Speakers
SAMANTHA BROWN
Host of the Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown: Passport to Great Weekends
Saturday, 11:00 AM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
As Travel Channel’s primary travel maven, Samantha Brown has visited dozens of countries, hundreds of cities and countless hotels around the world. Samantha explores the perfect travel destinations for weekend getaways in the most recent edition to her Passport travel series, Samantha Brown: Passport to Great Weekends. Previously, Sam focused on Asia, traveling through various areas of China for Samantha Brown: Passport to China. Others is the series include Passport to Latin America and Passport to Europe. Before Passport series, Samantha hosted several successful shows with Travel Channel. Above all, Samantha has truly enjoyed showing viewers how extraordinary it is just being a part of everyday life in another part of the world and how the language barrier can sometimes be a bridge to a deeper communication, one that is respected and cherished.
DEAN CARDINALE
Everest & Beyond
Sunday, 2:30 PM
National Geographic ADVENTURE Theater
Dean Cardinale is a professional Avalanche Forecaster, Rescuer, Mountaineer, Humanitarian, and Pubic Speaker, as well as owner of World Wide Trekking and founder of HOP. He is currently the Ski Patrol Director for Snowbird Ski Resort, the President of the Wasatch Backcountry Rescue group, a certified avalanche instructor with the American Avalanche Association and a US representative to IKAR the International Commission of Alpine Rescue. As a guide, he has numerous back country, helicopter, and climbing trips in the US, Europe, Central America, Africa, South America and the Himalayas to his credit. On May 30, 2005 Dean summitted Mt. Everest and is currently working on a seven summits bid. His dedication to the Human Outreach Project (HOP) comes from years of traveling abroad and seeing first hand the need to help in areas where people struggle with less opportunity everyday.
COSTAS CHRIST
Green Travel: Fact or Fiction?
Saturday, 1:30 PM
National Geographic ADVENTURE Theater
Costas Christ is the National Geographic ADVENTURE Global Travel Editor. In addition to his monthly travel column in National Geographic ADVENTURE, Costas' articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, and Sunday Times of London. An award winning writer, his travels have taken him to more than 100 countries across six continents. He serves as Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council -Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, which recognizes leading models in sustainable tourism that are helping to safeguard the natural and cultural heritage of our planet. He is also a founding member and former Chairman of the Board of The International Ecotourism Society and currently serves on the Executive Board of Sustainable Travel International. He has appeared many times on television and radio, including NBC Today Show, National Public Radio, Good Morning America, CNN, BBC, and PBS.
KEVIN COFFEY
When A Good Deal Isn’t: How to Avoid Getting Scammed
Saturday, 2:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Sunday, 3:00 PM
Petree Hall C
DIANA DAWSON
When A Good Deal Isn’t: How to Avoid Getting Scammed
Saturday, 2:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Sunday, 3:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Diana Dawson has written freelance travel articles for several years for the Los Angeles Times and other publications. She specializes in the consumer pieces that teach travelers about challenges, obstacles and opportunities they may confront on their trips. Before freelancing, Diana worked as a reporter in newsrooms nationwide for 17 years. Over the years, her work won scores of national, regional and local awards, including making her a finalist as part of a newsroom team for the Pulitzer Prize, the finalist for the Ernie Pyle Award, a finalist for the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and finalist twice for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She freelances as a writing consultant for corporations, a writing coach for newsrooms and a writer for many publications including the Los Angeles Times travel section. When Diana is not writing freelance pieces, she teaches journalism as a lecturer at the University of Texas.
JANE ENGLE
Travel Trends from the Los Angeles Times
Saturday, 12:00 PM Room 515A
Sunday, 12:00 PM Room 515A
Jane Engle is an assistant travel editor and writer at the Los Angeles Times. For more than a decade, she has dispensed tips, explored destinations and tracked deals, news and trends that affect travelers. She was the Times’ first reporter to take up podcasting and the first to file news exclusives on the Times’ travel website.
