Please sign in to post.

International (Virtual) Travel Group Meeting-Sunday August 2, 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time

Hello fellow travelers,

Our meeting in July went well, so we will continue on with this as long as there is interest. For the sake of consistency I will schedule the meetings on the first Sunday of the month. If I have a conflict with the date some month I will choose an alternate. The meetings will begin at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

If you enjoy talking about travel and interacting with others that share the same passion then this is the place for you. I was thinking about those of you that don't have local groups to meet with when I started this, though all are welcome.

Some lessons learned after the first meeting -

  • There needs to be a limit to participants. It has been determined that more than 25 is too many. You must reply to this thread to be invited. The first 24 people to respond will be admitted to the meeting. I can send more invites in case any of the those 24 people don't log in. We can have a 10 minute grace period starting at 9:00 a.m. After that any others still in the 'waiting room' can be admitted up to 24 people.

  • Considering the size of the group it was suggested that we choose a topic or two to discuss. Some were suggested and I will choose two for us to start with. More suggestions are welcome for future months. Of course we will discuss other things as well.

Topics -

  • How do you manage laundry on a long trip? If you have any items that you find useful please share them with us.

  • What "out of the box" fun things do you like to do on a trip?

Please let me know in a reply to this post or with a PM if you are interested. I will email the Zoom meeting link. If you participated last month I already have your email address. If you didn't you will need to send it in a PM.

See you on August 2nd!

Posted by
10177 posts

Nigel, you can talk about anything you'd like!

Posted by
32512 posts

I don't know if I can wait until the 2nd

Posted by
1194 posts

I just want to point out that Sunday mornings will always create a conflict for those that wish to attend Sunday services. This will affect anyone in the Central, Mountain, or Pacific time zone. Most churches are doing online services at the moment so that ties up the computer.

I understand the need for mornings as that allows our European friends to join.

I’m not sure what a more inclusive solution would look like.

Posted by
10177 posts

Hi Cindy H,

I understand your concerns and the conflict Sunday meetings presents for some people. As you mentioned, starting the meeting later would mean our European friends wouldn't be able to participate. I had a couple of comments from west coast people last month that 9:00 was early for them, but they managed anyway. I'm trying to account for all potential time zones. I have obligations several Saturdays a month and that's why I chose Sunday for these meetings. I'm sorry if you or anyone else is not able to participate, but I certainly understand your dilemma.

Posted by
2417 posts

Please include me, too - if I find out I can't get to the meeting that Pacific Time early, I'll give up my spot.
Thanks!
The laundry topic is one that's been mysterious to me, so I look forward to being enlightened.
I will also come up with some extraboxical highlights, like connecting with local expats or finding the local community center...

Posted by
10177 posts

I've sent the Zoom invites to everyone who has responded, except one person who sent me a PM without an email address. Please all, be sure to give me that information if you have never given it to me before.

Posted by
5697 posts

Sunday at 9 -- I'll be there! (Or here however you want to say it.) Maybe even doing the laundry in the next room at the same time. When traveling, using laundromats is our out-of-the-box way of meeting locals.

Posted by
3941 posts

I didn’t stop to count but hope we aren’t to capacity yet - would love to be there again!

Posted by
3941 posts

Cindy H, that is thoughtful. I know here in Central time, I am still doing church online but it is over by 11. So it might be ok for those of us in this time zone. If I were going in person I might have to duck out early.

Posted by
984 posts

I’m interested in joining again! Please include me if there is still room!

Posted by
982 posts

I'm Interested if you still have room. Love the idea to help those of us that are a little too far to meet up with a group. I will send you a PM with my email address.
Margaret

Posted by
10177 posts

Everyone who has told me they want to participate should have received the invite. Please let me know if you haven't.

There is no way to tell from looking at the responses here how many people have responded. Some people just send me a PM. At this point I have sent out 12 invites. Even if we get to 24 I will send invites to anyone else interested. I am keeping a list of the order people have responded. If any of the first 24 don't log in by 9:10 I can admit anyone else who is in the Zoom waiting room, up to the maximum. I'll let you know in advance if you aren't in the first 24 people. Last month a couple of people who received invites did not join us, so it can happen.

