The New York Times Travel Show is the most prestigious travel show in the United States. I have been fortunate to speak at it multiple times and this year I actually spoke in the large seminar room with about 500 people in attendance about how I traveled to every country in the world. What made the 2016 New York Times Travel Show even cooler for me was that through my partnership with Allianz Travel Insurance, I got to co-host a dinner with 3 lucky winners and their guests at Mastro’s Steakhouse in New York.
Allianz Travel Insurance held a contest where 3 winners would be selected. One travel blogger; one travel agent; and one travel lover to be flown to New York and hosted for 3 days all expenses paid plus special events all over the city and of course entry to the New York Times Travel Show and a Go Bag including a GoPro!
The Travel Trifecta, of myself, money saving travel expert Johnny Jet and 2-time SATW travel photographer of the year Gary Arndt hosted a dinner for the winners. It was a lot of fun. One winner was from Atlanta, Georgia. Another from Raleigh, North Carolina and the third was local in New York.
Dinner was amazing, as I picked the restaurant (wink), and it was a lot of fun chatting with our winners about their travels, lives and telling stories of my own travels. They seemed like they had a blast and I know the Travel trifecta did as well!
On Saturday I spoke about how I traveled to every country in the world and some of my favorites from around the world. The seminar was really well received, attended and the questions were amazing and plentiful. In fact, I stayed for another hour afterwards answering questions from the folks that attended.
Whenever I speak at events like the New York Times Travel Show, I’m always surprised who attends and I end up seeing people I haven’t seen in years. There was a guy from my disaster Tokelau Expedition way back when. Also, family friends from 25 years ago and friends from high school and college I haven’t seen in years! It’s always such a pleasure for me.
So I wanted to thank the New York Times Travel Show for having me speak once again and to Dan Durazo and Allianz Travel Insurance for being such great partners and the gold sponsor the show itself. Lastly, thanks to the winners for being so cool and good sports. I really enjoyed meeting everyone!
Don’t forget to check out the Allianz Travel Insurance Content Capsule here!
Disclaimer: I and my company, The Travel Trifecta, have partnered with and receive financial compensation from Allianz Travel Insurance. I received no extra compensation for any events with regards to the New York Times Travel Show and my seminar was completely separate from my affiliation with Allianz Travel Insurance.
Sounds like it was an outstanding experience and it makes me excited to be attending, and speaking, at my first travel conference this March! Thanks for being willing to share about your experiences.
Good luck Julie and thanks for the note!
I was at your talk, Lee. It was very engaging, funny, interesting and you clearly know what you’re talking about. The entire room stayed through the whole seminar. Thanks for sharing stories with all of us and let us know the next time you’re speaking.
Thanks for coming Hillary and will do!
I was also at your speech and you were the best talk I saw to be honest. You were very funny and engaging and clearly smart. It’s always fun for me to meet people or see them in person that you follow online. I didn’t come up after the talk because you were swarmed with people taking photos and asking questions but I did ask a question about packing during the Q&A and I will try to minimize what I take now. Thanks again.
Thanks Leslie! Yes it was a little hectic at the end with the swarm of people, sorry couldn’t chat more!
I would love to come see you speak. You just have to come to Kansas City because I’m afraid to fly!
I’d love to come do a meet up and eat BBQ!
Hi Lee – we flew down to NYC from Toronto specifically for the travel show and your presentation was definitely the highlight of our weekend. Awesome job!! I’ve been checking out your top 30 lists and making notes about where to go to next. We just booked Seychelles for October so we’ll finally be able to see Anse Lazio and La Digue!! I also noticed on your Mauritius post, that you are a huge SPG fan. I am also a devoted SPG platinum member and I wanted to see what your take is on the Marriott acquisition. There is so much about the SPG program that I love and I’m not too convinced about Marriott rewards. I’ve already signed up and received the Marriott Chase Visa card but haven’t started using it yet. I feel like the value you get from using SPG AMEX is so much better than with Marriott Visa.
Anyway, hope you’re having a blast in Kenya! The Cheetah pics are amazing!
Hi Aldo, I am still in denial about the Marriott acquisition and just praying they don’t F up the great SPG program and card…stay tuned!
Well done! I really enjoyed your session!
I know now to be very wary of putting Nigeria or Angola on my travel list. And I know to add Bhutan now!
Thanks Alex and haha!
YES. The falafel at those food carts is amazing. Awesome. I love NYC, but I haven’t been down in a few months. Now I have the bug 🙂
So amazing, The Show help you can meet and speak with friends. Allianz Travel Insurance Content Capsule so helpful for me. Thank you.