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Passports, Sales Pitches and The Passion of Rick Steves: Notes From the L.A. Times Travel Show

I spent a few hours Saturday afternoon in the company of Fijian guitarists, men in lederhosen, Rick Steves, mariachis and thousands of fellow travelers at the Los Angeles Times Travel Show. The annual gathering took place at the Long Beach Convention Center, where more than 500 exhibitors set up shop to pitch their resorts, spas, cruise lines, books, magazines, countries and other travel-related wares to the masses.

People lined up two and three deep outside many of the booths, clamoring for some face time with representatives, entering drawings for complimentary trips for two and grabbing free promo items to stuff in their branded plastic bags. At the Lonely Planet booth, free passport photos were a big draw. The line snaked down the aisle, and LP’s global travel editor Don George told me it had been like that throughout the day.

In a country where too few people own passports, it was a heartening sight. The highlight of the afternoon, though, was a presentation about European travel by Rick Steves. Like everyone else, Steves had product to pitch—tours and books. But his passion for Europe and travel in general won out.

In person, Steves is more animated than he appears in his TV shows. He walked the stage like a motivational speaker, spouting a well-rehearsed mix of travel advice and one-liners that kept the audience of hundreds rapt for an hour. He implored people to seek out the places that “missed the modern boat,” and to hit Europe’s most touristy small towns (Toledo, Brugge, Carcassonne) at night to get a truer native experience. He urged travelers to study up before traveling, and to “understand that you’re part of the sweep of history.” He talked up Eastern Europe as a hot destination for 2006, and suggested people should “look forward to running out of toothpaste in Bulgaria.”

He reserved his most forceful comments to address travel in the age of terrorism. Americans, he said, are always going to be targeted, and he urged everyone not to overreact to the “weird cocktail of fear and terrorism.” The response was overwhelmingly positive, and when Steves finished his seminar he retreated to the Distant Lands booth to sign his books. The line extended around the corner, and as I walked up the aisle toward the exit, I could see that people at the Lonely Planet booth were still lined up for their passport photos.

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Photos Courtesy:  REUTERS  |  iStockPhoto  |  flickr  

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