34 folks gathered in cambridge, MA yesterday for the 4th annual fodors GTG in boston...

representatives from both the europe and asia boards were present....

gpanda (andy) called the group to order about 11:30AM....there were general conversations for about an hour and 1/2 before the meal at 1PM...there were show n tell items to look at including a four foot buddah statue from cambodia and some photo albums and travel photo books from shutterfly...

a buffet brunch was served at 1PM....talking continued until about 3PM...

there will be pictures available shortly and i will post the site once i have named people or in some cases mis-named people...

in the evening about 25 of the group attended a thai dinner at similan restaurant in cambridge on first street....a delicous thai meal was served family style...everyone sharred the delicious food..

a quiz which i prepared, and forgot to hand out earlier, was handed out....to see it click on my screen name above and go to the asia board to the report on the GTG...it is contained in that thread...

good attendance from europe members is especially gratifying...

we had attendees from: MA, HI, CA, IL, IN, CT, NY, MI, toronto canada, KY

HUrry with the pictures!

here is the picture link:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?=8BauXDJw2aqIxo

Link does not work!

Link just worked for me---but I also had the delightful experience of being there in person.

Bob--you and your "team" put on a great gathering!! Finally putting real faces to screen names was fun---and just a great group of people----but, of course, as "Fodorites", that's almost a given. Sign me up for next year!!!

Copied this link from the Asian site.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8BauXDJw2aqIxo

Great pictures Bob. Thanks for all your work. Had a great time and already looking forward to the next GTG.

After my night with the Asian folks, I found myself looking over travel brochures for Thailand and China!

jackie---the asia board will help you with anything you need for the asia trip....tons of experienced repeat travelers there

it works from my compter too....you need both lines of the address, even though only one line is highlighted....

maybe you are too anxious to see the "beautiful people"??

rhkkmk & gpanda: Thanks for hosting such a fun event! Great pictures, btw.

TR

Bob and Andy, as usual, great and comic hosts. Special mention to Karen, who got Fodors to give each of us a colored plastic travel tag. AND- the lovely lady in red from Hawaii who gave us a small bag of coffee with a carved coconut(?) decor that I will use as a belt buckle or neck piece, once I figure it out. Some brought very special things they bought on their travels.

Got it this time!

Lovely to see everyone having such a great time....and it looks like no one went away hungry!!!

Pictures are great - thanks for posting them.

That was Lucy from the Asian board who generously gave us the coffee. Karen had pretty wrapped candies attached to the fodors'tags. The Asian board posters brought beautiful things to show and Abby brought a beautiful damask Provençal tablecloth that had a beautiful poppy design and some miniture paintings.

Kudos to the fabulous Gpanda and Bob (known here as rhkkmk) and to his wife Karen ("the power behind the throne", IMO) who are splendid "hosts" and organizers. (They also have great senses of humor, which may be natural or alcohol-induced, I'm still not sure!)My visit was the 2nd Boston GTG I'd attended, and I was so happy to return, as it's always a wonderul, lively, interesting group of folks. I sat next to Jackie at Saturday night's dinner, and like her, am now contemplating Asia as a destination on my next "big trip", as the folks from the Asia board have a way of making Asia sound so heavenly!

Mariana, we missed you, but understood why you couldn't attend. It was so good to meet new folks, and to see so many of the familar faces from a couple of years ago, like Mimi, Jackie, Nikki, Stacey, Abby, Mikey, and of course the incomparable Gpanda, Bob and Karen. The lady who brought the coffee was Lucy, and I brewed mine this morning for breakfast. Absolutely delish, and many thanks for that very generous and thoughtful act!

Hope to attend again next year!

BC

I was happy to see some old friends from previous get-togethers who had traveled long distances, not expecting Indytravel and Bookchick to make the long trip again. And I was very surprised to find out that two of the guests were classmates of mine 30 (or 130, depending how you count) years ago.

Thanks for the pictures, Bob, now I can figure out who were the people I didn't get to talk to. Too late now, I guess. And the class picture is at least evidence that I'm not making this part up; I think we look pretty good for the class of 1877.

"1877", Nikki??? Who was your class photographer, Matthew Brady???!!! ROTFLMAO!

BC

for those thinking about asia travel we love on that board to assist people with every detail or your planning....most of us push thailand as a first destination because it is so well prepared for tourists in every way....its a good first place....economical, interesting and the best shopping in the world!!

just flip over to the asia board and ask away....we are waiting for you....

It was great to see all the Europe Board regulars at the GTG. In truth, it was the EB that was the impetus for the first Boston GTG. Seafox was the initial primary mover. Laurel (me) and Hardy (Bob) have been honored to pick up the slack. There were no big screw-ups, so there's a very good chance we will do this next year.

Bookchick, as far as I know our only class photographer has been rhkkmk, and since he is the one who dated the photograph, we should be inquiring into his age as well.

Sorry I didn't get to say good-bye to you; I ducked out of the room for a minute and you had all left when I returned. So good-bye.

Nikki, sorry we missed saying goodbye to you. We went back to the hotel, I took care of a matter and Indy & I walked kybourbon over to her daughter's, then walked back to the hotel, and went to our respective rooms to conk out. I left for Logan at 9:30 yesterday morning, in a drooling, half-coherent state. So wonderful to see you again and talk travel (and other matters).

BC