NEW East Bay (SF area) Travel Group Meeting - Sat, Aug 24, 2019

Thank you, CWsocial, for organizing this new travel group! I’ll be there!

Fantastic CW! The East Bay needs a travel group, thank you for stepping up!

CWsocial, my wife I are planning to attend. We live just down the road in Danville. However, I have two events that will have a priority if they come up. If I can’t make I will let you know either way. I Do plan to attend future meetings as dates and times get set. We have attended the Marin county meetings many times and have enjoyed the discussions.

I love this idea and will try to attend. 50% chance, as I will be between trips and trying to juggle a lot of things. Thanks so much for your efforts to launch a group.

Christine, looking forward to seeing you there!
Mark G, we'll look forward to meeting you and your wife if you can make it!
Anne, I know what you mean about the juggling that happens between trips. I hope you can make it; and if you can't make this one, we'll look forward to seeing you at a future meeting!

And Susan, thank you for your support in starting this new group. I can only hope ours will be as successful as yours is!

Congrats on getting the new group started. Our Sacramento group always has fun. I (maybe hubby too) will try to make it. It's possible we will be obligated to something else that day. We are currently traveling and return home in a week. I should have more information by then and will let you know.

CW, you are so gracious. You are most welcome, happy to help. Knowing you, i know your group will be very successful and a lot of fun!

Looks like you already have quite a crowd coming, very soon you may have to look into renting the Oakland Coliseum... !!

Andrea and Susan - it's so great to have the support of local and long-time group leaders, thank you!

Yes, I'm delighted with the interest. Fortunately I chose the Starbucks because it has a nice-sized outdoor seating area. I hear the Coliseum will have some additional availability though, so it's good to have that as a backup!

Yes, kinda empty in there these days... and the rental rates are a bargain now!

Hi, I too am about 50/50 on whether I will attend. I will give you a more firm update the week of the 24th.
Thank you for doing this!
Betty

Sadly I won't be able to make the meeting after all. Maybe next month will work out. I hope you have a great meeting!

Betty - it will be great if you can make it, and if not this month then hopefully another!
Andrea - I understand, you weren't sure if you'd be able to make it this month. Hopefully September will work out!

Thank you for arranging this. I will be there and might have a friend join. We were on the Heart of Ireland tour this summer and it was fantastic!

Nancyschild - I'm so glad you'll be there and I hope your friend can make it as well. It will be great to hear about your Heart of Ireland tour!

Orinda is a little far for us, but we are interested in joining a travel group. Is the one that was meeting in Larkspur still occurring? I have not seen any info on it for awhile.
Thanks

Hi Karen, Yes, my group still meets in Larkspur. I’ll send you a PM.

Bumping this thread back to the 1st page so more people will see it... : )

For anyone taking BART. note that there will be track work Orinda> Walnut Creek on weekends August through September. May be freeway backup as well. Plan for delays!

Laura B - that's an excellent point, thank you for that reminder!

It turns out that the event I thought was on the 24th is now scheduled on the 25th. I'm going to try to make the meeting. My hubby may come along.

That's great Andrea, looking forward to meeting you!

For everyone's benefit, the Bart work planned for the weekends will not be taking place the weekend of August 24th:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/BART-work-will-close-track-and-lanes-from-Orinda-14301617.php

All lanes of Highway 24 should be open and Bart should be running between Orinda and Walnut Creek. Of course, that may change depending on the work, so please check for updates. If I learn of a change that will impact drivers or riders, I'll post again.

Current highway lane closures are planned for the weekends of Aug. 17-18, Aug. 31-Sept. 2, Sept. 14-15, Sept. 28-29, Oct. 12-13 and Oct. 26-27.

The closures will impact our September 14th meeting.

Hello East Bay Travelers,

If your status has changed for our first meeting this Saturday, August 24th, please let me know so that I can get enough seats.

Thank you and see you on Saturday!

My husband and I are definitely coming.

Marvelous, thanks Andrea, looking forward to meeting both of you!

Hi CW -- Sharyn and I will be attending. Looking forward to it!
Betty

Wonderful, see you Saturday!

We're at 13 (Edit: now 16) "yes" and some "maybes" still out there, with a few people who are traveling but planning to join us in September.

Betty, I'm looking forward to seeing you and SharYn. I'm also looking forward to meeting new people who love to travel.

Andrea and Jim — you both are a big draw for me!
Looking forward to seeing you both.
💕
SharYn

SharYn, you are too sweet. A word of 'warning' to those new to travel groups, be prepared to become friends with those you meet. 😊

For those who are taking Bart tomorrow, I'm reading that the delays may be 20-30 minutes due to single tracking around the track replacement work.

Looking forward to meeting 16 new travel loving friends tomorrow!

Thank you everyone who attended our first East Bay Travel Group meeting. What a great group of dedicated travelers!

Thanks to Andrea and Jim for driving down from Sacramento. It was great to have you at our inaugural meeting. Thanks to both the new travel group members and the travel group veterans alike for bringing your travel enthusiasm!

Thank you everyone for being so easy-going about the change of venue. Special thanks to Lauri who single handedly saved our tables while we regrouped. I spoke to the lovely owners of Gepetto's Café, and they will be happy to have us back each month. Wife Jenny said I could call her ahead to reserve our tables; I get the impression she "runs" the place :-)

For those of you who aren't traveling, we'll see you at our new location on September 14th!
(I will post a new notice as the date approaches.)

Geppetto's Cafe
87 Orinda Way, Orinda, CA 94563
outdoor patio, weather pemitting

You did a great job, CW!

hey hey
thank you CW and Farrah for a great meeting. first time for me and was happy to meet all of you. nice place for the meeting and free parking on the street.
will be traveling to france next month so won't be there. have safe travels all who are traveling soon.
aloha

We had a wonderful time. It was nice to see both familiar faces and to meet new people who love to travel as much as we do. Catherine, thanks for welcoming us.

Thank you, CW, for a great meeting. This was a first meeting for us and we both enjoyed meeting fellow travelers. Looking forward to hearing about everyone's upcoming trips, though we won't be at the next meeting.

I’ll attend Nov 9 meeting. I’ll miss the Sept 14 date since I’ll be in Turkey with the Best of Turkey Tour!

Carol, it was great to meet you. We'll look forward to seeing you again for future meetings!

Eleni, welcome to the forum! We look forward to meeting you in November and hearing about your tour!