virtualDavis's blog

Today's the opening (trade conference only) for the Adventures in Travel Expo 2005 - 2006 in New York City! I awoke this morning to pea soup, thick fog and mist obscuring the view from our living room. I could scarcely see the buildings a block away. For a moment I felt a little gloomy, plunged into the fog after a balmy and sunny week, and then I remembered that I'd be "living" in the Javits center for the next two days anyway. So a little crumby weather's just fine; that way I won't feel like I'm missing anything.

I've been thinking that Turin will be one of the more enticing Winter Olympics venues I'm likely to see during my liftime. I discovered that a friend is headed off for a month to help with press coverage. Now that's a good gig! My only experience of the city was brief, a stop-over during a weeklong road trip around Italy. Unfortunately I won't be there for the Olympics, but according to Andrew Dampf's Associated Press article, "Turin may offer more after the Olympics", picked up by MSNBC, that may not be such a bad thing. Dampf emphasizes the obvious: once the craziness of the Olympic Games have passed, Turin will be at its best without the hords of toursits, inflated prices, etc.

"The 1 million people expected for the games will be gone, making travel, hotel reservations and the city's world-class food and wines much more accessible. Post-Olympic visitors will also enjoy a completely remodeled city."

Makes sense to me! At least it's helping me to overcome the jealousy I was feeling for my friend who'll be headed off to Torino soon. Dampf goes on to highlight Turin's impressive transformation (modeled on Barcelona's rebirth for the 1992 Olympics) including:

Time for the New York City Adventures in Travel Expo 2005 - 2006. Have you made plans to be there? With only a week to go, I've purchased my ticket for the Friday trade conference, and I'm planning on attending the Saturday expo as well. All of the exhibitors you'd hope to meet will be there, and the adventure travel seminars will delivered by top industry folks. Check out the list! The sponsors for this annual event include some of the biggest and heaviest hitters, and attendees will even have the opportunity to win amazing trips and prizes. Here are some of the hottest offers:

Erik Olsen over at Heavenly vs. Squaw reflected on the Tahoe ski scene today, comparing it to when he worked there after graduating from college:

"Squaw was kind of run down, but it was still probably the best place to ski in Tahoe. Heavenly, I'm sorry to say, was a joke. But it seems things have changed and both areas have gotten or are getting a serious face lift. Squaw's backers are the same dudes who are now running Winter Park and Whistler Blackcomb The Intrawest ski conglomerate. Heavenly is run by the gargantuan Vail corporation. So the question in this article is: which is better? Now you can make all the improvements you like, add new lifts, bigger hotels and a latte bar, but I have to say I think the overall terrain at Squaw beats Heavenly handily. Still, I haven’t been to Heavenly in a long while, so I really can’t say for sure. But I do have to say that if price is any indication, I fall firmly on the Squaw side of things. An adult ticket this year at heavenly runs $73 in peak season, while you can shred the wicked bowls of Squaw for $65. So there you have it. I’m sticking with Squaw."

I've never been to Heavenly or Squaw Valley, but I suppose I've fallen victim to the conventional wisdom among skiers, that Heavenly is a Vail-type resort focused on making the family happy while draining your pocket book. Squaw, on the other hand has long been known to me as the West Coast home of extreme skiers and boarders.

Thought some of our readers would enjoy these clips. The first one comes from my online chat with our Travel Editor, Nana Chen, while we were getting the new edition of e-Marginalia ready to publish. And the second one is an excerpt from an email she sent to me (in New York City) afterward. Two good, too good exchanges to let slip into obscurity! The back story, in so far as one may be needed, is that Nana was shooting some images (in Taipei) to accompany her brother's (in Los Angeles) "Thailand's Tom Yum Kung" story which appears in the current edition.