... and other random thoughts at the New York Travel Show
Today I walked from the Faroe Islands to the Cook Islands all in the span of a few hours. At the New York Times Travel Show, it's possible to crisscross the globe numerous times without even buying a plane ticket. It's the largest travel show in North America with over 550 exhibitors and over 170 destinations featured.
Here's my travel show destination nominations:
Caused a Double Take: Chernobyl Tour (see pic)
Moved Higher Up on My Travel Bucket List: Antarctica (they helpfully answered all my questions about the weather there)
Had To Look at a Map: Faroe Islands (it's between Iceland and Norway)
Made Me Look at a Country Differently: "Best 52 Weekends in Serbia" brochure (who knew there was so much to do there?)
Booth I Took Everything That Wasn't Nailed Down: Greece (my Dad is from there so I wanted anything and everything with the word Greece on it)
Travel doesn't mean having to go to some far off destination. Seeing the extensive United States section at the show made me realize how much there is to do in our own backyard. Metro-North Railroad offers Getaways by train which is convenient cause I don't own a car in the city. I also gave some consideration to tourist spots I used to go to growing up in Massachusetts like Cape Cod and Hampton Beach which has been completely revitalized.
I've done plenty of travel and in the last few years have visited New Zealand, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and China. I've never been to a travel show before, and found it to be both inspirational and aspirational for ideas of places to go. As I left the show and carried my heavy bag full of brochures, I pondered that maybe I was carrying my next destination in my bag. The best part was there was no suitcase to unpack once I got home.