Posted by
10177 posts

Will do Charlie, but you have to send me your email address.

Posted by
1017 posts

Add me if you have room. Never done zoom but will try

Kim

Posted by
10177 posts

I've sent more invites. Let me know if you requested one and didn't get it.

Posted by
1315 posts

I'd like to be included, Andrea, if there are still spots available.

Posted by
297 posts

Hi Andrea, I would like to join again, thank you!

Posted by
1113 posts

Hi Andrea, please include me again if there’s room. Thanks!

Posted by
10177 posts

I continue to email invites to all who request one.

During a Zoom meeting on Saturday it occurred to me that there might be a solution for two issues.

The first is that so many people would like to participate, but it becomes cumbersome with too many. Secondly, a meeting beginning at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on a Sunday can cause conflicts for some people. I'm thinking that doing two meetings might enable more people to join in. Maybe a 9:00-11:00 and 12:00-2:00? Both would be on a Sunday and Pacific Time. Is 2 hours enough or would you prefer 2.5 hours? I'd like to hear people's thoughts. This would not affect the meeting for this upcoming Sunday.

Posted by
282 posts

I’d like to join this meeting. I’ve sent you a PM with my email address. Thanks!

Posted by
10177 posts

Everyone who has shown interest should have received their Zoom invite in their email. Please let me know if you have not.

With the responses so far we will have 4 people in the waiting room. I will notify those people in advance. At 9:10 they will be admitted into the meeting in order of their initial response to this thread if there is room. If anyone logs into the meeting after 9:10 they will be at the back of the line to be admitted, so please log in timely. We will be discussing having two meetings and how long they will last, to begin in September. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Posted by
10177 posts

We had a fun meeting. It was nice to see both new people and some from last month. After discussing the option of having two meeting times most people felt that keeping it to one group would be better, so one meeting it is. Maybe we will start it at 9:30 or 10:00 Pacific time. I want to make sure that anyone in Europe can participate without it being too late there. Look for the post announcing the September meeting for details.

Posted by
740 posts

Thank you, Andrea. It was a really nice meeting. I thought the topics were fun and interesting. 9:30 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. PST works well for me.

Posted by
32512 posts

what a fun meeting we had. That is a brilliant idea, Andrea.

So great to see so many people with names who I recognise...

Posted by
297 posts

Many thanks for organizing Andrea and Jim, great meeting!

Posted by
1315 posts

Thank you, Andrea! Your efforts are much appreciated.

Posted by
3941 posts

Thanks for hosting, Andrea! I appreciate the time and organization this takes! And I am completely flexible on times (since we aren’t talking about earlier).,

Posted by
2417 posts

My thanks also to Andrea and to everyone who shared interesting tips and tricks about their dirty laundry :-)

The best mention for me, though, was the reminder about the lodging options near Canal St. Martin -- this had come on to my radar back when the new Cité de la Musique opened, but I had let it fall off my radar until it came up today in the washing machines discussion!

Posted by
11027 posts

interesting tips and tricks about their dirty laundry

Umm, isn't washing it the thing to do? or in extreme cases, burning it? ... (he said tongue in cheek, not having been in the meeting)

Posted by
10177 posts

Joe, I don’t usually like to share my dirty laundry, but I trust everyone will keep it to themselves. ;-)

Posted by
123 posts

I thought it was a great meeting and look forward to the next one! I had a great laundry experience in Paris....in a local laundromat with machines I didn't understand! The two ladies and a man doing their own laundry helped me. They didn't speak English and I don't speak French. They even shared dryer time with me. I'll always be grateful. I smile every time I think about it!

Thank you so much for leading the meeting! It's so great to hear everyone's travel experiences!!

Posted by
1017 posts

Andrea -

Thank you for letting me be a 1st time zoomer. I was fun

Kim

Posted by
2065 posts

Thanks Andrea!! This has been nice for me since there isn’t a group meeting in my area of California!

Posted by
2461 posts

Andrea,
I had a friend over for lunch and forgot about the meeting, I didn’t put it on my calendar . I would love to join you next time. So sorry I missed it.

Posted by
984 posts

Sorry I missed this one. I wanted to hear everyone’s laundry stories! I hope I can catch the next meeting.