East Bay (SF area) Travel Group Meeting - Sat, Jan 11, 2020

We will still be completing our Christmas markets travel, last stop Berlin.
Here's what we did:
● Frankfurt on Lufthansa 5 nights (replacement for Paris since we were scheduled to fly in on day 1 of what has turned out to be a month-long strike)
● Strasbourg 3 nights (two nights in Colmar got switched out because the train service between Colmar and Strasbourg was sketchy)
● Stuttgart 3 nights, day trip to Esslingen
● Nürenberg 4 nights, day trip to Regensburg
● Munich 3 nights
● Salzburg 4 nights including Christmas, day trip to Hallstatt
● Vienna 8 nights including New Year's Eve, watching the simulcast of the New Year's Day program of the Vienna Philharmonic on a big screen outside the Rathaus surrounded by hundreds of Viennese.
● Budapest 5 nights, Parliament visit scheduled, baths day planned
● Berlin 5 nights, flight home on Swiss via Zurich

All intra-Europe travel by train except EasyJet to Berlin. Ask us about our moderate-priced hotels.

Purchases (in addition to things we ate and drank) : three glühwein mugs

See you all in February!
Ed and Lauri

Lauri and Ed - it seems you're having a lovely trip thus far! And have sidestepped the Paris strikes with the dexterity of a master travel planner. I am planning to watch the New Year's Day program of the Vienna Philharmonic on PBS at [Correction] 9pm this evening. I'll watch for you in any crowd shots :-)

It does appear you are short on purchases … there's still time! We will look forward to a full report in February. Enjoy the rest of your fabulous trip!

I plan to be there!

Yes, I'll be there and I have already added the future meeting dates to my new 2020 calendar! Happy New Year!

I’ll b there. I’m a sports jinx anyway.
Jeff

Wonderful, 3 seats for Barbara, Christine and Jeff!

Jeff, it's good you said something about the playoffs. We'll know the '49 fans: they'll be the ones leaving by 1pm to watch the start of the game.

Hi. My husband & I have been wanting to start attending these meetings. However, we live in Napa. Are there any meetings closer to us?
Thanks
Karen

Hi Karen - you may be right in the center of 3 meetings that happen in Marin, Sacramento and Orinda.

I see comments on a meeting thread that you've been in touch with Susan, who heads the Marin group.

Here is the most recent link for the Sacramento meetings, if that's closer for you.

We'd sure love to have you!

CW social
Yes, I was in touch with the Marin group in the past but never made it to a mtg. Now we would like to connect, but I don't see that one listed here in meetings scheduled. Am I missing it? How do I find out when their mtg is?
And, yes, looks like your mtg in Orinda and the mtg in Marin might take about same amount of time to travel to. Sacto would be longer commute.
Thanks for your help.

Hi Karen, you can search the forum for "SF Bay Area" and find notices of prior meetings in Marin, to get in touch with their founder. She had mentioned in a post this summer that they meet at a restaurant with table service and have a limit of how many people can attend. To accomodate more people, I proposed starting the East Bay travel group, and we've been meeting monthly since!

Edit: The January meeting of the SF Bay Area travel group in Marin is posted.

If you'd like to join us, please let me know. We'd love to have you!

I call the owners of the café early on the morning of our meetings and give them our group size. They've been very accommodating in the winter, reserving a space indoors where we can comfortably accomodate 10 or 12, perhaps a few more. When the weather permits, we take over their outdoor patio and can accomodate as many as 16.

I'll be there!

Wonderful, Christa, see you there! And looking forward to hearing more about your trip planning.

It was great meeting up with Laura and Ed in Frankfurt. Always a pleasure meeting people from the RS forum.

That's great, Ms. Jo, I'm so glad you go to meet them and maybe show them around a bit. The California travelers are looking forward to seeing you in March!

Hi Karen, here is the thread i posted this morning about the Marin meeting.
Please rsvp if you plan to join us as we have limited seating. Hope to see you!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/san-francisco-bay-area-travel-group-meetup

Ok, back to your meeting CW! Sorry to hijack your thread 😊

Susan, thanks for posting your link! I appreciate it, and love that our travelers have several options.

CW, thank you for all your work to create another group in the East Bay - it was badly needed and you’re so good at it!

I have a great mentor, Susan, thank you for all of your help! And wonderful suggestions from other RS travel group leaders who have given me great ideas.

Aw, right back atcha!

We plan to be there. Just returned from Edinburgh and will update you on how our UK sim card worked.

Great, see you there Carol! Looking forward to hearing about the SIM, and your travels!

Thanks so much for the info. Unfortunately my husband will not miss the 49er game and so we will plan on attending either the one in Marin or the one in Orinda in Feb. Looks like the travel time is the same for both.
Looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing travel stories!

Hi Karen, I can understand not wanting to miss the playoff game. We welcome you in February or any other month that is convenient for you!

Anyone else care to talk travel instead of watching the playoffs? Or stop in before the games starts!

I'll be going to the Marin meeting this month but perhaps next month...
Have a nice time.
SharYn

SharYn, you are always welcome!

Hey hey Catherine
I won’t be there today, feeling under the weather. Enjoy
Aloha

Feel better, Princess Pupule, and we'll see you another month!

It's time for your meeting, so --- thinking of you from Berlin!

You must have heard us talking about you and thinking of you on your amazing trip. You will be the "main attraction" at our meeting in February :-)

Enjoy Berlin and safe travels home!!

Another great travel group meeting on Saturday! It was fun to see everyone and hear about past/future travel. I loved sharing/reminiscing about my Xmas market trip and look forward to hearing about Laura B's experience at the markets next month. Thank you, Catherine, for saving us the perfect tables inside and leading the lively discussion.

Agree! Hearing your experiences was almost as good as being there. A great lively meeting and, yes, a big thank you to Catharine for starting the group and for leading the discussions! Also looking forward to hearing about Laura and Ed's trip. Vicarious fun for all of us.

Vicarious travel living, for sure! I didn't realize how contagious it would be hearing about everyone's trips to Scotland and Colmar/Strasbourg. Christine, every story about your Christmas market trip fuels my own ideas! I'll be in big "trouble" next month when we hear about Laura B and Ed's trip. I'm looking forward to that kind of "trouble" !!!

Jeff - thanks for the calendar, it's on my fridge!

Thanks all, for the lively discussions, and see you in February!!