Uncommon Travelers Uncommon Travelers Uncommon Travelers Uncommon Travelers “An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers” “An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers” “An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers” “An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers” (J.R.R. Tolkien) Our meetings are held the second Saturday of each month (September thru May) from 5:00 to 8:00 PM www.uncommontravelers.org MARCH, 2013 Directions to Piccadilly Cafeteria, 11810 North Dale Mabry, Tampa (Phone: 813-963-1660) From the I-275/Dale Mabry junction, head north on Dale Mabry. Go past Busch Blvd. and Linebaugh, then get in left lane. Just past the traffic light at Hudson Lane, you will take the second left turn lane, into the Barnes & Noble parking lot, which it shares with the Piccadilly Cafeteria next door. Heading south on Dale Mabry, Piccadilly is just south of Stall Road, on the right. Important Membership Notice: The month / year your member- ship expires is on the bottom right corner of your newsletter mailing-label; or you will be reminded in the email which includes that month’s newsletter. Membership fees are: $20/single, $30/couple. Make checks payable to Ken Gould, and mail to: Uncommon Travelers C/o Ken Gould 1310 Gulf Blvd., Apt. 16A Clearwater Beach, FL 33767 Newsletters are mailed only to those whose memberships are current, and two consecutive issues to prospective members. Contact Persons : Shawn Milligan - President (813) 863-1180 Catherine Mitchell - Vice President & Newsletter (813) 237-3787 Ken Gould – Treasurer (727) 595-3717 Anneliese Tedeschi – Membership (727) 544-8233 Jacqueline Seal – Newsletter (813) 985-4672 Once again it was almost standing room only for our February meeting. We had quite a few visitors, no doubt some of them enticed by the prospect of Bob Miles’ program “Around the World in 80 Slides” (and they weren’t disappointed). Bob bought two one-way tickets last July and decided to just go wherever the spirit took him. He started out in Minneapolis, then on to Reykjavik, then Copenhagen, where he embarked on a Baltic cruise. Germany, Estonia, Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Stockholm were included, then a train trip from Oslo to Bergen. He went through Turkey and spent a month in Thailand which he said was a time of self discovery for him. Bob threw out quiz questions and rewarded the winners with chocolates. All in all, the whole program was very entertaining and great fun for all. David Henry’s “appetizer” slide show featured a wild gorilla encounter. It showed some very surprised tourists at the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, one in particular who was subject to some hair scruffing and other probing of his face by one or two young gorillas in a group led by a huge silverback. There were some heart-stopping moments and quite a few laughs. Member Travels Gertrude Hinsch recently returned from a tour of Burma and Cambodia. Catherine Mitchell chose Antarctica for her most recent trip. She said she expected to encounter a lot of snow, but didn’t see any at all till they got to South Georgia and Antarctica. __________________________________________ It is with sadness that we are saying “au revoir” to two of our most prominent members - our president since 2009, Shawn Milligan, and long- time member, Anita Williams. Shawn has already left Tampa. She’s not quite sure where life will lead her although, with a doctorate to her name, the sky’s the limit. She is temporarily dividing her time between her parents and sister up in the Panhandle, teaching her niece Morgan (3) and nephew Finn (17 months) to speak Spanish, as well as just generally entertaining them. She has also introduced her parents to her many technological gadgets with which they are having a blast. So she and the family are having fun and enjoying spending quality time together for the first time in years. …….. (continued on page 3)
Transcript
Uncommon TravelersUncommon TravelersUncommon TravelersUncommon Travelers “An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers”“An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers”“An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers”“An Unusual Group of Exceptional Wanderers”
(J.R.R. Tolkien)
Our meetings are held the second Saturday of each month (September thru May) from 5:00 to 8:00 PM
www.uncommontravelers.org MARCH, 2013
Directions to Piccadilly Cafeteria, 11810 North Dale Mabry, Tampa (Phone: 813-963-1660)
From the I-275/Dale Mabry junction, head north on Dale Mabry. Go past Busch Blvd. and Linebaugh, then get in left lane. Just past the traffic light at Hudson Lane, you will take the second left turn lane, into the Barnes & Noble parking lot, which it shares with the Piccadilly Cafeteria next door. Heading south on Dale Mabry, Piccadilly is just south of Stall Road, on the right.
Important Membership Notice:
The month / year your member-ship expires is on the bottom right corner of your newsletter mailing-label; or you will be reminded in the email which includes that month’s newsletter.
Membership fees are: $20/single, $30/couple.
Make checks payable to Ken Gould, and mail to: Uncommon Travelers C/o Ken Gould 1310 Gulf Blvd., Apt. 16A Clearwater Beach, FL 33767
Newsletters are mailed only to those whose memberships are current, and two consecutive issues to prospective members.
Contact Persons:
Shawn Milligan - President (813) 863-1180
Catherine Mitchell - Vice President & Newsletter (813) 237-3787
Ken Gould – Treasurer (727) 595-3717
Anneliese Tedeschi – Membership (727) 544-8233
Jacqueline Seal – Newsletter (813) 985-4672
Once again it was almost standing room only for our February meeting. We had quite a few visitors, no doubt some of them enticed by the prospect of Bob Miles’ program “Around the World in 80 Slides” (and they weren’t disappointed). Bob bought two one-way tickets last July and decided to just go wherever the spirit took him. He started out in Minneapolis, then on to Reykjavik, then Copenhagen, where he embarked on a Baltic cruise. Germany, Estonia, Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Stockholm were included, then a train trip from Oslo to Bergen. He went through Turkey and spent a month in Thailand which he said was a time of self discovery for him. Bob threw out quiz questions and rewarded the winners with chocolates. All in all, the whole program was very entertaining and great fun for all.
