Posted overseas, a spare spouse or friend at a conference, or just visiting a country for a week or two and want to make friends? Several national and international organisations are looking for new members.
Your options are:
Find an organisations and join it in the country you are visiting.
Find an organisation and join it in your home country and go as a guest to branches in a foreign country.
Befriend an organiser and go to a meeting as a guest to try it out.
Go to a professional group such as a conference and find social groups which members belong to. They could be members of tennis clubs, bridge clubs, U3A (retirees). Toastmasters (public speaking with speech competitions twice a year and clubs in the USA, Europe, Asia, most countries). Hash House Harriers (UK, Singapore and worldwide) for runnings in cities and the outdoors.
For example, Saturday night in North London, I went as a guest to an Inter-Varsity Wine and cheese party in somebody's house. My family met the host whose house it was being held at during a wine tasting at a public place the previous week. Two people cancelled and 24 hours before the event we were told we could join.
I was astonished at what we got for our outlay. £20 for a curry, smoked salmon starter, cheese for dessert, and tastings of Prosecco and Champagne and more.
At many Tastings you get less than a third of a glass - because you will be offered up to ten wines during the evening), a bottle shared between 10-12 people, then another bottle opened.
Starter
We started our food with smoked salmon and something on crackers - I think it was egg or cream cheese or mayonnaise. Another choice was a pate on a cracker.
Sparkling Wines
Then our host opened the first of three sparkling wines. We compared A Prosecco and a moderately priced Champagne. We discussed the difference between a Prosecco, a Cava and a Champagne (all cheap ones from Tesco). Champagne must come from the Champagne area of France. Prosecco is from Italy, originally from the area of that name, but now a grape shares the name.
We also tried Chilean wines from the Wine Society. One wine was named after a bird, another after a tendril.
I took a photo of each of the bottles of wine which I liked. My favourite label showed a bird. Later I looked up the name on the label. Salvador is Spanish for a bird called a whistler in English. The bird eats insects and is found in the vineyards.
We belong to other wine societies (for which there is sometimes no charge if it's all done by email, or just a small charge to cover the cost of the list of events posted to you. Sometimes you just pay £15-85 for events in public buildings or somebody's house.
At our Inter-Varsity meeting one of the joint hosts had cooked rice and three curries, one of which was vegetarian and mild. We finished with at least four different cheeses, one stilton, one stilton with fruit.
You could get as little as 25 mil for 20 people sharing a bottle, but more like 50 mil for 15 people sharing each bottle. At a tutored tasting, you might have a host serving everybody and using a measuring cup.
At a less formal group, such as our Inter-Varsity dinner, half the people were drinking whisky only, the others drinking wine only, so the bottles went clockwise in the first half of the evening, anti-clockwise later on, and people just helped themselves. Spouses who sipped something and didn't like it passed their portion over to their spouse. Everybody had quite enough.
Inter-Varsity
Inter-Varsity is nationwide in the UK, originally for ex-university students, attracting mainly intellectuals and professionals, but from all classes and ages, can be left wing, down market, elderly and retired, often a complete mixture, sometimes living in one area, but others travelling by bus, train, car, or walking up to half an hour. You can join and suggest and organised and hold your own events. One group was holding open mic (microphone) singing and playing guitar and performance events at a professional club, but the price just quadrupled and they are looking into a new venue.
Inter-Varnsity website will tell you lots more. Most of their groups have multi activities, according to what people organise. But two in the UK are for photography and outdoors, not just walking, skiing and other activities.
USA
Toastmasters International find a club website
UK
Toastmasters International find a club website (all over UK, Eire, Wales etc)
Inter-Varsity
U3A
Old Codgers (You can go as a guest. If you join, after a couple of years you become eligible for benefits such as using their convalescent home)
Singapore
Hash House Harriers - different running clubs each day of the week, men only Mondays, other days: women (slower); mixed; families with children doing slower runs, people running with dogs, a charge for guests and an annual fee.
A group I have not joined is InterNations but you might like them.
Toastmasters
Meets in hotels, YMCA, YWCA, Community Centres (on every public housing estate).
Business Clubs
If you are on business ask if there is also an in house clubs run by many big businesses such as accountants, banks, IBM, insurance companies, hospitals for their staff. Many large companies whose staff need to speak or present in English are likely to have a Toastmasters. Although you can only join if you are a member of their company, if you are visiting the company on business, or a member of Toastmasters International and can evaluate a speech they would probably be delighted to have a visitor.
Phone and explain who you are, your business and why you wish to attend. High security applies in many office buildings. You won't get into the building past reception to the right turnstile or even go up in the lift unless you know somebody who can escort you and are on the security list. Arrive early. You must show your passport or ID)
YMCA and YWCA
YMCA has events posted on the noticeboard, ask at reception, or look on their website.
Community Clubs
Also in Singapore look at Community clubs in the Community Centre (for short CC).
Often a branch of Toastmasters in English (one club every Monday three times a month at a hotel about twenty Singaporean dollars including a light buffet - arrive early to get a share!, Mandarin only or bilingual, Malay, Tamil (some Tamil only clubs, others bilingual), French (only once a month) somewhere in the city each week or month.
A large branch of a community centre such as Cairnhill or Braddell Heights might have several toastmasters meetings in a week or month. I have attended fifty different clubs, including English, French, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, clubs in English for Vietnamese, for Filipinos and so on.
Travel Tip
Get at least two phone numbers of people in the organisation you are visiting. If visiting a street, check the postcode. (We once followed our satnav to the east end of London to somebody's house, then found the meeting was in another street of the same name in north west London. Their phones were off and we arrived an hour and a half late. The organiser might have their phone on silent. The President might not be attending the meeting or could be on business in another country.
If you want to tell me about any other useful organisations in the USA or any other country, please let me know by emailing me or messaging me on Facebook or in a comment on this blog. Happy travelling!
http://www.ivc.org.uk (Inter-Varsity Club of UK)
http://www.thewinesociety.com
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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