As many of you know, I was asked to be on a panel of Colorado Content Creators at this year’s Travel & Adventure Show in Denver. I love public speaking (I know that’s weird), so I jumped at the chance.
Our panel included Juliana Broste of Traveling Jules, Sherry Ott of Ottsworld, Rich Grant, author of “100 Things to do in Denver Before You Die” and me. Our moderator was Dave Fluegge, a social media expert working in travel.
Despite our jokes that no one would come, our seminar was well-attended and we had a blast. Our seminar received great feedback and hopefully, the four of us will find other venues at which to speak together. The diversity of our ages and experiences means we are a wealth of information for travelers and anyone wanting to enter our industry. I’ll keep you posted.
We made a weekend of it and stayed at The Curtis Hotel. It’s on the corner of 14th Street and Curtis Street which is across from the Denver Center for Performing Arts. It’s also just a five-minute walk from the hotel to the Colorado Convention Show, where the travel show is annually held.
I have never been to the Travel & Adventure Show, which hops across the country from one coast to the other and I wasn’t sure what to expect of the Denver event.
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There was a wide array of vendors in attendance representing everything from cruises on the Nile River to lodges in Manitoba, Canada. There were also a number of Colorado destinations and Colorado-based companies too.
I have never been interested in an African safari until we knew someone who took a safari, and after seeing his pictures, it is now a bucket list travel item. Golden’s The Wild Source had a booth. This company, founded by a wildlife biologist, plans small, tailored safaris. They would be perfect for someone like me who wants to see as much wildlife as possible in Africa and also wants to learn about the animals.
Another booth that had me captivated was City on the Side, a tour company that provides Denver and mountain rides in a Ural motorcycle with a sidecar. This unique tour is something I’ll be doing and writing about within the next couple of months, so you can learn more.
Ryan visited a lot of booths and I spent several hours going to various vendors who came from Colorado and beyond. Ryan talked to the houseboat people from Lake Powell for so long that they gave him a “Captain” ball cap.
Everyone at the various booths happily answered questions and chatted with show attendees without straying into hard pitches about their destination. I felt as though this may be a place where aggressive sales pitches would be employed, however, Ryan and I didn’t see any of this behavior.
In addition to booths, there was an entertainment stage where there were martial arts demonstrations and dance and music performed. Big names in the industry took to the Destination Stage. Celebrities like Josh Gates and Andrew McCarthy caused lines to form around the hall during their meet and greet sessions.
Like many of you, I love to travel and thankfully, the Travel & Adventure Show isn’t just a place to dream, but a place to make your travel dreams a reality. Many of the attendees offer Show Specials, so for those who come ready to purchase a trip, the time is ideal.
As mentioned above, the show hops from town to town and upcoming venues in 2019 are Philadelphia, Washington DC, the San Francisco area and Dallas.
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“I’m going on an adventure.”
– Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”
