The New York Times Travel Show took place at the Javits Center from January 26-28, 2018.
This was the 15th anniversary of the show of which I’ve attended probably 9-10 of them.
I debated whether or not to attend this year but in 2017, Lucas had a fun time visiting booths, collecting pens and wandering around.
Kim and I had something else to do in the city so we figured that stopping by the New York Times Travel Show would be a good way to spend a few hours.
In recent years, I’ve felt that the show didn’t offer a ton of valuable info. We arrived with open- minds, just looking to have a good time…
I decided to seek out booths for a couple of destinations that we’ll be visiting in 2018 to see what kind of information they might share.
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the knowledge and advice given to us. Could Kim and I have done this research on our own? Absolutely (and we have), but it was also nice to hear these recommendations from the tourist board reps.
Due to one of our lengthy chats, it helped us decide in which area it would be best to stay during our trip which is just a couple of weeks away.
It’s always nice to run into travel friends and that we did at the show.
While walking around, I saw Lee Abbamonte at a Meet the Experts area. It was nice to introduce Lucas, my well-traveled 6 year old to one of the most traveled people in the world.
Lee asked Lucas what he thought about Samoa over the summer along with some other things related to his travels. It was nice to catch up in person, rather than just communicate through social channels. (Check out my interview with Lee from 2014 here.)
Clothing Arts makes what I’d consider, the best travel pants (and shorts). Since meeting the founder of the brand, Adam at the New York Times Travel Show a few years back, we’ve become friends. It was nice to catch up and see some of the awesome new colors they’re offering their gear in.
Some of my favorite booths:
Allianz Travel Insurance had a decent sized area but what caught my eye was a magnetic wall filled with buttons. While you skimmed over the options, you could select a button which best described what travel is to you.
I didn’t want to be greedy so I picked two:
- Travel is FREEDOM
- Travel is PART OF ME
I ended up speaking with one of the reps about travel insurance. Kim and I have bought travel insurance on rare occassions. I was told about some relatively cheap annual plans which are definitely food for thought. Do you purchase travel insurance for your trips?
The most fun booth of the show had to go to South Korea. The 2018 Winter Olympics are starting in less than two weeks in PyeongChang.
A fun curling game drew a crowd and was a ton of fun. Look how much Lucas was concentrating as he tried his hand at curling during the show! It really was fun.
Theo ran away from a wild zebra at one of the booths advertising tours to Africa.
Lucas and I took a photo with this friendly king of the jungle.
And to close out our visit, I stopped by a seminar with Pizza Guru Anthony Falco. Falco is the founding pizza maker of Roberta’s in Bushwick and currently a world- traveling pizza consultant.
It was a very interesting chat (with NY Times Food Editor Sam Sifton). I would’ve liked to have stayed longer but Lucas wasn’t so interested. However, I did pick up some tips about making pizza at home!
Overall, the 2018 New York Times Travel Show was a good time and better than I recall it being in recent years.
Did you attend the show this year? If so, what did you think about the event?
Nat- Definitely not the worst idea. Have you tried making a claim? Curious how the process went.
I started insuring our trips when I was pregnant and have still continued with the baby. I’ve found reasonable rates via RoamRight and buy cancel-for-any-reason coverage so we can always cancel last minute if something happens.