Which Travel Conferences Should You Attend from June through December of 2026?

Traverse22 in Brno, Czechia

https://www.traverse-events.com/

NOTE: This article is best read on a laptop or tablet, as there are multiple backlinks for further reference and active reading. The backlinks may not be so easy to access via mobile phone.

For me, 2022 was the year of travel conferences (& travel, of course) as I attended six of them. These included 4 TBEX events, 1 TravelCon and 1 Traverse. I also traveled to over 30 countries as well. It was a very busy year for me. At the beginning of 2022 I was looking forward to a very productive year. 2023 and 2024 were all about China, as well as the first half of 2025. 2022 was the last time I attended a travel conference, due to my previous full-time teaching job in China and my current 3-year stint in Argentina, as I'm currently on my path to becoming an Argentine-American dual citizen and working with the tourism authorities here to help promote Argentina to the world. I'm putting together a major project called Road Trippin' Argentina and soon I will purchase a brand-new, dual-sport motorcycle and will travel all over Argentina and film this project. While in China I created China Social + Travel Network, which is geared to bring foreign and Chinese people together, to bridge cultural gaps and to help promote tourism in China while promoting China in a positive way. Follow our Facebook Page to get involved and stay informed to learn more about our ongoing virtual project, and previous events and get-togethers that we've hosted in China.

Well, 2022 didn't all turn out the way I'd hoped for. I aimed to reach my 100th country by the end of December, but I only managed to reach my 98th one (Palau). Also, with the conferencing, there was some drama with TBEX as I had some disappointing experiences there, which I'll explain in a bit. As far as TravelCon and Traverse, I really have nothing but positive things to say about them. Sadly, TravelCon was discontinued after the 2022 event, but it came back in 2024 after new investors got involved. I give Traverse a BIG A+ in just about every category that one could give a travel conference, as it truly exceeded my expectations for my first and only time attending one.

In this article, I'll mention several travel conferences, some which I've attended and some that I have not. These will be mainly conferences for influencers and sponsors looking to connect with one another, with my personal feelings about them based on my own first-hand experiences and second-hand information from the conferences websites and other people's experiences.

I will also separate and specify what I call "fully-loaded" conferences with "showcase" conferences.

A "fully-loaded" conference includes everything from speakers, sessions, sponsor showcases, FAM (familiarization) trips, midweek experiences, pre-conference/post-conference trips and other perks, whereas a "showcase" conference focuses mostly on connecting buyers with sellers at venues full of sponsor booths, but may offer other perks as well, including speakers.

I plan to update this article annually with new information, every January.

For most information about myself, I'll just refer you to the "about" page of my website.

However, I'll mention what I feel is relevant in giving myself a bit of credibility when talking about these conferences and talking about travel, in general. I started traveling in 2017 after I created Outcast Vagabond. Basically, I get paid for my travel business marketing skills, or social media marketing, as I manage campaigns for travel-related entities, while helping to promote their products, services and destinations. I don't always get paid cash. In fact, most of the time I'm being compensated with discounts, upgrades, freebies, etc. But every follower is a potential customer and I'm always working on earning more money with my skills. Soon I will upgrade my press/media kit that is accessible via my website. Of course, I do earn money from ad revenue on Facebook and YouTube. I'm also an avid investor and I still teach part-time. Sometimes I sell shirts and hats with the help of my Marketing Manager/Brand Strategist in Hong Kong. I was an English teacher in China when I had created Outcast Vagabond and I had spent Christmas in Jakarta in 2016 while visiting a friend there whom I'd met online. Indonesia was my 5th-country-traveled at the time. It was that Jakarta trip that inspired me to become a world-traveling digital nomad, as well as notable Irish traveler and businessman, Johnny Ward, of OneStep4Ward.com. Of course, my late mother, was the greatest influence on me with respect to having wanderlust.

In March of 2023 I was invited to be an Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine, and in March of 2024 I was invited to be a Senior Level Executive Contributor. This year, I've been invited to become a Premium Partner but I've declined for now. For Brainz, I write articles, publish quotes and also contribute to their Expert Panel and Brainz Academy. Brainz Magazine has helped me to up my game as a digital nomad and showcase my ideas. I recently had an Exclusive Interview with them which you can read here which is titled, "Living Life on Your Own Terms Through Global Exploration: Interview with Jeffrey A. Epps, MBA."

At the time I became a world-traveling digital nomad in 2017, I was also an English teacher in China and during 2013, part-time, I was a conference coordinator for BIT Congress in Dalian, China, where my job was to get English-speaking professionals to attend conferences and help to manage them. One of the conferences that I worked with BIT was the 2013 Euro-Asia Economic Forum in Xi'an:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uGK-TF6pGY

Euro-Asia Economic Forum in Xi'an (2013)

I will say this, the Chinese really know how to host conferences and yes, I am biased when I say that.

Before all this I was raised in small town with a single mother, in a trailer, in the Upland South region of the United States. About 25% of the people in my hometown live below the Federal poverty level. So it's safe to say that I'm a country boy. I don't hesitate to tell people this because I believe in keeping it real, and also I don't want others to make the mistake of thinking that I somehow benefit from some kind of privileged, American socio-economic status. Growing up we used to dream about places like California, Florida, New York City and Europe. These dreams and vast curiosity about the rest of the world and the people in it are key reasons I had such wanderlust growing up, and my late mother, who was also a traveler and who used to always talk about visiting numerous places around the world. There used to be travel magazines all over our home and we'd watch the Travel Channel and National Geographic often. So it's safe to say that my mother's love for travel is the greatest gift she ever gave me; aside from her tough lough, priceless wisdom and those 9 summers I spent growing up at Camp Pine Ridge, a Scouting America camp.

I'm a disabled Army veteran of the U.S. Army with an honorable discharge, and one of my goals is to help other disabled military veterans learn about the therapeutic benefits of travel, and how traveling can help them cope with their mental and physical disabilities. I talk to people with disabilities all the time, not just veterans, about the therapeutic benefits of travel. I even wrote a Brainz Magazine article titled, "How Travel is Therapeutic." I aim to start a U.S. veterans social network in the future, just for this purpose, and with help from veteran's organizations like the VA, DAV, VFW, American Legion and others, we can create something that will help to alleviate many of the problems that America's heroes are facing today with their afflictions. Currently, and unfortunately, about 20 U.S. veterans a day are committing suicide and even more of them are living homeless on the streets, because they're not getting the help they need and deserve. By teaching disabled veterans about the therapeutic benefits of travel, together we can improve and save lives.

I am a heritage traveler and I believe that heritage is sacred, like religion, which both often are connected to each other, and that it should be protected and preserved at all costs. I believe that when a person or a population is asked or forced to disown their own heritage, in any way, it is considered sacrilege and it should be forbidden. In many places around the world it actually is sacred, and it actually is forbidden for people to erase and replace, manipulate or even destroy it.

I've been to 126 countries and have lived in 5 of them as a White, English-speaking minority. I've experienced racism, prejudice and discrimination in ways that I never knew was possible for a White person until I left home and started traveling. Because we never experience this until we get around people who aren't like us, in places that aren't like what we're used to back home. I've also learned that being an American is both a blessing and a curse, and that China is a land of opportunity. And I just want to say that any American who isn't proud to be an American should have their U.S. citizenship revoked and that they should be deported and sentenced to a third-world country to live in exile until the day they die (unless they can prove they're worthy of U.S. citizenship through some kind of redemptive patriotic act).

I've also experienced a great deal of Americanophobia as a world-traveling American tourist and expat. Americanophobia is basically a concept that defines anything that is considered anti-American, or hatred and prejudice toward American people and American culture. An example of this would be my recent teaching stint in China, a country widely considered to be America's greatest adversary, where I taught at a school in Wuhan with non-American co-workers who were all partial to places that are at odds with the U.S. and Israel. I was a nail that stuck out and I got hammered for it, but honestly, the benefits outweighed the costs of it all so I stayed for two years and taught for 4 academic semesters, nonetheless. I was committed to my students and their parents and I wanted to honor my contract and respect my employers. I finished my most recent teaching contract in China last July (2025) and moved to Argentina last January (2026).

But the absolute worst examples of Americanophobia come from my own fellow Americans who have these very feelings and attitudes toward their own country, and their own people. I personally feel that Americanophobia, among American people, can be cured in multiple ways, but one way is to encourage American people to experience what life is like in foreign countries, particularly third-world countries. I feel that this kind of exposure would help more American people have more of a sense of patriotism, as they would then know how blessed they are to be citizens of the greatest country in the world. TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) contributes to Americanophobia.

One idea that I've suggested to fix this problem is to send every American child who turns 18 to a third-world country for a minimum of three months and have them experience what life is like there. They can live with a credible host family and become acquainted with them while volunteering in charitable, local community activities. After a while with enough American kids experiencing this, we'd begin to have an increase in American patriots, rather than an increase in American Antifa. And this is because a program like this would un-spoil American children and teach them how good they really have it compared to other parts of the world.

I'm a hard-right conservative who believes in the right kind of progress and change that benefits everyone in society and not just certain people at the expense of others, while protecting age-old traditions and customs that make up a population's cultural identity, historical integrity and ways of life. I believe in a more conservative world that protects heritage, and I promote this with my travel media content by exploring the history and heritage of places that I travel to. I dig deep into the places I visit, because I want to understand them to their entirety. There is no better way to understand a place, first-hand, in the present than to first understand its past as a visitor. You can do this by embarking on tours, by exploring museums and places of historical significance, along with mingling with local people, which will teach more about a place than what schools, Internet and television will back home. Second-hand information is never a substitute for first-hand experiences, as second-hand information is often distorted with political and corporate bias. With that said, doing your homework via credible sources about a place before a trip is always a big plus.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, history consists of what happened in the past, whereas heritage consists of the tangible items that commemorate the past; such as museums, artifacts, monuments, statues, memorials, battlefields, buildings, etc.

I also believe in hard-right strongmen(women) leadership, as these types of leaders reenforce the ideology that I just mentioned, and they tend to look out for their own before helping others. These kinds of leaders don't tolerate ideologies that promote hooliganism and terrorism, but rather patriotism and nationalism, and they're also typically hard on criminals, intolerant toward narcotics and control the flow of migrants into their countries, by vetting and deporting those who are a danger to their societies, and keeping those who can contribute in a positive way and reside legally. These types of leaders get things done, often in a dramatic way, and they're more patriotic leaders. They're tough, they're productive and I love them.

I believe all this because of where I grew up and how I grew up, as it's all simply a part of my culture that was ingrained in me. Since I lived and worked in China for almost 10 years, I am also partial to China and Chinese culture, and especially Chinese traditions. In China, there is no "cancel culture" or "revisionist history" where people try to rewrite proven and well-established historical facts in an effort to make the past more politically correct, and to benefit certain people at the expense of others by spreading false propaganda. And the most notable Chinese scholar, Confucius, wrote about how people should worship their ancestors. Given these conservative elements of today's Chinese culture, along with the fact that there is almost no domestic crime in China, makes China an attractive place for people like myself who want to escape the liberal American madness. With all that said, I do believe that the United States of America is the greatest country in the world. For what it's worth, I'd like to also add that I've never had a problem with abortion, as I do feel that it is a woman's right. And I probably feel this way because I grew up in a family of mostly women, and I was close to my mother.

I am pro-America, pro-China and pro-Argentina and together I feel these three countries can tackle our world's most pressing challenges, such as alleviate poverty, make travel more accessible and maintain world peace. And I feel this is only possible if more people understand these cultures. People don't like what they don't understand, and ignorance is bliss. And it's only when we actually experience cultures ourselves, first-hand, that we can credibly counter the mass media bigotry and stereotypes. I personally try to accomplish this with the power and influence of travel media content. Given these English-speaking, Mandarin-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries that all have respect among their neighbors and the rest of the world in their own right, located in different parts of the world, I feel that they can make an effective trio in more ways than one, maybe even establish their own economic bloc and prioritize trade with each other. All three countries represent unique cultures in their own right, and all three countries are run by hard-right leaders. I feel that an American-Sino-Argentine alliance would have a very positive impact on the world.

