Anyone want to start a group in the Pittsburgh, PA region?

I didn't know anyone in the Pittsburgh area traveled. I lived in SW Penn (West Mifflin, near Duquesne) for 10 years in the 70s. Many people I met were actually proud of the fact that they had never been outside of Allegheny County. There was a secretary where I worked who said she was 18 the first time she went to downtown Pgh.

Sorry. I'm just giving you a hard time. Although I live in Colorado, and I'm not likely to go a West Penn group meeting, I do wish you success in starting your group.

Go Steelers!

I highly recommend forming a travel group. Kim and I formed one in the Tulsa area several years ago, and have had a wonderful time.

Imagine, if you will, talking about travel with people whose eyes don't glaze over as you talk, but instead are excited for you. Imagine chatting with people who, when they ask "So, how was your trip?" really want to know! Imagine marveling over your friends' scrapbooks and souvenirs.

And you'll be surprised at how much you learn - about planning, packing, booking tickets, choosing hotels... And you'll make new friends, which is always good.

It's a wonderful thing. Do it.

BTW, my dad's family is from SW PA. When he was a boy they lived in Gates, a company coal mining town that may not exist any longer. Later his parents moved to Uniontown, which is where they lived when I knew them.

Hello,

So I am new-er to the forum and wonder how this works? Are we talking in terms this group actually goes on the trips together? Yes, I know I may be asking a really simple questions.

Cynthia

Most groups (as far as I'm aware and based on my experience with the DC group):

Meet for coffee or meal at a "order, pay, sit-down" type of place once a month.
Meet for about a couple hours (or however long you want to stay or not).
Discuss upcoming travel, past travel, or life in general. We discuss both domestic and foreign travel.

We have group members who may invite or share with members local activities (e.g., concerts, museum exhibits), but we don't necessarily travel together or meet up outside the group time. I guess it depends on how well you get to know your fellow group members.

Expectations are casual- one or more of us may miss a meeting or two. Just let the leader or designated poster know whether you'll be there out of courtesy.

For newcomers, we place a Rick Steves' guidebook on the table so that a first-time attendee can find the group.

The DC regulars know each other well enough that we've shared our email addresses, and typically we send an off-forum email as a reminder or to schedule the next meeting date. Once a date is set, it's posted in the forum. No personal contact info is posted in the forum.

Hope this helps! I'm sure others will weigh in with their experiences.

Good luck with a Pittsburgh area group!

Traveler, I think I've seen other people from West Penn posting on this forum. Hopefully some on them will see your post and PM you about meeting. Otherwise, as you read this forum, note any posters from your area and send them PMs.

That's how this whole travel group thing got started. Somewhere around 2007-8 (I think), I noticed Frank was posting a lot and lived near me, so I PMed him and suggested we get together sometime. We picked a Panera, because it was about half way between us and had Wifi. We picked the next Saturday, which was the 3rd Saturday that month. We had such a good time we decided to meet at Panera on the 3rd Saturday every month. After a few months Frank invited Charlene and Arnold, and it grew from there. We talked about it on this forum, and some other groups, the next one in Sacramento, started forming.

The rest, as they say, is history.

And our format is pretty much like what Rachel described - no set agenda, we just talk about whatever people want to talk about. Often we have enough people at the table (tables pushed together) that there are multiple conversations going on.

Traveler, yes, when the first 3 of us got together here in the Moscow Idaho area it's because we noticed each other posting and started getting together. Very casual, very fun. Now whenever someone from the "area" posts (which is why it's more fun if people fill out their profiles so you can see a location) one of us PMs them and issues an invitation. Darcy and I keep an email list and usually she sends out an email meeting notice. I'm her back up and do it when she is traveling. I hope you get some takers! It's so much fun to find like-minded people! Like Lee we don't have any kind of agenda. There does need to be a lead person to organize the meeting spot (ours is a local coffee shop and we reserve a room), send a quick email to the list and put a notice on the forum. It does not take much time.

NurseCyn - I don't think any of the groups have traveled together although the Sacramento group was trying to put something together a few years ago. Mostly we just meet for coffee, chat about travel, packing, etc. If someone is just back from a trip they'll usually do a bit of a Trip Report. If someone is going somewhere they'll bring questions for the group if they have them otherwise they'll just talk about where they're going because you know...no one else wants to listen to travel planning but this group does, lol. I've borrowed maps/guide books from others in the group, have loaned out purses and given away suitcases that don't work for me any more. Right now I've got a bunch of stuff set aside for the next time we get together...whenever that is....to see if anyone wants some "stuff".

As indicated it's very casual.

