Toastmasters Table Topics Questions – Theme Vacations
*If you’d like to provide your answer to our questions, please use comment section below
Question # 1
Would you rather go to Europe or on a Road trip across the country… and Why?
I thought of the vacation as a theme listening to Caryn’s and Greg’s story of Brexit party in London. I’ve heard some amazing vacation speeches before too. For example, Norm and Frannie had a road trip to Vancouver a couple of years ago for the Toastmasters Convention. They drove from Orange County, CA to New Yourk, then crossed to Canada, and drove from Canadian East to Canadian West coast. That’s quite a trip! And you don’t need to wait until you’re in your 80s to go on a trip like that!
Question #2
Have you ever had a vacation, when you got out of your comfort zone?
I’ve never done a Road trip, but I’ve been to London. When I got US citizenship, I decided to go to London, since I can speak English. My daughter came with a more complex plan. She was a teenager at that time, she had Beatles and Jim Morrison posters in her room. She asked me to take a train from London to Paris, to see Jim Morrison’s grave. I was scared! How can I find a grave in Paris? I don’t even speak French! I googled, and had a brilliant idea. What about Pamela’s grave? It’s in Fullerton! You’re redhead, she is redhead… Fullerton? My daughter didn’t buy into it. Lucky me, I have a cousin who lives in Paris!
Crossing Abbey Road 
Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris
Question #3
What would be your ideal “Do Good” vacation, AKA a vacation spent on helping others?
Our Toastmaster Jennifer Allert is great sample of a vacation spent doing Good. A couple of years ago, Jen went to Guatemala as part of a non-profit organization called Home for a Home that helps people who wouldn’t have a home otherwise.
Question #4
How can you convince your friend to eat less meat?
We could’ve done Oscars as a theme tonight. I think one of the most remarkable moment’s this Sunday was Joaquin [Wa-keen] Phoenix speech. It was a rebellious speech. He talked about a suffering of a cow at the event playing McDonald’s Big-Mack commercials. How does this linked to a vacation? When my daughter was little, we spent a summer in a village outside Moscow, and got to know a local milk lady. She shared a story of her cow crying next to the skin of the baby cow. That cow knew, that skin was all that was left of her baby. I remember this story, even though I heard it 25 years ago. Yet, that story didn’t convince me to be vegetarian or a vegan. I don’t think it’s that easy. Yet, what about Meatless Monday, or simply one vegetarian dinner a month?
Question #5
Have you had a vacation that was very different from what you expected or even got canceled?
Sometimes you plan a dream vacation but it doesn’t work the way you plan. I hope to go on vacation to Japan with my boyfriend, but… it’s Feb 2020, and we all heard about coronavirus.
Question #6
What do you think about local vacations?
I didn’t work last summer so I didn’t have an official summer vacation. But I drove to Visalia, went to Sequoias, went to the beach, and gardened.
Categories: Toastmasters
Yes to Dreams 
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