After breakfast in the hotel this morning, we were ready to go to the Dallas Market Hall for the travel show by 9:30. It opened at 10, and we left the hotel early so we would be sure to be able to pick up our tickets and be in line to go in as soon as it opened. Rick Steves was scheduled to speak at 10:15, and we did not know how big the seating area would be for his presentation so we wanted to be there early.

As it turned out, we got there a little too early, picked up our tickets, then went across the street to the Renaissance Hotel to sit in the lobby to wait. When we returned to the hall, there was a long line to get into the exhibit hall. We made our way through the line and then to the back where the presentation theater was starting to fill up for Rick's talk. There were plenty of good seats available when we arrived, but it looked like it did fill to capacity.

It was fun to hear his presentation. I don't think we heard anything new from him as we have seen all the TV shows he has made, but it was nice to hear it in person. This talk was "Europe Through the Back Door" which he gives regularly. In the afternoon, we stayed for the last presentation of the day, too, which was Rick again doing his "Travel as a Political Act" talk. A fair amount of the two talks were similar. During the morning, he didn't seem to be able to stay away from the political aspects of travel which must be his passion now. He is a great advocate for traveling to learn about other people and their cultures. As he said, "You come home with the most beautiful souvenir which is a broader perspective on the world."

Also, today we listened to Peter Greenberg, CBS investigative journalist; Jack Maxwell, the Booze Traveler on the Travel Channel; and Seila Hul, marketing director from Cambodia.

I wasn't familiar with Peter Greenberg, but found him pretty interesting in his talk on "Travel in a Time of Disruption". He mostly talked about the situations that he has been in when traveling to report the news.

Seila Hul did a nice slide show about the various areas for tourists in Cambodia in his talk titled "Discover the Very Best of Cambodia, Kingdom of Wonder".

Jack Maxwell is one of our new favorite travel personalities. He has been doing the show for three seasons now and is filming the fourth. I like the way that he meets people and goes into every personal encounter with an open mind and ready to try whatever they have to offer whether it is something to drink or the rituals and customs that they observe. He seems to be genuinely interested in people and finds something to like everywhere.

We also spent a little time looking at the exhibits and entering the contests that the vendors had going. I expect that my email inbox will fill up with sales pitches from all the travel companies that I talked to today.

For dinner, we had barbeque again at a local place just a few minutes away from the hotel. Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse has been around for over a hundred years.