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International (Virtual) Travel Group Meeting - Sunday July 10 @ 9:30am Pacific

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. Of course we will discuss other things as well.

Topics for this month:

  • Have you found any small gems to visit or stay in that are off the beaten path? Are you willing to share them with us? We promise not to tell.

  • Travel dreams vs. travel reality.

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.

Future meetings:

August 7
November 6
December 4

There won’t be a meeting in September or October because I’ll be traveling.

I’m looking for suggestions for future topics so please let me know what else you’d like to talk about.

Posted by
1636 posts

Shoot, another miss for me. It's my niece's girls weekend before she gets married in October and somehow Auntie still qualifies to attend!!

Posted by
33923 posts

niece's girls weekend before she gets married

that sounds so much classier than Hen Night!!

I'm not sure if we can make it this month, but we did just return from a road trip to Switzerland and saw some pretty great stuff...

Posted by
4866 posts

Oh, Nigel, a trip to Switzerland sounds wonderful! Glad you were out and about!

I will be arriving in Tobermory about the time you start, so will most likely just miss…..

Posted by
166 posts

Hi Andrea,

This Sunday in July won't work for me but I will stay tuned for August. Thank you!
Paulette

Posted by
10621 posts

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and hope to see those who can’t make it next month.

Nigel, I’m happy to hear you had a nice trip to a beautiful place. We still need to get there after having to cancel our 2020 trip.

Lola, we are currently in your neck of the woods for the 4th of July long weekend to visit our daughter and other family members. We are going into Seattle for dim sum this morning and then Pike Place, at my daughter’s request. Then we will make the trek a little further north to the promised land…the Rick Steves Travel Center in Edmonds to make a few purchases and not have to pay for shipping.

Posted by
17516 posts

Andrea, it looks like you lucked out with the Seattle weather, at least for today—-it is supposed to rain tomorrow. That might be a good day to visit the Boeing Museum of Flight if you have any interest.

For today, at Pike Place Market, you could include a walk by Beecher’s Handmade Cheese to watch the cheesemaking through the window (if they are doing that today).

https://beechershandmadecheese.com/

Edmonds is a nice little town to walk around, after you are finished at the RS flagship. There are ( or at least there used to be) several nice restaurants/cafes if it is time for a late lunch. I would normally suggest a walk-on ferry ride over to tiny Kingston, 20 minutes away, but the ferries have been messed up lately, especially the Edmonds one, due to low staffing. So I am not sure that is a good idea. Although it appears they are running a normal schedule today.

https://wsdot.com/Ferries/Schedule/bulletin.aspx#72926

The warning about a 2-hour wait is for cars.

I am not in Seattle right now; I am in Boise visiting grandchildren. It will be 90 here today, but right now it is still nice enough to get out for a bike ride with the kids.

Posted by
10621 posts

Thanks Lola, I appreciate all that information. Our son in law decided he didn’t want to go to Pike Place. Something about Antifa using tear gas a couple of weeks ago? 🙄 We spent a few hours in Edmonds instead. It’s an enjoyable town to stroll in and there was a street market to check out. I saw some familiar faces from MNT when we were in the travel center.

Posted by
15794 posts

Nigel - you are about to dive into deep US political waters.

Posted by
10621 posts

Nigel - I’ll try to explain in a PM.

Posted by
1321 posts

I should be able to join for the first half hour or so, perhaps a little longer.
(fingers crossed...)

Posted by
1422 posts

I would like to join in again if there is room. Thanks Andrea

Posted by
576 posts

Count me in!
I'd love to hear Nigel's Switzerland comments. I'm headed there in Sept.

Posted by
76 posts

Andrea,
I made it back from France, please add me to meeting group

Posted by
141 posts

Please count me in!
Can't wait to hear travel stories!

Posted by
17516 posts

I will have to miss it after all. So this will open up a spot if anyone else wants to join.

Posted by
10621 posts

Lola, thanks for letting me know.

We still have 8 spots left for anyone else who would like to join. You’ll have to let me know before I send the Zoom link tomorrow.

I’ll be sending the Zoom link to your emails sometime between 8:00 - 9:00 tomorrow morning.

Posted by
465 posts

I would like to join, please. I believe you have email from before. Thanks!!

Posted by
2148 posts

Hi Andrea,
I’m not sure I can make the meeting. I’m still awake at almost 3 AM with a headache. Go ahead and let someone have my place. I’ll sign in later, maybe, if there is room. No problem if you don’t have a space left.
Diane

Posted by
10621 posts

Meg, I do have your email.

Diane, I hope you feel better and get some sleep. Join in at any point.

Posted by
10621 posts

I just sent the zoom link so it should be in your emails.

Posted by
465 posts

Thank you! I do not see the link, if you see this would you be able to re-send? Thanks again!!

Posted by
10621 posts

Meg, I sent another one. I hope it works. Also try looking in your junk folder.

Posted by
33923 posts

Great fun meeting - thanks Andrea and Jim

Posted by
10621 posts

It was a good one! I’m looking forward to next month. If anyone has topics they would like to discuss I’m happy to make note of them.

Posted by
2148 posts

It was fun! I wore my sunglasses because of a migraine from the night before. I wasn’t trying to be cool 😆

Posted by
2772 posts

You don't need to try, Diane - it comes to you naturally.

This was another great meeting and as Andrea reminded us, our 2nd zoom anniversary.

Posted by
132 posts

Hi gang,
I really enjoyed this travel meeting. Thanks for letting me hang out with y'all!
I posted a trip report for the Orkneys on the travel forum, as requested: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-for-a-hidden-gem-the-orkneys. Hope you enjoy it. It's tough to be that concise and cover how amazing those islands are in a small amount of space, but I took my best shot.
I will be in Hoy (Orkney) on 7 August, so I will have to miss that meeting, unfortunately, but I will see y'all in November. Looking forward to another meeting. It's great to chat with other travel enthusiasts! Happy travels!

Posted by
317 posts

Scott and Reed, thanks for posting your trip reports. I’m looking forward to reading those.

Posted by
2148 posts

Hey Andrea.
Let Jim know that I’ve figured out how to get some photos onto my laptop. Be prepared to be wowed 🙃

Posted by
10621 posts

Diane, good news. We’ll be sure to make popcorn to sustain us through the slide show. 😆