Speaking on Saturday, April 13, 2024 (on the 2nd Saturday) we have:

1st: Jacqui Trotter – Homegoing: Part 3.

Jacqui will be talking about travelling in 2019 back to Australia through pre-COVID Tibet, eastern China, Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand. From -20’C in Harbin to 38’C in Ayutthaya, I wanted the trip to go on and on.

Independent travel through China was much easier than I expected and Vietnam was a delight. Cambodia was fascinating and visiting Angkor Wat was a long-held dream! Thailand was a great place to take stock, play tourist and still visit places I had not been before.

Going home was something I had done many times before but this time was different – it would be my home for the next five years (and still is) and the world of travel would not be quite the same for any of us ever again.

2nd: Lucy Lethbridge – Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to find themselves

Lucy Lethbridge, author of Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to find themselves, will look at the rise of popular tourism in the 19th and early twentieth centuries. It is a story of business titans, new technologies, commerce, invention, snobbery, vision and nostalgia – and, with its apotheosis in the self-contained world of the beach resort, even a search for Eden.

Find Lucy on Twitter – @LucyLethbridge

Date & Time: Saturday 13th April 2024

Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.

Admission costs:

• £7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £10 for non-members. (save £3 if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

Speaking in January we have :

Around the world in eighty minutes.

10 presentations of 10 slides

The format is talks by eight to ten speakers for ten minutes giving a fast-paced journey around the Globe.

There are four to five talks before the break and four to five talks after the break, with each speaker having around 10 minutes to speak. 

By tradition, we follow this meeting with a New Year Party post-meeting.

Everyone is invited to bring food and wine or soft drinks (we are not allowed beer or spirits) and participate! (Please RSVP if you will be coming to the party.)

We will not have access to the kitchen to heat food, so please bring food ready to eat.

Date & Time: Saturday 6th January 2024

Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.

Admission costs:

• £7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £10 for non-members. (save £3 if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

Speaking in December we have :

1st: Peter Payne – Africa Along the Equator

A journey that includes a boat on the Congo River, Kinshasa, pygmies, Virunga, (gorillas), Ruwenzori, the Rift Valleys, Mt Kenya, Lengai (an active volcano), Kilimanjaro, ice caps on the equator, Tsavo and the Kenya coast.

2nd: Rosemary J Brown – Train Pass Tales 2023: On track through Switzerland, Iberia and Japan.

Have train pass, will travel. Join Rosemary on her rail trails across Europe and around Japan exploring cities, mountains, shrines and World Heritage Sites. All aboard for scenic Swiss trains like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express — trains in Spain along  the Camino de Santiago — and super-swift journeys on Japan’s bullet trains — with plenty of stops along the way.

Date & Time: Saturday 2nd December 2023

Doors open at 14:15 in London and on Zoom with the talks starting around 14:45 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.

Admission costs:

• £7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £10 for non-members. (save £3 if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

In November we have:

AGM: The club AGM starts at 12:00 pm (card-carrying members only), then at 2.30 pm the meeting begins

Speaking at 2.30 pm we have: 

1st: Kevin Brackley – DC monuments and museums

Exploring, the sights, monuments and museums of Washington DC and the surrounding area. 

2nd: Atlantic Escapade – One couple in close quarters rowing across the Atlantic Ocean

Andy and Rosalind from Atlantic Escapade will be talking about their expedition to row 3,000 miles unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean in a very tiny boat.

Date & Time:

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Doors open at 14:00 in London.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participate via Zoom.

The Zoom meeting opens at 14:15 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

Admission costs:

• £7 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £10 for non-members. (save £3 if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

Reserve a place in person at the hall:

Get online Tickets for Zoom at Eventbrite:

Speaking in September we have :

• 1st: Francesca Jaggs – Northern lights, and the world’s northernmost permanent settlement.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to witness the spectacular Northern Lights in person or live in the northernmost city in the world?

Francesca did not contemplate this much until a friend said that it was his dream but doubted he would ever fulfil it. She could not bear to hear this and found herself saying “Let’s do it!”

Francesca will share insight into the northernmost city in the world, Longyearbyen, located on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Talking about the unique challenges of living in this remote and isolated community, including the 24-hour darkness of winter and the constant threat of polar bears.

This was not a long trip but one that challenged the speaker considerably as she normally mostly heads to very warm places. As someone who had a deep fear of the cold, she will give an insight into how going completely out of her comfort zone ultimately led to a sense she would never be afraid of the cold again.

• 2nd: Mary Fogarty – Places I was dragged to by my Dad.

This talk will focus first on our life as a family in a newly-independent Kenya, where my father Noel worked for Nairobi City Council and we lived on a council estate in a field. Over the next five years we travelled all over East Africa, my father’s general goal being to see as much as he possibly could of his surroundings.

In his VW Variant we went on long trips into Uganda and Tanzania, climbing mountain craters, searching for the Big Five in the great national parks, and taking boats on lakes and rivers infested with crocodiles and hippos. Christmases were spent camping near the beach in Mombasa, and on his long leave, we went back to the UK on two different passenger ships, going down the African coast on the Indian Ocean, and putting in at exotic cities in Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.

