Traveling Without Really Traveling

A Dress Rehearsal For The Real Event

Photos: Lavina Melwani

How would you like to see the entire world in one afternoon without stepping into an airplane? The farthest I had to travel was by subway from the Upper East Side to the Jacob Javits Center, but this was the Travel and Adventure Show, now in its 20^th year, and it was a fun way of seeing the world without stepping out of one’s own city. I hadn’t done this in a long time, but the idea was to find out what are the biggest trends in travel and also to see if the world was really turning out to go travelling seriously. In the past two years I had been able to visit England, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, India and the gorgeous Aman Resort in Utah – and I was itching to see what was new with the world and where everyone was headed.

At the Travel and Adventure Show in New York, there were literally 1000s of wanna-be travelers and while there were the experts speaking on various travel trends and topics, I decided to take the off-the-beaten-track route and go, country by country, and see what was really out there and what the travel world was offering, from far-off destinations and cruises to delightful adventures in one’s own backyard. This was the place to meet seasoned tour operators and travel providers and map out your travel plans.

In just one weekend you had the chance to explore the top destinations from around the globe, meet specialty tour operators, discover people who may become partners in your travel plans as you met experts who held the keys to cities across the world.

My friends, a group of women who like to travel to new places, had a few cities on their bucket list and so I was going to research for them, and of course, write about all the tips and tricks that I could get for Lassi with Lavina travelers.

At a trade show like this, what is always diverting are the sweepstakes and the lucky draws – a free trip to Hawaii or to Tokyo – which seem to draw consumers like a magnet. But it was an education to stop at different booths and get the pitch for every country. What was particularly exciting was the fact that Asia was there in such a big way – Indonesia, Japan, China, India, Cambodia and more. In the cold of New York winter, the aisle with all the Caribbean Islands brought in almost a whiff of warmth as did all the hot, far-off possibilities – Australia, Africa and South America. With travel so much more common, many more Americans are seasoned, familiar with safari trips and European escapades. Now it’s possible to focus and go further down the rabbit hole into niche countries, unknown cities and unexplored cultures.

What was fascinating was discovering new hidden towns and cities. I walked into a photo booth and they transported me to this place that I had never heard of with Choctaw Country in Oklahoma. Its slogan is ‘Hurry up and slow down. It seems to have just about everything from beautiful landscapes to a fascinating Native Indian population to wild life, hiking, fishing and sports and even a casino. And that got me thinking that we Americans,  Indian Americans included, think about going just about everywhere in Europe and Asia, but have we really ever thought of traveling extensively within our own country within the US of A? Every place seems so intriguing and welcoming to me, whether it is Maine or South Carolina or in fact, even New Jersey, which was offering a trip in their own wine country. So there just seem so many possibilities that one could really go crazy thinking about where to go.

So, if there was one thing that I did learn, it was that there’s a lot within America itself to see; there are 50 states and how many have we really seen? So that would be one doable goal, especially when overseas travel becomes a bit too much to handle.

At the same time, there are so many delightful places like Spain, Italy and Portugal – everybody was out there at the trade show, promoting their country and state. And so Dayton in Ohio had the president pitch and it was interesting that even there were many countries out there which one doesn’t necessarily think of for tourism.  While Incredible India has been there every year, surprisingly, Pakistan was there for the very first time with several large booths and amongst the many things that they were promoting were the Buddhist sites, Mohenjo Daro and Sikh gurdwaras, including the birthplace of Guru Nanak.

Indeed, every country is on the tourism bandwagon and perhaps that is how it should be, for every city, every town has its own unique beauty, be it in its natural resources or its spirited people or its unique, founding story. I was surprised to see even the BAPS temples had their own booth, wanting to tell the Americans as well as the overseas visitors about their grandiose temples in New Jersey.

After hours at the Javits Center, I had walked over 12000 steps and seen but a bare fraction of the world. It is impossible to see everything, but you get a whiff of what a big world there is out there, and a helpful rolodex of who can get you where, and a chance to comparison shop.  So, the Travel and Adventure Show was great for the window-shoppers and the armchair travelers – but also great as a dress rehearsal for the serious buyers and diehard travelers.

While the New York show is over, you can get a list of the exhibitors to consult, and there are upcoming shows in Denver, LA, Phoenix, Washington DC, SF/Bay Area, Atlanta and Dallas.

The new idea I took home is that we have to be more creative in our travel plans – it doesn’t have to only be foreign travel – or nothing. America is full of amazing places – many of them just a road trip away, certainly easier on the wallet and work schedule. While I was mulling about discovering the hidden treasures in America, I was surprised to find that same idea in a story in the New York Times by Frugal Travel columnist Elaine Glusac, “Frugal strategies — like traveling in off- or shoulder seasons, going where the dollar is strong and sampling unsung destinations — help make the most of your budget. A stronger dollar buys more abroad. Instead of heading to typically expensive U.S. spots, like Hawaii or New York, take your buying power to an affordable destination for a bonus.”