If American people want to focus on people who come from disadvantaged communities, that's noble and righteous, but don't forget to include the people from Appalachia and small towns throughout America and the rest of the world. These people tend to be largely ignored.

I also believe that people should marry other people and have children with people whom they share similar cultural backgrounds with, and whom come from families who share similar morals and values, as this makes family unity more possible, and allows individuals to express pride in themselves, their heritage and the people in their families who came before them who gave them life, purpose and an understanding of their identity and who and what they are. Children under the circumstances that I mentioned grow up with a better understanding of who and what they are, rather than being confused about their identity and struggling to fit in with others. These challenges can lead up into adulthood. So for example, since I'm a 16th Cherokee Indian, if I marry and have kids with someone who is also of Cherokee Indian heritage, then I'm practicing what I preach. Then again, I'm also of English, Scottish and French heritage. Like most Americans, I'm a mixed-race, multi-ethnic person. But I pass as White. At least that's how I've always been identified by other people, including myself. Race and ethnicity in America are complex concepts, but these are topics I discuss a great deal as a heritage traveler because it all fascinates me. This fascination of who and what people are with respect to their race, ethnicity and identity simply comes from my vast curiosity of different kinds of people, since I grew up in a small Midwestern town that was and still is almost 100% White, English-speaking and Protestant Christian. I've always been very curious about other kinds of people; where they come from, what they believe and what they are.

Many people don't understand the difference between race and ethnicity, but there is a reason that they're often used together, as mutually exclusive terms. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, race is defined as any one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestry; ethnicity relates to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background. Merriam-Webster even offers a page that compares and contrasts the differences between the two words. In short, race focuses more on a person's physical features, whereas ethnicity focuses more on a person's heritage, which can include physical features. So for example, Hispanic basically means that a person can trace their heritage back to Spain, a European country, which makes it an ethnicity and not a race. This means that Hispanic people aren't necessarily people of color, as there are people who consider themselves "White Hispanic." Miami-Dade County (USA) has a large White Hispanic population, along with Argentina and Spain itself. Filipinos are Asian Hispanic. Hispanic people fall into every racial category. To elaborate on this more, a person can identify themselves as Black, racially, but can also identify themselves as French, ethnically. OK, you get it. And these facts are the key reason why the 2020 Census is flawed and has been challenged by many scholars. People who marked "two or more races" on their census form were all counted as minorities, even if they "pass as White." Technically, I should have marked this category myself. But I marked "non-Hispanic White" as I always have. And some people even believe that this flawed accounting of American people was done purposely by George Soros-funded groups to coincide with the events of 2020 to give certain people political power. George Floyd was accidentally killed on May 25th, 2020. The 2020 Census was released on April 26th, 2021, after several weeks of riots. This gives people a legitimate reason to suspect cause and effect with how people were accounted for with respect to the 2020 Census. Most Americans aren't White if you measure "Whiteness" based on strict Euro-ethnic standards, because most Americans are mixed, with many having Native American heritage. Defining what a White person in America really is, is complicated and it changes about every 50 years. For example, early Italian immigrants who migrated to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s weren't considered White people in those days, but now their kids and grandkids who are now Italian-Americans, for the most part, are considered White. But if people judge "Whiteness" based simply on skin pigmentation alone, then White people are not becoming a minority in America, but rather, minorities are becoming White. And this is part of what is illustrated in studies that focuses on a concept known as the "majority-minority myth." It's true that places in America where people of color make up the majority of of the population, typically large metropolitan areas, people are getting darker. But when you consider most U.S. states in their entirety; especially most Western, Midwestern and New England states, these states will be forever majority White as minority populations continue to mix and assimilate with the majority White population. Minority groups in America have been mixing and assimilating with the White population for over 400 years. I would provide further practical examples to reinforce all this, but I'll save that for future articles, since this article is supposed to be about travel conferences. And I mention all this because travel and culture coincide with each other.

What I just explained is a popular conservative counter-perspective to the common mainstream liberal perspective, with respect to American demographics. The liberal perspective suggests that White people are becoming a minority in America, whereas the conservative perspective suggests that the opposite is true. And that's all it really is; just a matter of perspective. To be more specific, it's really just a matter of what you consider to be "White" in America. Some people will dismiss this all as racist, but that's not what it is, it's merely a cultural observation.

I believe that Woke ideology is destroying America, and this world, and that its central thesis and purpose is to place blame and shame on straight, White men who are made out to be villains with it all, and are seen as this world's greatest threat, and who are seen as responsible for this world's problems. Notable news anchors such as CNN's ousted Don Lemon have even reinforced this ideology without ramification, which gives it all credibility. My greatest concern is what Woke ideology does to children, as it creates a great sense of insecurity, peer pressure and identity issues for them, and confuses them to great lengths. Today's generation of youth have the highest rates of depression and suicide, no thanks to Woke ideology (& poor parenting). So many kids today don't even know what gender they are anymore. When I talk about Woke ideology, I'm referring to its 3 main pillars; LGBTQ+ issues, #MeToo feminism and Black Power politics. I don't have issue with Woke ideology itself, as anyone has a right to be, believe and promote whatever they want. I only have an issue with the way Woke ideology is used as a weapon and as a tool to promote the interests of certain groups of people, at the expense of others who are being blamed and shamed, hated and discriminated against. Americans are bad about this and it's often used as a political weapon during election time. Woke ideology defies traditional, Judeo-Christian morals and values that promote merit-based incentives to work hard and be rewarded, and replaces them with a sense of entitlement, privilege and preference that is race-based, gender-based and sexual-orientation-based. I mention this because some of today's most notable travel conferences push Woke ideology and depending on who and what you are, you may or may not like this, as it will affect you in either a positive way or a negative way, but it doesn't benefit everyone and therein lies the problem. Again, it all depends on what kind of person you are and what you believe. I accept and respect anyone who shows me respect in return; regardless of who they are, what they are or what they believe. We all have a right to just be ourselves, and to do so without condemnation.

As I mentioned, I believe that heritage is sacred and I coin myself as a heritage traveler, I'm a very cultural kind of person who likes to dig deep into places that I visit, and the people I meet. I want to understand as much as I can about places and people and one way I do this is to learn about places' history before I show up and even while I'm there. This will answer a lot of questions about whatever places I decide to visit, and also about the people that I will encounter in those places. History helps us understand why places, and the people in them, are like they are today.

As travelers, we all need to be conscious of who and what we are, as it will impact our experiences.

There is no such thing as "colorblind." People can clearly see what you look like by looking at you. But it's up to each and every one of us to get to know one another, without slapping labels on each other due to hearsay, prejudice, racism and pop-culture stereotypes. The best way to get to know someone is to talk to them, face-to-face, and spend time with them and listen to them.

I like to talk about race, race-relations, ethnicity, gender, politics, culture, art, demographics, history, heritage, social issues, geopolitics, crime, controversies and how all of this pertains to people and overall societal well-being. Though it may be taboo for a White person to discuss some of these topics, I feel that it's relevant and necessary when it comes to understanding how these topics affect travelers' experiences around the world. And I feel that by understanding these kinds of topics, one can better predict what will happen in a given place, at a given time, which can help to keep people safe. Understanding the history and the people in a given place, will help one to understand how they themselves will be perceived and therefore, will help one to appreciate their experiences in these places much more. It can also help people to maximize their travels and seek out the people, attractions and activities that matter most to them.

And I discuss all this on my own platforms or when someone wants to discuss it all with me, I don't try to cram it down people's throats in a public setting; face-to-face, up on an elevated stage with a mic, or by trolling other people's social media accounts.

You can check out my ongoing Heritage video project here.

And my Brainz Magazine article, "The Benefits of Heritage Travel."

I learned a great deal about the value of life, and the value of a dollar, growing up where I did and how I did. I learned how small towns are basically extended families that are a part of the same tree. I come from a "culture of honor" and anyone who is familiar with this understands what I mean.

With that said, I was never a good "good ole boy," and that's a good thing.

But growing up where I did and how I did comes with plenty of negative stereotypes that are popularized and reenforced in Western media, notably Hollywood. But to be fair, Hollywood has made efforts to discourage the use of the word "redneck," with books, movies and shows like Hillbilly Elegy and Ozark. "Redneck" is a legitimate, derogatory racial slur that refers to rural working-class, White, Southern people, as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. And anyone who uses this word who doesn't fit this description, or who doesn't come from a culture with people who do, is being racist by using it. As with anyone who is racist who uses derogatory racial slurs to refer to people who aren't like them, they do this to feel superior to them. And if a person will use one racial slur to refer to one group of people, then they're likely to use other racial slurs to refer to other groups of people. Why would any racist just hate one group of people? They typically hate many.

I just want to add a personal theory of mine that suggests that the reason why most of the American South has remained relatively poor, compared to the rest of the country, is largely due to many of the stereotypes that Hollywood and pop culture has pinned and re-enforced on the South that dates all the way back to the American Civil War. And this is because it has given the world a very negative perception of most Southern States, which has kept talent, money and other invaluable resources from remaining or being invested in these places, which would in turn help make these places more prosperous. Not to mention how all this makes the average Southern person feel. This "bad rap" has negatively affected all kinds of Southerners for years, mostly by just making people feel ashamed of who they are, based on where they're from. Slavery in the South was wrong and racism should never be tolerated, but the problem is that many Yankees also owned slaves back in the day and racism exists in every U.S. state. Oh, and the same Union heroes that freed the slaves in the South, also subjugated the Native Americans in the West. What this means is that bad people existed everywhere in America, and that civil rights were never just limited to just one region of the country or to just one group of people. Furthermore, most Southerners didn't own slaves (couldn't afford them) and if a Southerner owned 20 or more slaves, they were exempt from military service. What does this mean? It means that the American Civil War, like most wars, was a rich man's war fought by poor people, to protect the rich man's business interests and livelihoods. Most Confederate soldiers were farmers who were poor and uneducated and felt that they were just doing their duty, as they were told that they were fighting for their rights, rather than fighting to protect the institution of slavery. And I provide this brief history lesson for those who have been brainwashed with "revisionist history" or who just don't know any better. And for those who think the American South is an awful place, which it most certainly is not. The American South, like many places and many cultures, is really just misunderstood. People don't like what they don't understand. And once again, the best way to understand a place and its people is to give yourself a history lesson and actually visit it and mingle with the locals, while exploring the heritage.

I don't mind putting myself at risk to protect other people. After all, that's what soldiers do. They fight for other people and risk their own lives in the process. Once a soldier, always a soldier. I will live and die a U.S. Army soldier. It's better to die a hero, than to live a coward. Hoooaaahhh!!!

I live a very risky life anyways, because being a risky traveler and expat just excites me too much.

Now about which travel conferences you should, or should not attend in 2026.

But which conferences you should or should not attend ultimately all depends on you.

I'll start with the conference I'm most familiar with, but I haven't been to one since 2022.

TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange)

www.tbexcon.com

Before I get started, I'd like to point out that TBEX is actually a hard-left liberal, socio-political conference with an emphasis on travel media. But since most people consider it a "travel conference" I feel that I need to keep it in this mix with the other conferences that I will mention.

And it is run and frequented by older, wealthy White people who try to atone for their past and present sins; with respect to racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. by making themselves look better while making other White people look bad. They do this in multiple ways; through gossip, exclusion and defamation both in-person and via social media. They attack people whom they deem "Trumpers" or "MAGA." And honestly, I don't endorse loaded terms like this because it implies that all people who voted for or supports President Trump are all the same, which isn't true.

TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange) is a San Diego (California, USA) club that was started back in 2009 with the first conference being held in Chicago, with an attendance of about 250 people. Typically, TBEX holds conferences in North America, Asia and Europe, but not always. I first learned about TBEX in 2017 when I was new to travel blogging and digital nomadism, and I was looking for a sense of belonging. I was already networking with people online, following notable travel influencers on their social media platforms and gearing up for my very first travel conference. I started following TBEX in early 2018 after I had learned about TBEX Ostrava, which was to be held in Ostrava, Czechia from July 26th to the 28th that same year. This looked like an opportunity that could help to launch my digital nomad career. I was excited about attending it.

I started following news about the Ostrava conference before I even traveled to Europe for the first time, which was February of 2018, when I covered 8 European countries in two weeks (including Vatican City). I was excited about visiting Czechia the following summer and I started promoting Outcast Vagabond a great deal before the conference to gear up for it. I really didn't know what to expect, other than what I'd read online and watched on YouTube vlogs of other travelers and their experiences. It was all mostly positive reviews of TBEX, but I did read one article from a prominent travel influencer who had addressed their concerns about TBEX hosting a potential event in Zimbabwe, which at the time had a great deal of political turmoil and had later experienced an ugly revolution via a military coup d'état, which ousted long-time dictator, Robert Magabe. This happened just months after TBEX had announced a Zimbabwe conference in Harare and was around the same time the conference was supposed to held there. To make matters worse, the post-conference FAM trips were to take place at the exact same time as the Zimbabwe elections were to be held. It's a good thing that the conference was canceled before this all went down, and thank God a prominent travel influencer called TBEX out on this, which I believe contributed to the canceling of the event. The thought of what could have happened to visitors and attendees of such an event is hard to imagine, but people could have been imprisoned, hurt, killed or all three had these events crossed paths. And this is especially true for those people who are not from Zimbabwe who could stand out, as they could have been easier targets.

I love Africa. In 2024, I embarked on an 11-country African tour during Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) for 28-paid days off of work. At the time I worked with African people at my school in Wuhan, from different African countries, and I have several African friends elsewhere around the world. One of my good friends in Wuhan is from Nigeria and I have another good friend from Zimbabwe who lives in Cape Town. I enjoyed my first trip to Africa in 2018 when I visited Kenya and South Africa. I visited Morocco in 2022 and Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia in 2025. The African continent has much to offer visitors, and it's worth visiting the safe places but do your research and avoid the unsafe ones. Zimbabwe during the time that TBEX tried to host an event there in 2018, was not a safe place. It was a place of political turmoil that should have been avoided. The fact that TBEX tried to have a conference in this country, at this time, was irresponsible.

I purchased my ticket for TBEX Ostrava in early 2018, before my first trip to Europe, and by the summer of the same year I was on my way to my first TBEX, and my first-ever travel conference. The trip to Ostrava was actually part of a greater project that I had going on, which was my first circumnavigation around the world. I had left Wuhan, China (where I was living and working) and made my way to Doha, Qatar. After a couple of days there I flew to Prague, Czechia and spent a couple of days there. Then I took a train to Ostrava and I must say that Regio Jet makes train travel in Czechia great, as they had a chef on board, beer and wine available for purchase and cozy seating options with huge windows to enjoy the Czech scenery. I mingled with other travelers and enjoyed a couple of cans of Pilsner Urquell, my first Czech beer experience, and it really is some great beer.

I checked into my Ostrava hotel after arriving at the train station and being dropped off by a taxi. The conference was being held at the Gong conference center, a former industrial park. Ostrava seemed like an amazing place. TBEX Ostrava broke me into the basics of a TBEX conference.

Typically, there are pre-conference pre-BEX tours for two days before the conference. Then there is an opening-night party, the night before the first full day of the conference on the day that most conference goers are still arriving. The next day there is a first-timers' session before the opening keynote speaker, then after the speaker there are two hours of "breakout sessions" which involve the other speakers who talk about everything from SEO (search engine optimization), brand building, content creation, partnerships, photography skills, YouTube videography tips, travel writing techniques, monetization ideas, etc. Then there is a lunch that lasts about an hour and a half and then another hour of breakout sessions. Then there are two hours of "speed networking" and you can "meet the experts" and mingle with the sponsors at their showcase tables. Then there is an evening party somewhere which you can hop on a conference bus that will take you to the venue, for about 3 hours, then you can take a conference bus back to the conference center and sometimes be dropped off at your hotel if it's along the way. The second full day at TBEX is just like the first, minus the first-timers' session and with a closing keynote speaker. There are post-conference FAM (familiarization) trips that the sponsors host which you have to be selected for upon signing up for them.

This is pretty much how it was for the 6 TBEX conferences that I attended from 2018 to 2022.

Given that I haven't been to TBEX since 2022, I'm not quite sure what it's like today, but given my recent experiences with notable TBEXers on social media and what I see being posted with respect to social issues and politics, I don't believe that the hard-left liberalism, Trump-bashing and Americanophia are gone. It's still in the air, and it's alive and well. But you can always refer to their website for more details: www.tbexcon.com or talk to other people whom have recently been to a TBEX event in the past year or so and they can perhaps provide you with a more accurate assessment. I'm just telling you what it's like based on my own experiences.

I'll share a recent example of my experience with Rick Calvert's good friend and notable TBEXer, Debra Corbeil from The Planet D, a Canadian nationalist who promotes pro-Canadian, anti-American socio-political vlogs with her husband, Dave. These two have attended and spoken at several TBEX events throughout the years including TBEX Marbella (2022), TBEX Finger Lakes (USA, 2018), TBEX Ireland (2017), TBEX North America (2015, Ft. Lauderdale), TBEX Costa Brava (2015), TBEX Cancún (2014), TBEX Toronto (2013), TBEX Girona (2012), TBEX North America (2012, Keystone, CO). They were at the 2022 Tri-Cities event but I'm not sure if they were speakers there or not, and I first met them in person in 2020 at an afterparty at an Irish pub in Manhattan for the very last New York Times Travel Show, which they were also speakers there. It's yet to be announced if they will attend or speak at the two upcoming TBEX events in the States this year. Most of the information that I provided can be confirmed directly from The Planet D website here.

These people are loyal TBEXers, tried and true.

Honestly, They seemed like nice folks when I met them in NYC and they were also decent when I encountered them later at TBEX Tri-Cities (Washington State) and later again at TBEX Marbella in Spain. they used to talk about about travel and travel media, but I had no idea that later they would catch TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) and allow themselves to transform their travel vlogs and speaking sessions into anti-American, Trump-bashing rants. But this is what happens when people allow themselves to become infected with hard-left rhetoric and Woke ideology, that is combined with believing that you're an actual celebrity who has a license to get on other people's social media posts and publicly blame, shame and defame them in front of others.

During this year's Superbowl halftime show, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who is a 7x Grammy winner with a YouTube channel with about 53 million subscribers, performed an all-Spanish show to a majority English-speaking audience (in-attendance and digital) with no English subtitles or translation anywhere. When I say majority English-speaking audience, I'm not just referring to the 246 million Americans who can't speak or understand Spanish, but also the English-speaking non-Americans, such as the more than 29 million English-speaking Canadians (85%). The NFL has also become increasingly popular in the UK as well, as more games are being held there every year. 6 games, altogether, have been held in multiple Canadian cities and a whopping 40+ games have been held in London, alone, with more scheduled in the future. In other words, the NFL is attracting a more global, English-speaking audience. There is even talk of a game being held in Melbourne, Australia for the upcoming season. English itself, isn't just the official language of the United States, it is a global language, being both the international language of travel and commerce. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires all international airline pilots and air traffic controllers to be proficient in English. And even in China, a country known for its vast traditions and thousands of years of preserved history, is spending billions on its ESL (English as a Second Language) industry so that children and adults alike can become fluent in English. English is a necessary global language that people need everywhere, for multiple reasons.

It's not that there is a problem with Bad Bunny performing in Spanish, because there isn't, the problem lies in the fact that his halftime performance was during the biggest American sporting event of the year, which forced English-speaking viewers to demand an alternative English-speaking halftime performance elsewhere, leaving the majority of English-speaking viewers unable to understand what's being said and unable to enjoy the performance to its full. Again, there were no English subtitles or translation at the game or with digital viewers. Some people could have set their own subtitles on their view platforms, used their own language-translation software or Spanish-speaking friends nearby for help. But honestly, I don't feel that people should have to do all this to enjoy the Super Bowl, especially those who have been watching and attending the Super Bowl their entire lives.

Furthermore, American football isn't popular in the Spanish-speaking world relative to the English-speaking world. And viewers who prefer a Spanish-language Super Bowl can easily find one on multiple networks, such as Telemundo Deportes or ESPN Deportes. It's true, there have been 6 NFL games in Mexico and one in Spain but when you compare the popularity of it to other sports such as soccer (fútbol), it makes one wonder just how many people who speak only Spanish are actually American football fans. Even in Miami-Dade County (USA), the Inter Miami soccer team is now worth more than the Miami Marlins baseball team with a current valuation of about $1.45 billion USD, making it the most valuable team in the MLS. Sir David Beckham saw the potential as an investor with Inter Miami, based on the facts that I've mentioned, and understood the lucrative potential of an MLS club in Miami. And due to his keen decision making and cultural understandings, he is now the UK's first-ever billionaire sportsman. To top it off, the Inter Miami club is the current MLS Champions with the highest-paid player (Messi) and a new stadium that just opened in April of this year. This is all thanks to Miami's ties to the Spanish-speaking world.

Spanish is a relevant and necessary language, just not during a Super Bowl halftime show.

And I feel that everyone who lives and works in Miami-Dade County should be bi-lingual.

And I would even consider voting to make Spanish a second official language of the U.S.

So the first issue wasn't the performance being in all-Spanish, the problem lied in the fact that most of the people watching needed a translator to be able to fully enjoy it, or else go watch the "good old boy" halftime show with Kid Rock and friends elsewhere. I want you to consider two groups of people that this disrespected the most; the English-speaking people who had spent thousands of dollars to attend the Super Bowl, live and in person, and the English-speaking people who are over 40 years old who have been watching, attending and supporting the NFL and the Super Bowl their entire lives. These people deserved better for a Super Bowl halftime performance. Mind you, most of the people who were watching the Super Bowl who are fluent in Spanish, are also fluent in English, so these bi-lingual fans could have also enjoyed an all-English halftime show. Or why couldn't the halftime show itself been performed in both Spanish and English, or even make it multi-lingual, would this not have been more "inclusive" where more people could have enjoyed it? And does everyone in Latin America speak only Spanish? Actually, there are 5 countries in Latin America where Spanish isn't the official language; Belize, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana (though Spanish is widely spoken in these places).

The second issue was that there were claims by the organizers and supporters of the Bad Bunny performance that it was meant to be "inclusive," "promote unity" and "embrace Latin American cultures." But this performance was not inclusive because it excluded those who could not speak or understand Spanish. Furthermore, the performance had very little to do with embracing Latin American cultures, rather it had much more to do with reinforcing left-wing liberal policy and taking a shot at the Trump Administration's immigration agenda and the duties of ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement).

Given this assessment, it seems that the only real reason why NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell opted to have an all-Spanish halftime show during the Super Bowl was simply to make a political statement, take a swipe at Trump and ICE, and stoke the flames of division in America. And this isn't the first example of how professional sports in America, notably the NFL and the NBA, have been used again and again as platforms to promote left-wing politics and Woke social issues. American sports, especially a major event like the Super Bowl, should be more about the sport itself.

