Exploring the World at the 2015 New York Times Travel Show

[@willdrinkfortravel, @gtstiletto, me, @kimberlynatasha, and @ny_hollyday]

The first day of the New York Times Travel Show was Trade Day, which was a day that was open exclusively to travel professionals and travel media.

During Trade Day, travel professionals and travel media had the opportunity to sit in on panel sessions (just like during the consumer days) however there were significantly less people in attendance. In addition, travel media and travel professionals had the opportunity to hold interviews with exhibitors and speakers, and to do some live filming about the opening day.

On the first day, I sat in on a panel about South Africa, a place I will be traveling to this spring, met up with some of my travel blogging friends, watched the official ribbon cutting ceremony, and had a chance to walk around the exhibition floor, where I had my name written in Arabic by the good folks over at the Etihad exhibit.

Day 2: Consumer Day 

The second day of the NYT Travel Show was Consumer Day, and the doors were opened to the general public.

Immediately after arriving, I headed over to the ‘Meet The Experts Section’, where I got to meet JetSetSarah (who I interviewed in 2014 ) for the first time in person.

Sarah was serving as the resident expert on all things Caribbean, and provided her expertise to people who were interested in exploring all that the Caribbean had to offer.

After leaving the Meet the Experts section, I walked around the floor, talked to different tourism organizations, and entered a few contests.

I then headed over to the booth for the Department of State, where my friend Emmanuel was informing people about the importance of getting their passports and enrolling in the Global Entry program.

After leaving the United States, I headed over to Asia, where I met some beautiful Indonesians in traditional garb and ate a piece of Wingko Babat, an Indonesian snack made from coconut.

I then made my way over to Japan to talk with some of the representatives about my upcoming return trip to the country.

While talking to some of the staff members from the Japan Rail company about the JR Pass, I ran into fellow New York City travel bloggers from Dish Our Town.

We plopped some JR train conductor hats on our heads and smiled eagerly for the cameras.

I left the exhibition floor and made my way downstairs to where the panels were being held. I decided that since I intend to travel to Cuba in the very near future that I would attend a panel on Cuba.

Most of the panelists who spoke represented companies that would take people to Cuba legally through people-to-people programs. Most of the discussion was about what each of their companies could offer to people who were interested in traveling to Cuba.

Not wanting to miss any of the food sessions, I headed back upstairs to the exhibition floor, where I listened to Chef Sara Jenkins and Mitchell Davis discussing the street food culture in Italy versus the United States.

Chef Sara also prepared a special treat for the audience: porchetta (Italian boneless pork roast) sandwiches, and the audience went wild.

I concluded my second day at the show by heading over to Atlantic City, where I attempted to win a free night at one of the many Atlantic City hotels.

Day 3: Consumer Day

The final day of the New York Times Travel Show was full of a lot of selfies (and posting pictures on my Facebook page and Instagram account).

I met up with the travelers from the website The Culture Bazaar, and we discussed our upcoming travel plans and goals for our different brands.

We then headed over to Malaysia, where we met some lovely women from Tourism Malaysia. We had fun chatting with them about their country, playing with some of their stuffed animals, and taking a selfie.

We then made our way back into the United States and made a pit stop in New York State before heading over to the United Arab Emirates, where we found ourselves at the Etihad booth.

Besides stepping into their Residence (which helped them to land the Best In Show award), we had the opportunity to meet some of the Etihad crew, I talked to them about my upcoming trip to both Dubai and South Africa, and we took yet another selfie.

Even though I have been staying local for the past six or so months, I loved that I was able to travel around the world in my own back yard at The New York Times Travel Show.

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Have you ever attended the New York Times Travel Show before?