It's that time again to meet with fellow travelers to talk about --- travel!!
As always, we meet the 3rd Saturday of the month at 10:00 a.m.
Location-
Panera Bread 3571 North Freeway Blvd. Sacramento. This is off I-80, using the Truxel Rd. exit.
Everyone who wants to discuss their upcoming trips, reminisce about past trips, or just hang out and talk about travel is welcome.
Who's planning to be there?
On our calendar!
Hi Carol, I am from Southern California and asked the same question about travel meetings last month. See this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/travel-meetings-in-various-cities
Last post was June 29, 2014.
Apparently we don't have them where I am , so we are trying to get one going possibly in August. You may need to do the same unless there is one near you in DC.
Hi Carol,
I was in D.C. last September. Before I left I asked if anyone in that area would like to have a meeting while I was in town. Several people responded and we had a nice time. It doesn't appear that they have continued to meet, but you may find there is a desire to have a monthly group
All I can tell you is how the Sacramento meetings came to be. Four years ago I noticed that a group of people from this Helpline (now called a forum) were meeting monthly in Denver. I thought it sounded like a great idea, so I posted asking if anyone in the Sacramento area was interested. There was a good response, so based on the location of the responders we set it up. We just went with the 3rd Saturday of the month, and chose Panera Bread because they don't have servers and they do have wifi. After two months and more people joining us we changed to a more central location for the expanded group. We have been meeting there ever since.
The thing I think is really important is consistency. It is always the same day (3rd Saturday), same time (10:00) and same location. Some of our regulars don't get on the forum very often, but they always know where and when the meeting is.
If you don't get much response, give it time. Our first meeting was about 6 or 7 people. We have grown. We fluctuate from month to month, as people are sometimes traveling or have other obligations. We've had up to about 17 people. Personally I like it a bit smaller, as it's hard to talk to everyone with such a large group. We are very informal. We don't have an agenda (well, some might have a hidden one...;-)). That's what works for us.
If you don't get a response after trying to put something together here, try to see if there is a local Meet Up travel group.
Good luck!
Emailed my dad about the meeting, but haven't heard back from him yet. Hope he can join you as you guys are one lively group. Must be something about the agenda.
Update: Dad says no. They just moved closer to Sacramento and are still getting things arranged. You all have fun!
We're back from Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Door County, Wisconsin. Had a lot of tart cherry pie in Door County (every night) and we went to one of their fish boils in Fish Creek, WI. Not too excited about the fish boil but the locals are. Also had a Swedish dinner at Al Johnson's in Sister City where they have goats on the roof (the roof is covered with sod). I waved to Sam from Green Bay as we passed through on our way to Chicago but he was not aware that we were in the area. I waved anyway. See you on the 19th.
David, the big adventure in Fargo is that we had dinner at Applebee's with Kevin and his daughter. His daughter will be attending the university there and was there for her orientation.
Jo, I hope your dad can make it.
Susan & Monte are returning from Europe on Thursday. Hopefully they won't be too jet lagged to join us. I'm picking them up at SFO, so if they are awake for the drive back I will do my best to convince them to come.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!
"I waved anyway." Hey, sometimes that's all we can do...Larry, I was hoping there would at least be some photos from your rendezvous with Kevin...but maybe you just ate dinner ;-)
Is it really time to meet again? Time has been f.l.y.i.n.g. for me lately. Hope I remember...
Helpliners provide airport transfers? Sweet!
My airport pickup service comes with a catch. We will pick them up in SF and Monte will pick us up in SF when we return from our trip in October. We are flying using air miles and our flight options were limited for the days we could travel. We fly out of Sacramento and back to San Francisco. Our vehicle will be parked at the Sacramento airport for almost 6 weeks, so we will need a ride there to pick it up. Thankfully we can park for free there. I can't imagine how much it would cost to have to pay for parking for that period of time!
Karen, I haven't forgotten about the maps. Well, I did forget, but there is plenty of time. I'll get that to you soon.
Hey Andrea, Susan or Monte, We need a ride to and from the airport, can I schedule a reservation with you? It's only a 4 minute drive each way to the Lewiston airport, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for you.
Why of course I can take you to the airport Darcy. But only if you can take us. The airport is only a 20 minute drive. :-)
Susan, Monte and Paige have been safely delivered home. I told them they are expected at the meeting. Now it's out of my hands.
See everyone Saturday. Jim's not working so he will be there too.
I'll be in Corte Madera getting my car serviced Saturday, so won't make it to Sacramento. Susan from Sausalito-want to meet for lunch in Corte Madera?
Larry,
Glad you had fun in Fargo! Maybe you'll see Tom when you both happen to be there in August.
Andrea, No hurry on the York maps. After all, we have 64 days, 9 hours, and 25 minutes.
Karen, Susan/Sausalito can just swing by and pick you up; you're welcome!
Andrea, get those maps - you now only have 63 days, 20h & 15m...+/-...
Just now saw your post Karen and just sent you an email... I wanted to come up to Sac for tomorrow's meeting but I'm afraid I won't be able to... : (
And you're right Eileen...I can!
Susan, I'm sorry to hear you won't be able to make it. I hope you can come next month. If not, maybe we can get together sometime before I leave for some France tips. It was good to see you for lunch. :-)
We are back and plan to be there. The 3207 picture slide show will begin promptly at 10:00 followed by the 2 hour 26 minute video. Please don't be late :-) Oh, I forgot that is just mine, Monte's slide show will probably begin by about 3:45!
I'm on a Texan's time schedule today. See you then, a few minutes late!
Wait, Susan and Monte! I'll be a little late but I don't want to miss a minute of the slide show and videos!
Oh and Andrea, I'll have to fly back from Seville to take you to the airport. Do you think the hotel will hold my backpack for me?
We just got home from the meeting. The slide show was fantastic. And the videos...what can I say? Panera was so nice about us meeting so long. At closing time they told us to stay as long as we wanted and even gave us pastries that didn't sell during the day. ;-)
Darcy, I would hate for you to come home just to give us a ride. And no, I don't think they will hold your bag for you! Maybe you can just pick us up from our trip? I think you get home before we do.
(Typing with a mouth full of day-old pastries) Yeah, Andrea - ain't Panera grand?
It was great to meet Lauri and Ed (Laura B), too! Very nice people :-) There's never enough time to really talk with everyone as much as I want - even if we close the place down... ;-)
(And bite me, Kat LOL)
It was really good seeing you for lunch Andrea... and Eileen and Kat. I really hope to be there next month... but only if Susan and Monte will re-play all their photos and videos... you all won't mind will you?
