Our NomadMania envoy meeting in the Big Apple 🍎 on July 27 was a resounding success despite the few logistical hiccups we encountered. We were readying ourselves to host the meeting in Bryant Park, but we quickly had to pivot to a new locale as authorities announced that the park’s lawn would be closed that afternoon. We quickly settled on Pilgrim Hill, which is part of New York City’s famous Central Park, and communicated this to existing registrants.
The second challenge happened on the day of the meeting: we told people to come find the group sitting with balloons on Pilgrim Hill; however, by the time we arrived to set up, there was already a children’s birthday party with balloons right in front of the pilgrim statue. We had to set up somewhere else in the area that was not readily visible from the main point, which caused a lot of folks to inadvertently ‘crash’ the birthday party! Ultimately though, everyone ended up finding us and enjoying their afternoons with the spectacular weather that the city put on for us that day.
Among the forty meeting attendees, there were some familiar faces and many new ones. Mike and Angela Ballard came up from Tennessee to hang out and spend quality time with us. Our friends Lee Sandberg and Steven Montero took the train up from New Jersey, and even one of our new friends from the Philadelphia meeting, Victoria Scrima, joined us for this event.
Beyond the familiar faces, many local New Yorkers were present in the festivities, including a few people who lead chapters of other travel groups in the city. It was great to chat with them about their communities and talk a little bit about what makes NomadMania special. An extra special fact was that we had travelers in attendance all the way from Washington, D.C., and as far away as Germany, Finland, the Philippines, and India!
There was also a good mix of travel experience and tenure, which lent itself well to sharing different perspectives among participants. During the meeting, many people expressed a desire for future meetings, on a frequent basis, which exemplifies how well things went and how there is a strong desire for building community among travel enthusiasts.
We would like to thank everyone in attendance, particularly those from outside the region. A special shout out goes to Justine Kirby for helping us with on-the-ground logistics and getting the word out in the New York City area. Until next time New York!
