Adventure at the Travel Show

It comes as no surprise to my friends that less than two weeks removed from my Central America trip, I was checking out various exhibitors' booths at the "Adventures in Travel" show in NYC. I had also made the trip to the Javitts Center last year, and this year's offerings brought pretty much the same: scuba diving outfits (there was a shallow pool for first-timers to try it out), Caribbean islands' tourism offices, hiking/biking tours (those sound dreadful), African safaris, and a large number of companies hawking trips to Latin American countries (Peru, with Machu Picchu as the star attraction, seems to be a perennial favorite).

It proved to be a fun, entertaining way to pick up some ideas for my next big trip - among some of the diversions were attending a seminar of responsible travel given by National Geographic Society, tasting some fine Bulgarian grappa, watching Lebanese dancers strutting their stuff on stage, and getting a quick qi-gong massage on one of those chairs where you put your face through the hole. I was amused to see several booths offering spa vacations - not that I have something against them, but quite a stretch of the concept of adventure travel, one has to admit - although after a hard day of white water rafting, that is precisely what ageing boomers pushing their bodies to previously unknown limits need to recover.

Lots of attendees were walking around carrying bags of glossy brochures. No wonder, each exhibitor had gone to all that trouble to stuffing them with the most unrealistic pics and accompanied by glittering prose that makes the destination seem like the world's best, thus they were eager to shove them into the most hands as possible. I seriously doubt that 90% of the people will actually get around to reading them once they get home (I took only 3, honest) - most will suffer the indignity of landing in the recycling bin with nary a page turned.

Moreover, let's admit it - getting freebies is a big part of the fun. I was pleased to note that the giveaways had improved from the usual pens, keychains, mugs, and notepads. Some of the more interesting articles in my stash are a couple of colorful Guatemalan bracelets, a sample of Sri Lankan tea, and vegetable capsules made from a plant called Maca which grows only in the Andean highlands of Peru. Reading off the label, among its magical powers are being an aphrosiciac and "has been noted to promote hormonal balance, including thyroid support". Amazing claims indeed.