Travel Superstars I’d Like to Have a Drink With
From time to time I need some help in keeping up with the twists and turns of travel, so I thought of a few travel "heroes" I'd like to have drink with and talk travel.
I’d first set a date with Travel Weekly's Editor in-Chief, Arnie Weissmann, a terrific writer whose editorials always leave me wanting more.
TW is the travel industry’s publication of record, and Arnie’s one of travel’s most respected voices. His insights always take me to another level of understanding travel, and he probably has the answers to questions I never thought to ask.
Kyle McCartthy, CEO of Family Travel Forum, would also be right there on my list. Her site comes up I think number 2 out of millions of results, and the Wall Street Journal touted it as one of the best. Believe me, family travel is one challenging category so I'd like to know how Kyle manages it so successfully, and how she built and maintains such a vibrant community of members.
I met Steve Kaufer, CEO of Trip Advisor, when he was just launching the company in a very cramped studio space near Boston. We talked about my doing some editorial work with him, and I declined. Not one of my smarter career moves. Who would have thought Trip Advisor would become the template for review sites. I want to know how Trip Advisor grew so big from that tiny loft attic space into a global business, and what Steve thinks the future of review sites is.
Paul English, the co-founder of Kayak, helped make the travel search site a household word. But I'm very interested in how Paul finds the time to be so deeply involved in his many humanitarian causes, especially in Africa. I also wonder if he’s worried about the phenomenal growth of farecompare.com, and exactly how a fellow Bostonian made it big.
There are lots of other travel superstars I really want to get to know, like Wendy Perrin at Conde Nast Traveler. Her posts are very helpful because her travel advice is so credible and often funny. I'd like to know how she made the transition from glossy magazine to web site.
I'm buying, of course, so if you have a travel superstar you want to recommend...
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