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International Travel Meeting - Sunday 12/4 @ 9:30am Pacific Time

It’s time for another International Travel meeting. If you like talking about travel and interacting with others who share the same passion this is the place for you. Everyone is welcome, no matter where you live.

There’s a limit to the number of participants. You must reply to this thread to be invited. The first 24 people to respond will have priority to be admitted to the meeting. I can send more invites in case any of the those 24 people don't log in. We have a 5 minute grace period starting at 9:30 a.m. After that any others still in the 'waiting room' can be admitted, up to a total of 24 people. So far this hasn’t been an issue. If someone finds they can’t participate after all, I would appreciate it if you can let me know as soon as possible.

Every meeting there will be topics to discuss.

Topics for this month:

  • As I promised last month, our first topic is Christmas Markets. Have you gone? Are you going? Do you want to go? What are your recommendations for the best markets? Is anyone going to be at a market during the meeting that would like to give us an on the ground report? Does anyone have packing advice for appropriate attire and footwear to be warm, dry and comfortable when at the markets?

*Edited to add that people in Europe at a market will be able to report first. After that we would like to hear from people currently in Europe who can talk about the markets. Following them will be everyone else. *

  • Do you consider climate change when planning where you want to go and when to travel there? If we run out of time because we are enjoying the Christmas Market topic we will discuss this another month.

Please let me know in a reply to this post or with a PM if you are interested. If you have participated previously I already have your email address. If you haven’t you will need to send it to me in a PM.

I will be emailing the Zoom link an hour or two before the meeting begins.

Please think of some topics for future meetings and share them during the meeting or you can PM me if you prefer.

Upcoming meetings will be:
January 8
February to be determined
March 5

Posted by
3953 posts

Andrea, I can’t be certain, but it looks like timing might be right to give you a quick look at the Heidelberg market if all goes well (and I haven’t crashed with jet lag yet). I arrive on the 4th and hope to be seeing some of it around that time. I probably can’t hang for the whole meeting, though.

Posted by
10178 posts

TexasTravelMom, that would be great. I think priority for who goes first should be to people in Europe.

Posted by
2418 posts

You've listed 9 am in the title and 9:30 am in the text of this posting -
it's becoming a running motif for me to be folding laundry while on the zoom :-)

Posted by
10178 posts

Yikes, that’s what I get for multitasking. Thanks for pointing it out and I’ve edited the title. We can’t interfere with your laundry folding schedule. 😉

Posted by
554 posts

Hi Andrea,

Please add me in. I don't have much recent experience with the Christmas Markets, but I love to listen in.

Posted by
15560 posts

Hi Andrea. I'll be in Budapest that weekend, so I hope I'll be able to join and report on the markets there. . . . depends on the quality of the wifi for my laptop or my ability to zoom by smartphone (especially after some Hungarian 🍷.

Posted by
10122 posts

I checked out our market today. It's good for shopping for handmade goods, sweets, chocolate, truffles--the pungent black ones, but nothing specifically part of the regional Christmas tradition. The south of France is not prime Christmas Market territory.

Posted by
1305 posts

Hi Andrea --
I think I can make this one.
(fingers crossed!)

Posted by
10178 posts

I’m bumping this up in case people missed it over the holiday weekend.

Posted by
282 posts

Hi, Andrea, Please include me. Thanks for including the climate change/travel plans topic (if there’s time for that during this meeting).

Posted by
6231 posts

Andrea, I hope to come, thanks! My internet has been much better lately especially when I move closer to the router. Starlink is looking better and better - if only I didn't dislike Elon Musk so much. :)

Posted by
10178 posts

Valerie, if we run out of time for that topic it will be the first topic next month.

Mardee, 🤞🏼 that your internet is working better.

Posted by
123 posts

Please add me. Looking forward to Sunday!! Hate I missed last month. Did you see Hamilton, Andrea??

Posted by
8934 posts

I should be able to join live from the Frankfurt Christmas Market. Let me know. Will be coming back from the Idstein Christmas market that evening, but earlier. Otherwise, that would have been a good one to be on Zoom.

Posted by
10178 posts

Jody, we did see Hamilton and it was fabulous!

Ms. Jo, I think we would all love on the ground reporting from a Christmas Market. Thanks.

Posted by
299 posts

I’d like to join if still room, thank you Andrea!

Posted by
10178 posts

There’s still room for anyone else who would like to join.

Posted by
10178 posts

I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon. I’ll email the zoom link to everyone around 8:15 or so and in case anyone else would like to join you will need to respond before that time.

Posted by
8934 posts

Too chilly outside and fighting a bad cough. Christmas market report coming from the comfort of my bedroom instead of the Christmas market.

Posted by
32523 posts

trying to log on but didn;t get the link

Posted by
2418 posts

We had a live report from Heidelberg, yay, at this meeting and a fine time catching up with everyone's doings -- thanks for bringing us together, Andrea y Jim!

Posted by
10122 posts

On the French 8:00pm news this evening a report from the Colmar Christmas Market touched on the two topics at this meeting. How can a Christmas Market save energy and reduce its carbon footprint? The Colmar town government will not reduce the number of magicallights and projections at the market, saying they cost the city only 4-6,000 euros for the whole period. However, they did remove the space-heaters from the vendors’ stands. Brrrrrrrr.

Posted by
13809 posts

Brrrr, Bets. I'll bet they are chilly in those little chalets!

Posted by
10178 posts

Nigel, I’m so sorry. You never said you wanted to attend.

Fun meeting with an on the ground visit to the Heidelberg Christmas Market with TexasTravelmom. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Brrr is right to not have extra heat at the market stalls.

Posted by
2067 posts

I was late and missed the first 10 minutes and am bummed. . My email account on my laptop would not pull up today’s email. I had to go in and change my password for some reason. I also left the meeting when someone said it was great that we were getting rain. I had already hit the leave button so when I tried to unmute, I disconnected. I was able to abort my headache with timely medication.

Posted by
32523 posts

Nigel, I’m so sorry. You never said you wanted to attend.

oh foo. It has been a week from hell and I always join. I (and Mrs me) was really looking forward to the doubleheader ... Oh well, I have to be more careful next time

Posted by
3953 posts

I wish I could have stayed for more but was falling asleep! And now awake - thanks jet lag. Bets, I am excited about seeing Colmar this week!

Posted by
8934 posts

Thanks for letting me share so long and so much, about the Christmas markets. It was fun seeing the Heidelberg market with Travelmom.
Thanks, Andrea and Jim!