CHRIS ERSKINE
Travel Trends from the Los Angeles Times
Saturday, 12:00 PM
Room 515A
Sunday, 12:00 PM
Room 515A
Chris Erskine has been a deputy travel editor at the L.A. Times for three years. His column, Man of the House, is distributed to papers worldwide and appears in Saturday’s Home section of The Times. In 2002, his column inspired the NBC sitcom “Hidden Hills, on the adult side of living in the suburbs. He is also the author of “Surviving Suburbia,” a collection of his columns from The Times. It reached the LA Times bestseller list in 2003. His most recent book, “Man of the House,” a collection of essays on life in suburban America, was published in 2006. He is also a popular host and speaker at charity events around Southern California. Before coming to Los Angeles, he worked at papers in Miami and New Orleans. He and his wife Cathy live 20 miles outside Los Angeles with their four children.
DARRIN FINKEL
Cooking Demonstration
Saturday, 11:00 AM & 3:00 PM
World Culinary Stage
Saturday, 11:00 AM & 3:00 PM
World Culinary Stage World Culinary Stage
In a culinary career spanning coast to coast, Executive Chef Darrin Finkel lends his expertise to the cuisine of yet another coast—the Louisiana Gulf Coast—at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen in the Downtown Disney district. After graduating summa cum laude from the prestigious Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, Chef Darrin worked as a Tournant at Fidler’s Elbow Country Club in New Jersey, then as a Sous Chef at Jamie’s Restaurant and Shipwreck Grill. In 2001, Chef Darrin became Executive Chef of the acclaimed Halstead Avenue Bistro in Harrison, New York. During his tenure, the restaurant garnered praise in The New York Times and quickly became known as one of the best new restaurants in the region. Chef Darrin arrived at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen in 2002 as a Sous Chef, and immediately began to contribute his creativity and his strong work ethic to all aspects of Jazz Kitchen’s culinary operations. Currently the Executive Chef at Jazz Kitchen, Chef Darrin has served since 2004 as the culinary host of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange Country “Mardi Gras” fundraiser held annually at the Jazz Kitchen. Throughout his career, he has participated in several other fundraisers, including Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation®, the National Kidney Foundation and Great Chefs of Orange County. Popular dishes Chef Darrin has created at the Jazz Kitchen include Panéed Chicken Bercy, Blackened Shrimp and Parmesan Grit Cake, and New York Strip Tchoupitoulas.
ARTHUR FROMMER
Traveling During These Troubled Times
Saturday, 1:00 PM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
Sunday, 11:15 AM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
Arthur Frommer's career in travel began when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. In the course of that service, he wrote The GI's Guide to Traveling in Europe, which was an instant success. Upon his release from the Army, Arthur took a summer off from working as a lawyer to write Europe on $5 a Day, a civilian version of The GI's Guide to Traveling Europe, which was published in 1957. Today, Frommer's® travel guides consist of more than 340 titles reaching more than 6 million travelers each year, covering every major destination in the world. Frommer's has also developed a major Web presence, and more than a dozen travel lines for every type of traveler, from budget to deluxe. Currently, Arthur writes a twice-weekly column on travel, which is syndicated to major newspapers all over the country. He also presents a weekly nationwide radio program syndicated to more than a hundred large stations in major cities. He has been a guest on national television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Live! With Regis and Kelly and NBC's Today. Arthur lives in New York City with his wife.
PAULINE FROMMER
Traveling During These Troubled Times
Saturday, 1:00 PM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
Sunday, 11:15 AM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
Pauline Frommer is the creator of the Pauline Frommer’s Guides, an award-winning new guidebook series aimed at adult budget travelers. Pauline Frommer’s New York City and Pauline Frommer’s London were both named “Guidebook of the Year” by the North American Travel Journalists Association. In addition, Pauline was awarded a Lowell Thomas Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers for her magazine work. She was the founding editor of Frommers.com, and won a People’s Voice Webby Award for her work there. Pauline’s byline has appeared on hundreds of articles for such publications as Budget Travel Magazine, Marie Claire, the Dallas Morning News, and MSN.com. She spent two years as the editor of the travel section of MSNBC.com. Currently, along with her writing work, Pauline co-hosts The Travel Show with her father, Arthur Frommer. The show is broadcast to over 100 radio stations nationwide. Every Wednesday, she appears on CNNOnline to talk about the latest travel trends.