It wasn’t just Africa either – we also visited the Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, Turkey and more on trips to and from Nairobi. And when we came back to the UK for good, Noel bought a campervan, and off we set across Europe. Also Scotland and the North! Was there never a rest?!

Date & Time:

Saturday, September 2nd, 2023.

Doors open at 14:00 in London.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participates via Zoom.

The zoom meeting opens at 14:00 with the talks starting 14:30 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

Admission costs in advance:

• £3 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £6 for non-members. (save 50% if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please reserve seats in the hall in advance as this speeds up entry at the meeting and allows us to plan staffing, we may charge more for unreserved tickets.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

Tickets go on sale soon…

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

Speaking in October we have :

1st: Linda Fox – Gorilla Tracking

Linda’s talk will provide an informative and inspiring exploration of the world of gorilla tracking, offering a deeper understanding of these magnificent creatures, the challenges they face, and how responsible tourism can contribute to their conservation.

Gorilla tracking is an exhilarating and transformative adventure that offers a unique opportunity to observe and connect with one of the world’s most remarkable and endangered species – the mountain gorilla.

Join us on this virtual expedition into the heart of the wild and discover the magic of gorilla tracking.

2nd: Alan Palmer – On the Edge of the World.

In the autumn of 2022, political stability having finally been restored to the region, Alan returned to northern Pakistan after an absence of 24 years and some 35 years after his first visit in 1987.

He drove for six weeks, off road and along rough jeep tracks, through some of the tallest and wildest mountains on earth – the western Himalayas, the Karakorum and the Hindu Kush.

While revisiting some cherished old haunts, he also discovered other new, infrequently visited corners, hidden deep within this fabulous landscape, as he reached out towards the remote borders of Afghanistan and China.

In his talk, Alan relives his adventures, some old and some new. He relates his encounters with tribal groups whose homes lie deep within the territory’s hidden high valleys, from the Pathans of Peshawar to the Kafirs of Kalash, and from the Afridis of the Kyber to the Ismailis of forgotten Shimshal, while not forgetting the times he spent drinking tea with refugee Mujahideen fighters on the outskirts of Chitral. All this while he kept an ear close to the ground, listening intently for any lingering echoes of Kipling’s imperial Great Game.

Alan is the founder and director of his own company, Yak Travel – www.yaktravel.co.uk – which specialises in both gentle holidays and not so gentle expeditions to Pakistan, North East India and Morocco. He is a regular speaker at travel shows and travel clubs, both at home and abroad, and is a respected travel writer, too.

He wrote Moroccan Atlas the Trekking Guide, co-wrote Insight Guide Pakistan, and has contributed to numerous other travel books and magazines besides, including The Rough Guide to The Best 100 Places on Earth.

At the end of his talk, Alan will be selling copies of his books, “Moroccan Atlas the Trekking Guide”(rrp £14.99), and “Insight Guide Pakistan” (rrp £18.99), each at the reduced price of £10. All money received will go directly to the Morocco earthquake appeal via the British Moroccan Society’s GoFundMe appeal.

Find out more at:

• https://www.facebook.com/YakTravel/
• https://www.instagram.com/yaktravel/
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbeFQsXbenMiGh9bhm50TdQ

Date & Time:

Saturday, October 7, 2023

Doors open at 14:00 in London.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participates via zoom.

The zoom meeting opens at 14:00 with the talks starting 14:30 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

Admission costs in advance:

• £3 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £6 for non-members. (save 50% if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please reserve seats in the hall in advance as this speeds up entry at the meeting and allows us to plan staffing, we may charge more for unreserved tickets.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

There is no meeting in August.

Venue Change: Due to the coronation on our regular date we have a venue change for this meeting, the meeting will be held at Covent Garden Dragon Hall  17 Stukeley Street, London WC2B 5LT

Speaking in May we have :

1st: Alexis Parrinder-Nicholls – Travelling with music: The power of music to navigate difficult situations and bring people together

Alexis has travelled with a guitar to over 30 countries, including Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Iraq, China, Senegal and The Gambia. These trips have often focussed around hitchhiking and exploring the most remote areas.

From jamming his way out of trouble with the Burmese police, to rapping at a wedding in a village not visited by foreigners for ninety years, a touch of music has often proven invaluable along the way.

Considering the music cultures in the different regions he’s visited, this talk will explore the role that music can play in traversing barriers, connecting people and generally being a force for good in the world.

Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/@LaffCotchTV

2nd: Sharon Cunningham – Miss Honeyjam’s Mid-Life Cycle

Sharon is a mild mannered, mechanically challenged, middle aged school teacher who mostly likes sitting still. This is a talk about what happens when you watch too many YouTube videos about cycling during lockdown. It is about life at 15 mph, along the Rhine River, starting at its source, in Oberalppass in Switzerland and going all the way to Hoek van Holland, on a folding bike. By the end, you too will have all the information you need to plan your own cycle!