I, myself, watched Bad Bunny's performance and since my Spanish is better than my Mandarin, I understood much of what he was singing about as I watched it in Spanish-speaking Buenos Aires at a sports bar around Spanish-speaking people. But the fact that the performance wasn't what the promoters were trying to make it out to be, and how it excluded the majority of the viewers, left many people sour. I enjoy a lot of Latin music myself and if I actually listened to Bad Bunny, I'd probably become a fan. I'm studying Spanish every day here in Buenos Aires, as it is the official language of Argentina that the majority of Argentinians speak every day. I speak it every day here. But if someone were to propose an all-English music performance at a prominent soccer game at Estadio Monumental (Monumental Stadium) that involved Lionel Messi and the Argentine National Team, it would probably be scoffed at. But honestly, much of this has to do with the Argentine animosity toward the British and the Falklands War (Guerra de los Malvinas). With that said, Buenos Aires and Argentina is a very multi-cultural place with a history of mass immigration and English is widely spoken in the capital. I love it so much I'm trying to become an Argentine citizen, and as an American immigrant, I know that I need to assimilate and speak and understand the official language if I want to live, work or go to school here. Again, I study Spanish every day and I practice it with the people around me every day. It is what most people speak here in Argentina. Furthermore, I have no issue with legal immigration, as I myself am an American immigrant trying to become Argentine-American dual citizen in Argentina. Lastly, every American who wants to renounce their citizenship should actually swap their U.S. passport with that of someone who has the "American Dream" from a foreign country who will offer a greater contribution to American society. The Trump admin could actually enact a policy like this and it would totally work. They could call it something like "The American Citizen Swap Act."

I started learning Spanish in Miami-Dade County when I moved there back in 2010 to attend the University of Miami. I had to quickly learn "retail Spanish" so that I could make sales to my Spanish-speaking customers at my numerous retail jobs in the area. I lived with an Argentinian immigrant couple while I lived, worked and went to school in a city where I was a White, English-speaking minority. In fact, I've been a White, English-speaking minority for the past 15+ years having lived and worked in places such as Miami, China, Mexico, the Philippines and now Argentina. I've been to almost every country in Latin America with the exception of Venezuela, French Guiana and maybe two or three Caribbean island nations. I know all too well the frustrations and dangers that come with language barriers, cultural differences and social miscues, which often lead to misunderstandings and safety issues, which is why I feel assimilation shouldn't just be encouraged, it should be mandatory. Today, learning another language is easier and cheaper than ever, as there are literally multiple free language apps that people can download on their phones. I use DuoLingo.

So when I posted my disappointment about the Super Bowl halftime performance on Facebook, several people were quick to respond, most of them who spoke little to no Spanish. Debra Corbeil was one of these people. Everyone was respectful enough who disagreed with me, but Deb called me all kinds of names such as "dumbass," "racist," "White supremacist" and "MAGA." Of course, I responded by calling her names and even later posting on a comment on her YouTube channel with this South Park video. First of all, when you get on someone else's social media timelines and say things like this to show off in front of mutual friends and other people, this just shows what a classless person you are. Second of all, what she called me holds no weight and I'll explain why.

First of all, the issue has nothing to do with race, it has everything to do with culture.

I'm not a racist, I'm a culturalist.

I'm a free thinker and I'm a critical thinker.

This means I don't just accept what people tell me at face value.

I never compromise my values just to fit in with other people.

Second of all, anyone who associates the Spanish language only with people of color and assumes that all Hispanic people speak Spanish, are they themselves being racist, narrow-minded and ignorant. This is because it ignores and undermines all White Hispanic people and non-Hispanic people of color who speak Spanish by implying that you must be a person of color if you are Hispanic and if you're Hispanic, then you must speak Spanish. The people who have this racist way of thinking are typically people who are White, non-Hispanic, English-speakers who have lived in places around people who are just like them. Toronto, where The Planet D is based, is very multi-cultural with respect to ethnic diversity but language-wise, the city has about 86% English-only speakers with only about 5% Spanish-only speakers, out of about 2.8 million residents. And given that TBEX events are always comfortably attended by 90+ percent English-speaking White people, doing all the math it makes sense why someone like Debra Corbeil would attack me like that and say what she did. It's obvious that she has only been around a handful of Spanish-speaking people. I can speak better Spanish than she can and honestly, I've never seen her post or speak any kind of French, and this is one of the official languages of Canada. I very seldom unfriend people on Facebook, and even more rarely do I block them, but I didn't hesitate to block her after all that. It was well-deserved. I embrace opposing viewpoints and other people's opinions, as this is how we learn from one another, but when someone displays their classless ignorance publicly on my timeline just because they feel they're that important, I'm ashamed to be affiliated with someone like that. Just the same, TBEX made me ashamed to be affiliated with it for similar reasons because a lot of people who manage and attend TBEX are just like this. I don't even like discussing these issues, publicly or privately, but some concerns just need to be addressed.

Some people are quick to play "gotcha," and they purposely and conveniently take what others say the wrong way in an effort to make themselves look better, at the expense of others.

I deleted the post in question not long after the fireworks, but I left it up long enough so that people could see what was going on and so that they could assess it for themselves. I like to be fair. I deleted it because I now live and work in a Spanish-speaking country and I didn't want other people to take it at face value, or just take it the wrong way without understanding my point.

Canada seems like a wonderful place. I'm planning a Road Trippin' Canada project for the future that will span from Vancouver all to the way to Halifax, or something like that, and I want to capture and promote the absolute best of the country along the way. I have several Canadian friends that I plan to see along this journey, some whom have offered to let me stay at their homes. This is a project and a journey that I will probably embark on in July some year when the weather is ideal. I've only really explored Montréal and I loved every bit of it. And I have a lot of Canadian friends all over the world. I met many of them in Mexico when I lived there back in 2021 (on & off). I've heard that Toronto is also wonderful, but it does have its share of problems such as homelessness, food insecurity, access to healthcare, crack-smoking politicians and Hells Angels bikers. But one issue that stands out is the anti-American rhetoric that is coming from notable influencers like Dave and Deb from The Planet D, which has contributed to incidents such as the gunfire that opened on the American Consulate General on March 10th in Toronto and at least 3 assassination attempts on President Trump. I'm not saying that Dave and Deb are personally responsible for all this, what I am saying is that they are collectively contributing to it all. I feel that people who spread this kind of Americanophobia should be banned from entering the United States and furthermore, their vlogs need to be monitored by the U.S. Secretary of State's office due to national security concerns. This kind of rhetoric puts American lives at risk, notably the Americans abroad and especially the Americans in Canada. You can take a look at what The Planet D has to say about Americans and President Trump here, and you can decide for yourself if this is the kind of rhetoric you want to hear at a TBEX conference, or anywhere else. Frankly, Dave and Deb need to focus on Canada's problems, notably those in their own city of Toronto and also with the separatists in Alberta. It's just a matter of time before Québec holds another secession referendum, in which the first one almost passed back in 1995. Personally, I feel that Canada just needs better leadership.

This kind of rhetoric is also very damaging to Canadian tourism and trade. Americans spent $12.8 billion USD in Canada in 2023 for tourism, this year's numbers aren't even half of that. With respect to American-Canadian imports and exports, U.S. goods trade (exports plus imports) with Canada totaled an estimated $719.5 billion in 2025. U.S. goods exports to Canada in 2025 were $336.5 billion, down 3.8 percent ($13.4 billion) from 2024. U.S. goods imports from Canada totaled $383.0 billion in 2025, down 7.0 percent ($28.9 billion) from 2024 (Office of the United States Trade Representative).

It's not what The Planet D discusses that is the problem so much, but it's the fact that they're doing it while benefiting largely from an American audience, while at the same time putting American lives at risk, which makes it wrong. If you want to subscribe to their Channel after reading this because you endorse what they promote, feel free to do so, but make sure you tell them that Jeff from Outcast Vagabond sent you. I don't hate these people, I just wish they'd straighten up.

What some people don't understand is that when they attack Donald Trump, they are also attacking America. They're not just putting Trump's life at risk, they're putting all American lives at risk, especially those who are abroad. Disagreeing and criticizing someone is totally fine, but when you promote Antifa-type of rhetoric then it all constitutes hate speech and becomes terror-related.

I don't defend Trump, I defend America.

Now back to TBEX...

My first conference, TBEX Ostrava, and my last conference, TBEX Phuket were good.

I enjoyed TBEX Ostrava so much that I created a short film about it, and the whole experience made me fall in love with the Czech Republic (Czechia), notably Czech beer and Czech women.

I gave the appropriate shout-outs for TBEX Phuket because I enjoyed it, too. And it gave me a reason to visit Phuket, which I stayed for several days and rented a scooter to explore the entire Island.

I could have done without the 4 in between, as they weren't so good for multiple reasons.

These were TBEX Billings, TBEX Tri-Cities, TBEX Marbella and TBEX Lafayette.

I experienced a bit of prejudice at TBEX.

I've decided to tone down my rhetoric about TBEX and how I feel about it, personally, compared to last year's article, because I have friends who do attend their events often and out of respect for them, and the new folks who may actually benefit from it, I've made this piece more appropriate.

With all that said, I will never attend another TBEX event. Without elaborating on all the issues I had and have with TBEX, I will just say that cultural and political differences did play a key role in my poor experiences at TBEX, most notably in 2022.

In 2022, TBEX was a post-Floyd, post-COVID mess that had its obvious issues while adjusting to these radical cultural changes in America. The Tri-Cities event was the first TBEX event since the Billings event back in 2019, which I had also attended. In 2022, before the Tri-Cities event in April, Rick Calvert scrambled to hire the right people and to bring in the right conference speakers, who offered the right tone to comply with the demands of the new normal and to support the new, aggressive Woke-ideological agenda, just like every other American business was forced to do at the time. During this year DEI policies wreaked havoc across America as good people lost their jobs while less qualified people took their place, other credible candidates were overlooked for hiring and promotions and businesses were forced change their entire corporate philosophies to adjust to this new normal. Colleges and universities were still using affirmative action policies to discriminate toward Whites and Asians, particularly Asians, which led to a Supreme Court decision to finally axe the policy, which had been used and abused for years. Political candidates were basically being selected, rather than elected to offices across America. Fortunately, this ideology lost its steam during the 2024 Presidential Election with Kamala Harris, as Americans decided that they'd had enough at this point. Woke ideology is divisive, toxic and far-out ideology that just has no real, long-term benefits to overall society. It simply pits people against each other, and causes people to hate each other and despise each other, while benefitting a select few at the expense of everyone else. There is nothing just, righteous or noble about this. It's just plain wrong.

Social issues absolutely need to be addressed, but in more diplomatic kinds of ways.

Woke ideology really just promotes new ways to hate, discriminate, blame and shame and it paints straight, White men as villains and the root of this world's problems. Everyone needs villains in their lives, because it's easier to blame other people for your problems rather than take responsibility for those problems yourself.

Biological males should not be allowed in women's restrooms, locker rooms or sports (especially combat sports). Critical Race Theory is of the Devil, as it's all about money, power and revenge. Feminists should not be allowed to accuse men of crimes they didn't commit, just to get back at them, knowing that society and the law will just take their word for it, without any evidence.

Again, all of this negatively affects our youth the most, as it messes them up, psychologically and even physiologically, for those kids who aren't even sure what gender they are.

This is why Woke ideology is referred to by conservatives as a "mind virus," and why those who are hell-bent on attacking Donald Trump rather than cooperating with him are said to have TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), because this ideology turns people into crazies.

