Travel Talkers Toastmasters

Share your stories, travel tips, great adventures. We love to travel and share our trips with others.

  • SHARE YOUR STORIES

Welcome to Travel Talkers Toastmasters!

Join Travel Talkers Toastmasters on Thursday, October 8, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pacific (-7 UTC). The meeting theme is “Wine Country Trips.” Let’s travel to the world’s most beautiful wine regions. Share your adventures at our meeting.

Toastmasters offers members opportunities to improve their public speaking and leadership skills. And at Travel Talkers Toastmasters, we also learn about new destinations and share our travel adventures.

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

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

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

We meet on Thursdays from 6:30 to 7:30pm Pacific Time (-7 UTC). Use the link below 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?

https://tinyurl.com/TravelTalkersZoomLink
https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/04670726-travel-talkers-toastmasters

Meetings 2026

Travel Talkers Meetings

Club Officers

  • Travel Talkers Toastmasters—Museums and Cultural Destinations

    Meeting highlights

    The July 30 Travel Talkers Toastmasters Club meeting theme was Museums and Cultural Destinations, and the meeting also featured the installation of new officers led by Area A4 Director Scott Bradley. The club welcomed several guests, including Elizabeth Garcia from Arizona, Shalini Suravarjjala from Santa Clara, and Mandi Judy from Jamaica. Meghan Burns, as the Destination Master, conducted a guessing game about a U.S. city with many art museums. Lisa Hamil delivered a prepared speech titled “Star Power” about cultural experiences including meeting Elizabeth Taylor at a hotel in Florence, Italy. The club also conducted travel-themed table topics where members discussed museum preferences and cultural attractions. The meeting also included evaluations of timing, grammar, and overall performance, with Elizabeth winning the travel topics contest for her response about wanting to speak with the Mona Lisa to discover why she’s smiling.

    Club Officer Installation

    Scott Bradley, the new Area A4 Director from Santa Cruz, California, conducted the officer installation ceremony for the Travel Talkers Toastmasters club. The new officers officially installed are: Helen Josephine, President; Jacqueline Maynard-Campbell, Vice President Education; Lisa Hamil, Vice President Membership; Helen Josephine, Vice President Public Relations; Avis Russell, Secretary and Treasurer; Jessica Rolle, Sergeant at Arms. Each officer agreed to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. The meeting included introductions from several guests, including Elizabeth Garcia from Arizona, who is spending a month in Irvine, California; Shalini Suravarjjala, a guest invited by Lisa Hamil; and Mandi Judy from Jamaica, who all found the club through different means, including the new directory of online Toastmasters clubs and ChatGPT. Helen Josephine took on the role of Toastmasters for the meeting since Jessica was unable to attend due to a power outage.

    Destination Master

    Meghan Burns introduced the Destination Master activity, providing clues about a U.S. city with a high concentration of art museums and inviting participants to guess the location via chat.

    • This US city has one of the highest concentrations of art museums in the world, with nearly 100 museums
    • Served as the capital of the United States until 1790
    • Home to many famous artists, including Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and Georgia O’Keeffe
    • The homes and art collections of famous historic residents of this city served as the foundation of many of the art museums you can visit today

    If you guessed New York City as the location, you are correct.

    Cultural Experiences and Travel Topics

    Lisa Hamil delivered a prepared speech titled “Star Power” about her cultural experiences. She shared cultural events and celebrities, including attending and singing in a Pavarotti concert in Verona and meeting Elizabeth Taylor at a dinner in Florence during an HIV conference. She described how these cultural experiences provided relief from academic stress, particularly during a challenging statistics class.

    Museum Travel Topics

    Helen led the Travel Topics session where members shared their responses to museum-related questions. Scott proposed opening an outdoor museum featuring petroglyphs and Native American artifacts, while Elizabeth expressed interest in speaking with the Mona Lisa to discover her secrets. Avis preferred guided museum tours over exploring alone, and Mandi highlighted how museums provide deeper historical context about a country beyond just experiencing its food or beaches. Meghan shared a bizarre museum artifact involving a Civil War bullet with unusual claims about its romantic history, and Judith imagined a future AI museum where paintings could come alive and interact with visitors.

    Next Meeting

    The theme of our August 6 meeting is “Dinosaur Adventures.” Join the Travel Talkers Toastmasters Club for a fun evening sharing your adventures. Engage with fellow members as we share our stories about traveling. This is your opportunity to focus on your public speaking skills and get valuable feedback in a supportive Toastmasters-style environment. The meeting is on Thursday, August 6th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific time. We want to hear about your favorite Dinosaur adventure.

    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

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

  • 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

  • Travel Talkers Toastmasters–Southern Africa

    Travel to Southern Africa might include going on safari, exploring the beautiful coast, spending time in nature preserves, or enjoying big city life in Cape Town or Johannesburg. Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent including the countries of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

    Our Destination Master, Helen Josephine, provided us these clues for a named area in Southern Africa:

    • It is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
    • It marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward.
    • It was originally called the Cape of Storms, by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias. His discovery in 1488 established the sea route between Europe and Asia.
    • The area is now a wild, rugged, scenic, and generally unspoiled national park home to at least 250 species of birds including one of the two mainland colonies of African penguins. 
    • The area also comprises a treasure trove of 1100 species of indigenous plants, many are endemic (occur naturally nowhere else on earth). Including the Proteaceae family, of which up to 24 species occur such as the King Protea.
    • It is the legendary home of the Flying Dutchman, a ship crewed by tormented and damned ghostly sailors doomed to sail forever through the stormy sea without ever succeeding in rounding the cape.

    If you guessed, the Cape of Good Hope, you are correct!

    We had two speakers at our meeting. Avis Russell presented her Visionary Community Level 1 speech, “Gratitude–The Key to a Happier Life.” In this speech, Avis concentrated on using vocal variety and body language to enhance the message of her speech. She shared stories from her childhood about her Mother’s self-sacrifice and gratitude that have influenced her. She has passed on the examples of gratitude and appreciation she learned from her Mother to her own children. She ended her speech with a call to action and challenged us to show appreciation and gratitude daily, not just on special occasions. Our second speaker was Kit Myers. Kit presented her Presentation Mastery Level 2 speech, “Rhodesia or Zimbabwe.” She included childhood memories about first learning about the diamonds found in Southern Africa and the colorful map of the country from her grade school classroom. Even though the names of the countries changed several times over the years, as a child she wanted to visit Africa, and finally she got the opportunity as an adult.

    The Travel Talkers Master, Tym Myers, asked us questions about traveling to Africa. He wanted to know how many different flights it would take to travel to South Africa from San Francisco, which language we would speak (Afrikaans, Zulu, or English), and if it was true that the color of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean was different where the two oceans meet at Cape Agulhas the southernmost tip of South Africa.

    At our next meeting, we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to the Middle East on Thursday, March 14th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. We want to hear about your travel and adventure plans. Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world. The most populous countries in the region are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, while Saudia Arabia is the largest Middle Eastern country by area. The country of Dubai had 14.36 million international tourists in 2022 ranking it the 4th most visited location globally.

    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 Toastmasters–Bonus Trip

    Have you ever experienced a “bonus trip,” a surprise trip you had not planned to take? My bonus trip to Bangkok, Thailand happened when I was delayed en route from Manilla to Tel Aviv. I packed as much as I could into my 24-hours in Bangkok. I booked a morning tour of Bangkok’s gem and jewelry district and an afternoon tour of the City and the Grand Palace. There was so much more that I didn’t have time for, but my memories of that bonus trip are wonderful.

    Our Destination Master, Meghan Burns, gave us these clues for a city in Italy:

    • Italian city in the Emilia-Romanaga region
    • Birthplace of Pope Gregory XIII (creator of the Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1582)
    • Birthplace of Guglielmo Marconi (awarded the Nobel Prize in 1909 for radio-wave based wireless telegraph system)
    • Two foods share a name with this city (a sandwich meat and a meat sauce pasta dish)

    If you guessed Bologna, Italy you are correct!

    We enjoyed hearing three speeches at our meeting. Samantha Jamwal’s speech project for Engaging Humor, Level 4 required her to give two impromptu speeches of 2-3 minutes each on a topic selected at the meeting. Kit Myers, evaluated Samantha’s speeches for poise and presentation, the humor added to the story, and how well she connected her story to the topic. Tym Myer’s speech, “Ring, Ring, Ring’” was a speech emphasizing body language and vocal variety. Tym told us 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.

    The Travel Topics Master at the meeting, Vernitta Brown, asked us questions about our favorite travel websites and the cheapest place to visit. She asked Kit Myers to explain the difference between, one-way, round-trip, direct, and non-stop ticketing.