Instagram: misshoneyjam

Date & Time: Saturday, May 13, 2023

Doors open at 14:15 BST in London. (TBC)

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participates via zoom.

The zoom meeting opens at 14:15 with the talks starting 14:30-14:45 BST (London time see Event Time Announcer for local times), please join early so we can deal with any issues with joining, if you have issues please try updating your zoom client first, we are very limited in what we can do once the meeting has started.

Admission costs in advance:

• £3 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £6 for non-members. (save 50% if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please reserve seats in the hall in advance as this speeds up entry at the meeting and allows us to plan staffing, we may charge more for unreserved tickets.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

Speaking in June (on the 2nd Saturday of the month) we have :

1st: Candy Whittome – Wars, words and (cycle)ways: Cycling at 60

Books can be dangerous. When an old friend sent Candy “‘A Bike Ride” by Anne Mustoe, she took it more seriously than was probably intended.

Inspired by Anne, she set off on her bike in the summer of 2021 with zero experience of touring or bike maintenance, just curiosity and multiple questions about the nature of travel in the 21st century. Her journeys took her across Europe, into SE Asia and up north into the Baltics. She met Albanian law students working to develop their country’s legal infrastructure, Vietnamese whose livelihoods had been trashed by the pandemic, Estonians for whom exile to Siberia is part of the family history. The questions about travel remain, but the relevance of wars, words and cycleways were revealed.

Find out more at:

• https://www.cyclinguk.org/biography/candy-whittome
• https://cycletouringfestival.co.uk/whatson/
• https://www.polarsteps.com/CandyWhittome/3954031-cycling-east?s=BD69468D-8AF1-47F1-BCE0-A8E65A9C6650
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RgaLVr0Yc
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Hunters-Crab-Fishermen-Cromer/dp/0957152809

2nd: Adam Weymouth – Kings of the Yukon

Kings of the Yukon tells the story of Adam Weymouth’s 2000 mile canoe trip across Canada and Alaska, from the source of the Yukon River to the mouth, following the longest salmon migration in the world. With the numbers of king salmon crashing in recent years, the journey examines what might be causing the declines, and explores how the many people and ecosystems that depend on the salmon are being affected as they disappear. The book won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and the Lonely Planet Adventure Travel Book of the Year.

Find out more at:

• www.adamweymouth.com
• @adamweymouth

Date & Time:

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Doors open at 14:00 in London.

We would ask that anyone with respiratory symptoms participates via zoom.

The zoom meeting opens at 14:00 with the talks starting 14:30 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

Admission costs in advance:

• £3 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £6 for non-members. (save 50% if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please reserve seats in the hall in advance as this speeds up entry at the meeting and allows us to plan staffing, we may charge more for unreserved tickets.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets:

Speaking in April we have :

1st: Nick Fielding – Tracing the Atkinsons: On horseback in Central Asia and Siberia.

Nick’s talk is about the numerous journeys he has made on horseback through remote parts of eastern Kazakhstan, Tuva and Buryatia following in the footsteps of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson in the 1840s-50s.

Nick Fielding is a writer and traveller. He was Senior Reporter on The Sunday Times, where he covered the aftermath and implications of the 9/11 attacks, reporting from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Far East. Prior to that he was Chief Investigative Reporter of the Mail on Sunday, where he worked on many international stories, and a reporter for The Independent. He has published books on Britain’s intelligence services and on the detailed planning for the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

For six years Nick edited Asian Textiles, a magazine which covers the history and ethnography of textiles. He continues to travel extensively, mostly on horseback, over long distances in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Siberia. In particular he has travelled widely throughout the Djungar Alatau Mountains in Zhetysu.

Nick writes a blog about the Atkinsons called Siberian Steppes https://siberiansteppes.com.

Find out more: https://siberiansteppes.com/

2nd: Rosemary Alexander – Alternative Italy

Following on being invited to an acupuncture conference in Bologna, Rosemary decided to do a tour around some of the other cities in Italy, not just the tourist sites.

From the bustling beaches of Rimini to the art-filled streets of Florence, from the charming town of Lucca to the relaxing thermal baths of Bagni di Lucca, and the glamorous seaside resort of Viareggio, this talk will take you on a journey through some of the most stunning and diverse destinations in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.

Date & Time:

Saturday, April 1, 2023

Doors open at 14:00 in London.

We would ask that anyone with symptoms or who needs to isolate participates via zoom.

The zoom meeting opens at 14:00 with the talks starting 14:30 (London see Event Time Announcer for local times), please arrive early so we can deal with any issues with joining.

Admission costs in advance:

• £3 for members. (Members can access a ticket code below or from the members area.)
• £6 for non-members. (save 50% if you join at this meeting)
• a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.

Please reserve seats in the hall in advance as this speeds up entry at the meeting and allows us to plan staffing, we may charge more for unreserved tickets.

Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.

For in person Tickets at the hall:

For Zoom online tickets: