Pic of the Day: The Interview

I love attending the Travel and Adventure Show -- check out the below link, there may be one near you -- as both a way to touch base with old friends, meet new ones, investigate possible adventures in the future (safari!) and hear from various travel authorities on subjects of interest.

(If Phil Keoghan is appearing, go. His presentation alone is worth the price of entry.)

Below, in the main hall of the convention center, travel author and authority Pauline Frommer is interviewed by the local news.

http://travelshows.com

Travel and Adventure Show

A REMINDER I WILL BE TWEETING FROM THE TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE SHOW TODAY, 1 - 4 PM PACIFIC. LOVE TO HAVE YOU FOLLOW ALONG!!

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Seek Out the Adventure

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls."   - Anais Nin 


Fun day today. Off to the Travel and Adventure Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. 


I'll blog in more detail about the show and its ilk at a later date, but this is the sort of thing we can do on a regular basis that gets the same Raman juices flowing. No, no, no. Not the noodle we all consumed in mass quantities during the lean college years, but the Hindu God who wandered in exile for fourteen years. Kind of like Anthony Bourdain without a camera crew.

Planes...

The fun of the Travel and Adventure Show is to wander the aisles thinking and dreaming and, at times, planning. And picking up lit. Lots of lit -- which ought to be loads of joy today since I have a spasming lower back. (A different story, filled with irony, but not really a topic for a travel page. Rest assured, it hurts.) Last year I met and have subsequently continued to be in contact with ace travel photographer and blogger Ralph Velasco -- a man who lives the life I'd like to. (If he turns up missing one day, don't blame me. I'm sure to have an ironclad alibi.) He is giving his most-excellent presentation "Developing Your Photographic Vision: The Importance of Looking vs. Seeing" -- which got my attention last year because of the content and approach it calls for in travel photography. (He has published an excellent book on the topic -- "101 Tips for Developing Your Photographic Eye & More" -- with an accompanying application for your tablet. Well worth checking out -- there is a link to his website below.)

...trains...

Anyway. 

Typically it's my wife and I who peruse the show, but this year our friends Mary and Evelyn announced they'd like to go with us. They're planning a cruise later in the year and want to gather as much info on possible itineraries as they can. This is a marvelous opportunity for them to go to a single place and get direct and useful feedback from the professionals in the booths. It's not necessarily a "sales-y" situation -- yes, some of the vendors view it as such -- but the majority are there to help you out and describe the best parts of whatever destination they are representing. (Hint: Hit the booths of travel bureaus and destinations themselves such as cruise lines or resorts. Packagers are excellent options, but they tend to be more aggressive in these sorts of shows.)

I'll fill you in on all the details, but check your local convention center to see if they have similar shows during the year. For lovers of travel -- and why would you be here if you're not -- it's like being a kid in a candy store searching for just the right Wonka Bar. The one with the golden ticket.

...and automobiles.

Ralph Velasco's website: http://www.ralphvelasco.com