BT Blogger Blab Redux

OK, so I have to finish up from my last post about the Budget Travel blogger roundtable I participated in last week at the Tribeca Cinemas here in New York City. So, yes, it was all very interesting and informative and I was able to chat with lots of folks who, in some form or another, have made travel part of their jobs. The BT folks did a marvelous job making us feel important and learned, even if nothing could be further from the truth. But I want to talk about my dinner after the event. You see, at the bloggers blab session, I spoke with a nice young lady who happened to work for one of my favorite outfitter companies around: Mountain Travel Sobek.

Over the years I've received through the mail several Sobek catalogs, and let me tell you, if you've ever wanted to be inspired and beaten down depressed at the same time, get your hands on one. The catalog is filled with the most wanderlust-inducing photos and trips you will ever see. Sadly, you will probably not find the time or the money to do many of them. But anyway, the company was started over 30 years ago by a group of guys who wanted to help people see the world, to EXPERIENCE it. One of these guys is named Richard Bangs

Bangs went on to do many other notable things with his career, and I've followed several of them over the years. First of all, he founded Terra Quest and then went on to become a founding executive at Microsoft's Expedia, the online travel site that was sold off to (I believe) Barry Diller's Interactive Corp. Then he started what I still regard as one of the best online travel magazines ever put together: Mungo Park. What's sad is that the site no longer seems to be available and instead links to the Expedia site. Tragedy that, because the stories would still be lovely to read now. Mungo Park did some killer trips and pioneering Web journalism: they went riding motorcycles with Lyle Lovett in Chile, to the Triobriand Islands with Dr. Ruth, to Newfoundland with Martha Stewart. Oh, how we might long for the days when Microsoft threw money at online content.

Anyhow, Bangs then, or at some point thereafter, went on to do many other things, but most recently he hosted one of the first multi-media-based travel shows on Yahoo. This was at the time when Yahoo was all about original content and their newly-hired TV exec Lloyd Braun headed up a couple of Web-only programs. Kevin Sites' Hot Zones was one of them, and the other was Richard Bangs's Adventures. We've blogged about the show a bunch of times here. Why? Because it was great, absolutely great. But there was a problem with it: you couldn't see it on a Mac. The Yahoo yahoos for some impossible-to-comprehend reason didn't support Macs. Retarded! And then just recently, as we dutifully reported, they pulled the plug on Bangs's show in part because it wasn't getting the traffic they expected.

Double-retarded.

So anyway that is a LONG way to go (if you're still reading) to discover that I arrived at dinner that night, and who is seated next to me at the table, but Richard Bangs. Imagine my delight. Honestly, this was like meeting Jay-Z or Steve jobs for some people. And there I was for the whole evening, quaffing beer and talking about travel, the Internet and all manner of other things with Bangs. A real treat, let me tell you.

Well, I've gone on long enough, but I have to say it was exciting for me and if you've read this far, well, thanks a lot. And do me a favor and send Yahoo a nasty note telling them how lame they are.

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