Wild animals descended upon Rosemont, Illinois, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center over the weekend of Jan. 17-18. The Chicago Travel & Adventure show brought everything, from owls to Alaskan sled dogs to camel rides, for an annual event that grows a little bigger every year.
A mariachi band played to spotlight Mexico close to its booth while cooking demonstrations by talented chefs mixed in cuisine from around the world.
The Global Beats Stage featured everything from Native American, Bollywood, Irish and Thai cultural dancing throughout the weekend.
There were booths to take attendees around the globe from Ecuador to China and everywhere in between. Our neighbors Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin were all there to stimulate local travel as well as westerners Montana, Oklahoma, Nevada and Arizona. Florida and Africa were well-represented with multiple booths for different regions of those areas.
Resorts and cruises gave people options to book travel right away. There were bamboo pillows for your head and sandals for your feet along with smart ways to pack for the expert traveler.
Author from Frommer Guides Paulina Frommer and the recent movie Wild writer Cheryl Strayed were on hand to sign books and chat with fans. Media sponsor Travel Channel brought host Samantha Brown along with a photo booth opportunity to set tourists in various locales by switching backgrounds in front of the camera.
Haven't seen all the sights of Chicago? The tourism board was there to help Windy City watchers.
While many travel experts and hosts had ideas for gay travelers if asked there was not one booth completely geared for the LGBT community. Hopefully in 2016 the expo can bring a little pink to the party instead of just lion shaped balloons for the under 10 year old crowd.
The expo continues on to travel to other major cities, including a new stop this year in Philadelphia.
Interested in tickets for next year? Visit www.travelshows.com .
Photos and text by Jerry Nunn