Today I went to the “Adventures in Travel Expo.” It was a fun way to spend the day and get lots of useful information. The expo was held at the Jacob Javitz center, a large convention center here in New York, and featured booths representing tourist boards, tour operators and other travel related companies. In addition, there were speakers throughout the day, a performance stage, the opportunity to try a zipline, a pool offering scuba lessons, and more. I also spent quite a bit of time petting 2 absolutely beautiful Siberian husky puppies, who are being trained to be part of the Jamaican dogsled team. Really. I guess bobsleding wasn’t enough for the Jamaicans; this year they have a team going to the Iditarod.
The expo featured quite a few interesting speakers. I attended a presentation by Tony Wheeler, who is one of the founders of Lonely Planet. He spoke about some of his early travels, and how they led to writing guidebooks that were the predecessors to the Lonely Planet guides, and also shared slides and videos of some of his more recent trips. I also went to a talk by Patricia Shultz, who wrote “1000 Places to See Before You Die.” She showed slides of some of her top destinations and spoke about some of her travel experiences. I was so inspired by both of these speakers. Imagine getting paid to travel and then write about it!
Besides petting the puppies and attending those talks, I spent the rest of the day strolling around and talking to the different exhibitors. I got magazines, various freebies (lots of pens and post-its), food (macadamia nut cookies from Hawaii, dark chocolate from Ecuador, coffee from Costa Rica) and tons of brochures about destinations that I want to visit. I also entered a few raffle drawings–who knows, maybe I’ll win a trip somewhere!
The only drawback to attending an expo like this is the realization of just how many places there are to visit in the world, and how little time there is to get everywhere. It can feel overwhelming but the day left me feeling energized and excited about all of the possibilities out there. And I also love getting free stuff.
Fierce Sunflower 