I do want to confirm that people do not need to attend TBEX to learn the skills that are taught there by the "experts" and "sponsors" who speak at and attend TBEX. Just check the TBEX website to see who is at the events. You can email these people directly, meet them elsewhere, follow their social media platforms, take their free (& paid) online courses (if available), etc. I also feel that "speed networking" is a waste of time, in my opinion, which is why many other travel conferences don't do it. There are other opportunities to speak with these sponsors either at their tables, during lunch or during the afterparties. Or you can just say hello to them really quick and exchange cards with them, and save time by just following up with them online or somewhere else. The afterparties are typically good, which is 100% thanks to the sponsors who are spending all the money and doing all the work toward them. 90% of the people that I've met at TBEX have been great people who are easy to talk to, regardless of their age, race, gender, sexual-orientation, political beliefs, nationality, religion, socio-economic status or whatever. These are the people who understand the core values that make up the rich fabric of the typical traveler's philosophy and moral code. But the other 10% are a different story; these people will call you names, troll your Facebook posts, give you shitty attitudes, dirty looks and try their best to make you look and feel like you're responsible for their problems and the world's problems, and make you feel like you're a bad person. And these people are the wannabe celebrities who have let what they do get to their heads. Vanity isn't just a sin, it's a sign of mental illness. Honestly, the people I've had the most issues with at TBEX are the hard-left feminists who like to try to bully men around, and show off in front of people while they do it. I guess I just seem like an easy target for them or something. But I've learned that the best way to deal with people like this, is just to respond to them in a similar fashion. They tend to back off.

While at TBEX events in 2022, Rick and his friends felt they needed to keep an eye on me. There were 5 of them who were doing this, including Rick and people who worked for him. They can call me crazy, paranoid or whatever, but I know what I experienced. I tried to talk to Rick about all this a couple of times, but he just played dumb about it. I'm not going to elaborate on what was going on, but I will say this, it was disturbing to say the least. So given that nobody could act like an adult and speak to me about whatever problems there were, I was left to assume the reason(s) why this was going on while these people acted like 7th graders. And my best guess is everything from my open support for Donald Trump in 2020 during his re-election bid that I caught hell for (link below), my thoughts about COVID-19, and the fact that I traveled during the Pandemic (I followed all the rules), my partiality to China, and my open support for Israel all were reasons why I was experiencing this.

At TBEX in 2022, Rick gave me some disturbing looks, called me "weird" a couple of times and he'd often sit at my tables during lunch so that he could keep an eye on what he and his friends thought was a "redneck." I think he did this just for the optics so that people could see it, and not so much to hear what I was saying to other people. There were other disturbing things going on, including more name-calling, and also what happened during the Marbella FAM trip when there were fireworks between me and a couple of other people. And I do feel that a lot of this was simply the result of people with prejudice attitudes toward rustic, conservative kind of people like myself. My Facebook Posts from 2020 to 2023 didn't help, either. I will say that my goal in writing this piece is to prevent other people from experiencing this; that is, people who share political and cultural similarities with myself. People need to understand what kind of place TBEX is. And please understand that name-calling is a thing. Again, I haven't been to one since 2022. I just want people to be accepted and to feel comfortable, rather than be prejudged and messed with. I guess it's also worth noting that the FAM trip in Tri-Cities that I went on had a great group of people on it, even though it consisted of two people who had spent time in prison for drug-related offenses. They weren't bashful about sharing this with everyone. But honestly, I didn't have any kind of problem with anyone on that trip, everyone seemed like decent folks and I did give the appropriate shout-outs on social media afterwards. You never know what you're going to get at TBEX. They'll tolerate anyone who promotes anything, except conservatives who try to promote traditional American morals and values.

I never had these kinds of experiences at any other conference that I've attended, worked or managed since 2012. It really was a first for me and I just wasn't sure how to respond to it all, I mean in a professional conference setting around people who are supposed to be professionals.

And I would have quit going after the 2nd event of 2022, TBEX Marbella, but I had already signed up for all 4 events for that year during a bogus "Black Friday Sale" in November of 2021. And since TBEX doesn't provide refunds for tickets already bought, I wanted to at least try and salvage something from the last two events of 2022, rather than just not go and waste my tickets that I purchased. I would have also stopped attending TBEX at any time had Rick just spoke to me about whatever problems he and his friends, or anyone had with me, with or without a refund.

Under normal circumstances, I would respond differently to behavior like this toward me, but when I'm on someone else's turf and in a "professional setting," I try to be a disciplined person and I try to be nice to people. I've never been a violent person, outside of combat sports, and I have a clean criminal record. This isn't the only time that I've dealt with people and attitudes like this. And I think God that I'm not that much like the people I grew up around, because if I were, I wouldn't be so disciplined and I wouldn't be so nice when it came to people who behave this way toward me. I've been around long enough to know when I'm being judged for all the wrong reasons.

But again, I feel the most contributing factor for all this was due to my open support for Trump in 2020, which can be witnessed simply by seeing my Facebook Post here (pay attention to the names), which earned almost 200 comments, mostly negative and hateful crap that was geared to make me look bad. Mind you, these people work in the travel industry, and many of them are loyal TBEXers. I think it's worth checking out, because of its entertainment value, if nothing else. Some people have since deleted their comments since the article was published two years ago, when I called them out on it all. I personally feel that I held my own against them as I defended my decision to support Trump in 2020, but you can be the judge of that if you decide to scroll through the post and read all its lovely comments. If nothing else, it should make you laugh a bit.

I want to also say that comparing Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler disrespects anyone who suffered under the Third Reich, because it downplays the evil that Hitler and the Nazis were.

I also feel that another reason that I was having the experiences that I was at TBEX in 2022, is because I was very outspoken on social media against the 574 violent riots that occurred in 2020 throughout numerous American cities for several weeks by hard-left radicals, which led to many innocent people being killed (including police officers), businesses being destroyed (many black-owned) and livelihoods being altered forever. The collateral damage that came from this senseless destruction was so devastating, that over 1,500 businesses in Minneapolis alone were destroyed. I was one of the few travel influencers who spoke out against this, and I sure caught hell for it. As a person who sees heritage as something sacred, watching historic buildings and notable landmarks perish was truly heartbreaking. These people should be proud to be Americans and be grateful that they were doing this in the United States, rather than in China, as anyone who remembers Tiananmen Square in 1989 can pretty much predict how violent riots in China end; in a very dramatic way and in a much shorter period of time with the law and the government on the winning side every time.

Fortunately, we now have President Trump back in the White House and he now has more authority to stop this kind of violence in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago; all Dem-led cities in Dem-led states where high-profile politicians encourage Antifa activity with their rhetoric. And I do want to point out that anyone who wasn't publicly speaking out against the U.S. riots in 2020, was quietly endorsing what was going on and that's a real shame. This Antifa "assassination culture" that is being groomed by the Left needs to be dealt with in a very harsh kind of way.

And the people who try to give me a hard time for my partiality to China, are typically people who have never even been to China, who have no Chinese or Chinese-American friends and who are brainwashed by the Western-propagated media. In other words, they're simply ignorant of, racist toward and prejudice against China and Chinese people. In short, they are Sinophobic. The Western media can be blamed for much of this, not the people themselves, who just don't know any better. People don't like what they don't understand, and ignorance is bliss. People follow narratives that support their confirmation biases. This is really just people being people.

People who aren't familiar with rustic, conservative cultures in America tend to lean on their own limited understanding of them. They read books and watch movies and shows like Hillbilly Elegy, Ozark, Deliverance, Winter's Bone, Poor White Trash, Justified, Dukes of Hazzard and others. Of course, these books, movies and shows depict Upland South culture in mostly negative and satirical kinds of ways. And this works against people like myself, because I grew up in the Upland South and it's obvious enough when people hear me talk, as I sound like I'm from Kentucky (even though I'm not). Since I understand this, it helps me to cope with people's ignorance and attitudes that they display toward me, and people similar to myself, in a much easier way. And I knew that the misunderstandings by select individuals whom I encountered at TBEX were being fueled by their ignorance, the media and the Woke ideology that they're infected with, which contributes to their attitudes. This is why I experienced the prejudice that I did at TBEX, by only just a few people. I, myself, need to learn more about other cultures, as I too tend to associate people with what they look like, how they talk, and where they come from based on my limited understanding of them. But I always treat people with dignity and respect, unless I don't get it from them in return.

And it's true that I don't understand West Coast cultures as much as I should.

By the way, I love every bit of California. And when I embarked on my Pacific Coast Highway road trip back in 2020, it was one of the best experiences of my life. And I didn't just see the coast, I drove inland and experienced Bakersfield, Coachella and other California farming communities.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected by those ugly California wildfires. It's very sad, but if California had a governor that would actually allow officials to access the abundant water resources that are available in the State, then these fires would be more easily managed. The rampant homelessness, cost-of-living and high crime are other statewide issues that I feel could be better managed if people would just elect better leadership. They don't have to elect Republicans, they just need to elect better Democrats. According to one study, California was the third most moved-out-of state in the U.S., and much of this has to do with hard-left liberal politics and Woke ideology that simply destroys communities by sucking the very life right out of them.

Psychology teaches us that people stereotype others because it's more convenient to do this, than to get to know each person, individually. We're all guilty of this, whether we know it or not.

I don't think that Rick Calvert or anyone who is partial to TBEX are bad people at all. I just feel that TBEX has the potential to be much better, and a place that is open to all people, not just liberals who hate Donald Trump and his supporters.

With that said, Rick and his friends don't know me from their own assholes, as they just want to judge me based on what I post on social media, how I vote, how I talk, how I look and where I'm from; rather than having meaningful conversations with me and actually getting to know me. This is prejudice, ignorance and it's just plain wrong. And if one person is experiencing this at TBEX, that means that other people probably are as well.

I do believe that the two TBEX events that are in America this year; both the one in Richmond, Virginia from June 23rd to 26th and the one in Fargo, North Dakota from Sept. 29th to Oct. 2nd, will basically be Trump-bashing festivals that will be geared to encourage people to vote Democrat for the upcoming Mid-Term elections, which will be held on November 3rd. The former TBEX event is being held east of the Mississippi River 4 months before most Mid-Terms and, whereas the latter is being held west of it one month before. Immigration will be a hot topic and it's quite possible that many of the speakers will mention this when they talk in front of people. This is no accident and yes, there are political incentives behind it all. They want to reach as many people as they can and convince "travel influencers" to not only vote Democrat but to also use their social media platforms to get others to do the same. Personally, given the current political, social and cultural divide in America, there needs to be a Federal presence at these events and the FBI needs to tune into what some of these people at these events are saying, with respect to President Trump and other high-profile politicians and comments related to Americanophobia. There have been at least 3 assassination attempts on President Trump's life, and we don't need any more. This is especially true for the non-American speakers and attendees who are telling American attendees how to think and vote, while bashing on President Trump, which could quite possibly constitute election interference. God forbid someone else tries to take another shot at our President, or any other high-profile politician around Mid-Term election time, due to some Leftist rhetoric that is being promoted at TBEX events, that may or may not be Antifa-related. Freedom of speech comes with its limits and we must put left-wing radicalism, and even right-wing radicalism, in check.

This year is America's 250th birthday and American people of all kinds, at bare minimum, should stand up to any form of Americanophobia; be it domestic or international, in-person or online.

United we stand, divided we fall. We are the UNITED States of America.

Travel conferences, in my opinion, should be more about travel, business and networking; and less about politics, social issues and cash-grabbing.

You'll need to talk to someone who attended TBEX from 2023 to 2025 for their up-to-date assessment on the quality of TBEX conferences, how organized and professional they are (or not).

And TBEX just recently started recognizing outstanding talent in the travel industry, with awards. This is something that other travel conferences have been doing for years. I applaud this upgrade. And this is something I pointed out in the 2024 version of this article, but I don't think that I'm the reason TBEX started issuing the awards, I think other people just noticed that they weren't.

