travel group in Florida?

Lynn, all the groups have formed themselves and are not officially affiliated with Rick Steves. Denver was the first group to form. I thought it sounded like fun, so I posted on the board to see who would be interested in the Sacramento area. We have been meeting for about 2 1/2 years. My suggestion is to see who might be interested in having a group in your area. Not all groups do things the same way. Some groups always meet at a regular time (for us the 3rd Saturday of the month). Some are not as regular. Once you have some people you can discuss how everyone wants to meet, and whether it should be formal with an agenda and specific time period, or like us, very informal with no agenda, and a start time but no specific end time. Good luck with trying to start a group. If you would like any more pointers on getting one going, feel free to ask. I really look forward to our monthly meetings because it is so nice to talk travel with like-minded people.

I looked to see where Leesburg is located. Is Orlando the largest metro area near you? My suggestion is to post under General Europe with a heading something like 'Is There Interest In Forming A Travel Group in Florida?' In the body of the question ask if anyone in the (fill in the blank) area would like to get together for travel meetings. Obviously you can't cover the entire state, so focus on your area. If anyone is interested, then you can decide where and when. We meet at Panera Bread because they have wifi and no servers, so we can be there for as long as we want without bothering anyone. Find a place in your area that works for you. When you meet you can discuss how you would like the group to work. Monthly meetings? Bimonthly? Whatever works for the group. I think it was the Kansas City group that took a few months to take off. Just be patient and good luck!

Lynn... although my home is in Michigan I travel to Fl. (Orlando area) frequently as my daughter lives there, so if you get a group and I happen to be in town when you meet up I would be happy to join you. Keep me posted.
Terry Kathryn

Yes, thank you, I would like some suggestions to starting a group. As many folks that travel out of this state, I would think that there are lots of folks with lots of interesting and helpful experiences that many people could benefit from, either in planning or just recapping their trips.

Thanks for the pointers, Andrea. Yes, Orlando is the closest BIG city but it is still 45 minutes away from where I live...well, depending on where in Orlando you are going. The mailing address really fans out quite a ways from city center. Our town, and I actually live about 10 minutes south of Leesburg proper, is the center of Lake County in Florida and about 20 minutes south of The Villages, the HUGE retirement community that spans three counties! Your note about Panera Bread is a help too as there is one up in the Villages. I was thinking of setting something up that would actually be closer to there than Orlando but it would still be doable for Orlando folks to run up the turnpike and connect that way. Terry Kathryn, I will indeed let you know. Private message me and let me know where your daughter is in Orlando. That will give me an idea of how far it would be for folks from that area to get here.