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International Travel Group Meeting - Sunday December 14th @ 9:30am Pacific Time

After a three month pause it is finally time for our (almost) monthly travel meeting. Each meeting we have two topics, a country, region or city in Europe and a more general topic. I’m always interested to hear any topics you would like to talk about. You can mention them on this post, during the meeting or send me a PM.

Topics for this month:

  • Greece (I hope some people have information since I’ve never been there.)
  • Travel Gadgets - Have you found anything particularly helpful for planning a trip or while traveling?

It was decided by the group that we will devote the first hour to the first topic, take a short break and then continue to the second topic. YOU MUST RESPOND EACH MONTH TO THAT MONTHS MEETING POST IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND. If you have attended before I already have your email address. If not, you need to send it to me in a PM. I will not have time to ask you for it if you neglect to do this.

The emails with the zoom link will be emailed 1 - 2 hours before the meeting begins. I will post here when I’ve sent them. If you didn’t get it check your junk/spam folder and if it’s not there contact me ASAP. Once the meeting begins I will be unable to do anything. I usually log in at 9:15 if anyone is interested is joining early to chat.

Every month I get meeting requests from people with 1 post (the one requesting to join) or PM’s from people with 0 posts. We welcome everyone, but without a posting history I am asking you to private message me and tell me a little about yourself and provide your real first name. Please don’t forget to give me your email address in a PM. Do not post it on the forum.

Upcoming meetings:

January 11
February 1
March 1

Count me in! Greece is on the agenda for 2026, or least at that's the plan. If nothing else I'll have it for future. And finding out what other gaget people use in their travels will be very helpful for future trips.

Posted by
903 posts

This will be the first International Travel Group Meeting that I attend, and I'm looking forward to it. I see that you're in California, does that mean the 9:30 meetup time is Pacific Time?

I visited Greece for the first time this fall, so will be looking forward to contributing to that conversation.

And I would love to share and hear about others' helpful gadgets!

Posted by
11370 posts

Lexma, the meeting is Pacific Time. I always put that in the title but I’m out of practice. I’ve edited the title to reflect that. You still need to provide me with your email address. I’ll add you to the list after I have received it.

Posted by
11370 posts

I wanted to let people know that I’m going to be out of town from 12/2 - 12/7 and will not be available to deal with any meeting questions during that time.

Posted by
2264 posts

I’ve been to parts of Greece three times and may be going back with a friend. I’d like to join the meeting.

Posted by
596 posts

Count me in! I have not yet been to Greece some am interested to hear peoples thoughts.
Hope you had a great rest of your trip, Andrea!

Posted by
866 posts

Please include me, Andrea. I've never been to Greece either, but it is high on my list of places to visit.

Posted by
354 posts

Please add me to the list.
I've done RS Greece tour.
Thank you.

Posted by
4908 posts

I’m so bummed I can’t make this month’s meeting. We’re booked for Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos, and Athens next October. I’ll have to read any info added to the thread.
Also gadgets is always a fun topic.
Enjoy the meeting.

Posted by
3297 posts

Include me please

I want to hear from you both tour participants and independent travelers.

Gadget wise, maybe I can say something about Otter as a journaling aid

Posted by
1563 posts

Please add me to the list, as I love the topic of travel gadgets and am curious about Greece

Posted by
15943 posts

I'm looking forward to joining the group after a long hiatus.

I took the RS tour in spring and also spent 2 weeks on 3 islands in October, then several days in Athens.

Posted by
1355 posts

I'll probably need to leave a bit early but please include me in this month's meeting.
And thanks!

Posted by
158 posts

Hello! Welcome home! Please add me for Sunday! I've missed everyone!

Posted by
11209 posts

Andrea, my granddaughter is having a birthday party on Saturday evening and I know the girls are staying there until around noon-ish on Sunday. I'm hoping that they all leave promptly (or early!) but if they're still here, I might come in late just because it will be a mad house while they're here. Regardless, I still plan on coming but I might be late. If you're short on space though, let me know and I'll happily bow out.

