Got wanderlust? The world comes to Huntsville with new travelogue series

It started, as a surprising number of things do, with conversations in a hockey dressing room.

“Various participants would disappear for a week or two at times through the year and then come back to tell the rest of the players about their travels,” says Rob Saunders. “It struck me that others would want to have a chance to do some virtual travelling and that the (Algonquin) Theatre was the perfect venue to present the evenings at.”

Saunders enlisted fellow hockey player David McGuey, who travelled to Peru, the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands in January of this year, to be the inaugural presenter in what Saunders hopes will be an ongoing series of travelogues by local residents.

“Over the past couple of years I have envisioned doing some travelogues using the screen and facilities of the Algonquin Theatre. These would be regular people sharing their travel stories of interesting places with community members who may never get to experience these places,” says Saunders.

Attendees will be treated to a slideshow and tales of the places visited, followed by a short Q&A period.

Here’s a teaser of what you’ll hear and see at McGuey’s presentation:

Did you know that most people pronounce the name of former Incan citadel Machu Picchu incorrectly? If you say ‘MATCH-oo PEE-choo’, you’re doing it wrong and delighting the locals in the process. It should be pronounced ‘MATCH-oo PEEK-choo’—picchu (or pikchu) in Quechua means ‘mountain’ or ‘peak’, pichu means… something else entirely (but you’ll have to hear David tell the story to find out what!).

A boat on the Amazon River (Photo: Dave McGuey)

The Galapagos Islands are home to many unique species (Photo: Dave McGuey)

Maybe you’d like to travel but it’s not in the cards (or the bank account) right now. Maybe you just can’t get away from work for long. Or maybe you’d like to see what these places are like before deciding whether or not to go there. A travelogue is the perfect place to relieve some of your wanderlust (or perhaps fuel it).

Admission is by donation to help offset any expenses, and at the inaugural travelogue donations will also be accepted for Robin’s Rebels, a dedicated team of five local cyclists—McGuey, Bill Coon, John Rea, Dean Smales, Jim Watson—who are riding from Toronto to Niagara for the Ride to Conquer Cancer on June 9-10.

The presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30. Watch the Algonquin Theatre box office online for future travelogue dates with other presenters. So far local photographer and traveller Don McCormick is on board and Saunders is lining up others.

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