This weeks "trip of the week" was not really a trip..but an outting but it felt like a trip around the world in 8 hours!  This weekend was the Los Angeles Travel and Adventure Show at the Long Beach Convention Center.  This was my fourth year attending and this is usually the foundation of how I start deciding where to go next.   This year the Travel Show was even larger than previous years with over 400 exhibitors representing thousands of destinations from all over the world.  Included were tourism boards, travel companies, adventure outfitters and others.

 As has been the case in previous years, I needed to make four trips to my cars with the bags of free maps, brochures, booklets, and give aways.  I started off in the California section and continued on to the United States/Hawaii/Alaska Section.  Dumping a load of brochures in my car I returned for the booths that I love!  The International Booths which are broken down into Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America.  I literally spent hours chatting and collecting information.  There were also two guest speakers on the main travel stage which were Huell Howser (which most of you Californians know as the host of "California's Gold") and Rick Steves from PBS.   There were also several seminars on travel tips, digital photography, family vacations and various other topics.  I went to the seminar on Travel Writing which was hosted by Catherine Hamm, Travel Editor of the Los Angeles Times, and Don George, Editor of Lonely Planet Books and a host of other travel writings/books.

 Aside from the booths and great seminars, there was continuous live performances by world performers--Inka Dancers and Peruvian Flute Players, dancers from the Cook Islands, Mariachi Bands from Mexico, Dancers from Japan, and a plethora of other world performers!  Lastly, Lonely Planet books were on sale for 50% off so I bought a few for possible destinations.

The last few years, the travel show has been the foundation for picking my next trips.  So ...drum roll please....the nominees are:  India,  Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, malaysia, and Singapor), Nicaragua/Honduras, or Paraguay/Argentina!  I just added a new poll to this website so be sure to vote for where you think I should go next!

 Until next week...Peace!