A Message from the President
President Rick Millikan wishes every fellow BCATW member a Happy New Year chock full of fun-filled resolutions. Thus, Rick invites you all to share his diary of a “Rocky Mountain High” featured January through February in Cycle California Magazine. This wheely fine tale reveals one of his Zen Cyclopath tours enjoyed a few summers ago in the Canadian Rockies.
A reminder from Treasurer Karoline Cullen
Annual membership renewals are due by Jan 15th, 2014. Due are payable with a $48.00 cheque to BCATW (mail to: Karoline Cullen, Box 1035, Delta, BC, V4M 3T2) or via PayPal here on the website. ($48.00 plus $2.00 PayPal fee).
As part of your membership renewal, proof of publishing of three articles in the past two years are required. Please email links, pdfs, or jpeg scans to Secretary Chris Millikan or VP Ruth Kozak by January 15, and they will notify me of your fulfilment of this requirement.
Board member Randi Winter introduces Bestway Tours’ Mahmood Poonja and Destinos Enterprises’ Sandra Sallovitz at the BCATW’s AGM in November.
BCATW Member’s News and 2014 Plans
After a year of reduced travel in 2013, Julie H. Ferguson anticipates more in 2014. She has several assignments confirmed for her ten-day river cruise on the Rideau Waterway from Peterborough to Ottawa in May and more from her visit to the Western Isles of Scotland in September. Julie is excited to be sailing home from Europe on the Queen Mary 2, a voyage which will hopefully excite interest in a few editors. Watch for her feature on the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa in Senior Living in the Spring.
Julie wishes everyone a 2014 filled with travel, abundance, and creativity.
If any of you are contemplating retiring overseas, take a moment to read Rick Neal’s latest article in Senior Living magazine on Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is rated as one of the world’s top retirement destinations.
Rick had planned a trip to Morocco last fall but a torn quad tendon put a stop to that one (hint: buy cancellation insurance!) He’s now almost healed and ready to hit the road again in 2014. His only problem is deciding where to go.
Irene Butler and her husband Rick have just landed in Panama. They spent Christmas and New Year’s in Colombia….more to come on this country that is unknown territory to most travellers! Her anaconda hunt during their four days deep in the Ecuador Amazon Basin is now on their website, Global Trekkers. Their travel highlights of 2013 were the highlands of Scotland and the Ring of Kerry in Ireland! Irene’s New Year’s resolution is to experience the cultures of a dozen countries that she and Rick have never before visited in 2014!
What a year 2013 was for Barb Rees! She had a couple “Big Hairy Audacious Dreams” and accomplished both of them. In April she released her 4th book “RV Canada and the Polar Bear Dream,” in the RV Canada series. On May 16 her and hubby Dave packed their motor home known as the Paliwagon (for their little dog Pali) and took off across Canada for the third time. Destination: Newfoundland. Dream: To explore as much of they could from east to west in a month. What a trip! Barb and Dave have sold at farmer’s markets and held book signings to help pay for the gas on every one of their five big Canadian trips. Although it didn’t cover the exorbitant $11,000 in fuel, it helped. They are living proof you can make your dreams come true on a pension. Of the 136 days they were on the road, they only paid for 23 nights camping. Their favorite part of the trip was the people and birds in Newfoundland. Walking among puffins, which aren’t afraid of humans, was an experience they will never forget. Barb’s favorite book signing of all time took place at The Old Stone House at Oromocto (north and west of Edmonton) with the most hospitable people. Books sold well besides Dave’s glass jewellery. What a fun and inspiring event!
Another trip means another book for Barb. She is working on launching “RV Canada Across An Exotic Land” this fall. As for other goals, she wants to take time from the book to write more magazine articles or take more fam tours for material. Every year she writes her vision for the coming year and keeps it handy for reminders. It works to keep her on track or to prevent her from getting discouraged.
Barb says, happy writing fellow scribes! May 2014 bring you as many writing gigs as you need and want. Barb Rees, LoveToGo Writing www.write2dream.com
Ruth Kozak had two new stories published in EuropeUpClose.com: The Jewish Museum of Athens and Dylan Thomas’s Swansea. Ruth is excited to be invited to join another on-line travel ‘zine based in New Zealand and has already submitted one story to Travel Generation, soon to be published.
If you want to learn how to write better travel stories, Ruth will hold a 5 week travel writing course at her home from January 29 thru February. $50 for five weeks. Call her at 604-254-9711 or email her if you are interested. She will also be starting her various writing courses in New Westminster and Vancouver beginning mid January. Ruth is very excited that this is the year her historical fiction novel SHADOW OF THE LION will be published in UK and she wishes Happy New Year to all her writer friends! Also, she is heading the planning committee for this year’s symposium, which will begin meeting soon, and any input from BCATW members is welcome!
Darlene Foster had a wonderful year with travels, writing and readings; all things she loves to do. She has been invited to read from her travel adventure stories at Children’s Hospital on January 7. Her goals for 2014 are to complete her fourth novel in the Amanda travel series, visit Taos, New Mexico, explore more of the local area, retire and relocate to Spain for an undetermined time.
Darlene and Mari wish everyone a fabulous 2014 with many travel adventures and an abundance of stories to share!
“I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.”
– Douglas Adams
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