I had a fun time at the first day of the New York Times Travel Show- Travel Industry Day.

There were lots of countries, states & cities represented as well as some travel and tour companies. I found it kind of funny that many of the booths I spoke to did not have much information to share. However, I was offered brochures from pretty much all of them.

I spent the most time chatting at the booth for Japan. They had a pretty large set up and the representatives seemed knowledgeable and willing to help. I was talking about itinerary ideas since Kim, Lucas and I will be heading to Japan at the end of June! (More on that another time.)

At the booth I also filled out a survey which entered me into a raffle to win a flight to Japan. Another nice touch was the opportunity to dress up in a samurai suit!

I was looking around for a New Orleans booth since we will be heading there in May but all I could find was a booth for Louisiana. When I asked about New Orleans they didn’t seem to be of much help so I moved on.
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Another fun stop was at the booth for Russia. I attempted to ask some questions but all the rep did was point to a brochure for Sochi, home of the 2014 Summer Olympics. I asked him if he was from the tourism board and he said no, he was from Russia. OK, thanks for the help!

With Russia having such a large set- up I expected to get some information!

While wandering around, I noticed a large crowd by the booth for Taiwan. Many people had their cameras set up, ready to take photos. I was wondering what the photo-op was for and it turned out that the Taiwan Ambassador was there.This sounded kind of cool so I decided to join in and take a few photos too. (If you’re curious, the ambassador is the tall guy in the middle.)

Black and White Tegu

One of my favorite stops was at the Sea World booth. They had one of the largest booths at the show including a huge iceberg- like structure. There were a lot of animals being held by Sea World employees who were happy to share info about them. Too bad we weren’t allowed to hold or touch them.  A trip to Sea World is not in the plans right now but visiting the booth definitely made me think about it for when Lucas is a bit older!
There was also a long line waiting to get a turn at a really cool Coke machine. The machine allows you to pick and mix lots of flavors.

Two- Toed Sloth

While walking around the show, I picked up swag from a handful of booths. The giveaways were a bit better than last year’s show but there still wasn’t much to get excited about.
Here are some photos of what I got.

At last year’s travel show I wrote about a giveaway that really stood out. It was a unique luggage tag from airberlin. This time around airberlin did not have the luggage tags but a company that represents various airlines had the same roll aboard tags. I was able to get one of each- three total. All came in a different color and had a different airline logo on it.

ANA gave away a few items that were reminders that they fly Twice Daily, New York- Tokyo.
The pad has a picture of business class seats and the little airplane is a nice fridge magnet.

I was able to find a few things for Lucas. The little foam boat was from the Port Canaveral Tourism booth. I also got him a little foam globe (which I might have to keep for myself) some Sesame Street stickers and a really cute panda. When I showed him the boat, he seemed to really like it!

I’ll  be heading back to the Travel Show today and will write a little update about the seminars that I attend & about anything else that stands out.