Fountain Outside the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park
In January, after checking in at airports three weeks in a row, Foursquare told me I was “pretty fly.” I couldn’t help but agree! As an avid traveler, I cherish any opportunity to go out on the road for work or for play. Here are a few highlights from my month bouncing between New York City, St. Petersburg, Florida and Washington, D.C.
Trip One: New York City – DBGB and Behind the Scenes at TODAY
I kicked off the New Year with a whirlwind New York City trip. Almost immediately after arriving on the Acela and checking into the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square, I was whisked off by two of my favorite city dwellers for a little coffee before dinner at DBGB Kitchen & Bar. Described as, “French brasserie meets American tavern,” I was excited to savor a burger, duck fat french fries, sausages, the most amazing mussels ever and a few veggies for good measure. Hands down the Mussels a la Marocaine were the stars of the show. Over a month later and the dish’s Moroccan spiced broth and tender mussels are still lingering in my mind. The biggest surprise of the night? I actually liked a sausage, The Vermont. One cut down the middle revelazed ooey gooey cheddar cheese and I fell….hard.
DBGB by wonggawei Flickr
After the feast, I took a “nap”, then was up and off to the TODAY Show long before the sun rose. It was incredible to see the studio in person and something I documented on my company’s blog. A few hours later and I was back on the Acela, happy yet exhausted. Trip one = mission accomplished!
Trip Two: St. Petersburg, Florida and New York City Round Two
After a few days in Boston, I found myself at Logan Airport boarding a JetBlue flight to Tampa for another 24-hour business trip. Driving into St. Petersburg is interesting, as the highway is surrounded by water on both sides. After a nice ride in, I was thrilled with the hotel I selected. I didn’t have much free time on this trip and it made such a difference. I cleverly used TripAdvisor to find the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park, which had a lake and boardwalk running path behind it. Even though I had to get up super early to go for a jog before my meetings, it was worth it to be running on a boardwalk, above a lake in WARM weather! It’s the little things….
View of the running/walking dock and pool from my room at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park
After meetings and a very successful event, I was back at the Tampa airport and en route to New York City for a little fun, where my favorite city dwellers had an ambitious foodie weekend planned for me. Here are a few of my favorites:
Waking up to homemade waffles
It was a freezing outside, but we did try to get in a little sightseeing at Bryant Park (above) & the NY Public Library
Amazing baklava at Gulluoglu, 982 Second Avenue, NYC
Trip Three: What’s Next DC Social Media Conference in….(you guessed it) Washington, D.C.
Last, but certainly not least, was a trip down to Washington, D.C. to speak at the What’s Next DC social media conference. I was very excited for the opportunity to speak on a panel with (incredibly nice) reps from The Gap and Hilton Worldwide, two companies/brands that I really admire. In addition to learning a lot from The Gap and Hilton Worldwide, I was fascinated to hear Amy Thibodeau, Content Strategist for Facebook, speak. I entered the social media world from the content/community management side and enjoyed hearing how Facebook approaches content. I always think about content strategy from the brand side, not the platform side.
Also inspiring was Sabrina Caluori, VP of Social Media/Marketing for HBO, who spoke about HBO Connect. HBO Connect is a simple, yet very powerful idea, which augments the social fan experience when watching one of their shows. While there are several ways HBO is socializing the fan experience of watching their programs, I was most intrigued by the “conversations” section. HBO is smart to leverage their talent and producers/directors to live tweet an episode, or host a fan Q&A, which is then saved, so other fans can also enjoy the experience if they missed it live.
In addition to a great time at What’s Next DC, I was able to make a rare stop at Le Pain Quotidien, my favorite bakery/cafe, for a quinoa, veggie salad with a large hunk of multigrain bread. They also host super cool events like the picnic I went to last summer in Central Park. I am starting to sound like a broken record when I say, pretty please come to Boston!
All in all, the DC trip was a great finale to a month of travel. And, now that I’ve been home for nearly a month, I’m itching to get back out and on the road again…preferably to London….