By Charly SHELTON

Last weekend was the LA Travel and Adventure Show. This was the annual convention, held at the LA Convention Center, for travelers who are looking for their next destination. Representatives from exotic locales in far away lands were found at the show, offering a taste of what travelers can expect when visiting their country. At the show, a Fijian band sang songs and played various instruments – some commonplace, some unique – for the attendees as they waited in line for samples of real Swiss chocolate and gruyere cheese or for coffee being made for guests from any number of regions in Indonesia. At the Taiwan booth, guests were invited to guess which tea was which from three of the region’s signature teas. On stages around the hall, lectures, workshops and seminars were held on topics ranging from medical tourism and traveling with technology to ways to get the best airfare deals. There were also close-up peaks at various destinations like Nevada, The Bahamas, Canada by small ship expedition, and Masai Mara. Celebrity guests of the travel industry, like Rick Steve (of the Rick Steve guidebook series), Pauline Frommer (of the Frommer’s guidebook series) and Samantha Brown (host of several PBS travel series and almost everything on the Travel Channel from the late ’90s to the mid 2000s) made appearances and signed books at the back of the hall.

This show gave a comprehensive overview of traveling nearby and abroad and will fuel the Travel part of the Travel and Leisure section of CV Weekly for the coming year.

Keep a lookout for articles on upcoming trips to Alaska, Los Cabos and maybe even somewhere further abroad.