NOTE: For the last couple of years, the resident cook/chef Ivy and her team have been providing meals available prior to the social. The prices are very reasonable and the food delicious. However the support for these meals is inconsistent and is not proving particularly viable for them. She has decided to continue the meals for the foreseeable future, but will reassess on a social by social basis. If you want it to continue, please join us from midday.
ALSO NOTE: If you bring food/nibbles to the venue, please be discreet about it and don't put it on the table till the kitchen has closed as a sign of respect to Ivy's cooking.
NEXT YEAR: We may be running a Sunday Evening Social on the 3rd March for some visiting USA line dancers, so put it in your diary just in case.

We are in Instructor holiday season. Even if your regular instructor is away, please support the relief instructor as it is a difficult task to look after someone else's class, and they are going out of their way to do so.
The following changes are happening as specified:

• Seaton Tuesday Night Transition class closed 19th & 26th November.
• Fullarton Monday Evening Easy class closed till further notice (lack of attendance)

All other classes are business as usual. Most classes will shut for the Xmas break by 8th December, and resume 3rd February, but some classes may run later and start earlier.

19 of our dancers, relatives and friends have now returned from our European River Cruise holiday. Apart from a couple of travel hiccups and health bugs gathered along the way, all went well and everyone returned home happy and very tired. We need a holiday to recover from the holiday LOL.
Lowlights:

a typical view from our cabin window.

Prague at sunset on our delayed evening river cruise.

One of the myriad of castles visible as we cruise the Rhine River.

Our intrepid travellers on the Viking longboat stairs.

This holiday is likely to include the following:

If you are interested in joining us, please send me an email at peter@linedancersofsa.org with your name (and names of any others that you think might be interested) and any suggestions you may have for items on the itinerary. We already have about 14 people interested.
Having recently been on a Viking cruise, we are very impressed with the company (they own the ships and employ the staff, not leased and contracted), so are leaning towards using them for the Egypt river cruise. The ships are small, and very popular, so we are going to have to do deposits very soon to secure sufficient cabins.
We have discovered that Turkey is a large country and a destination in its own right. We are not going to be able to do the whole country justice in the time and budget we have available, so will have to cover a few of the highlights only on this trip.
The cost and itinerary are not yet locked in, but the cost is hopefully around $19K and the length will be about 30 days within April/May/June of 2026. Due to the volatility of the political environment in the middle east, and the general age of our customers, we are going to pick reputable suppliers, and high end accommodation to ensure our safety and comfort. It will not be a cheap holiday, but it will be very memorable.
Thanks,
Peter

Note:
We are hoping to host an event on Monday 14th October, in the early evening, along with our travel agent and a representative from Viking, to provide more information about what we are planning in the next few years. This event will give any interested attendees the opportunity to quiz the travel consultants and us about any issues or questions you might have. This event will be customised to our future plans, and is not a general travel meeting.

Liz and I have been organising holidays abroad since 2006. Each of them have been places that we ourselves wanted to visit, and then have invited anyone that wants to join us, to share the cost of private tours and customised itineraries that are only available if you have a private group.
They are not line dance holidays (very rare there is any line dance content), but line dancing gives us the opportunity to gather together like-minded people and single travellers, and provide an opportunity for others to travel with experienced organisers they know and trust, and then we look after any issues that may crop up on behalf of the whole group. We never visit a destination a second time (unless it is an airline travel hub), as there are too many places in the world that we haven't been to repeat anything.
So far we have taken a group tour to: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Borneo, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, South Africa (Johannesburg), Botswana, Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls), Mauritius, South Western USA, China, Eastern USA, Eastern Canada, Peru, Chile (Santiago), Argentina, Brazil, Near South Pacific (Cruise), New Zealand (Cruise), Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, Southern Caribbean Islands (Cruise), Papua New Guinea (Cruise), Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Netherlands and France (Paris).
We did our first ocean cruise together in 2016 and took 75 people to the South Pacific on that occasion. Since then we have taken groups on three other ocean cruises and found them to be a good vehicle to see coastal parts of the world in comfort and safety.
Having now been on a Viking river cruise in Europe, we were so impressed with the company that we have plans for three more trips with them. Egypt is already in the pipeline for 2026. We are considering a Mediterranean cruise for 2027, and a Scandinavian cruise for 2028. If you are interested in either of these, please let us know.
Liz and I are planning on doing all three of these trips, whether others want to come or not. If you join us, you will share our experiences and our knowledge of travel, its pitfalls and its opportunities.
Thanks,
Peter

As there are a number of new people that have joined us this year, and after witnessing a couple of close calls, I feel it is important to remind you all of some rules of the dance floor.