Travel and Adventure Show – How to Inspire Your Wanderlust?

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If you have been reading our blog for a while, we hope that you are already filled with wanderlust to inspire you to book a trip in the near future. But let’s be honest, we can never get enough inspiration when it comes to amazing destinations around the world. We are always looking for new ideas, new places that perhaps we weren’t familiar with and helpful hints and tips to kick start us into booking a new trip in the near future. This is where the Travel and Adventure Show comes in real handy.

  • You don’t have to be a travel blogger.
  • You don’t have to be a frequent traveler.
  • You don’t have to be aware of all 197 countries around the globe.
  • In fact, all you need is a desire to want to learn more about traveling the world.

The Travel and Adventure Show is an awesome place to find out a plethora of information from tourism boards, tour companies and some of the world’s most inspiring travel writers to inspire you to grab your passport and book a trip.

travel and adventure show dallas

Over the last few years, we have been avid attendees of the TBEX conference which is primarily for travel bloggers. Having heard about the Travel and Adventure Show from a couple of our friends in the blogging industry, we decided to check out their website and noticed they have a bunch of these shows scheduled throughout the country.

travel and adventure show

Dallas, Texas was the closest for us so we figured it was time to pay a visit and see what this was all about.

travel and adventure show

Travel and Adventure Show Information

The Travel and Adventure Show is primarily for YOU…meaning the regular person off the street looking to get some ideas on where you should travel in the next 12 months! It’s not for bloggers looking for a freebie, instead, it’s an opportunity to connect with destinations across the globe and find out exactly why these spots are so intriguing and attractive to travelers.

travel and adventure show

Plus you have an awesome opportunity to listen to some iconic travel writers such as Rick Steves, Peter Greenberg, Patricia Schultz among others. Throw in the mix a myriad of awesome activities and you have the perfect weekend getaway for someone looking to be inspired to travel more. We didn’t need a second invitation to attend the event in Dallas!

Over 13 years and 68 events, the Travel & Adventure Show Series has connected over 1.25 million travel enthusiasts with over 3,100 unique travel marketers in a professional setting that facilitates face-to-face conversations and has impacted over $2.4 billion in travel bookings. Each year, America’s most avid travelers flock to their favorite travel show to find, plan and book their dream vacation. (travelshows.com)

The beauty of the Travel and Adventure Show is that the events are generally scheduled during the first quarter each year so that you have ample time to plan and organize a trip later in the year. Here are some of the locations where you can expect to find a show:

  • Chicago
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Los Angeles
  • Philadelphia
  • San Diego
  • San Francisco
  • Washington DC

Be sure to check out the website for more details on upcoming events and you can already start planning to attend one in 2018!

travel and adventure show dallas

Learn From The Best Travel Writers

After spending some time walking around the show picking up a bunch of flyers, we headed to the ‘Travel Theater’ stage to listen to Rick Steves give the opening session on travel in Europe. For anyone that is unfamiliar with Rick Steves, he is the highly acclaimed author of the travel guidebooks around the world.

rick steves travel and adventure show

I will admit that the first few minutes of his speech, I had a bad feeling that it was going to be a sales pitch about why you should purchase one of his tour around Europe (sorry Rick!!).

travel and adventure show dallas

I soon found out this was far from the truth as he started to share stories of some of his favorite spots around Europe and in fact, highlighted some of the key differences between taking a guided tour of Europe versus touring on your own.

travel and adventure show dallas

The pros and cons are clearly something everyone should consider but the moment he started talking about ‘safety’ in light of the current terrorist threats in Europe, that’s when I really started to resonate with his philosophies. He quoted lines such as “it’s safer to travel to Europe today than ever before” and “those that fear traveling to Europe are those that don’t have a passport”.

rick steves travel and adventure show

We have traveled more in the last few years than ever before and this is during a time when we are all on high terror alerts. Unfortunately, the media is to blame for this portrayal but it’s our job as travel bloggers to continue to push this message that Rick alluded to that no one should fear travel because anything can happen in your own backyard!

rick steves travel and adventure show

At the end of his session, Rick spent some time signing autographs of his guidebooks that were available for purchase at a discounted rate inside the Travel and Adventure Show or you could always grab one of his European tour itinerary guides and have him sign that!

rick steves travel and adventure show

Whether you are a Rick Steves fan or instead want to listen to some other inspiring travel writers such as Peter Greenberg or Patricia Schultz (author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and 1,000 Places to See in the United States), there are sessions available across both days of the show.

