Adventures at the Travel and Adventure Show

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you know that I attended the Washington, DC Travel and Adventure show a few weeks ago. I spent Saturday and Sunday listening to and learning from some of the biggest names in travel. In between sessions I was able to visit booths and gather information on places to go next.

Samantha Brown

By far the best part of the weekend for me was meeting travel icons and some of my heroes. The main reason I bought tickets to this show was to meet Samantha Brown. You may recognize Sam from the numerous shows she’s hosted for the Travel Channel. She gave a talk called “Travel Then & Now” about how travel has changed in the last few years with the digital revolution.

Sam’s top travel tip for any destination is “Go for a walk.” It’s a great way to see and experience the place you’re visiting. She also noted that, “Your goal is never that your travel goes perfectly. Because it ain’t.” We shouldn’t be planning the perfect vacation or getaway. Instead we should be planning to spend time with people we love, make new memories, or see and experience a new thing.

When it came to digital, her most profound statement was, “We rely so much on social media. Just take the media out of it and be social.” That’s a tough one for me. I read, research, and plan but I tend to just stick to my schedule when I’m in my destination. I wonder what would happen if I slow down, look around, and start talking to someone. Why do we need to find a restaurant on Yelp? Why can’t we just ask the guy we’re passing on the street? Not all social media is bad and Sam admits to using it, but she does have some advice for Yelp reviewers: “You need to reign it in!” Essentially, we need to know in two sentences if this place is good.

I waited in line to meet Samantha Brown after her talk and got to chat with her for a minute or two. We commiserated over both being delayed on New York to DC Amtrak trains that week and that how in the grand scheme of things it really wasn’t that bad. We were both warm and dry and slowly getting to our destinations. Life could have been much worse.

Pauline Frommer

The first talk I went to was right before Samantha Brown’s talk and I was only there so I was guaranteed a good seat for the next talk. But I had a great surprise when I loved the speaker, Pauline Frommer of Frommer’s. The first thing I learned was how strong the dollar is now. We were told that Europe is essentially 30% off this year compared to a few years ago. What a great time to travel! She had all kinds of great advice on places to travel and sites and apps to use. Follow @Frommers on Twitter for more great info.

Josh Gates

After seeing his name on the lineup I looked into Travel Channel host Josh Gates. He currently hosts Expedition Unknown where he tries to solve old mysteries such as the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her plane.

Josh spoke a lot about vacation versus travel and adventure. According to him, “Adventure is good for you.” Not all travel needs to be easy. Not all travel needs to be fun. Good, I’m doing something right. He went on to say that difficult travel engages your brain and adventure makes your travel more meaningful. I have found both of these things to be true. I rise to challenges I thought I couldn’t handle when something goes wrong in my travel simply because I have no other choice. Challenge forces me to think things through and come up with a plan instead of just passively letting life happen around me.

He also made the intriguing point that, “The golden age of travel is right now.” We tend to think of the golden age in a bygone era of  prop planes, steamships, and early railroads. But those methods were time consuming and expensive. Now, “Everybody can be a traveler, have an adventure, see the world.” It’s never been cheaper or more efficient to get to any destination in the world. What’s stopping you?

Rick Steves

For many, the highlight of the weekend was Rick Steves. If you’ve ever seen any of his shows it will be no surprise to you that the man knows his stuff. Similar to Samantha Brown’s, “Take a walk,” advice Rick Steves advocates to, “Be up early. Be out late. Find ways to be the lonely person there.” It’s hard to see and experience a place from the inside of a hotel room or running from one activity to the next. Make time to explore and experience your destination. Get alone and soak it in.

He, of course, had some great insight on Europe. According to Rick Steves, the four European cities deserving of a week-long vacation are: London, Paris, Rome, and Istanbul. He also said, “In Europe, the most popular places are the tackiest.” I saw that first hand. Many of the “must see” destinations were opposite ice cream stands and souvenir shops. I always thought these were the best spots in the city since it’s where our tour guides led us. But Rick Steves says, “There’s a disincentive for tour guides to teach.” They’re not paid to tour you around. They’re paid to take you shopping. This is why exploring on your own and talking to locals is so important.

He also spoke a bit about cruising. He said that on a ship with 3,000 guests: 1,000 are lazy tourists, 1,000 are just looking for a floating Las Vegas, and 1,000 are real travelers. About the time in port he noted that, “Eight hours is a long time if you’re well organized.” I found that statement particularly encouraging as I’m writing a book about efficiently using your port time on a cruise.

Patricia Schultz

The most meaningful speaker for me was Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. I received a copy of her book from a professor as I was about to graduate college. At the time I had only visited a handful of states and had never been on a plane. To be honest, I thought it was a pretty terrible gift. Clearly this professor didn’t know me at all. But I really enjoyed flipping through the places and imagining all there was to see and experience in the world. Four months later I was on my first flight. Now, eight years later, I’ve been in 48 states and 30 countries and I’ve seen many of the places listed in the book.

Patricia Schultz had great advice and stories. She told of meeting a 90 year old woman who said, “Your knees have expiration dates” and “You need to get the difficult places [to see] out of the way first.” We were encouraged to open our heads and open our horizons. I was shocked to learn that only 30% of Americans have passports.

Further Than Orlando

I was also kind of shocked with how many of the speakers had something negative to say about Disney or Orlando. Many of them said that everyone should visit Disney once, it’s too great not too. But Rick Steves is out to, “Challenge Americans to take one step further than Orlando.” Patricia Schultz said, “It’s all about priorities. Do you really need a new flat screen? A new car each year? Eleven pairs of shoes? Or a trip to Disney each year?” Her point being that we can all afford to travel, it just comes down to what we’re spending our money on.

For example, a one day ticket to one park at Disney World is between $97 and $105 dollars. Where can you fly to with that kind of money? I just did a quick search and I can fly to Hartford, Atlanta, Cincinnati, or Charleston. One person skipping one park for one day could have them a whole new city to explore. Now, I’m not anti-Disney. I’ve gone a couple times (thanks to friends who work there) and I think it is an absolutely magical place that everyone should experience. But I am pro-travel and pro-horizon expansion and have limited resources and time.

Travel Tech

I also learned about several great apps and websites. Some I had heard of before, but some were new to me.

• Hotel Tonight – They help hotels fill vacancies by selling off unreserved rooms at a steep discount. I’d heard of them, but I didn’t know that they have expanded to a full week instead of just the night of your stay.
• Airfare Watchdog – I’d used this site before, but kind of forgot about it. You enter your departure city and it brings up the cheapest fares. That’s what I used to find the cheap flights above. It’s great if you’re looking for a cheap getaway and want to see where you can go now. You can also save itineraries if you’re planning a trip and the site will email you when they’ve found a discounted fare.
• SkyMap – a stargazing app that maps the night sky for you. I have yet to try this, but I’m really excited about it.
• Other sites and services such as Couchsurfing and Airbnb were discussed