CATHERINE HAMM
Travel Trends from the Los Angeles Times
Saturday, 12:00
PM Room 515A
Sunday, 12:00
PM Room 515A
When A Good Deal Isn’t: How to Avoid Getting Scammed
Saturday, 2:00
PM Petree Hall C
Sunday, 3:00
PM Petree Hall C
Catharine Hamm has been part of The Los Angeles Times Travel section since 1999, serving as travel editor since 2003. She launched the “On the Spot” travel consumer column early in 2007, and it now appears in newspapers and on websites across the country. She was born in Syracuse, N.Y., but counts Virginia, Hawaii, the Philippines, Kansas, and, of course, California as among the 34 places she has called home.
GEORGE HOBICA
10 Hot Tips for Getting Travel Deals Online
Saturday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
New York City-based George Hobica is a travel journalist and founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, a web site that uses real live human airfare experts to hunt down and list low airfares, including the increasingly large number of airline promo code fares. Hobica began his travel writing career in the late 1980s, while still working full time and has followed the travel and airline trends for over 20 years since. He has written for magazines as diverse as Real Simple, Details, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Glamour, Travel + Leisure, and Good Housekeeping.
JOHNNY JET
10 Hot Tips for Getting Travel Deals Online
Saturday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
10 Best Destinations for Traveling on a Budget
Sunday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
John E. DiScala (a.k.a. Johnny Jet) travels around 150,000 miles and visits 20 countries each year. He and his website JohnnyJet.com have been featured over 1,000 times in major publications, including USA Today, Time, Fortune and The New York Times, and he has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, FOX News Channel and PBS. JohnnyJet.com has been named "one of the top best money-saving web sites for travel" by Budget Travel Magazine, while the L.A. Times calls it "one of the top 10 essential travel resources on the internet." In the May 2007 issue of Outside Magazine, Johnny Jet was touted for having one of the world's best "dream jobs". Every week, Johnny hosts a "travel website of the week" for several radio stations around the country, he writes weekly for Frommers.com and he has written for USAToday, The Boston Herald and Coast Magazine. Sign up today for Johnny Jet's free weekly travel newsletter at www.JohnnyJet.com.
EVAN KLEIMAN
Cooking Demonstration
Saturday, 1:00 PM
World Culinary Stage
Evan Kleiman is a culinary multi-tasker. Chef-owner of Angeli Caffe since 1984, she also co-authored the classic cookbooks Cucina Fresca, Pasta Fresca and Cucina Rustica. Since 1998 Evan has been the host of the radio show Good Food on NPR station KCRW, 89.9fm, in Southern California. The show has a monthly international listernership of 100,000 including podcasters. She also does a monthly vidcast which is available through the goodfood website and on iTunes. Evan is active in working toward a sustainable food system in California through her work on the boards of See-LA, the non-profit which runs the Hollywood Farmers Market and Roots of Change Fund which recently facilitated the timely document Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture.
JEN LEO
10 Hot Tips for Getting Travel Deals Online
Saturday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
10 Best Destinations for Traveling on a Budget
Sunday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Travel: I’ll Take Mine with a Twist
Saturday, 2:00 PM
Room 515A
Sunday, 3:00 PM
Room 515A
Jen Leo is the lead blogger for the Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog and writes the weekly Web Buzz travel column for the Times. She edited the popular five book Sand in My Bra humor series from Travelers' Tales and has landed on lists of the "Top 50 travel twitterers you should follow." Find her on Twitter as @jenleo. Jen is a SoCal native and lives in Carlsbad.
LEON LOGOTHETIS
Travel: I’ll Take Mine with a Twist
Saturday, 2:00 PM
Room 515A
Sunday, 3:00 PM
Room 515A
Born and raised in London, Leon Logothetis has always loved the camaraderie of making new friends and treasured the adventure of his travels. His nomadic spirit has taken him across the globe to exotic locations like Nepal, Mongolia & the Galapagos Islands. Leon’s first foray into television was the Discovery Channel’s "Destination Future". His involvement in this show allowed him to combine his love of travel and television, which he later turned into a hit with the creation of “Amazing Adventures of a Nobody.” The show has aired in over 100 countries around the world, including the United States on the Fox Reality Channel. ‘Amazing Adventures of a Nobody’ is a reality-based travel series that followed Leon as he traveled from New York's Times Square, across the country, to the Hollywood sign in California, without ever spending more than pocket change. Earlier this year, Leon and his crew took on Europe for the third season of ‘Amazing Adventures of a Nobody’ which will air in early 2009.