I believe that the best way to maximize your time at TBEX is simply to be open-minded, be sociable and learn to ignore people who don't like you or who are rude to you due to political or cultural differences. And be yourself. Though American politics and social issues are discussed a great deal at TBEX, I would recommend avoiding this, even if you're a liberal. You should keep your conversations clean; about travel, business and other inclusive, positive and productive topics that anyone and everyone can enjoy. Get some business cards made that you can hand out and exchange with other people. I make stickers that I hand out to people with my logo, website and Facebook Page on it. Connect with others on social media as much as possible. The greatest benefit I got out of TBEX was the networking opportunities. I met some great people at TBEX that I still keep in touch with today and I know many of them will be attending these upcoming events.

Other TBEX issues that were clear as day in 2022 were Rick fumbling with introductions on stage, countless website glitches, on-stage keynote speakers who would get cut off before they could finish speaking (because there was no 10 or 5-minute warning for them), session speakers who didn't have access to their PowerPoint slides during their presentations because TBEX admins failed to have them ready for them, as well as audio and video issues galore. I hope they've fixed all this by now.

TBEX Catania was supposed to happen in mid-March of 2020. I, myself, signed up for it. But leading up to the conference, COVID-19 was creating concerns for everyone, as death tolls were on the rise, countries were closing their borders and cities were imposing lockdowns. I personally feel that the conference should have been canceled in late February after the first COVID case was reported in Palermo on February 25th, especially considering that parts of Italy were already on lockdown. But TBEX admins and sponsors kept trying to get people to come to Catania, nonetheless. This worried a lot of us as we debated it on social media on the Conference Facebook Group. ITB Berlin, a much bigger conference, had been canceled on February 28th, so it made sense for TBEX to cancel the Catania conference around the same time, they just didn't do it quick enough. Bodies were dropping and borders were closing, but TBEX admins and sponsors were hell-bent on getting people to come to Catania. Event sponsors were sharing these lovely videos on the Conference Facebook Group making it look like everything was A-OK in Sicily. This was very irresponsible, as people could have been hospitalized or killed due to coronavirus infection.

A handful of people actually did come to Catania, and they got stranded when the Italian government locked the entire country down and imposed travel bans on March 9th. Rick gave this group a name and called them "TBEX Survivors."

Again, I will never ever compromise my values just to fit in with other people. What you see is what you get, you can take it or leave it. I believe in being a real person, and keeping it real. I'm open to anyone who acts like a half-ass decent person, and if they're willing to give me a chance then I always reciprocate. I have an elaborate social network with people from all walks of life, and I feel that every single person alive should be this way. It's just the right way to be. I only have a problem with people who have a problem with me, and I don't mess with people unless they mess with me first and even then, I try to pick my battles wisely.

And to all the people who gave me a hard time for publicly endorsing Trump on Facebook in 2020, it feels damn good to say that you all lost and we won. I was right to support Trump, and you all were wrong to support Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024. And the fact that Trump received 2.3 million more popular votes than Kamala did and captured all 7 Swing States, most Americans not only knew of and felt the damage that Biden created in 4 years, but they also could predict what potential damage Kamala would have done, if she would have been elected, after being selected by Biden to be the Democratic nominee. Thank God for President Trump and his good work. God Bless America.

I advise anyone that if you want to get to know someone or if you have a problem with someone, be noble, courageous and adult-like about it and talk to them face-to-face. Don't give people dirty looks, call them names, gossip about them and try to understand them from a superficial Hollywood, pop-culture or social-media perspective. Be human, and talk to them in person and get to know the real them. Do this before you decide if you like them or not. It's better to act like an adult rather than a 7th-grader (unless you are a 7th-grader). This works in my small town where I grew up, and it can work for everyone else as well.

Lastly, and probably the most disturbing thing that I witnessed at TBEX, was the Sinophobia that seemed to be omnipresent there, and this is no thanks to COVID-19, South China Sea issues, spy balloons, and so many other issues that involve China and poor Sino-American relations. But as a person who is partial to both China and the United States, I take this seriously and personally. I know what life is really like in China, not what the Western-propagated media tells people it's like. People who work in the travel industry really need to stop busting on China. There is nothing worse than people who are involved with travel promoting China in a negative context, especially those whom have never even been to China, and have no Chinese or Chinese-American friends. One of my goals while living and working in China was to help promote tourism in China in a positive way, and to help people understand what life is really like there. Nobody wants to see Sino-American relations improve more than people like myself, Americans who are partial to China. In July of 2023, I hosted my very first social event for China Social+Travel Network, which was a two-hour event at the InterContinental Changsha with several speakers and an afterparty at the rooftop bar. It was a great time, and there was also one on October 18th in Baoding at the Hilton DoubleTree with an afterparty, and we offered free tickets to a couple of local museums (with the help of the local tourism authority). The last event was at the Sheraton Grand in Hankou (Wuhan). There were also two get-togethers, the first in Harbin, China at a coffee shop, with walking tours around the city during the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival which was late December of 2024. The second one was in November of 2025 in Nanjing at Finnegan's Irish Wake Pub. The goals of these events were to help bring foreigners and Chinese people together, to bridge cultural gaps and to help promote tourism in China. And also to counter the Sinophobic, Western-propagated media that is fueled by politics, money and racism.

Last August (2025) I just finished my 9th year as an expat living and working in China as an English teacher. I've never experienced any real animosity in China from Chinese people, only non-American foreigners. It is extremely safe in China, as there is almost no domestic crime; no shootings, no rioters, no burning buildings down to the ground after they've been robbed blind. I can't defend the Chinese Communist Party, but I will always defend Chinese people and Chinese culture. And I will always defend Wuhan, because this is the city that changed my life, forever and for the better. China was my land of opportunity, and soon I will publish my Brainz Magazine articles about my China story, which will basically be the prelude to the book that I'm writing about my China life. The first will be titled, "China: A Land of Opportunity," that focuses on mostly my life in pre-COVID Wuhan (2014 to 2019) and the follow-up piece will be titled, "Wuhan 2.0," which will focus mostly on my life in post-COVID Wuhan (2023 to 2025). And these are articles that will teach people how they can make China their own land of opportunity, and it will give those who aren't familiar with Chinese culture a better understanding of it. In 2022, TBEX was most certainly a Sinophobic summit (among other things). I hope TBEX has improved on this.

I can't be a part of any entity that is anti-Chinese; I can't, I shouldn't, I won't.

TBEX is what I consider to be a "fully-loaded" conference with speakers, sessions, FAM trips, etc.

To the people who are regulars at TBEX, good for you. I'm glad you like it. To the people who are curious about TBEX who are liberals and who hate President Trump, perhaps you'll enjoy it. Maybe you'll love it, maybe not. I talk about my own personal experiences at TBEX because anyone who shares similar cultural attributes as I do, or has similar beliefs, be they cultural or political, I feel you need to be conscious of yourself at TBEX. I don't write what I do about TBEX for myself, I do it for others. I like to offer guidance with anything travel-related, when I can.

TBEX is the most anti-American American conference there is. It has just become so far out and so far to the left, politically and culturally, that normal people just don't feel comfortable there anymore. When I say normal, I mean people with traditional morals and values who are conservative. TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is highly contagious, but curable.

There are no "good guys" or "bad guys," just people with opposing viewpoints. And if we are to learn from one another and find common ground, at bare minimum, we must at least learn to listen to one another. When people understand each other more, they tolerate each other more.

People tend to be resistant to anyone who makes them look or feel like bad people, and who turn a profit by stoking the flames of division in America. We're all equal. All lives matter. We should never forget the atrocities of the past, in fact, we should learn from it all. But what we shouldn't do is use history as a weapon and as a tool to attack other people, and make the people of today feel responsible for what happened in the past, when that was done by people of the past. Furthermore, we should strive to cooperate with each other today to make society a just and equal environment for everyone. Calling other people names and slapping labels on groups is counterproductive.

I truly wish Rick Calvert, his friends and everyone who is loyal to TBEX all the best. I really mean that. I have no real animosity toward any of them. I just love my country and I care about those who are new to travel and travel conferencing. I really meant it when I said that TBEX has a lot of potential and I hope that it will become a better place that all people can enjoy.

You can sign up for any of the 2026 TBEX events here.

There are plenty of alternatives to TBEX, a great deal in fact and it seems as though there are more of them coming out every year. Next I'm going to discuss my personal favorite. I've only been to one of them but doing the math and comparing it to other conferences I've been to, I wouldn't look any further than Traverse. I say this for a multitude of reasons but I will admit that I have yet to attend more of them, so much of how I feel about Traverse stems from me personally attending only one, just like my feelings toward TBEX are based on first-hand experiences. But I always like to consider other people's experiences as well, to give my assessments better balance.

Traverse

https://www.traverse-events.com/

I want to start by saying that Traverse also promotes Woke ideology, but the key difference is that it is run by Europeans rather than Americans. This makes all the difference in the world, and it makes Traverse much more tolerable to anyone, regardless of who they are and what they believe.

Traverse was founded in 2013, is based in London, and in my opinion is without a doubt the best alternative to TBEX. This is for multiple reasons, but one reason is that they aim to be unique in their own right in just about every way possible. This means that American culture, politics, social issues, and other elements are basically omitted from Traverse events. They don't emphasize American politics and social issues so much. In other words, Traverse events welcome everyone. Traverse typically hosts three events every year; They have their main event, Traverse, and two side events, Keyframe and Reboot. I attended Traverse22 in Brno, Czechia and I was very impressed with it. Everything about this event was spectacular and well-organized.

This year Traverse26 will be in Hamburg, Germany with Midweek Experiences from October 13th to 16th and the Conference Sessions from Oct. 17th and 18th.

Also, Traverse is hosting an event called Waypoint, which is an elaborate networking and travel event, and you can sign up for it here. It will be held at the Underwood Lofts on July 14th and 15th. It will consist of curated meetings, seminars and networking between creators and travel brands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GQBRusyVEQ

Waypoint 25 London

https://www.traverse-events.com/waypoint/

In 2022, Traverse hosted an annual main conference, and the way it worked was that there was an opening-night party on Friday. For Traverse22 it was at the beautiful, historic and iconic Špilberk Castle. I mean, anywhere in Europe is fascinating for me but to show up to a Friday night gala, at a 13th-century castle in the heart of Europe is truly orgasmic. I didn't know what to think when I walked through those huge wooden doors onto the open-air balcony and was offered a glass of Champaign. Holy shit. It's definitely not something I'm used to but it was an experience that I'll never forget. It was like being in a real-life fairy tale. Again, this is thanks to the genuine European flavor that Traverse offers. The opening-night gala had all sorts of cool stuff going on with food, beer, wine, concerts, demonstrations and just great company. I was able to connect with old friends and make new ones. For me, people were so much easier to talk to at Traverse and I didn't feel like a criminal like I did at TBEX. I felt more free and more welcome, where I could just be myself without feeling condemned.

The next two days of the main conference, Saturday and Sunday, is when they had the opening and closing keynotes along with the speaker sessions and sponsor showcase tables. In the evenings there were social events including a closing-night party. I wasn't able to make the closing-night party at Traverse22 but I did do the pub crawl social around Brno Old Town with a group on Saturday. The reason I couldn't make the closing-night party was because I had to catch a train to Bratislava and I needed to leave as soon as possible to get the one I wanted, so that I could make it to Bratislava earlier. I would have booked an extra night at the Hotel Passage but I needed to get going. Altogether, including layovers, I covered 15 countries in September alone. But after seeing Facebook video clips of the closing-night party the next morning, I really wish that I had stayed for it because it was held at Sono Music Club and it looked like a freakin' great time!!

