Thirty dedicated travelers braved a cold, rainy Saturday to celebrate the Northern California Chapter’s holiday luncheon at Trader Vic’s in the East Bay. In addition to delicious food and spirited conversation, attendees were treated to an amazing presentation by Lillie Echevarria entitled “The Pursuit of 330 During COVID Times.” Lillie retired in March 2019 and has been traveling ever since. Particularly impressive is her ability to carry out Plan B even as COVID disrupted her travel plans. Security-sensitive areas including Syria, Somalia, Myanmar, and Afghanistan, were places she visited without hesitation; she connected with people and found beauty no matter where she traveled and no matter how difficult the road. During the four continuous years of travel, Lillie added 83 TCC countries/territories and a vast collection of photographs. At the conclusion of Lillie’s presentation, co-coordinators JoAnn Schwartz and Margo Bart presented Lillie with her platinum award for visiting 250 TCC countries/territories.