    At our next meeting we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to Southern Africa on Thursday, March 7th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. We want to hear about your travel and safari plans. Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent including the countries of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 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 Toastmasters — North Africa

    Our travels around the world continued at our February 22nd meeting with a stop in North Africa. The United Nations subregion of North Africa consists of 7 countries in the northernmost part of the continent — Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.

    Our Destination Master, Natasha Barr, provide these clues for a country in Africa:

    • This country is known as the “frying pan” of the world.
    • It is the second largest land-locked country in Africa.
    • The official language is French and there are 8 indigenous languages spoken.
    • It gained its independence in 1960 and has experienced civil unrest.
    • It is the poorest country in the world.
    • There are 2 modes of transportation to travel to this country: by air or by vehicle.
    • The ancient empire of Sokoto also includes dinosaur bones.

    If you guessed the Republic of Niger, you are correct!

    Helen Josephine was our Travel Topics Master and she asked us questions about what we would like to visit and experience in North Africa. The three main natural features of North Africa are the Atlas Mountains, the Sahara Desert and the Nile River. She asked if we would want to visit the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the number one top destination in North Africa. She also wanted to know if anyone had ever ridden a camel and what did they like about that experience. Finally, she asked if we would prefer to visit Egypt or Morocco to experience the culture, food, and historical artifacts.

    Our speaker, Meghan Burns, entertained us with her speech, “Three Dances in Mexico City.” She had given this speech to our club last year and she wanted to give it again to provide more body language and vocal variety. Her presentation was about a work trip to meet with colleagues and enjoy Mexico City. The first dance in her speech 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. We enjoyed experiencing the speech a second time with the addition of energetic body movements to illustrate the wrestling match and the many different voices of the airline personnel on the trip home

    At our next meeting the theme is “Bonus Trip.” Join us to share your adventures on a bonus trip that you had not planned to take. We will meet on Thursday, February 29th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Pacific time. Be inspired to travel somewhere new. 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 Toastmasters — Western Europe

    Travel destinations in Western Europe were the focus of our February 15th meeting. Western Europe is defined as including these 9 countries—Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, and Switzerland. These countries include art museums (The Louvre in Paris, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam), castles (Versailles in France, Neuschwanstein in Germany), vibrant cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna), and mountains (Mont Blanc and the Alps).

    Our Destination Master gave us these clues for a country in Western Europe:

    • This is a land-locked country in Western Europe.
    • It is a largely mountainous country.
    • It is known for musical geniuses, Olympic medalists and movie stars.
    • Delicious desserts, beer and schnizel are on the menu in this country.
    • The sugar block candy dispenser, Pez, was invented in this country.

    If you guessed Austria, you are correct!

    We had two speakers at our meeting. Kit revised and presented her speech from last week, Presentation Mastery, Level 1 speech, “They tried to make me fly standby and I say NO, NO, NO!”  Helen Josephine presented her speech, “Midnight flight to Tel Aviv” for the Dynamic Leadership, Level 3 project, “Negotiating the Best Outcome.” Her speech was about how negotiations during business travel can be stressful and sometimes have surprising outcomes. At the end of a 3-week business trip to Southeast Asia and India, Helen needed to negotiate with airline security before she could board her connecting flight in Bangkok, Thailand for her flight to Tel Aviv, Israel for a 2-day training session on the final leg of her trip. She discovered that these three negotiation tactics, be convincing, be confident, and be comfortable, did help. But the most important tactic was being calm and comfortable with whatever the final outcome would be. While she was not allowed to board the flight, she did have the bonus opportunity of spending 24 hours in Bangkok.

    Our Travel Topics Master, Kit Myers, presented photos of places to visit in Western Europe and then asked us which location we would prefer to visit and why. Would we prefer to visit the London Bridge or the Alexander II Bridge in Paris? Would we prefer to visit the cave paintings in France or paintings inThe Louvre? Would we prefer to visit the sculptures of Michelangelo in Florence, Italy or the paintings of Gustav Klimt in Vienna, Germany?

    At our next meeting we will continue our travels around the world. Join us as we share our adventures about traveling to North Africa on Thursday, February 22nd from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The United Nations subregion of North Africa consists of 7 countries in the northernmost part of the continent — Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. Be inspired to travel somewhere new. Let’s hear about your adventures at our February 22nd meeting. 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. Guests are always welcome!

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

    Helen Josephine,

    Travel Talkers Toastmasters

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