I've heard TBEXers say that Traverse is a copycat of TBEX, since TBEX has been around longer and indeed was the first of its kind when it did come out. I actually used to believe this myself until I attended a Traverse in 2022. I will admit, there are some parallels but these are the same parallels that you will see at just about every travel conference, and every conference in general. Traverse is truly unique in its own ways. There are sessions with speakers, similar to TBEX, but these sessions tend to better for me because they're not peppered with American politics or Woke social issues and the speakers, to me, are more professional and affable. There are social functions at the beginning of the conference (opening-night parties) and at end of each day of conferencing, similar to TBEX, but they do vary depending on where they are held. So I wouldn't give TBEX or Traverse, either one, an edge in this category. Traverse events don't have a "speed networking" timeframe but I'm OK with that because I feel "speed networking" is a waste of time. NOTE: Keyframe events are specifically geared for networking with brands and bloggers, and they seem more elaborate than the "speed networking" that's offered at TBEX. At the main Traverse events, the sponsors are available throughout the day at their showcase tables, similar to TBEX, for people to speak to them anytime during the conference hours or even during conference social functions. From my experience, you only really need just a few minutes to talk to a brand rep and exchange business cards and other information with them to have a productive verbal exchange. You can speak to them more than once since you have the time with three days of conferencing and you can talk to them at the social functions at the beginning of the conference and at the end of each day. Then you can follow-up with them whenever you want after the conference is over via email. I believe this is a better way of connecting brands with influencers, along with what Waypoint offers. Other differences between TBEX and Traverse are pretty clear, as I've mentioned many of them already, but another big difference is the locations of the conferences. And Traverse just attracts better people for me, personally. Great people combined with great locations lead to great experiences and great memories.

You can sign up for the 2026 Traverse Waypoint Event in July in London here. The Event will be held on July 14th and 15th at the Underwood Lofts in Shoreditch, London, United Kingdom.

Again, Traverse26 will be in Hamburg, Germany with Midweek Experiences from Oct. 13th to 16th and with the Conference Sessions from Oct. 17th & 18th. You can keep up with updated information on the Event via their Facebook Page here.

Traverse events are always in great places and are just better conferences, in general, partly because there is typically only one main Traverse event every year whereas with TBEX they have about two or three every year. Traverse offers Midweek Experiences (TBEX does not) from Tuesday to Friday before the conferences begin that weekend. TBEX does offer pre-BEX trips the Thursday and Friday the week of their conferences. Both Traverse and TBEX offer FAM (familiarization) trips post-conference that you will need to apply for. Traverse organizers put more effort and resources into one main event to make it really great, this makes a big difference. Since Traverse is London-based, it does attract a lot of Europeans and most of their main annual events are held in Europe somewhere. Also, though Traverse has more of a mix of different kinds of people including young, old and middle-aged folks; it tends to have more of an overall youthful vibe to it. I also firmly believe that Traverse is just more professional and better organized than TBEX, and there is always someone around to assist you if you need some help with something. The people working and volunteering for Traverse can be spotted wearing shirts that say "Traverse" so you know exactly who they are. One last factor that I'll point out is difference in attendance. I noticed a lot more people present at Traverse22 than I did at every TBEX event that I attended, not just the same year, with the exceptions of TBEX Ostrava and TBEX Phuket. I really enjoyed my time at my first Traverse event and I highly recommend it to others. Michael Ball is a great guy and his crew are truly amazing at what they do; very professional, very organized and very open-minded people.

As I mentioned, aside from the Traverse annual main event, there are also sometimes side events such as Keyframe and Reboot. Keyframe is a conference exclusively for video content creators and for those who aspire to become better videographers. I feel that this is brilliant given that videos do have higher response rates and this is why television advertising (especially during the Super Bowl & World Cup) costs so damn much, but they provide a very healthy return-on-investment. The last Keyframe event was held in Malta in 2023 from April 13th to 16th and you can see more on it here.

Reboot is a health & wellness-themed event, with the 2022 event being held from April 22nd to 25th in Hamburg, Germany. It was a multi-day event that included yoga, a Hamburg walking tour, roller skating, studio drift exhibition, Beatles tour, music works session, productivity & mindfulness session and other cool stuff that is aimed to help people improve their health and wellness. There is yet to be information about an event for 2025, if and when it's released then I will update it here. The best information I could find about the 2022 event was a vlog that was produced and published by travel influencer, Greg Snell (click his name to subscribe to his YouTube channel). Reboot seems like a nice side retreat for travel influencers, and you're likely to see people that you already know from other conferences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRpG0HTnlPo

Traverse Events ReBoot 2022 Hamburg Marketing by Greg Snell

https://www.youtube.com/@gregsnell

One aspect about Traverse that I really appreciate is their Traverse Creator Awards that they have every year to highlight outstanding talent in the travel industry. I feel that every single travel conference that is setup for travel influencers should have something like this, not just to reward those who deserve it, but to also show respect to the very people who are supporting their events.

Traverse has also hosted other side events in the past such as BorderlessLive, Antigua Elite Conference, Traverse Virtual Events and others. Traverse has something for everyone.

So far, in my relatively short digital nomad career with my limited conference experiences, Traverse has impressed me the most. They are well-organized, open-minded, multi-ethnic and diverse in every way possible. They are progressive in a way that isn't provocative. They are creative and innovative with exceptional multi-themed events. I was truly surprised and delighted at just how different and better they are compared to TBEX. Due to all of this, I strongly endorse Traverse as a conference for every kind of traveler and even for those who aspire to become travelers and digital nomads. Traverse admins don't judge people and gossip about them based on who they are, where they're from, what they look like, how they vote, their sexual orientation, how they talk or even what they believe. They don't hold any of this against anyone. They don't mess with people. They're very professional. Everyone is welcome at Traverse events, so go check them out. They're a lot of fun and they provide educational and memorable experiences. Traverse also provides exceptional and invaluable networking opportunities.

The next conference that I'll discuss has a bit of a different setup from Traverse and TBEX, but is one that I would recommend, not based on my personal experience (I've never been), but on the experiences and reviews of those who have attended them. It actually has two separate experiences to it; Nomadbase, which is the event on land and Nomad Cruise, which is the event at sea.

Nomadbase

https://nomadbase.com/

Nomadbase is a multi-functional conference that was founded by Johannes Voelkner, a digital nomad from Germany. Nomadbase consists of live events that take place in different parts of the world, always in fascinating, exotic locations. Previous Nomadbase events have been held in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico (NBL Mexico), Primošten, Croatia (NBL Croatia), Cape Town, South Africa (NBL Africa) and other locations. 2023 there was a Bali Reunion (Feb.).

Nomadbase events typically consist of about 7 days of conference networking, speaking sessions, skill-sharing workshops, paid (& free) adventure excursions, a welcome session that includes drinks and registration and a closing ceremony. Every Nomadbase event is unique and has a similar setup that is familiar with all of them, but also has new elements to all of them that make them different.

Since I've never attended a Nomadbase, I can only go by hearsay and available online resources but I'll be honest when I say that I've never heard anything negative about these events. Many people have attended them and it seems that there is nothing but positive reviews, at least that's all I'm seeing and hearing. I've considered attending one before, I thought about attending the Croatia event four years ago but since I was already registered for 6 travel conferences for 2022, I figured I'd just wait and sign up for one another year.

The most recent Nomadbase was in held in Tarifa, Spain this year from May 11th to 18th.

Here is a Nomadbase promotional trailer taken directly from the website...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7x7jiTRis8

Nomadbase Promotional Trailer

www.nomadbase.com

You can sign up for the next Nomadbase, which will also be in Tarifa in 2027 here.

I can't say for sure, but I believe it's possible that Nomad Cruise is more popular than Nomadbase and quite possibly offers a better overall experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZux2-9JI2s

Welcome to Nomad Cruise

www.nomadcruise.com

Nomad Cruise is a part of Nomadbase, and it's the first of its kind being a travel conference at sea.

There have been 16 Nomad Cruises, with the first one being in 2015 and the most recent one being in 2026. The next one will have a route from South Hampton, UK to New York City this year. There are several different ticket options to choose from. Sign up now via the website here. And another one that will happen this year after that one in November and will be a route from Barcelona to the Caribbean and you can sign up for it here.

What one could expect from a typical Nomad Cruise is hundreds of digital nomads onboard for several days, visiting exotic destinations while enjoying daily conferencing activities and evening festivities. It's basically what you would get at a typical "fully-loaded" land conference except it's all on a cruise ship, along with land excursions and activities. It is "an environment of learning, sharing, creating, and connecting," according to their website.

Attendees on board can enjoy everything that a typical cruise ship has to offer.

According to Nomad Cruise founder, Johannes Voelkner, there are 11 things people love about it:

1) It's a networking paradise; everyone is there to network, inspire, teach and learn from one another.

2) It's all inclusive; the cost of your ticket includes all food and drinks.

3) Speakers; speakers are selected from around the world to offer a great learning experience.

4) Workshops; workshops are small groups with experts who focus on certain ideas and skills.

5) Meetups; any cruise-goer can organize a meetup to share their expertise with others.

6) Special events; special events include a talent show, salsa workshops, jam session, etc.

7) Excursions; there are a wide variety of port excursions to choose from when docked.

8) Lasting friendships/business partnerships; there are lots of opportunities to connect with others.

9) Cultural exposure; with over 40 nationalities on board and several countries visited during the trip.

10) Visit more countries/territories; have the opportunity to see more of the world.

11) Reunions; there are no such things as "good byes" in the travel world, only "see you laters."

(read the full article here or click on the red text above)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7liGT5dHDP0

What is Nomad Cruise?

https://www.nomadcruise.com/

Though I've never been on a Nomad Cruise, I feel that it's a brilliant concept. The fact that they came up with this unique idea and have kept it going for over 10 years is truly amazing. I've also never been on a cruise so this makes it all more attractive to me. I do want to go on one someday, I just don't know when "someday" will be. I wasn't able to make most of them because I was teaching in China and that prevented me from going and now I'm stuck in Argentina. However, if you are able to attend any of these I highly recommend it. I've heard nothing but amazing reviews about them, so they seem worth the time and the money, and to my knowledge, it's the first and only conference of this kind. Tickets are pricey but you get what you pay for. I feel it's worth it.

Next, I'd like to discuss a highly notable "showcase" conference that occurs once a year...

ITB Berlin

https://www.itb.com/en/trade-show-brands/

ITB (Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin) Berlin was established in 1966 on the Berlin fairgrounds with exhibitors from Egypt, Brazil, Federal Republic of Germany, Guinea and Iraq presented their products, services and destinations as a showcase to attendees.

2025 was the last event and it attracted brands and attendees from 181 countries with about 160,000 people, altogether. Given these stats, ITB Berlin has coined itself as the "World's Leading Travel Trade Show" and they've even patented that statement. ITB eTravel World discusses social media trends.

Here is a video from the ITB Berlin YouTube channel from the new Exhibition Director:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIDZoR1zV-w

New Exhibition Director at ITB Berlin: Introducing Deborah Rothe

https://www.youtube.com/user/ITBBerlin

There is also an ITB Asia (Singapore), ITB China and ITB India.

According to ITB Berlin conference organizers, here are 10 good reasons to attend;

1) Be at the forefront of the "World's Leading Travel Trade Show."

2) Strengthen or establish your brand.

3) Grow your network by meeting a variety of people with various skills.

4) Strengthen your bond with existing customers.

5) Close deals with a hand shake on the show floor.

6) Increase your knowledge and learn about trends in the travel industry.

7) Meet companies and individuals who can optimize your business.

8) Learn what your competitors are doing.

9) Expand your database of leads.

10) Be present and address your target market directly.

