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| Yes, that's him. Tiny, tiny, and in black-and-white. He's quite a funny guy. And I am obscenely jealous of his travel schedule. "Last month when I was in Munich," "This summer when I go back to Europe," "We're writing a series on cruise ships, so I've been on many cruises." Et cetera. |
Sort of. PLee and I agreed that (1) because neither of us had our tour books, and (2) because the lines for the convention were ridiculous, and (3) the boys were hungry, actually seeing Mr. Steves was sufficient.
A week ago, when I was still planning her work trip to Southern California, I let PLee know that I was going to be down for this weekend and, lo and behold!, Mr. Steves was appearing for a talk and a book signing at the Travel and Adventure Show convention in Long Beach! This always happens-- book signings for people we most definitely want to see (David Lebovitz book signing in Paris, anyone?!).
In any case, in a flurry of excitement, I dragged my boy, C, down to Socal to meet PLee and PLee's fiancé, K. Whereupon the four of us traipsed over to Long Beach to find the Travel Master Mr. Steves himself.
C and I were late in part because we ended up at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center instead of the Long Beach Convention Center. (Oops. C: I saw "Long Beach" and "Center." WHO KNEW that the middle words were different?!?!) Food inside the convention center was ungodly expensive and manned by idiots. Example: $15.82 in change = 1x 10dollar bill, 1x five dollar bill, 3x quarters, 1x nickel, 2x pennies. NOT a confused stare, too few ones, 2x quarters, 3x dimes, 2x pennies.....
So anyway, Mr. Steves' talk ran over fifteen minutes, and the line was already curling around the edges of the convention center. C was NOT pleased. K and PLee looked hungry, too.
So PLee and I agreed: we SAW him. Shaking hands is just a bonus that is not necessary for fulfilling this particular bucket list.
YAY!
