NY Times Travel Trade Show: Roundup

So I’m walking out of the bathroom of the NY Times Travel Trade Show and almost run into some guy. Holy crap, that’s Rick Steves, wearing his signature gecks, walking in to the mens room.

Other Sightings:
-Author and almost professional frisbee tosser David Farley.
-The guys from GoNomad.com, which I haven’t read in awhile, but took a look at again today and am going to start back up.
-Reid Bramblett of Reid’s Guides who gave a decent presentation on building travel websites. He even was kind enough to mention Written Road in his web presentation.
–Frugal Traveler Matt Gross, who I learned has an affinity for Jeni’s Ice Cream in Columbus, as all people should.
-Author/writer Michael Luongo who has a few travel writing classes coming up that we just mentioned.
-The guys from World Hum
-Plus, a slew of other writers, bloggers, journalists, TV crews, publishers, editors, tour operators, tourist boards, etc.

The booths:
Alberta, Canada had a large, sparse booth sitting in very fitting the back corner of the show where not enough people went. Puerto Rico gave away rum and had the largest crowds. American Express had this odd futuristic booth that didn’t seem to have anything to do with anything. It looked like an airport massage room. South Africa was heavily promoting its hosting of the world cup.

As soon as I walked in I kid Taiwan approached me to fill out a questionnaire, which would then allow me to spin a wheel. Although I’m sure I’m going to get sent loads of brochures I don’t really need, I love spinning wheels. I won a guide to Taiwanese food.

I met a guy who was sent all the way from Puerto Williams, Chile (the actual southernmost point of the American Continent, not Ushuaia like most are fooled into believing) by a lodge he works for. I ran into him later and discovered I stayed in a guest house that looks onto his father’s hardware store in Punta Arenas earlier this year.

The After Party:
Finally, I have to mention Longitude Books, a small bookstore in NYC with a huge online following, who threw a great after party. I was looking through their catalogue today, which is one of the best travel literature catalogues in the business. I could tell that they carefully choose their books more so than most stores by loloking through their Peru related books, although they don’t carry my guide to Peru. If you are in NYC or want an alternative to buying from Amazon, I highly recommend checking them out.
Store Location: 115 West 30th Street, Suite 1206, NYC