce community members to the value of Toastmasters. The event was a success with 40 Toastmasters members attending from 12 clubs, including 4 members of Travel Talkers Toastmasters (Raji, Helen, Tym and Kit).

At our next meeting, we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to Asia on March 28th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans.

Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. 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.

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters
Travel Talkers

Travel Talkers Toastmasters–the Middle East
Travel to the Middle East was our topic for the March 14th meeting of Travel Talkers Toastmasters. Our Destination Master, Kit Myers, provided these clues for the mystery destination:
- This country is the same size as Greenland.
- It is the only country that borders both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
- It is know for the Mazayina, a beauty pageant for camels with $66 million in prizes.
- It is home to the largest mosque in the world, which can accommodate 2 million people.
- It contains 50% of the world’s known oil reserves.
If you guessed Saudia Arabia, you are correct!

The Travel Topics Master at the meeting, Avis Russell, asked us questions about the different cultures, foods and experiences we might discover in the Middle East. Tym and Kit Myers talked about a trip they took that included 24 hours in Doha, Qatar. They shared stories about the types of food at the hotel buffet and what they found during their visit to the spice market. The word of the day for the meeting was shemagh, The shemagh or keffiyeh is the traditional middle-eastern headscarf for men that can be worn around the neck or over the entire face. Made of light cotton fabric, the scarf can soak up sweat, keep the sun off your neck, and protect your face during sandstorms.

Tym Myers repeated his speech, “Ring, Ring, Ring,” to incorporate the feedback he had received and improve his gestures and vocal variety in the presentation. The speech was about a last minute assignment to fly from Dallas to Paris at Christmas. He landed in France to see snow covering the airport. He soon found out that nothing was open in Paris due to the snow and the Holidays. Instead of sightseeing in Paris, he spent his time hanging out with the flight crew in the hotel where he learned to play Mexican Train Dominoes. Tym concluded that the trip had three silver linings, seeing the beauty of Paris in the snow, learning to play Mexican Train Dominoes, and teaching his daughter the game when he got home. Everyone enjoyed hearing the speech again.

At our next meeting, we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, on March 21st from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans.

Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings. 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.

Looking forward to hearing your travel stories! Join us to be inspired to take your next trip.

Helen Josephine,

Travel Talkers Toastmasters