OutAdvisor at the GLBT Expo, NYC

Last weekend we were in NYC for the Original GLBT Expo, an expo for GLBT businesses held at the Javits Center. We took Amtrak from DC and got to NYC in under 3 1/2 hours, which wasn't too shabby. I like traveling by train and have thousands of miles on Amtrak. It's a nice, relaxing way to get to a not-so-relaxing (but fun) place. We arrived around 7 pm and soon got to the Crowne Plaza. We were excited to have a room on the 43rd floor overlooking Times Square--a pretty spectacular view, especially at night. Thanks Crowne Plaza! I guess being a travel entrepreneur has its perks :) We soon headed out to dinner at a very loud, not-so-great Belgian place (I love Belgium, but there's a reason there are few Belgian restaurants around...). We walked around the city for a while afterwards and then hit the hay--up early the next day.

OK, "early" for us on the weekend is 10 am. We made it to the Javits Center by 11 to get a choice seat at Matt Skallerud's seminar on Web 2.0 Marketing for GLBT businesses. Though we were already well aware of the possibilities of Web 2.0, we learned a lot at the seminar and have already starting to put our new web marketing savvy to good use. After the seminar we headed out to the Expo itself and networked with all the travel-related businesses and destinations we could.

Who knew we'd be so lucky as to get to see the fabulous Sushi, representing Key West??!! Sushi's the best known drag queen from Key West and we've seen her many times down there, including a few "drops" from the big high heeled shoe on New Year's Eve (which has been featured on some of the NYE shows on TV). We love Sushi, and I'm not talking about raw fish. We made sure to get a pic and autograph, especially for Marc, who couldn't be there that weekend.

After the Expo we did some quick shopping (we were in NYC after all...) and then met up with my college friend Gwen at her fabulous place on Park Ave. in Murray Hill, where we had some cheese and wine and took some pictures from her rooftop. We later dined at Asia de Cuba, an Asian/Cuban fusion restaurant. Very pricey, but well worth it. It had a nice South Beach vibe, with huge portions (especially for a chi-chi/foo foo restaurant). They had some very interesting cocktails as well. And the dessert was to die for as well. We had major food coma by the time we were done, and rolled outselves back to the hotel.

Sunday, we went down to Battery Park and looked around the WTC area (still disappointed that nothing is above ground yet...) and did a little shopping (we love RJ's!) And soon enough it was time to hit Penn Station and make our way back to DC. Next stop is Rome and Venice.

Alex also took some video and made a cool montage of the Expo. We'll be sure to post it soon!