(Virtual) East Bay (SF area) Travel Group Meeting - Sat, March 13, 2021

Are the hill town spots all filled already? I was thinking I could do a few minutes on Vaison la Romaine, especially the hilly part...

There is room, avirosemail. Looking forward to learning about Vaison la Romaine, thanks!

See you all then! We will be in fully-vaccinated mode.
Lauri and Ed

I would like to be included. It has been a few months since I could make the meeting.
Robin

We’d like to be included on the 13th. I sent you a PM with my email address. Thanks!

I've sent the meeting link to Laura B, jobeck52 and Mona. Please check your private messages to confirm you've received it.

Laura B - congrats! Perhaps you'll soon be able to use that Geppetto's gift card that you purchased way back in .... I don't want to think about how many months ago.

I'll be there and prepared to share a few photos of Rousillon, France!

Link sent, Barbara N, looking forward to our Rousillon visit!

We'll be there. A few Portuguese hill towns will be there, too.

I'd love to attend. If you'd still like me to talk a bit about Malta, I'm game.

Carol and Carolyn, I've sent you each the link via private message. See you in Portugal and (yes please) Malta!

Thanks, I received the link.

Would love to come - I always enjoy it!

Travelmom, I just sent the link. So glad we'll see you on the 13th!

I’d like to attend as well, thank you CWsocial!

Meeting link just sent, mln, see you online on the 13th!

Sounds like fun. Please include me!

SharYn, meeting link just sent. See you online on Saturday!

I would like to join! Send link please!

Just sent you the link diveloonie, see you on Saturday!

Speaking of musical moments, the Palau de Musica in Barcelona is having a digital season, since it can't be in-person, and tonight they had a free concert that you can view through vimeo on their website, if you subscribe to the newsletter;

https://www.palaumusica.cat/en/juan-de-la-rubia-marco-mezquida_853665?

Note that you need to fast forward about 10 minutes into the video to see the performance, which is Bach compositions re-done for piano and keyboard.

There is still room for anyone to join! Please reply on this thread by 10:45am Pacific and I'll provide the meeting details.

You don't have to be local, just enjoy traveling like one!

Thank you to all of our travelers who shared their island and hill town destinations - such a wealth of travels we enjoyed today!

And thank you for sharing your favorite musical moments in Europe. It has made me realize how important it is to keep eyes and ears open for local musical events that you might never know about in advance.

Some possibilities for April and future meetings, for which I have volunteers, include:

Vaison la Romaine (Avi, on agenda for April)
Malta
Copenhagen and Stockholm

And we have travelers who have been to many other places who might be willing to share Southern Ireland, hill towns in Italy, Paris, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Scotland, Greece, Bosnia-Herzogovenia, Montenegro and so many more!

I'm also considering a "Beyond Europe" themed meeting, with travelers who have told me they've been to Thailand, Morocco and Cambodia. Please let me know your interest level and any destinations you would like to share from "beyond."

Please let me know which of these, or any other, destinations you'd like to visit and share.

This really was a smorgasbord of a meeting -- plenty for everyone to enjoy.
Thanks to all the people who shared and for CWsocial to keep us all together.

A possible future topic (no videos/photos required) -- cell phone usage and tips. Over the years we have used: regular service turned off for "vacation hold", phones only as cameras and as wi-fi devices on hotel networks; independent Eurobuzz phones; AT&T service kept on airplane mode except when needed for $10/day emergencies; Vodafone SIM card from Netherlands used for local calls /texts /data. Still exploring alternatives like T-mobile.

Yes, very interesting meeting! Thanks as usual to Avi for the technical part and helping us with our issues, and Catherine for organizing these meetings. Who among us thought when we attended that first meeting that we would have shared so many interesting places and experiences over this time. What a trip!😉

I was sorry to miss most of the meeting (a cancelled commitment from yesterday I needed to take care of) but I enjoyed the part I was there for!

I would definitely love to hear about Malta - and so many more of the places mentioned. I like the Beyond Europe idea (was in Chiang Mai in Oct 2019 and will be in Dubai early 2022). Another idea might be train travel or scenic train trips.

Thanks to everyone for putting this together and presenting and discussing!

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone and learned so much; thank you all. Geez, sure wish I had know about these meeting earlier! Oh well, better late than never. If there's anything in particular that you'd like to know about Malta, please let me know. I've started putting my presentation together and am pretty excited to share my experiences (my DH and I have been twice: April - May 2016 + May 2019 AND we're planning a return for spring 2022). Thanks again Catherine for allowing me join!