Speaking this month we have:

1st: Russell Maddicks – Island Hopping in Honduras

Russell Maddicks goes in search of Garifuna drums, Henry Morgan’s hideaway, and the undersea wonders of the MesoAmerican Barrier Reef in Central America’s Caribbean gem

In this talk, travel writer and guide book author Russell Maddicks goes beyond the media stereotypes to show the other side of Honduras: the laid back Bay Islands with their rich Garifuna culture, the tiny coral atolls of the Cayos Cochinos. the vibrant mainland port of La Ceiba, and the thickly-forested Nombre de Dios mountain chain that offers hiking in the Pico Bonito National Park, and whitewater rafting in the Rio Cangrejal.

About the Speaker

Russell Maddicks is a BBC-trained journalist and travel writer who has spent the last 20 years exploring the countries of Latin America and publishing his experiences in print, online and in social media. A graduate in Economic and Social History from the University of Hull, England, he is fluent in Spanish and loves nothing better than mastering the country-specific slang of the Latin American countries he visits.

He has worked as a reporter and editor at the Daily Journal newspaper in Caracas, the editor of a webzine aimed at the Latin American youth market called Loquesea! (Whatever!), and for 10 years worked as a regional specialist at the BBC covering political developments and general news across Latin America.

He is the author of travel guides to Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and has written for numerous international publications, including BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveller, Wanderlust Magazine, the Mexico News Daily, Latino Life Magazine, ArtNews, and Songlines.

In 2015, his book Culture Smart! Ecuador was awarded the Gold Prize at the Pearl of the Pacific International Travel Journalism Awards at the Ecuadorian International Tourism Fair (FITE) in Guayaquil.

An accomplished public speaker, he has given illustrated talks on Latin American travel destinations at the World Travel Market in London, the Globetrotter’s Club, the Telegraph Outdoor and Adventure Travel Show, Destinations: The Holiday and Travel Show, Nat Geo Traveller’s Travel Geeks, and at UK colleges and universities.

You can follow his Latin American travels on Twitter and Instagram

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/latamtravelist
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latamtravelist/

2nd Katrina Megget – A long, hard walk down New Zealand

Katrina Megget takes on the challenge of tackling her self-doubt to see whether she can walk 1,864 miles along the Te Araroa Trail down the length of New Zealand. Little did she know quite how physically and mentally demanding it would be.

Katrina will also detail some of the highlights during her adventure as well as some of the life-changing lessons she learnt along the way. 

In this talk, freelance healthcare and adventure travel journalist and awesomeness coach Katrina Megget details some of the challenges she faced during her four months walking the North Island of New Zealand before being forced to quit the trail after a knee injury – from the mind-numbing monotony of beach walking to the muddy rigours of Raetea Forest, from battling 110 km wind gusts on exposed mountain tops to almost drowning during a river crossing, and then having to deal with the concept of failure when injury struck.

About the speaker: Katrina Megget is a freelance healthcare and adventure travel journalist with work published in The Telegraph, Scientific American, Trek and Mountain Magazine, Outdoor Enthusiast and New Zealand Wilderness Magazine. Born and bred in New Zealand, Katrina has spent the past 13 years in the UK.

Despite always having a love of nature and the outdoors, it has only been in the past five or so years that Katrina has embraced her adventurous streak to explore the mountainous and wild places of the UK and New Zealand, and also taking on the challenge to climb 40 volcanoes by the age of 40.

Having suffered from chronic self doubt and low self esteem, Katrina is challenging her self-limiting beliefs to push herself outside her comfort zone to achieve goals and dreams she thought she wasn’t good enough to achieve, last year walking 1,242 miles down the length of New Zealand. Now through her blog she raises awareness of self-doubt and its debilitating effects and to show that it doesn’t have to hold us back from achieving something incredible because everyone is more capable and awesome than they think they are. 

Katrina can be found

• blogging at www.katrinamegget.com and on social media
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatrinaMegget and
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KatMegget/ 
• and shares her learnings about self doubt on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinamegget/

Admission costs, we charge a small cash fee of £3 for Globetrotters members and £6 for non-members on the door to cover our expenses, tea/coffee and biscuits are included free in the interval between the talks.

You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting between 45 – 60 minutes.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September. If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here