Yolanda goes to Barcelona!
A WORD FROM THE SIDE KICK
Hola… Sangria… Tapas… Networking receptions… Gaudí… All these words have something in common… Barcelona!!!
I had the wonderful opportunity to represent PG TOPS at WYSTC (World Youth and Student Travel Conference) 2011 in Barcelona last week. It was an honour for me to go and I want to thank Pieter for this opportunity.
Now, I can tell you about all the important meetings we had, all the seminars we attended and what the statistics are looking like for youth travel in 2012, but… I would rather tell you about the amazing friends I made, the beautiful buildings I saw, how I tried to speak Spanish with an Afrikaans accent and how it feels to get lost in the streets of Barcelona at 3am in the morning… with no money!
The South Africans from SAYTC (South African Youth Travel Confederation) were a bunch to keep up with. There was exploring, dancing, jumping into a swimming pool with their clothes on, eating loads of tapas and drinking litres of beer and sangria. As we roamed the streets of Barcelona we saw the Sagrada Familia, one of the most famous buildings of architect Antoni Gaudi and many more of his amazing works of art.
Now it might sound like we went on holiday, but through it all we had successful appointments with various potential business partners from across the globe and made new friends. Some important figures that spoke at the seminars were David Rowan – Editor of the UK edition of WIRED magazine and Samyak Chakrabarty – MD of Electronic Youth Media Group, India. Also, Samyak, at age 22 is the youngest Media CEO in India!!
Hopefully PG TOPS will be joining the team at WYSTC 2012 in San Diego, where the networking will continue, another adventure will unfold and the South Africans will keep the party going.
Adios!!
Yolanda Bekker
“What you do in life… echoes in eternity…”