An afternoon of travel expoing

So we got this email from our local public radio station, KJZZ, that included tickets to their Travel & Discovery Expo*, and we thought, “Hey, let’s go! Why not?!” Then Phillip and I had a really stressful week and almost skipped it, but I’m glad we went. 

We met some really great people, learned a lot of things, and added a whole bunch of places to our “oh, we definitely have to go there” list. (It was already pretty long.)

We showed up just in time for the talk on touring Italy that I had been afraid we’d missed. (Love it when things randomly work out perfectly!) It was given by MariaLaura Boldini Creal of Fantastica Italia. She’s from Italy and had great insights into what makes a great travel experience, as well as insider tips. I planned to just listen but ended up taking notes furiously.

After the talk, we started working our way through the expo hall. I’ve been to some gargantuan, overcrowded expos. This one, however, was a nice, reasonable size – totally doable in an hour or two.

We were there near the end of the day, so the place wasn’t packed out, but there were still plenty of people wandering around. Lots of men wearing Hawaiian shirts and women in very packable-looking travel dresses. I guess going to a travel expo isn’t really enough to signal that you’re interested in travel. You should also look the part. I questioned my tshirt-and-jeans choice.

There were booths for cruise lines, tour companies, various types of lodging, and small travel businesses (I overheard one woman telling the story of following her dream to start hers, and it made my little entrepreneur heart smile).

But my favorites were the ones representing specific towns/regions of Arizona. They just want you to go visit Clarkdale or Bisbee or Globe. Or get out and enjoy the Maricopa County Parks. Or make your way up to the northeast corner of the state and take in the sights and/or shopping on the Navajo Nation.

We met Freeman Fry, who is on a mission to turn Ajo around. He’s working on attracting new development, spreading the word about his town, and giving it a facelift. He organized a team to repaint every building in town. Seriously. We’ve gotta get down to Ajo.

Another booth I was really excited to see (and did not expect) was Arcosanti’s. We were only able to chat briefly with Kate, who was representing, but I’m hoping she can shed some more light on the disparity between the myth surrounding the place and the really nice day we had there (which I’ll tell you more about soon).

Speaking of nice days, from catching up with Phillip on the train ride over to dreaming about future travels on the expo floor to sitting outside afterwards eating granola bars in the shade, it turned out to be a really relaxing, refreshing afternoon. Almost like a teeny tiny trip of its own.

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*Disclosure: We received free KJZZ Travel & Discovery Expo tickets because we’re members of KJZZ. Opinions in this post are my own.

**Additional disclosure: Navajo Nation Shopping Centers, Inc. gave us a really sweet water bottle. But, don’t worry, I didn’t let it influence me.