Inspire Your Wanderlust

If you are visiting the Travel and Adventure Show for the first time as we did in Dallas, the likelihood is that you are preparing to be inundated with information from various destination across the globe. Don’t worry, you won’t leave disappointed!

travel and adventure show

We left the show with a number of bags packed full of information and in many ways we left feeling like we had an information overload of breathtaking destinations that we need to visit.

travel and adventure show dallas

You can never have too much information though when it comes to appealing pictures of pristine colored beaches in Jamaica or backpacking through the beautiful natural environments in Thailand or Cambodia.

travel and adventure show

We spent a couple of hours walking around meeting folks representing each of the various tourism boards. Even if you are not adventurous enough to visit China or South Korea just yet, there are plenty of US domestic destinations raring to attract your attention.

travel and adventure show

Utah’s San Juan County, home to the infamous Monument Valley, was one of the most intriguing spots that we discovered after realizing that despite visiting most of Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks, we somehow missed this area.

travel and adventure show dallas

The list goes on with destinations that were present in Dallas and although many of these can be found in all the Travel and Adventure Shows across the States, each one will likely offer a unique selection of destinations depending on the region.

travel and adventure show

Embrace International Culture

Throughout the event in Dallas, we had the opportunity to watch a variety of performances from around the globe on the Global Beats Stage.

global beats stage travel and adventure show

Whether you love the traditional Chinese dances or perhaps prefer a little Indonesian flair, we were treated to these cultural performances that epitomized the philosophy of the Travel and Adventure Show.

travel and adventure show

Meanwhile, if you are a foodie and love to experience different local cuisines whenever you travel the world, why not head over to the Taste of Travel Theater and watch various events including the awesome Culinary Fight Club where contestants have just one hour to create a magical dish from a limited number of ingredients.

taste of travel

The beauty of this event is that pretty much anyone can participate. You don’t have to be a world-famous chef, rather if you can cook, you can play!

Summary

The Travel and Adventure Show is an awesome event for anyone with an interest in travel. For only a small admission fee, you can literally be blown away with a wealth of valuable information pertinent to your favorite travel destinations across the globe.

travel and adventure show

We have been incredibly fortunate to travel as much as we have done over the past few years but when you attend an event like this, it makes you realize just how much there is to see.

travel and adventure show dallas

Our wanderlust has well and truly grown and I’m convinced that yours will too if you choose to attend the Travel and Adventure Show when it’s next in your city!

Have you visited one of these Travel and Adventure Shows across the United States?

Disclaimer – We would like to thank the Travel and Adventure Show for providing us with two Press tickets to this event. These are solely our personal opinions/experiences and we were not financially compensated for this post. 

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Chris Boothmanhttps://abritandasoutherner.com
Chris Boothman is the co-founder of A Brit and A Southerner. Born near Manchester, England, Chris moved to USA in 2006 where he soon after met his wife and travel partner in crime, Heather. They have since embarked on an amazing journey of travel as they challenge others to follow in their paths of working full-time but also being able to travel frequently! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Chris at [email protected]

8 COMMENTS

  1. Hey guys – Great running into you in Dallas! So did you find your next destination? We found LOTS of places we would love to visit – that’s probably the biggest danger in attending the Travel & Adventure Show. As always, it was fun, and very educational. Can’t wait for the next one!

  2. This looks so cool! Fingers crossed they go to Denver on dates that work for me. Would love to go to this some time.

    • It’s a really great experience Jenn and we would highly recommend it! Looking at the schedule, they will be in Denver on the dates of March 24-25, 2018…looks like you have some time to plan ahead 🙂

  3. I have so much wanderlust already and trips planned in my head for the next few years that I think this just may confuse me even more. Ha Ha But seriously it looks like a cool thing to do – and to find out about some of the lesser known places to go to. I would love to attend one near me.

  4. Hey Chris,
    Thanks for the post I’ve wanted to go to TBEX for the longest time but haven’t had the chance. That Travel and Adventure Show sounds awesome. It would be great to hear from some of those travel writers you mentioned such as Patricia. I’d never heard of Rick until now. So thanks for that!
    Cheers,

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