Posted by
11370 posts

Mardee, no worries. Just log in when you can. I know you won’t want to miss the second topic since you are the Queen of the Enablers. 😆

Posted by
377 posts

I’d like to join as well, thank you!

I’ve been to a few of the Greek islands; Amorgos, Naxos, Mykonos, Delos, Santorini, Corfu, and on the mainland; Delphi, Meteora, Athens and Olympia. Happy to answer any questions anyone may have.

edited to add: I’m driving my son to SFO that morning, so I may be a little late.

Posted by
11209 posts

I know you won’t want to miss the second topic since you are the Queen of the Enablers.

Hahahahaha!!!! Definitely not! And I'm looking forward to being enabled as well!

Posted by
11370 posts

Last call for letting me know if you want to participate tomorrow. I will need to know no later than 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Posted by
4908 posts

Could you send me the link as a maybe? We are supposed to visit friends in New Jersey today but it is snowing. I am waiting to hear if everyone wants to cancel.
I also sent you a PM.

Posted by
407 posts

Unfortunately, something unexpected has come up so I’ll need to miss this meeting. I hope that you have a fun meeting.

Posted by
11370 posts

Barbara, I will send you the link.

Valerie, thanks for letting me know. We will miss you.

Posted by
11370 posts

I just sent the Zoom link. Please let me know asap if you didn’t get it. After 9:00 I won’t be able to help you if you have a problem. I will log into the meeting around 9:15.

Posted by
2414 posts

Andrea, so sorry I had not signed up for this meeting and thought I had. As I said on the call it has been one virus after another since midNov. I blame travel, being around 'new' germs & forgetting to wear my mask on the plane which is probably where the cold/bronchitis came from. Our quick turn to really cold, snowy weather probably didn't help either.

Posted by
3297 posts

Great meeting today, including our gadget show and tell.

A tip for posting links/urls -- everything that follows the ? can be deleted; you only need to paste the parts that come before it.

Posted by
11209 posts

Hey all, I was checking out Nano Bags and saw that they have a packable backpack. I was wondering if anyone has tried it. It's extremely light but according to the website it can hold up to 66 pounds. Might be a nice option for going to the Christmas markets next year but I was wondering how sturdy it was and how much protection items inside would get. Although I guess you could put non-fragile items in there.

Christine, I'm glad you like the travel trays from Tom Bihn. I have two of the small ones, like I said. I wanted to mention that they make great Christmas gifts for anyone who travels. I bought one for each of my sisters two years ago as they all enjoy traveling and they love them. You can even put some little items inside it as part of the gift, like lip gloss, fun keychains, mints, etc.

Posted by
11370 posts

Thanks for coming to the meeting and posting your gadgets here. I ordered the large Tom Bihn travel tray. I hope it isn’t too big!

Posted by
11209 posts

Andrea, I know Jean has that size and likes it. I think she has one of each size.

Posted by
208 posts

Andrea, I have both sizes of the Tom Bihn travel travel tray, and the one I tend to use most often is the larger one.
I like both, but the large one is a better fit for me most of the time.

Posted by
11209 posts

, it’s always nice to have options. ;-)

Indeed it is. ❤️

Posted by
11370 posts

My large Tom Bihn tray arrived in the mail yesterday. It is just slightly bigger than the one my friend let me borrow. He bought it years ago and at the time it was the only size. I’ll use it on my nightstand for a bit and then decide if i also need a small one. ;-)

Posted by
688 posts

I'm so sad I totally forgot about the travel meeting! I was happy it was after we arrived home (last Tuesday) but my sense of time is all over the map. It doesn't help that we're living out of our upstairs bedrooms while our kitchen is torn apart (should've been finished when we got home:(

Posted by
11370 posts

CanAmCherie, the next meeting is January 11. I hope you can make it!