The Adventure Travel Show 2016
 

For all those kicking about London on the 23rd and 24th this month, the Adventure Travel Show is coming back to the Olympia, near Kensington.

This year they seem to have a strong focus on the Overland community with lectures, seminars and workshops geared towards motorcycle/4x4 adventures, along with lots of other stuff.
Lots of interesting speakers (Lois Pryce) on both days including Q&A sessions, so for all those planning a trip in the next year or so, I would advise attending!
Big emphasis on Africa this year it seems - perfect for me, as Im planning a London to Cape Town trip in November on my XR400.

I went along a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The speakers were fantastic, extremely accommodating and great place to network and talk to like-minded individuals. However, they also host stands for private tourism companies trying to sell packaged deals for extortionate prices. Avoided them like the plague.

Very cheap for what is on offer. £8 for the day. £10 for the weekend.

Check out the website here --> Adventure Travel Show at Olympia, London 23-24 January 2016

Hope to see some of you guys there!

Thanks :thumbup1:

I'm probably going to go - unless I get a better offer in the next two weeks :rofl:

I doubt whether I'll be attending any of the seminars though - not at £40 /45 a time anyway (even though I'm sure they're fantastic value for money :rofl:)

They're not.

Show review
 

Well, we went and it was an interesting, entertaining and enjoyable day out. Not bad value for money either at £8. Olympia was easy to get to (for us anyway) and there were minimal queues so not too much heartsink when you arrive.

That's the good bit. On the other hand it got very crowded by lunchtime mainly because it was all crammed into a small space with postage stamp sized stands. Given the size of Olympia that did seem a bit surprising, although I can imagine hall hire costs would have had a big part in this. The seminar rooms (those I saw anyway) were tiny - my bathroom's available if you need more space next year. :rofl:

Most of the exhibitors were the usual guided or arranged tours of some popular and currently trouble free area of the planet and "adding value" by taking away the stress of doing it yourself. There were a lot of very enthusiastic people manning the stands but (having done that job a couple of times) enthusiasm may be waning somewhat by tomorrow afternoon. :rofl:

Unless you were involved in the seminars bikes were pretty thin on the ground. One company pushing Enfield tours of South Africa and Ed March with his C90 were about it. Chris Scott had his CB500 on display and a separate stand for his books etc and on the basis of support your local author I tried a couple of times to buy one. Sadly as it was packed everytime I went there I never managed it but I'd have though that has to be good for sales overall (wouldn't it?). I'll probably try later via Amazon although it does lack the personal touch of receiving it directly from the author's fair hand :rofl:.

Overall not a bad morning out (and there's precious few exhibitions I've been to recently I can say that about) with a bagful of universally sunny brochures to take a little of the sting out of a gloomy January Saturday.

Thanks for trying BoB - get some sharper elbows next time. I'm always amazed how well AMH (and OLH) sell at the ATS, considering it's a general purpose travel show and they're two of dozens other Trailblazer guides. I guess the idea of overlanding - car or bike - will always have an appeal for the obvious reasons.
Sold a fraction by comparison at the no-less packed Excel London bike show on the weekend. Good interviews of travellers and their bikes (below) organised by Nathan M.

Away from crowded stalls handing out brochures, ATS every Jan is great value considering all the popular free talks by experts (or celebs) in all fields. Pricey seminars - I suppose you have to pick carefully but may be best for total newbs.

Below: everything from another C90 to a '51 Panhead at Excel.

https://adventuremotorcyclinghandboo...016/02/sbf.jpg

Let me clarify my earlier comment. The ATS is excellent and highly recommended IMO. The free talks from people like Chris are outstanding. The pricey seminars are a rip off, unless you simply want to fawn and marvel at Austin's rapier wit.

Well the Excel chats by the crazy Dutch guy on the R1, Vincent Pryce etc etc were great , Mr Pryce is a cracking story teller, am keen on getting a couple of beers down his neck and then asking him about the long way round If you were there on Saturday you will understand what I mean. Hope this continues at future shows :D
On an even brighter note got two pairs of pirelli stradas for my Fjr at £99 a pair :scooter:

Hadn't realised Austin had taken on his wife's surname... LOL