We went to the Destinations show at the NEC in Birmingham on Saturday 6th March. We had excellent luck when we arrived as just as we were approaching the ticket counter, a lady came up to us and handed us a leaflet and said there was a free entry ticket in it for two. Sure enough there was and we got in free! Very nice person!We've never been to this event before and our expectations were probably a lot higher. There seemed to be plenty of exhibitors, but the room still seemed like it had loads more space for loads more exhibitors. There were a few companies there which confused us to why as their product didn't seem to be travel related. There were a couple of clothing stands where we were able to pick up some discounted gear, a fleece each and a waterproof jacket each.
The show helps you choose and book a holiday with more 'off the beaten track' destinations. As we've already chosen our destination for this year we just gathered information for future destinations. We were entertained by some traditional Bhangra dancers, they were very good. Wanderlust magazine had their photo competition on display and some of the pictures were just simply brilliant.
There was a 'meet the experts theatre' and we were interested in hearing Simon Reeve speak. It was still 20 minutes to go so we went to the bar for a drink. After our drink we realised we should have started queueing a lot earlier! There were loads of people and we thought that we may not get in. Luckily we did but had to stand, but it was only for 30 minutes.
Simon Reeve works for the BBC and has made several travel programmes for them. Before the BBC Simon Reeve worked for a newspaper investigating terrorism, smuggling, arms-dealing etc... For the BBC, Simon travels more 'unknown' destinations.
In the theatre, Simon was interviewed by David Linstead from Wanderlust magazine. Simon talked about his current travel series travelling around the Tropic of Cancer. We saw clips of the series and Simon told us some of the difficulties him and his team experienced. They couldn't get into China at all, so had to take another route. They had to sneak into Burma because the Indian secret police were against them entering with Simon's wife leading the secret police off in a distraction tactic to allow Simon to get to the Burmese border.
Simon discussed the controversy surrounding Burma of should people still travel to the country because you could be supporting the dictatorship etc...
Simon discussed the one country he deemed as the most dangerous for him which he said was Somalia. He chose Somalia because he was protected by a gang on his travels through the country and while on the road they came under fire from a rival gang passing them on the road. He knew that there was nothing he could do himself to get out of that situation.
Simon chose Oman and Bangladesh as 'must see' countries to visit, maybe they will be on our own travels one day.
We'll be watching Simon's series on the Tropic of Cancer on BBC2 starting on Sunday 14th March at 8pm.
We left the show after the Simon Reeve interview.
Our verdict is that the show was good, but I can imagine that the Earls Court version in London was probably much better. More stalls needed at the NEC and maybe a bigger theatre for the experts as it would be a shame if you couldn't get to hear them. Interesting though and plenty of travel information available, Simon Reeve was the highlight.
