The next meeting of Armchair Traveller will be held on Tuesday 17th May at 10am in W4. Jane and Bill will talk to us about a trip which included visits to Japan and South Korea. Jane will also take us on nature walks in several countries.
In March Reina and John took us to Portugal for a cruise up the Douro River and a visit to the cities of Porto, Coimbra, and Lisbon. We also heard about the still-thriving cork industry and saw some examples of the use of cork as a fabric. Terry then took us on a tour of an ancient Hindu civilization ruins in Hamti, South Central India.
We meet again on Tuesday May 17, and John Avery hopes to hear from a volunteer or two who can take a talk for an hour about some of their travels. As the fill in convenor I had the pleasure of hosting Jenny Geer this afternoon as she spoke about volunteering in a disaster relief project in Nepal. This was somewhat different from the usual Armchair Traveller. We were shown photos of the remote mountainside villages and their inhabitants that Jenny and her team were sent to assist.
Volunteering on behalf of Disaster Aid International, (an Australian Rotary project) Jenny delivered and installed equipment to provide safe water supplies and provided emergency accommodation materials. More information on this project can be found on the internet at www.disasteraidaustralia.org.au The second part of Jenny’s session was a follow up to a Meet & Mingle presentation this year, on the Silk Road. The photos of this remote part of the world were inspirational. Jenny did some hard but rewarding travel through “the ‘stans” (Uzbek and others) to reach the relative comforts of Georgia. An excellent way to end the year, thanks Jenny. Terry Case Jenny Geer will take us on a trip across the Silk Road, from China to Georgia in the Caucasus region. Then, time permitting, she will give some insights into the earthquake recovery program in Nepal, where she worked on emergency relief. Terry Case will act as convenor.
This session will be held in W4 on Tuesday November 17th from 11.45 am to 1.45 pm. Terry Case will take us “From Sea to Summit” in India and Nepal when we next meet on September 15. We travel with him by train from Calcutta for Darjeeling, where we view Mt Everest. We then trek through Nepal to the Anapurna mountain range.
We return to our flying carpets on Tuesday July 21 at 11.45 am – 1.45 pm, when we start by concluding our visit to Norway via YouTube. Then Jane and Bill Parris will take us to Turkey, in particular to re-visit the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.
The following session on Tuesday September 15th will be presented by our President, Terry Case. Terry will take us on a rail journey and trekking in India and Nepal. Jan took us on a colourful and spectacular trek high up in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada Mountains (10,000 ft plus) in USA. We then viewed about half of a travelogue of Norway (on Youtube).
Next meeting will be on July 21 when we will again visit the remainder of the Youtube travelogue. Many members of the group have visited Norway and are urged to bring along memorabilia from their visits. We will also watch the award-winning video of the Kon Tiki expedition in 1951 – another wonderful Norwegian adventure in the Pacific Ocean. In March, we celebrated St Patrick’s Day with a visit to some of the beautiful country near Killarney, including the Dingle Peninsula. To contrast our usual comfortable travel by air, boat or coach, we spent one hour watching the amazing bike-ride across Russia and China by adventurers Tim Cope and Chris Hatherley. This involved over a year of cycling through snow, heat, desert and dense Siberian forest – a truly amazing journey.
We meet again on May 19, when we hope to visit Colorado USA and possibly Norway. We look forward to joining Terry Case on several epic train journeys on his “Railway Journey” session on April 20121. For our first meeting of 2015 on March 17, we travelled to two mystery locations – a journey from Russia to China, and of course, Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Our Russia to China journey was in stark contrast to the ways most of us travel. Adventurers Tim Cope and Chris Hetherley rode on recumbent bicycles from NW Russia to Beijing, a 10,000 km journey over 14 months in 2001. The DVD made of this epic journey, “Off the Rails”, kept us all enthralled with wonderful scenery and an insight into life in outback Russia, Mongolia and China.
We then journeyed with Reina and John on their 2010 visit to the Dingle Peninsula and around Killarney on South-West Ireland. This provoked many members to relate quaint adventures with whimsical Irish people. We have a special session on April 21 described as the “Railway Journey” report from Terry Case. We are meeting again on 17th March and going to a mystery location.
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About Armchair TravellerAn opportunity to share your traveller's tales with others and to hear theirs, however inspiring or hair-raising. Meeting Times
U3A Meeting Room 1
First Tuesday 2 to 4 pm Convenor and contact detailsRay O'Shannessy
5762 1559 Archives
May 2022
Images in banner slide show - Three eras of trains (Wendy Sturgess); U3A Merton, UK website.
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