David Henry’s “appetizer” slide show featured a wild gorilla encounter. It showed some very surprised tourists at the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, one in particular who was subject to some hair scruffing and other probing of his face by one or two young gorillas in a group led by a huge silverback. There were some heart-stopping moments and quite a few laughs.
Member Travels
Gertrude Hinsch recently returned from a tour of Burma and Cambodia.
Catherine Mitchell chose Antarctica for her most recent trip. She said she
expected to encounter a lot of snow, but didn’t see any at all till they got to
South Georgia and Antarctica. __________________________________________
It is with sadness that we are saying “au revoir” to two of our most prominent members - our president since 2009, Shawn Milligan, and long-time member, Anita Williams.
Shawn has already left Tampa. She’s not quite sure where life will lead her although, with a doctorate to her name, the sky’s the limit. She is temporarily dividing her time between her parents and sister up in the Panhandle, teaching her niece Morgan (3) and nephew Finn (17 months) to speak Spanish, as well as just generally entertaining them. She has also introduced her parents to her many technological gadgets with which they are having a blast. So she and the family are having fun and enjoying spending quality time together for the first time in years. …….. (continued on page 3)
MARCH 9 PROGRAM - Laos Closely Encountered
Our speaker John Burton and his wife Jean (friends of the Butlers when they lived and worked - John as an entymologist - in Saudi Arabia) lived in Laos from 2001 to 2004 and John has revisited every year since. In 2005 he published a book, "Lao Close Encounters," a pictorial journey throughout that country. His talk will mention European colonization and influence, the legacy of wars, the effects of geography on its destiny, and current relations with its neighbors and with the USA. We will hear what John and Jean were doing there, about tourist destinations, souvenirs, and problems, and even about a worthwhile and fun charity.
Would you like to learn Italian? – or improve your skills in this language? Then phone
Dan Pernazza at 813-495-1920, who will be happy to teach you his native language.
“The world is only tolerable because of the empty places in it – millions of people all crowded
together, fighting and struggling, but behind them, somewhere, enormous, empty places. I tell
you what I think,” he said, “when the world’s filled up, we’ll have to get hold of a star. Any
star. Venus or Mars. Get hold of it and leave it empty. Man needs an empty space
somewhere for his spirit to rest in.” -- Doris Lessing, British novelist. __________________________________________________________________
If there are any singles out there who would like to sail, contact BaySailors.org. Dues are $130/year, which gives opportunities to day sail one weekend a month and/or do an overnight sail (usually locally). You do not have to know how to sail but would like to learn (it's a cheap way to get lessons first-hand). You are required to be a member after one local try-it-out "freebie" sail. Members Mandi Harman-Ashley and Jim Strum do a couple of international sails a year. This year it's three, with one going to Greece.
Important Notes re Piccadilly Cafeteria: Please remember - our free meeting room at Piccadilly's is conditional on everyone (members and guests) purchasing a meal. Also, since our Piccadilly waitress sets up the room, provides us with complementary drinks and buses the tables, we suggest everyone contribute $2 to the tip jar for her. Without Piccadilly's we would need to rent a room, which would be expensive, so it is essential we keep the management and staff at Piccadilly's happy. Also, in order to comply with Piccadilly’s 8 PM closing time, we start the business portion of our meeting at 5:45 PM instead of our normal 6 PM.
We have a lot of good information posted on our website, including the newsletters, but our editors always welcome any kind of input to share with members in the monthly newsletters – articles, travel tips, interesting websites, news updates, etc. We always enjoy learning about your all-time favorite country, and if you don’t feel like doing a program on it at the meeting, how about writing something instead to include in the news-letter? So if you have anything to contribute, please email it to both Jackie Seal ([email protected]) and Catherine Mitchell ([email protected]).
We look forward to seeing you Saturday, March 9th at Piccadilly Cafeteria.
And remember, if you see someone new or unfamiliar at our meeting, please
say hello and invite them to join a group or table and make them feel welcome.
AU REVOIR ANITA
and Shawn !!
….. (continued from page 1)
Long-time member Anita Williams announced at our February meeting that she will be moving back to Maryland in March. This news was greeted with shock and sadness, since Anita has been one of our club’s most constant and faithful members.
Pictured at far left is Anita atop a camel during a trip to Morocco many years ago. This photo was one of seven included in an article about Uncommon Travelers featured in the Travel section of The Tampa Tribune in July, 1998 - back when the Trib had a whole travel section in their Sunday edition! Karen Haymon Long was the Travel section’s editor and did a great job promoting our club. To the right of Anita’s pic is a portion of a photo of Terry Redding, one of the founders of Uncommon Travelers, who has lived in the DC area for many years. Perhaps he and Anita can start a “northeast chapter” of Uncommon Travelers up there!! As a matter of fact, it was Anita (below, with her Mom, who is no stranger to us) who introduced the editor of this newsletter to
Uncommon Travelers back in 1998 and she has been instrumental in coaxing others to attend meetings and join. And who will ever forget Anita presiding over the festivities at the Christmas parties – she really knows how to be in charge and get things moving!
Below at far left is Shawn – her usual jovial self – also at one of our Christmas parties at the Butlers’ house. Shawn started a tradition of bringing different wines and drinks from around the world to the parties so she’s going to be missed in many different ways!! And we’re sure Taco Bus will miss her too.
Anita has promised to visit Tampa often, as she has many ties here, We hope her visits will coincide with our meetings, and Christmas parties.
Though Shawn has no idea what is in store for her, she knows she has many friends here too who would welcome her back to regale us with her many adventures which – for Shawn – happen in everyday life!
Thanks to both of you for all your wonderful contributions, to our club and to our friendships, we will miss you both. And Happy Trails.
