How many groups are there?

they are set up by lovely people who want to meet other travelers. You can join the on-line ones via zoom just by answering on the post. I've "met" many fellow travelers that way. We did have a group in NY but it feel apart during covid.

Lyndash, go ahead and post one for your area. I started one in the Coeur d’Alene/Spokane (North Idaho/Eastern Washington) after I moved here from the Seattle area. I missed having the Rick Steves Travel Center nearby, and we have a lot of fun at our monthly meet ups. I picked a French bakery downtown as a fun location, and the owner joins a bit in our conversation occasionally, too!

I agree with Jean (…and thank you, Jean!! lol).

Years ago a friend (well she’s a friend now but I didn’t know her then!!) and I noted several people who lived near where I lived then. We PMd and got together then organized a monthly meet up.

Have you noticed others in the DFW area?

And yes, if it wasn’t a 3-day drive I’d drop in on that Tulsa group too!

Lyndash, since you asked, the first travel group started when Lee and Frank, long-time participants in Rick’s Online forum, realized they both lived in the Denver area, and decided to get together once in person. That led to more get-togethers, and then a formal monthly gathering was established, inviting others. This encouraged others to create additional groups in their areas (including an International group on Zoom), and a dedicated category on this Travel Forum.

I believe Andrea started the 2nd RS travel group, the Sacramento Travel group, after noticing the success of Frank and Lee’s group. I went to quite a few Sacramento meetings despite the 3-4 hr r/t drive and made many friends there.

In the summer of 2014 i started a group in my area and we’ve been going strong ever since. I’ve met, and made good friends with, so many wonderful people, Many of us get together often for parties, lunches, dinners, coffee, outings, etc outside of our meetings. Some of us have traveled together, and some of us have met up in person in Europe.

I highly recommend you start one in your area Lyndash, it’s a lot of fun. Post it on this forum and it will start and grow from there. Pick a location that’s easy for people coming from many directions to get to easily. If you only get two people at first, that’s ok, that’s a start, and it will grow.

If I am not traveling (kind of a big if), I would drive over…..

Yes …. We have fun in Tulsa. In Heathrow now heading home.

Pam….. do we finally get to go on a trip together in 2025?

Susan is correct, in 2010 I noticed there was a Denver group and wanted to see if there was any interest where I live. Oh was there ever. We are still going strong and July will mark 13 years since the first meeting. It’s a great opportunity to have people who are interested in traveling to talk to and friendships from. It has extended to seeing people outside of the meetings.

If you are interested in starting a group near you my best advice is to be consistent with your meetings so people always know when and where it it. For example, we always meet the 3rd Saturday of the month at 10:00 at a specific Panera Bread. It happens when I’m there or not. I’ll be missing it in July because I’ll be gone. There’s always someone else I can get to arrive a little early to set up the tables. Be patient because it might take a little while to have the group form, but I have to guess there are people in your area that would be interested. Let me know if you have any questions.

I forgot to add that Barbara and others mentioned the online groups. I host an International Group meeting, usually the first Sunday of the month. Look for the post under the Travel Group Meeting forum and let me know if you’re interested. The next meeting is this upcoming Sunday.

Thanks for the feedback/explanations. Of course being here reliably to attend is an issue for me too with my book group. . But at least you don’t have to read the book for a travel meeting 😉

I just signed up for 2 more tours this morning for 2024 so I’m kinda in shock at myself. Village Italy in April solo, Eastern France in Oct solo. And also Greece in May again with my husband in hopes Covid doesn’t derail us like it did last month🤞. The extra $100 off until June 30 made me take the leap!

Lyndash, lolol!!!! Yea to everything you've signed up for! What a fun time you will have!

@Kim: "Pam….. do we finally get to go on a trip together in 2025?"

YES!!

And if you see anyone’s reply to any post with their name and your state, send them a private message invite. I realize Texas is large, but sometimes people are traveling around in their state, too. Good luck!

as far as how many groups there are - in addition to Andrea's Sacramento one and her International Zoom one (there's a meeting on Zoom this weekend), a bit further south is the Bay Area with Susan's group previously mentioned and also CWsocial's East Bay group. The East Bay group meets both in person and on Zoom.

I regularly attend both of those Zoom meetings (it gets a bit late here in Europe but I love them).

I'd encourage you to start a Metroplex group. If you want to test the waters you could start out on Zoom if you wanted, or even before you could come to one or both of the west coast zooms to see how it feels to you....

I’ve been thinking for sometime that there needs to be a Phoenix group again. The pre-Covid group dissolved but, for me, the location due to traffic wasn’t manageable. I’ll have to work out the logistics and take in to account the us retirees may not want to drive at night, access to freeways for north, south, east and west travel, and traffic which can be horrid. If anyone has ideas, please PM me.

Portland Or has a group. Pre Covid I attended and really enjoyed it. Covid shut things down. So once things started loosening up I tried to contact the original group. There wasn't much interest. So I just put it out there. A couple members from before showed up & we grew from there. We have between 15-20 at our meetings. Lots of fun & at our size someone is always coming or going.

Lyndash- as Mark mentioned regarding Portland's group, there are always people in and out of town so once you have a few attendees the meetings run on their own. No worry if you can't attend, other than missing out on the fun.