Planning the Perfect Vacation at the Washington D.C. Travel and Adventure Show (photos)

Wondering what’s hot in travel now? Looking for an escape from the snow and the cold? Then chances were high that you were among the thousands of adventure seekers who assembled at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the Washington, D.C., Travel and Adventure Show on Feb. 22 and 23 to help plan that perfect vacation.

Now in its 10th year in the District, the show featured more than 100 exhibitors, representing some of the world’s most desirable vacation destinations. The show also featured prominent travel experts, top chef demos, consumer seminars, exotic animals, dance performances and interactive family activities like rock climbing and scuba diving.

Among the featured speakers were Rick Steves, host and writer of the popular public television series, “Rick Steves’ Europe,” who spoke for more than one-and-a-half hours to an overflow audience at the Travel and Adventure Theater sponsored by the Travel Channel. Other speakers included Samantha Brown, Todd Carmichael and Paulene Frommer.

The show was tailored to the hard-core travel enthusiast, according to the show’s chief organizer John Golicz. It attracts people who are into the “cultural, natural, active beauty of their destination… People that attend the show like to plan a trip as much as they like to take a trip,” Golicz said. Travel & Adventure claims to represent the largest series of travel gatherings in the country with shows in five other cities, but Golicz singled out the Washington D.C. attendees as being among the most sophisticated.

View our photos from the show by clicking on the photo icons below.