Which Airline Did You Fly Overseas With In 2009

Our current game (with prizes, as usual) is “Which Airline Did You Fly Overseas With In 2009?” Entries to: Airlines, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818-1910, or to ArmondNoble@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to include your ZIP code. And, remember, our current essay contest is “I Love London” in 300 words or less. Here’s your chance to let your creativity flow. Deadline for both of these is 21 November 2010.

To give some of you a head start on your favorite place, our future essay contests will be I Prefer Paris, My Way is Norway, Zeal for New Zealand, It’s Real in Israel, My Mania is Tasmania, I’m Singing about Singapore, Greece is Great, I’m at Home in Stockholm, I Choose China, Roamin’ in Romania, It’s Italy, I’m Keen on Kenya, I’ll Praise Prague, The Amazing Amazon, Crete is Neat, Brazil Fits the Bill, I’m Bullish on Bulgaria, Nice is Nice, I Go Togo, Perusing Peru, I Saw Warsaw, I’m Sweet on Sweden, My Trail is Australia, Gaga Over Ghana, Lens on Koblenz and I Sigh Over Dubai.

We’ll announce when each contest begins. And, as always, we’re open to your suggestions as to destination essay contests.

Christmas will be here sooner than you think. Am I being biased to believe that a great present for the true travelers you know would be a subscription to International Travel News? I think not. (Please see our subscription page.)

In a related matter, we are deeply grateful when our current readers send in the names and addresses of traveling friends. We send a free copy of ITN to each friend. And, to reiterate for those who have joined us recently, we NEVER let out those names to any other party, nor do we use your name in any other way.

An activity that many enjoy is attending their local travel club meetings. Many clubs meet once a month. The one in Sacramento, for example, uses meeting rooms at libraries. The programs usually involve members’ showing slides (or digital equivalent) or videos of their recent travels. Sometimes a tour operator or travel agent is invited to talk about a destination.

In addition, and as a pleasurable activity, each month the members go to a different ethnic restaurant, sampling the food styles of another region of the world. And once a year, instead of featuring a speaker, the Sacramento club has a roundtable with members throwing out any topics they wish, from airlines to insurance policies and everything in between. Interesting and informative!

To add to the camaraderie between members, once a year a potluck is held at a member’s home (one with a big backyard) and, like around the campfire, the travel tales are told.

In this club, members also may travel together as a group, some finding a compatible roomie so as to beat the dreaded single supplement.

Naturally, such an effort requires a volunteer sparkplug. E-mails are sent to each member monthly with reminders of the upcoming meeting and dinner locations. Notices of meetings are sent to the local newspaper as well. And speakers have to be arranged for. In Sacramento, the club’s dynamo is Judith Anshin, a retired attorney.

If you believe your travel club does something unique, write in about it to ITN so other clubs might be inspired to do the same thing.

One thought that might be considered — as a group, sponsoring a child in a region of the world where just a very few dollars a month saves a life.

We’re happy to print notices of local travel clubs.