Travel Adventure show in Dallas

It has been a long time since I have posted, I know. Two weddings, two conferences, a sinus infection later, and now I'm finally posting. I do have a lot to catch up on, but I wanted to write something current...something we just did yesterday. My husband asked me if I wanted to go to the travel show at the Dallas Convention Center. We love to travel and we are hoping to make a trip to Europe next year, so this would be something fun to go to. One other request he has was to take the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit)...so we did. We started off at the Plano station...the farthest point north that the DART goes and it travels right to the Convention Center where the show was. We haven't been on the DART in a long time.It was kinda fun to travel this way. Public transportation is not my favorite, but sometimes it is good to rub shoulders with different kinds of people. It makes me both greatful for what I have and sad for what some do not...and I don't mean necesarrily material things, but spiritual things. It was good thing.

Here is a picture of the DART as it entered the station at the Dallas Convention Center.

 

Here is us on the train...ready for our day in Dallas.

 

 

It was a little chilly in the morning, so the walk to the doors of the Convention Center was a bit cold...especially after trying to get over a sinus infection, but oh well. It was fun! Not as crowded as I expected so that was good. They had several speakers at different stages and lots of booths concerning travel to stop by. Lots of local places like Louisianna and Oklahoma as well. Not much on Europe that we saw.

 

We attended a few speakers sessions. One was by Chris Harrison of The Bachelor called: The Bachelor: A Reflection on Romance and Travel. It was interesting to know how many places have become tourist attractions just by being features on The Bachelor. Most of the questions related to the show so it was quite entertaining. :-)

 

 

 

 

One of the best speakers we heard was Pauline Frommer on What You Need to Know Before You Plan Your Next Vacation. Her talk was very informative. She gave us tips on when to book your flights (Tuesday or Wednesday), websites, and travel tips. Here are just a few:

 

Follow your favorite airline on Facebook or Twitter...some of the best deals are listed here.

Websites: Hipmunk.com, DoHop.com, Momondo.com

Places to stay: Airbnb.com, wimdu, roomarama and Evergreenbedandbreadfast.com

For Rentals: airbnb.com, homeaway.com, VRBO.com, zonder.com Flipkey.com

Cusomized Vacations: vayable.com, context travel, eatwith.com, eatwithalocal.com

Small Group Tours: Intrepid Travel, G Adventures, Djoser Tours

 

I haven't tried any of the websites yet but will look into them. There is much more information she gave us as well.

 

We checked out a few booths, took some materials and headed back to the DART. We took it to Dallas' West End, got off and ate at a nice western resturant called Hoffbrau.

 

 

 

Then back on the DART to Plano to get our car and go home. We were quite tired after today. It was a nice date and day trip to Dallas. It's nice to get out of the regular routine and go explore something close by that was fun.