I've always thought that it would be great to have a group of like minded travelers that would like to get together to share thoughts and experiences. I do have a friend that has the "travel bug" and we really enjoy getting together and comparing notes. But having others join us would be fun, just don't know how to get it started.

Hi, Traveler. I am in southeastern PA and we do not have a current travel group either. I have thought about maybe starting one. One of my concerns is that I live close to Philly and take public transportation, which gives good access to the urban areas but iffy to some other areas. Plus, in my professional life, I know folks who do not come into Philly for work, often DO NOT come into Philly. Not sure how that would play out in Pittsburgh.

If you go totally online, I would be interested.

So here's another good reason to add you location to you posting profile (as I suggested in an earlier post) - maybe others will see you are in the same area as they are, and you can form a new travel group.

Us three couples went on the Paris and Heart of france last May 2019 from the Tulsa area group. Jane and stan, myself and hubs (David) and Eileen and Gary, So glad Eileen and Gary went ( gary passed away last November, he use to work with David). . So do it and don’t be one of those people who say they will travel some day. Some day maybe too late

Kim

The Sacramento group will be celebrating our 10th anniversary as a group in July. I noticed there was a group in Denver (the only one at that time) and thought it sounded like a great idea. I inquired, as you just did, if people were interested. We also reach out to new posters when we can see they are in the area to let them know about the meetings. We are a very casual group and don't have an agenda. We have found that having a consistent place and time to meet means that people don't have to check on the meeting notice here if they don't want to. We have attendees that don't post on the forum at all. I only post here and don't email because our group is large and we have new people come often and some people only attend sporadically. Our meetings happen monthly, no matter who can or can't attend. Obviously sometimes people are traveling. Even though I post the meetings, my attendance is not necessary for it to be held. I arrive for the meeting early to set things up, but if I won't be there I ask someone else to do it. I'm usually there, but sometimes I'm out of town. The meeting goes on, no matter how many attendees there are.

As for traveling together, some of us were going to take the Village Italy tour 4 years ago, but it didn't work out. I've met up with people from our group and with other people on the forum while traveling. I shared an apartment in Paris with someone from another group, who I personally know. Sometimes people from our group get together outside of the group setting. It's wonderful to meet people with a common interest and it's easy to become friendly with them.

I hope you find people who are interested in meeting.

Kim beat me to posting about the tour several of us went on. We didn't travel together, arriving and leaving at different times, even staying at different hotels pre- and post-tour. But it was nice to already know some folks on the tour. And of course that gave us plenty to talk about at our meetings, both before and after the tour.

We've also found it expedient to have a consistent time and place for our meetings; not everyone that comes is on the Forum. Kim also set us up as a Facebook group, and we announce our meetings there, as well as here, sharing the posts to our personal pages to attract folks who are not members of the group. We've attracted several new folks that way.

We have had to change our venue a couple of times; now, of course, but also year before last our favorite Panera was heavily damaged in a tornado, so we had to move for 5 or 6 months.

We seldom have an actual agenda, but occasionally we will announce a theme: packing, for instance. Kim and I have both done packing demonstrations. Or one of us will say something like: "I'm planning to go to Italy next year; everyone please bring your hints and tips."

But the meetings are always open to all comers and all topics. We've had one-off drop-ins, as well. One woman who lives almost 4 hours away (in Kansas City) saw our meeting posted on the Forum and decided to drop in. We all had a wonderful time! And one of our Forum friends who lives in Paris but is actually from a small town in Oklahoma also graced us with her presence once, and that was a real treat.

In case you can't tell, I'm a big fan of travel groups.

I didn't know anyone in the Pittsburgh area traveled. I lived in SW Penn (West Mifflin, near Duquesne) for 10 years in the 70s. Many people I met were actually proud of the fact that they had never been outside of Allegheny County.

I’m going to speculate that a lot of things have changed in the Pittsburgh area in the last 40 to 50 years :)

And if you can get even a few interested people you can start out with virtual meetings until it's OK to do face-to-face. This month I have enjoyed two Zoom-based travel group meetings -- we talked about what had been cancelled and what we were looking forward to doing when travel was an option again.

I don't think I can commit to meeting monthly, but I would be interested in a Pittsburgh travel group. Am I really the only one???

I'm guessing the problem (or at least a problem) is that this is not the ideal time to be asking. I have been checking the forum sporadically because I'm just not that into travel right now. I would like to be, of course, but I have no idea when I'll be able to travel again. Perhaps you might try asking again when the world returns to normal (more or less) and more people are traveling again. I hope that's soon!

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not interested in a zoom meeting. I am having quite enough of those right now!

p.s. You are right, Laura from Virginia -- Pittsburgh has changed just a bit since the 1970s!