Sunrisers Tell Amazing Travel Stories!
The program for Thursday, May 9, 2024, was a celebration of Sunrise Rotary members’ most memorable travel experiences! President Debra divided us into discussion groups and then asked each group to pick a member whose story was the most memorable.
Dave Lorenzen described Dave and Shauna’s 1984 cruise aboard a 96’ sailboat out of Tortola during which they briefly lived the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Dave recalled having a blast eating with the crew at the end of the trip. Steve Olsen told us about a trip he and Lynn took to England with the Carriage Association of America. Prince Phillip (the Queen’s husband) attended the luncheon. Another director of the Carriage Association in attendance, Vicky, mentioned that when she was a kid her mother told her that if she’s a good girl one day she’ll meet a prince. The actual prince responded: “You must have been a very good girl indeed!”
Mark Campbell talked about a trip in the late 1990’s to Morocco. This was not your standard group trip to Marrakech; this trip included a camel caravan to a remote camp. At one point the travelers and staff held an impromptu musical party in a tent, an unlikely and charming event Mark will never forget! Marty Behr had his own story about a royal trip to London in 2011. He visited a Rotary meeting and sat at a table with two ambassadors and a member of the House of Lords! Prince Phillip also attended. The club sang “Hail to the Queen”, “Happy Birthday” to the Prince, and “Happy Birthday” to Sir Marty! Merle Hayes reflected her group’s general consensus the wherever you go people are anxious to help travelers. She told us that she had a UK pen pal ever since she was 12 years old, Moira. As an adult she visited Moira and spent a week at her home in Worcester. Moira also visited her in California. Harry Coffey told us that his most memorable travels were usually with Rotary groups. A great example is the recent trip several Sunrisers took to Japan. They showed up in a hotel lobby at 9:30 a.m. and our Japanese friends took care of all the rest, including meals and travel arrangements to Hiroshima, Kagoshima, and elsewhere. Carolyn Anderson has traveled in 54 countries, but told us about a trip to China about 15 years ago. She needed to contact her broker several times, and it wasn’t too easy in those days. She often had to wait in line at a bar for one of the only available computers with access. During her travel she came in contact with another group whose travel plans often overlapped with her group’s. She met her husband, George, who was traveling with one of the other groups, while she was trying to get access to a computer! He lived in San Jose and they later met in the middle in Corte Madera. The rest is history! Paul O’Rear told us about a trip he and Penny took (during which they got engaged) to Hong Kong. They wanted to visit someplace exotic, so they elected a river cruise on the Lijiang River in Central China. This spectacular river flows through amazing and picturesque mountains. Paul and Penny also met a couple on that trip who it turned out lived very close to them in Santa Rosa!
Thank you to all the speakers for these amazing stories. As usual, Sunrisers have the most memorable lives (or tell the tallest tales!).
