"VT Friends I Have Met" Personal Page by Stephen-KarenConn

Our first ever VT meeting was hosted by Hans, Lori and Kathy in Windsor, Ontario, June 4 & 5, 2004. Our hosts were delightful, the weather was perfect, and we met several new friends. Those attending were:
Waaleweiner Hans
LoriPori Lori
windsorgirl Kathy
CoAir13 Jen & Ethan
Hi_Im_Phil Phil, Maria Giovanni, Dominique
RonDace Ron & Kathy
Johanl Johan
Stephen-KarenConn Stephen & Karen

With extremist (Patty) at Portage Glacier

I was fortunate to meet extremist (Patty) during my visit to Alaska in August, 2004. Patty works downtown, directly across the street from the International Hostel, where I stayed for three days of my trip. She took her lunch break with me at a the Glacier Brewhouse, then after work she was gracious enough to join me for a short trip to see the Portage Glacier and for dinner in Alyeska at the Double Musky Inn. It was great to meet a "real" Alaskan girl.

extremist Patty

The Austin VT Gang

It was a real pleasure to meet (ATXtraveler) Mark, and (saraheg77) Sarah when I visited Austin on a county collecting trip. Mark and Sarah took off the entire day to show me around Austin, and then that evening we had a very enjoyable VT dinner meeting at Baby A's Restaurant. Those attending were:

Seated, Left to Right
asgottl Amy
butterfly_girl Kym
Carlos
Yelli Danielle

Standing, Left to Right:
walkaboutwally Sam
Stephen-KarenConn Stephen
Skibbe Scot
mertmh Mark
saraheg77 Sarah
ATXtraveler Mark

Jennifer and Friends

Voyageuse30 (Jennifer) invited VTers in the area to meet her at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore Cafe on a Sunday afternoon for Ohio's first ever VT meeting. Five of us showed up and we visited like old friends for 1 1/2 hours. Thanks Jennifer for getting us together. We look forward to more Ohio meetings.

Those attending were, left to right:
Voyageuse30 Jennifer
Karen
Stephen-KarenConn Stephen
garmentlady Lisa
Friend

Left to Right: Frank & Stephen

Frankcanfly (Frank), emailed me that he was in town and suggested that we meet at The Root Beer Stand, just a few blocks down the street from where I live. We had a root beer together, then Frank came back by our house for a short visit and to take a look at some of my travel maps. Karen snapped this photo of Frank and me on our front porch. It was nice to meet you, Frank.

frankcanfly Frank

Left to Right: Stephen, Karen, Jill, Dee

Saturday, May 6, 2006, Karen and I were in Columbus for a wedding and Dee Johnson (Deecat) and her friend, Jill Martin, were there on vacation. We met in Columbus' historic German Village for lunch at Schmidts Sausage Haus und Restaurant.

Dee is even more vivacious and delightful in person than she is here on the pages of Virtual Tourist. Although it was our first time to meet in person, I felt like we were old friends. This is one of the best things about VT, meeting interesting people who share our passion for travel and exploring the world.

Dee and Jill spent 11 days in our fair state of Ohio. I'm looking forward to seeing her new Ohio pages as she builds them. Dee has seen parts of the Buckeye State that I have not yet had a chance to visit - but I'll be trying to catch up with her soon.

Stephen- left and Pete - right

Monday, July 10, 2006, Pete Chamlis (pchamlis) had a layover of almost 4 hours at the Cincinnati airport while traveling from his home in Tallahassee, Florida, to Denver, Colorado. This gave us the opportunity to get together for a late lunch and a quick driving tour of Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as Covington and Newport, Kentucky.

Pete had his first experience of eating Skyline Chili, our own famous Cincinnati signature dish. I hope Pete liked it. If not, at least he didn't complain. Skyline Chili is a Greek recipe which is nothing at all like Texas style chili, but more resembles spaghetti, with a thick meaty sauce and mounds of cheeze on top. People in Cincinnati are crazy over it.

Almost three years ago, shortly after I wrote my very first travel tip on VT, Pete was the first person to give me a rating and become my VT friend. He doesn't know how much that encouraged me to keep adding new tips. This was our first time to meet in person, but because of Virtual Tourist we were already old buddies.

Meeting wonderful people from across the United States and different parts of the world was something I didn't expect when I first signed up for VT. However, through this fabulous travel site I have been privileged to meet and become friends with some of the greatest people in the world.

Erika and Erik in Chicago

While changing trains in Chicago, right in front of Union Station, we accidentally bumped into two VTers, Erika (erikatheskysailor), from Cleveland, Ohio, and also her friend Erik, formerly a VT member. We were excited to have such an unexpected serendipity. It's always great when we can turn virtual friends into a real ones. If you haven't seen Erika's Cleveland, Ohio tips you should take a look. She has done a superb job in representing her home town.