Story by Glynn Mon Hughes published in Rotary Magazine November 2025
It happens when cold, dark nights start to dampen spirits.
Holidays become the new happy place: adventures to plan, places to explore, people to meet. Getting there’s part of the fun. But where to stay?
Which are the not-to-be-missed sights? Where’s a good place to eat?
There’s no shortage of on-line travel information. Think Trivago, Expedia, Airbnb – and tens of thousands of rivals. But are these the best deals?
Once again, it’s Rotary to the rescue. This time it’s in the guise of the International Travel and Hosting Fellowship, one of the biggest Rotary fellowships with a significant, worldwide membership.
Florida-based Ligia Corredor is the Fellowship President and, in conversation, it quickly becomes evident there are few places on the planet she’s not visited.
Originally from Colombia she came to the USA 60 years ago to study and never left. Now retired, she is a dietician by training and ended up working as a director at a psychiatric hospital in upstate New York before moving south.
“The Fellowship dedicates itself to connecting Rotarians and friends of Rotary to travel together for leisure and business trips,” explained Corredor, a member of the Rotary Club of Miramar-Pines based in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
“This enables long-term friendships and, as a tangent, we often undertake projects together as part of our international service. I’ve been involved in projects in Africa, Australia, Colombia and Central America, for instance.
“We have a tours committee which accepts suggestions from members for specific tours. These are organised by a Rotarian who is a travel agent, though we don’t plan any more than three tours each year. The numbers of people who travel varies.
“Our recent tour to Ecuador and Peru saw between ten and 14 people travelling. The trip was customised for people to join as they wanted. It was 23 days in all and we realise that may be a little too long for some people.”
Trips planned in the near future include South India and Japan, a destination which appears to be extremely popular.
“We’re not travelling to big cities when we go to Japan,” noted Corredor. “We’ll be going to Osaki-kamijima island and we’ll be connecting with the Oleander initiative.”
That initiative encourages peace-builders from around the world to take study tours of Hiroshima, for instance.
“The whole point is to immerse ourselves in the customs, cultures and foods of each country we visit,” added Corredor, “and we aim to connect with local Rotarians.”
Covid damaged the Fellowship and it lost half of its membership but that has been more than reversed, with 1,120 members presently on the books.
Rotary Conventions are key to boosting membership and Corredor is a regular attender. Andy Ullman, from Chicago, is Membership Chair, a position he took over from Corredor who had served five years in the role.
He has 15 Rotarians from around the world on his committee and managed to have a face- to-face meeting with most of them at the Calgary Convention. One key challenge faced by Ullman is to increase Fellowship membership in Europe, India and Africa and to attract a
younger generation to its ranks.
Possibly key to that is pushing the initiative of hosting and being hosted.
“When people join the Fellowship, they have access to an exclusive list of Rotarians from all over the world,” said Corredor.
“As a result, I’ve had people stay with me. A Rotarian from Canada called me up six years ago and told me she was going to an event in Miami. She stayed with me and we have become very close friends. She comes here and I visit her winter home in central Florida.
I met another Rotarian at the Convention in Melbourne and she was coming from Australia to Argentina and asked to stay with me.”
Ligia has also had some hosting adventures of her own. Meeting a Rotarian on a sailing trip in Croatia turned into an additional week’s stay in Zagreb. A cruise which was finishing in Scotland saw Corredor stay with a Rotarian north of the border and, when the weather typically closed in, they sampled local fare and watched rugby on TV. That Melbourne Convention saw 80 Fellowship members get together to travel around off-the-beaten-track Australia.
“We stayed with Rotarians and did things we’d never have done if we had stayed in cities,” she said. “I went for a walk one day and came across a family of kangaroos munching the grass in a local cemetery. I’d not have seen that in a city.”
If all this sounds overly strenuous and, perhaps, budget busting, there’s always Coffee Connections, where members Zoom together – something which started during Covid and which has persisted due to popular demand.
If there was one way to describe the Fellowship, what would it be? “It feels like family,” said Corredor. For a seasoned globetrotter, that’s some praise.