The TCC United Kingdom Chapter held its first Zoom Lockdown meeting on Sunday, Feb. 7. There were 18 members in attendance, including members from the Central European and Oceania Chapters.
Our group shared various stories about the impact of the pandemic on travel and on daily life. It was interesting to compare and contrast different country restrictions and how they are coping. A few members were able to manage some regional and domestic travel in between lockdowns. We also shared stories of how many people cut short trips back in March 2020 when it became clear that they needed to return home before it was too late to do so.
We also heard from Oceania Chapter Coordinator Robyn Antill, who kindly briefed us about the group she leads.
We recognized Susan Gibson, who achieved travel to 200 TCC countries, and her son Alexander, who achieved 100 countries during the year he turned 18 years old. Some of our most well- traveled members updated us on their remaining goals, including David Langan, who has nearly completed the full TCC country list, and Mike Kendall, who completed the UN countries list in 2019 and is not far behind David on the TCC countries list. Many of us reflected on future travel plans and how they are very likely to be different once travel restrictions begin to ease.
We also enjoyed a presentation from David showing a selection of his post cards from particularly difficult to reach locations.
The overwhelming majority of members in attendance have expressed their interest in holding another Zoom meeting as we remain locked down and unlikely to meet for most of 2021. We will be holding the TCC United Kingdom and Ireland Zoom Lockdown Meeting 2.0 on Sunday, April 11, at 13.00 BST/12.00 GMT. Please mark this date in your diaries. A separate invitation with more detail will be sent out soon. Members from other TCC chapters are welcome to join us.
Best regards,
Donna Marsh
TCC Area Coordinator, UK and Ireland