{"id":2424,"date":"2020-12-14T15:48:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T15:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=2424"},"modified":"2021-03-18T11:30:27","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T11:30:27","slug":"precious-moments-at-virtual-tourist-euromeets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/precious-moments-at-virtual-tourist-euromeets\/","title":{"rendered":"Precious moments at Virtual Tourist Euromeets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Travel is not just about the places we travel to; it is about the people we meet along the way. And when such meetings develop into friendships that are sustained long after the journey has been completed, that is precious indeed.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From June 2005 to early 2017 I was an active member of a travel website, Virtual Tourist. Over the years this developed into a real community \u2013 not just online but also \u2018in real life\u2019. One element of this was the regular organisation of meetings between members, large and small. The latter might consist of just two members who found themselves travelling to the same destination at the same time; or maybe arranging to meet up with a local friend while on a city break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest meetings, on the other hand, could involve over 100 members. Many of these were regular fixtures in the calendar of many members. Among them, the annual \u2018Euromeet\u2019 was one of the biggest and longest established. It was first held in 2005 in Valeggio, near Verona. I first attended in 2008 when it took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, and went to almost all of them from that year on, missing only 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n