PETER MCBRIDE
Yaks, Shamans, and Solar Panels
Sunday, 11:30 AM
National Geographic ADVENTURE Theater
A National Geographic ADVENTURE photographer and journalist, Peter McBride is an award winning, self-taught photographer and journalist whose love of adventure, cultures and the outdoors have taken him on assignment throughout the world to over 50 countries. He has traveled across Bhutanese Himalaya by foot, scaled the glaciers of Everest, followed shamans through the hills of Guatemala and dived below the iceberg Antarctica. His most recent work focuses on the power and fragility of Western water with an emphasis on the Colorado River. Raised on a Roaring Fork Valley cattle ranch, Peter is a graduate from Dartmouth College with a degree in English and Environmental Studies. His photography honors include awards from Pictures of the Year International, Communications Arts, The Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Publication Designers.When not on assignment, you can find Peter in the mountains or on the rivers around the Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado.
BARBARA MESSING
10 Hot Tips for Getting Travel Deals Online
Saturday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Barbara Messing is the Vice President, Travel Ticker and New Business Development for Hotwire. An avid traveler with stamps from over 50 countries on her passport, Barbara is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Travel Ticker business, which delivers handpicked, insider deals for savvy travelers to over 11 million consumers weekly. Travel Ticker deals are also featured at www.travel-ticker.com. Since Travel Ticker’s launch, it has been featured for its outstanding travel deals on the CBS Early Show and cited in numerous national publications, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Budget Travel, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. Over the past seven years, Barbara has held a number of key leadership roles at Travel Ticker’s parent organization, The Hotwire Group, including ownership of Hotwire.com’s airline product, management of the car, hotel, cruise and package product development, and vice president of retailing and special projects. Barbara is a recognized consumer travel expert who is a frequent contributor to the media on travel deals. Her tips on vacation planning are featured in the recently released book “The Experts Guide to Doing Things Faster”
TOM MEYERS
10 Best Destinations for Traveling on a Budget
Sunday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Tom started EuroCheapo in the fall of 2000 and headed to Europe in January 2001. Within six months, he had seen hundreds of budget hotel rooms in Florence, London, Paris, Prague, and Rome. Tom lived in Berlin for most of 2001 and launched EuroCheapo from his office there. He returned to New York in 2002, set up shop, and has led the EuroCheapo team from the Big Apple ever since. The site has grown substantially since 2001, and today provides budget travel guides to 26 major European cities and New York. Updating the site and staying on top of the listings isn't easy, however, and he and the staff make frequent trips to Europe. A growing roster of Europe-based correspondents also keeps reviews fresh. A native of Bellevue, Ohio, Tom moved to New York in 1993 to attend Columbia University where he majored in French and lived and studied in Paris.
ROBERT YOUNG PELTON
Travel in a Time of War
Sunday, 1:00 PM
National Geographic ADVENTURE Theater
Writer, author, filmmaker, and National Geographic ADVENTURE contributor Robert Young Pelton is known for overcoming extraordinary obstacles in his search for the truth. His recent journeys have taken him inside the hunt for Bin Laden in the Tribal Areas with the CIA, with insurgents during the war in Iraq and running RPG Alley every day for a two weeks with Blackwater in Baghdad. He has been kidnapped by right wing death squads in Colombia, survived a plane crash in Indonesia, a bomb put under his table in Uganda, a head on motorcycle accident in Peru and gracefully endured numerous detainments and attacks. His access has allowed Pelton to return with stunning interviews, surprising stories and unforgettable footage for his articles, documentaries and books. In addition to his work for National Geographic ADVENTURE, Pelton has worked for Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, ABC News, CBS 60 Minutes, CNN and other major media networks. As an author, Pelton is best known for his classic underground guide to surviving danger; Robert Young Pelton’s, The World's Most Dangerous Places.
