SF East Bay Hosts Travel Talk: July 13 (online, everyone welcome)

TOPICS for July 13
Please let me know if you have a trip you've taken that you'd like to share with the group, with or without photos! We also love to hear about trips that you're planning, to answer questions or just share the anticipation.

Travels Taken (as time permits, and not necessarily in this order)
Sandancisco: Stockholm and Uppsala - if you're able to make the meeting, you're up first, as promised in June!
Nigel: Germany, predominantly Baden-Württemberg and Taunus Mountains near Frankfurt, north central Switzerland
Barbara: recent trip to the Netherlands and cruise up the coast of Norway
Barbara N: (with photos) Dordogne and Toulouse or from our recent Alsace/Switzerland trip
CWsocial: (with photos) Chichester England
Canada Andrea: Liverpool

Travels Planned
Sac Andrea: upcoming trip to Poland and Hungary (Budapest), looking for input!
Diane: also Poland
Tammy: Venice, Verona, Bologna, Florence in the fall
bostonphil7: Barcelona in October to take a Mediterranean cruise
Tammy and CWsocial: Andalucia in November and February

FUTURE ONLINE MEETINGS: 2nd Saturdays, except as noted

(August - no online meeting)
Sept 14, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT

Oct 12, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
Topic: use of AI as a tool for itinerary planning and development, including demo and interactive sessions

(November - no online meeting)

IN-PERSON MEETINGS:
Please watch for separate announcements for our in-person meetings.
Click HERE for the most recent announcement with the dates of upcoming in-person meetings.

I'd love to attend, please, CWsocial, and can give a few minutes to the trip we've just completed by car from England - ferry Dover/Calais - Germany, predominantly Baden-Württemberg and Taunus Mountains near Frankfurt, north central Switzerland and Zug, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, the French A4 - A26, and home.

Hi, if I can I would love to attend. I’m going to have a visitor, but I believe she plans to head to the Bay Area for the weekend.

Edit: I will be going to two countries that are new to me soon, Poland and Hungary (Budapest). If anyone has any advice or suggestions I would love to hear them.

I’ll be there. I’ll talk about my recent trip to the Netherlands and cruise up the coast of Norway. It will be very short.

I’ll be there.

Love to attend.

Had to cancel last meeting because of pneumonia but I am fully recovered

I love to see and meet the persons behind the screen names

Going to Barcelona in October to take a Mediterranean cruise.

Last October I was in London before cruising from Southampton to Lisbon

Count me in please! We have Venice, Verona, Bologna, Florence in the fall and Andalucia next February.

I'd like to attend. I can show just a few slides from the Dordogne and Toulouse or from our recent Alsace/Switzerland trip. I can be brief.

Count me in please!

Thanks,
Cynthia

I hope to be there.

Thanks for all the destinations for trips taken and trips planned! I've got "everywhere" on the list, and recognize that we will not get to all of these this month, giving us lots to talk about in future months!

Sandancisco, if you can make it, you are up first because we missed out on your photos last meeting!

I will send out the meeting details in a couple of days. Is anyone else planning to attend?

I wish I could, CW, but I'm leaving early Sunday morning for a 2+ week road trip to visit family, and I still have to finish the quilt I started last year for my brother, plus pack! So I'm sure I will be in a frenzied rush on Saturday.

We'll miss you Mardee. Real life does come first. Have a great road trip!

I will send the meeting invites this evening to everyone who has responded thus far. Please let me know if you'd like to attend so that I can include you in my mass messaging process!

I've sent the link to everyone above. See you all online on Saturday.

If it’s not too late I’d like to attend as well.
Thanks!

I'd love to attend, CW.

I could speak a bit on our recent week in Liverpool, if there's interest.

Andrea, I’d love to hear about your visit to Liverpool.

Add me if you have space please.
I leave for Poland 9/14.

I've sent the link to the 4 ladies above, SharYn, Valerie, Andrea and Diane.

And I'm adding Poland and Liverpool to the list. Of course there's interest!!

I would also like to join. Thanks, CW

If its not too late, sign me up.

Chani and Mr É, I've sent each of you the link in a message on this forum.

We still have room for others to join!

Everyone, please mark your calendar for our regular October 12th meeting when we will host:

Tech for Travel: using AI tools for travel planning

Mardee and I and others who have used AI tools to assist in creating travel itineraries will talk about how we have used it, techniques we've learned and tips for making the most of AI. This won't be tool specific, though we will mention the tools we've tried and any differences we may have seen.

Thank you ma'am

Mr É, sorry you can't make it after all. It would be a late one for you.

Last call for tomorrow's meeting! I will check this forum one last time about 2 hours ahead for any first time participants, who have an extra setup step. If you've been to the meeting before, I can still send the link to you up to 1 hour prior to the meeting time.

See you all online tomorrow!

My mind was bursting after today's zoom and I didn't have a chance to take it all in before the next destination was being discussed. Talk about first world problems, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A

I agree Avi! So interesting, so many beautiful pictures and locations! I was taking notes. Switzerland, Germany, England and more. As diveloonie said, who knew there was so much to see in Liverpool? What a meeting!

Great meeting today, throughly enjoyed it.

I learned huge amounts about Liverpool.... Thanks Cdn Andrea.

I have my eyes on that Premier Inn - what a location!

Enjoyed all the trip photos and stories. Particularly enjoyed Canadian Andrea’s Liverpool trip update as it’s fairly rare to hear about Liverpool trips but it’s clearly a worthwhile city to visit.

Really enjoyed the meeting.

Now I want to go to Liverpool. Had no idea that it was so pretty and
interesting.

Thanks CW for facilitating.

Glad so many of you liked my Liverpool presentation. There really is a lot to see and do there. And definitely a friendly welcome.

Here's a link to my 2013 trip report

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-liverpool

The hotel that time was Premier Inn on Hanover St. It's a bit cheaper than the Albert Dock PI but nowhere near as nice or well located. And I believe the area I reference at the end is the Baltic Triangle.

Thanks for a great meeting. When I was in Liverpool 2 years ago I sadly only saw what was on the 3 minute walk from the train station to the hotel. Long story, but after seeing Andrea in CA’s presentation I really want to go back and actually see it!

Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm for the meeting, sharing your destinations, and the time you took to share your trips in photos.

Andrea in CA, I wish we had stopped off in Liverpool on our way to Blackpool. Or maybe it didn't have all the cool stuff back then. And anyway, there was no internet to find it. Thanks for letting me ride along on your visit!

Barbara, I'm adding Gengenbach to my idea for a loop out of Frankfurt. I got spoiled by the nonstop to London. How nice another trip with just a nonstop flight would be!

A final comment.... you all inspire me with your travels! So many times I think, "I wish I could have ridden along in the back seat" for that person's trip! Thank you all for continuing to open my eyes to new destinations. I'm not too proud to plagiarize your ideas ;-)

I was in a bit of a pre trip doldrom before our meeting yesterday. I'm excited again to be heading out on my own trip. Crazy mix that this one will be, it did give me an excuse to buy a new set of packing cubes!!

Please see the announcement for our next in-person meeting and join us if you can!
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/san-francisco-east-bay-travel-group-meeting-july-25-2024-in-person