By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

They call Linden Ponds home, but the many world explorers who live there also unabashedly call themselves “vagabonds.”

As part of the wildly popular travel group “Linden Ponds Vagabonds,” residents have taken off on planning trips around the world, beginning with this month’s journey to Holland and Belgium.

Fun in numbers
Though many members of the community had been traveling on their own for years, they embraced the idea of a travel group where they could share past experiences and venture on new ones together.

“We like to travel and we’ve got some travel experience… but want to broaden [that], go other places besides the UK and France,” says Jim Carr, who serves on the travel group’s planning committee. “I thought it was a good chance to get involved.”

Marilyn Pula, who lives at Linden Ponds and has done extensive travel  worldwide, expected to find a travel group when she moved to the community. “I kept waiting for [it] to meet, but I didn’t see one,” Pula recalls. “I saw trips being taken but I thought it was something that should be open to all.”

As a result, Pula got together a planning committee and held the first meeting late last year. The turnout of more than 100 eager travelers was so great that the meeting had to be moved into the performing arts center, where it now takes place monthly.

Top destinations
When the travel group first met, Pula asked participants to vote on the places they would most like to go. The top three destinations were the Maritime  Provinces, Egypt, and Thailand. Giving the Vagabonds what they want, at a recent meeting Pula and Carr presented organized trips to the Maritimes and Egypt, which they selected after doing extensive research. Those trips will likely depart later this year.