[Travelandtourism] Report from the National Convention on the Travel and Tourism Meeting

[cheryl echevarria]

First for all of you that were at the division meeting we had about 15 members join/renew there membership, we had about 25 people at the meeting total.
If you haven't joined it is $10.00 a year, what does that do for you, allow you to vote during elections and make a motion.
Please also remember, that we hold monthly division meetings, and it was approved by the membership at convention that the meetings will be held the 4th Monday of the month at 8pm Eastern Time, check your times for your areas, this is not a board meeting this a a division meeting.  All are welcome to join, but cannot not again vote on things and make a motion.
Also official officers for 2012-2014:
We started fresh, since many of the officers have come and gone, so we started on the same page.
Last year I was asked to step in for former President Don Gilmore, who is still part of this division, but I was elected by the membership to be President.
So Officers are as follows:
President, Cheryl Echevarria, NYVice President, Maurice Shackelford, GASecretary, Margo Downey, NYTreasurer, Milton Taylor, UT
Board Members:
Jemal Powell - ILAmy Baron - MNDaniel Carr - TX
I want to wish everyone congratulations on the elections.
We then had a presentation by Sendero Group, Katie did the presentation, Michael May, was still traveling to convention. 
If you do not know Sendero Group, they do the GPS Systems.
We are in talks of doing a fundraiser with Sendero Group, so look for upcoming e-mails.
We then proceeded to have a panel discussion with:
Robert Leslie Newman, President of the Writers DivisionKarl Smith of Utah Cheryl Echevarria, NY 
The main focus is was, why travel when you are blind.
All of us mentioned that we have other senses to enjoy life.
Robert was discussing not only traveling for leisure but also traveling as a professional to different countries in assisting with training of other blind people.
Karl Smith was discussing about his family, and his children are adopted and are from different countries, and that his wife does all the travel arranging, using both travel agents on some things and some things they did it on there own.
Traveling from Places like Vietnam and Greenland, Australia, etc.
About doing things like going to Ireland and kissing the Blarney Stone, which I have to say is a great adventure to do, but also not easy to get to.
Hoping that Karl if you are on the talk list, you can give your experience there.
I was talking about traveling with your guide dog outside of the country.
I also mentioned, that you do not need to travel to the places we have been to experience things.
Currently, I am a columnist with Blindambitiongroups.org, about travel, and in the July Edition, I spoke about "Conventions are over, now what about the rest of the summer"
Meaning, great vacations are right outside your door in your states, whether it is a day trip or a weekend trip. There are plenty to do in the areas you are. Do you know that many people on Long Island, where I live, which is only an hour drive (yeah right), without traffic, rofl, or a train ride into NY City, have never been there, never been to the statue of liberty or go to the Empire State Building.
Oh you are thinking, these places are to expensive to go to, on the contrary, some days are half price or free Wednesdays.
Or a trip upstate to Niagara Falls, or Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame), etc.
So, we ended the meeting, with the thoughts of traveling is good for everyone, being blind shouldn't stop people from doing it.
We got to convention okay right, so hopefully, others reading this that don't travel might do so 




Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
Cheryl Echevarria, Ownerhttp://www.echevarriatravel.com631-456-5394reservations@echevarriatravel.comhttp://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com
PresidentTravel and Tourism DivisionNational Federation of the Blind631-236-5138