ITB Berlin is known to attract the travel industry's top speakers and notable experts who share their knowledge with those who attend. With it being a travel conference that's been around longer than all the others, being able to attend it carries a great deal of prestige. You can talk about it on your blog or mention it with people you do business with and it definitely sends positive messages to people. Not to mention, the knowledge and the networking that you can gain from attending it is invaluable.

You can download the ITB Berlin app before attending the conference so that you can keep up with exhibitor and product information, receive a detailed program interview and detailed hall plans and even link the app to your ITBxplore profile so that you can connect with other attendees.

The ITB Travel Hero Podcast includes one-on-one talks with some of the most notable minds in the travel industry who share their expertise, stories and opinions. These people offer travel tips, predictions and recommendations with travel-related advice.

ITB Berlin is definitely a must-see travel conference that offers everything for everyone in the travel industry. Due to their longevity and reputation, there really isn't a true substitute to it.

ITB Berlin 2026 was March 3rd to 5th, but you can find info for the 2027 event here.

Another "showcase" travel conference that I'd like to mention is the Travel & Adventure Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxRCsO5fQZU

Travel & Adventure Show 2026 in New York City

https://travelshows.com/

Since I'm late getting this article out, I missed promoting all of this year's events which included:

Travel & Adventure Show 2026 Schedule

https://travelshows.com/

It may be safe to say that the Travel & Adventure Show is the western hemisphere alternative to ITB Berlin and also an alternative to WTM (World Travel Mart). These are all what I consider "showcase" travel conferences, as they tend to focus on buyers and sellers with booths and attendees (of all kinds, not just travel influencers). However, now the Travel & Adventure Shows are offering FAM trips, so it's safe to call them "fully-loaded" events now, similar to TBEX, Traverse, Nomadbase/Nomad Cruise and also TravelCon (I attended the one in Memphis in 2022), which all offer some kind of pre-conference, in-conference and/or post-conference tours and other perks.

The Travel & Adventure Show in NYC takes the place of the now defunct New York Times Travel Show (I attended the very last one in 2020). The Travel & Adventure Show in New York is at the same place at basically the same time of the year, as the former bought out the latter. It's held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Lower Manhattan.

The Travel & Adventure Show offers multiple conferences throughout the United States, and this year they are in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas and Denver.

The Travel & Adventure Show offers all-American conferences for people who live in, and travel to the U.S. and who may aspire to do more travel abroad. I haven't been to one yet, but I'm 100% certain that I will attend one or more of them in the future, probably while filming my ongoing Road Trippin' USA project.

According to their website, it has been around for 20 years and has completed over 119 events, while connecting over 2.5 million travel enthusiasts, over 15,000 unique travel advisors and thousands of travel media entities with over 4,500 different exhibiting companies from around the world, influencing over $6 billion in travel bookings.

Notable names like Rick Steves, Phil Rosenthal and Pauline Frommer (Frommer's guidebooks) have been known to appear at The Travel & Adventure Show events around America.

There are dozens of travel seminars that take place during these weekend events.

You can find information about the 2027 events here.

Another "showcase" conference worth mentioning, that I already mentioned is WTM London:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsZU8cohYys

WTM London

https://www.wtm.com/london/en-gb.html

I would say that WTM London carries the same level of prestige with it as ITB Berlin does, though that is open for debate. However, they're both similar to each other in many ways and they both carry the charms of Europe with them. And they both have been around for a long time.

WTM London has been around for over 40 years, with the very first event opening at Olympia London and was introduced by the Duke of Kent and Miss World, Kimberly Santos of Guam.

WTM London offers new tech and lifestyle ideas with vast networking opportunities.

Other WTM events include Arabian Travel Market, WTM Latin America and WTM Africa.

In 2025, WTM London was November 4th to 6th, Arabian Travel Market was from April 28th to May 1st, WTM Latin America was April 14th to 16th and WTM Africa was April 9th to 11th.

In 2025 WTM events had tens of thousands of attendees from 184 countries.

This is a very good conference to attend as there is a wide variety of people, from graduates to government ministers (according to their website). So there is something for everyone.

You can sign up for the 2026 events and learn more info here.

The 2026 WTM London event is November 3rd to 5th.

Next I'll talk about TravelCon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1xFfrCaqRY

TravelCon 2024 Highlight Reel

https://travelcon.org/

TravelCon was founded in 2018 by notable travel influencer and businessman, Matt Kepnes (AKA Nomadic Matt), and his team. The 2018 event was in Austin, the 2019 event was in Boston and the only one that I attended was the 2022 event in Memphis. I have to say, I was impressed with it.

The Memphis event had a lot of great speakers and sessions, including the iconic Pico Iyer, who was a keynote speaker and shared his brilliant wisdom with us all about life and travel. I saw some familiar faces there and also made some new friends. And given that Memphis is right down the River from where I grew up, I kind of felt at home during this whole time. I was able to experience aspects about Memphis in ways that I never have, thanks to TravelCon. I've been to Memphis quite a few times. I went on a self-guided, post-conference FAM trip to Graceland with a friend and fellow traveler from Tennessee. TravelCon presented Memphis in ways that I was not used to, and that was magical to me.

I first met Matt at a bar in New York City during a post-conference party at an Irish pub that was a part of the 2020 New York Times Travel Show. He was an easy person to talk to and I was glad to finally meet him. The second time I spoke to him was during TravelCon in Memphis. For those who aren't familiar with Matt Kepnes, I would encourage you to check out his website by clicking here. He is one of the pioneers of modern-day travel blogging and travel influencing. He's penned several books, spoken at several events and has helped a lot of people "travel cheaper, longer and smarter," like with his New York Times Best Sellers, "How to Travel the World on $50 a Day." I read this one and also another one of his books, "10 Years a Nomad: A Traveler's Journey Home." I believe that both of these books are worth purchasing and reading, I got a lot out of them.

Toward the end of the Memphis event, Matt had announced on stage that it would be the last TravelCon event. Most of us were sad about this, especially myself, because I had only been to one and I was really able to get a lot out of it. Memphis is a wonderful city, and the opening-night march with the band on Beale Street toward the Jerry Lee Lewis' Cafe & Honky Tonk was a real night to remember.

However, TravelCon came back in 2024 with an event that was held in Portland, Oregon from May 15th to 17th (refer to vlog above). The 2025 event was held in Tuscon, Arizona from March 14th to 16th. The 2026 event will be held June 23rd to 25th in Salt Lake City, Utah. By the way, TravelCon is what I consider a "fully-loaded" conference with speakers, sessions, sponsor showcase tables, FAM trips, etc. And now they have 1:1 meetings that connect travel influencers with sponsors, similar to "speed networking" at TBEX.

You can purchase tickets for the 2026 event here, which will be in Salt Lake City from June 23rd to 25th. And since it coincides with TBEX in Richmond, VA, you should absolutely choose TravelCon.

Now I will discuss the Bansko Nomad Fest in Bulgaria...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obKCrdaZ2sM

Bansko Nomad Fest 2024 Highlights

https://www.banskonomadfest.com/

Bansko is a small village in Bulgaria that during one week in the summer, hundreds of nomads, remote workers and freelancers take over the village for a mix of presentations, workshops, sports, mindfulness and nature (according to their website).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12fe-OJs2ko

Bansko Nomad Fest 2023 Recap

https://www.banskonomadfest.com/

The Festival was founded by Matthias Zeitler, owner of Coworking Bankso (watch vlog below):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHsIu9Qvm0

Coworking Bansko

https://coworkingbansko.com/

On their website they promote "don't just attend an event; transform your life and achieve true freedom!" One thing is certain, it's tough to beat the location. Bansko is a lovely European, Balkans mountain village with plenty of gorgeous scenery and exciting, adventurous things to do.

Bansko Nomad Fest 2026 Schedule...

Bansko Nomad Fest 2026 Schedule

https://banskonomadfest.com/

I can't label Banko Nomad Fest as a "fully-loaded" or "showcase" conference, as it appears to be unique in its own right and doesn't fall into either category. I've personally never been to one.

You can sign up for the 2026 Bansko June event here.

Next I will discuss Extraordinary Travel Conference, or commonly known as ETF...

Extraordinary Travel Festival

https://www.extraordinarytravelfest.com/

I've never been to this one either, so without first-hand experience I'm limited to online resources about it and also what others have told me. I did meet and speak to ETF co-founder and organizer, Ric Gazarian, at TBEX Phuket in November of 2022. He seemed like a great guy who was very affable.

It appears that this one would fall more under a "fully-loaded" conference given their conference schedule with speakers, sessions, trips, etc.

Extraordinary Travel Festival has events every two years and had its first event in 2022 in Yerevan, Armenia. The second event was in Bangkok, Thailand in 2024 and the 2026 event will be held again in Bangkok from October 22nd to 25th.

Here is the promotional trailer for the inaugural Yerevan event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIghddaAMuY

Extraordinary Travel Festival 2022 Yerevan Promotional Trailer

https://www.extraordinarytravelfest.com/

And here is a vlog with a recap from the 2022 event in Yerevan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYQkBTpnKQk

Extraordinary Travel Festival 2022 Yerevan Vlog

https://www.extraordinarytravelfest.com/

Here is the vlog with a recap from the 2024 event in Bangkok:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQrT1ITNaDU

Extraordinary Travel Festival Bangkok Recap Video

https://www.extraordinarytravelfest.com/

Promotional trailer for ETF III that's coming in Bangkok in October...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3soRsYQKpc

Extraordinary Travel Festival III in Bangkok

https://www.extraordinarytravelfest.com/

You can sign up for ETF III in Bangkok for October here.

In Conclusion

Conferencing is invaluable in just about any industry, as it offers multiple perks to the people who attend them. For me personally, it's the networking that I enjoy and benefit from the most, with face-to-face socializing, which you must be at the conferences in order to reap these particular rewards. Everything else can be acquired via the Internet, or by traveling yourself (with respect to the trips).

Not all travel conferences are alike, though many of them do have parallels with one another. My best advice is to attend several of them and see which ones you feel most comfortable with. 4 years of conferencing taught me which ones I like and which ones I don't like, which ones I fit in at and which ones I don't. I suggest you do this yourself, try several out. You'll have some good experiences and some bad experiences but in the end, it will all be worth it because you will know where you belong and where you don't, where you can make the most progress with people and gain the most knowledge and invaluable skills, and where you will feel like you're irrelevant or feel like you're a problem. Some people just have better experiences in different places with different people.

This article is based on both my first-hand experiences and second-hand information of the most notable travel conferences today. Some of my best friends and like-minded people have been those whom I've met at different travel conferences, in some way or another.

I truly hope this article will serve as a guide, will help you understand what is available to you with respect to travel conferences, and will also give you a better idea of who and what I am, what I stand for and I what I don't like. I feel that I've provided enough relevant information and backlinks to get you started on planning your 2025 travel and conference itinerary. Whether you're a full-time, world-traveling digital nomad or someone who aspires to become something like that, or perhaps you're a travel agent or something else in the travel industry; Travel conferences are good for all kinds of people who share a passion for exploring our big and beautiful world, and making profitable businesses out of all of it. May 2026 inspire you and take you places you've never been. Godspeed.

I'd like to add that in 2027 my primary focus will be to help people understand the therapeutic benefits of travel. I want to help people understand this and encourage them to travel more for these particular reasons, especially those who struggle with mental and physical disabilities, or some other kinds of afflictions that they have to live with. We all struggle with something, and it's a fact that travel can help not only to treat people, but even help to heal people from mental and physical disorders. Travel can simply make people happier and better. Once again, I wrote an article for Brainz Magazine that is titled, "How Travel is Therapeutic." According to psychologist Dr. Rich Walker, people who engage in a diversity of experiences are more likely to feel positive emotions than negative ones. I can tell you from my experiences as a world traveler, that is absolutely true.