Looking 6 Months Back and 12 Forward!

It has been an action-packed 6 months for the Travel Sisters network and that’s been good for the network and bad for the blog!  We have many platforms we use to communicate - social media, our email list, Meet Up, Zooms, In person gatherings, trip specific meetings . . . but sometimes a good old blog post is just the right way to tell the bigger story of our network!  Here’s what we’ve been up to:

In May, nine “Greek Goddesses” (the name of the WhatsApp group for communication) had a wonderful time exploring Athens, the Greek Isles, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Venice!

In September, seventeen “Ice Queens” had an action-packed time in Iceland! My takeaway? Iceland is like if Hawaii, Ireland and Alaska had a baby, lol - amazing volcanic land forms, glaciers and waterfalls AND remote rolling pastures filled with sheep.

We’ve sold out our Morocco trip for March 2024, received deposits, booked flights, and purchased insurance!
Behind all that was a lot of other milestones - new swag, some power lunches for input and feedback, and creating new processes for tipping, group dining, and foreign currency needs!

We also are learning what is NOT working - top of mind on that is weekend getaways. We’ve floated out three of those (Sunset Beach, Luray Caverns, NYC) and had no luck filling them. Our takeaway for now is that we will focus on longer distance travel as there seems to be much more appetite for those experiences.

We also learned that while lots of our Travel Sisters are interested in Spain, they want an itinerary in Fall 2024 that involves staying multiple nights at each hotel. We’ve decided this fall might be a good time to hold some destination-specific Zooms to gauge what people want and then build itineraries around that feedback.  

We are learning that email is not going to work as a platform to “lift” significant work in the network and Zooms or in person meetings need to be very productive in terms of getting input and creating action items.  

In that spirit, we listened in our last in-person meeting and decided a rough outline for where we will likely go next and here’s the rough plan:

• Alaska Cruisetour - May/June 2024
• Southern Spain - September 2024
• Costa Rica- February 2025
• European River Cruise (Switzerland / Germany / The Netherlands)  OR Croatia- May 2025
• Scotland with Ireland add-on - September 2025
• Christmas Markets River Cruise - December 2025
• 2026 - Alaska, Iceland, a National Parks / American West option

We are scheduling the Spain related Zoom in the coming days; fill out this form if you want to be contacted  / included. 

I'll end ​with the toast delivered for the end of our Iceland adventure. That will always be a special memory for those helping to build this network - cheers!

To the Travel Sisters!
May the network grow wide, or may it grow deep,
Or may it do both!
And those gathered here keep
The story of the women
Who were fun and attractive,
But the most notable thing about them?
They are adaptive!
For they go together, and less money is spent,
So they can go farther,
And away they went!
To see the world and all its treasures,
sample its food, and gather its pleasures!
Three cheers for the women about whom they say
They truly knew how to seize the day!
Hip, hip, HOORAY!  Hip hip Hooray!

-In Honor of the 2023 Ice Queens