PETER POTTERFIELD
Classic Hikes of the World
Saturday, 12:00 PM
National Geographic ADVENTURE Theater
National Geographic ADVENTURE contributor Peter Potterfield has hiked more than 5,000 miles over six continents enabling him to write about wilderness travel, mountaineering and backcountry adventure for magazines, books, and online publishing. A veteran of expeditions to the far corners of the world, Potterfield has roamed the Himalaya, explored the mountains of Canada's Coast Range, crossed the Swedish Arctic solo, traveled on foot through the wild southern reaches of New Zealand, and retraced Sir Ernest Shackleton's route to salvation on South Georgia Island. Potterfield is the author of a dozen books, including Classic Hikes of the World, which was named one of the best gift books of 2005 by The Wall Street Journal; the critically acclaimed In the Zone; and High Himalaya, winner of the Banff Book Festival award in 2002. He is the co-author of Himalayan Quest, with Ed Viesturs. In addition to National Geographic ADVENTURE, Potterfield has written for Outside, Reader’s Digest, Backpacker, Condé Nast Traveler and other national publications. He founded MountainZone.com in 1996, where his work, according to The New York Times, “made a spectator sport out of Himalayan climbing.” He is currently editor of GreatOutdoors.com in Seattle.
ROLF POTTS
Travel: I’ll Take Mine with a Twist
Saturday, 2:00 PM
Room 515A
Sunday, 3:00 PM
Room 515A
10 Best Destinations for Traveling on a Budget
Sunday, 12:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Rolf Potts has reported from more than fifty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, Slate.com, Conde Nast Traveler, Outside, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, and driving a Land Rover from Sunnyvale, California to Ushuaia, Argentina. Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, has been through nine printings and translated into several foreign languages. His newest book is Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer. His writing has been short-listed for The Best American Travel Writing, earned him multiple Lowell Thomas Awards, and he's been cited as an expert on independent travel by publications around the world
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS
Travel: I’ll Take Mine with a Twist
Saturday, 2:00
PM Room 515A
Sunday, 3:00
PM Room 515A
Christopher Reynolds, born and raised in California, has spent the last 16 years writing about travel, the outdoors, arts and culture for the Los Angeles Times. He has seen Iran by bus, Canada by copter, Egypt by camel, Oregon by horse, the Caribbean by cruise ship, Mexico by mountain bike, Mono Lake by kayak and way too many airports. Lately he writes mostly about North America
JIMMY SHAW
Cooking Demonstration with Evan Kleiman
Saturday, 1:00 PM
World Culinary Stage
Sunday, 1:00 PM
World Culinary Stage
RICK STEVES
Budget European Travel Skills with Rick Steves
Saturday, 3:00 PM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
Sunday, 1:00 PM
Los Angeles Times Travel Stage (Petree Hall D)
Rick Steves advocates smart independent travel. As host, writer and producer of the popular public television series Rick Steves' Europe, and best-selling author of 30+ European travel books, he encourages Americans to delve deep into Europe and become "temporary locals." Over the past 15 years, Rick has hosted over 100 travel shows for public television and numerous pledge specials. His current Rick Steves' Europe TV series has grown to 70 half-hour shows carried by over 300 public television stations annually. Rick recently launched a weekly public radio program, Travel with Rick Steves which airs across the country and has spawned a popular podcast. Rick’s Italy guidebook is the bestselling international guidebook in the U.S. In addition to his guidebooks, Rick is a syndicated newspaper columnist with the Tribune Media Services and is a regular on the op-ed page of USA Today. He appears frequently on television, radio, and the Internet as the leading authority on independent European travel
SUSAN TANZMAN
When A Good Deal Isn’t: How to Avoid Getting Scammed
Saturday, 2:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Sunday, 3:00 PM
Petree Hall C
Susan Tanzman is the owner and president of Martin’s Travel and Tours Inc. in Los Angeles. In 2005 she was named Travel Agent of the Year by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA). She has served ASTA on both the national and regional level and chairs the California Coalition of Travel Organizations. In 2008 she was named to Conde Nast’s elite list of the “World's Top 128 Travel Specialists" as a specialist on Hawaii travel. Her numerous honors and awards include being named The Most Powerful Woman in Travel by Travel Agent magazine and receiving the NOAH Award from the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality.
