• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About +
    • Press
  • Start Here +
    • Accommodations
    • Budgeting & Money
    • Adventure Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Gear & Gadgets
    • Packing Tips
    • Travel Blogging
    • Trip Planning
    • UNESCO Sites
  • Travel Blog
  • Destinations +
    • Africa +
      • Botswana
      • Egypt
      • Ethiopia
      • Morocco
      • Rwanda
      • South Africa
      • Tanzania
    • Asia +
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Japan
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Nepal
      • Philippines
      • Thailand
      • Vietnam
    • Europe +
      • England
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • Switzerland
      • Turkey
    • North America +
      • Canada
      • Costa Rica
      • Cuba
      • Guatemala
      • Mexico
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama
      • United States
    • Oceania +
      • Australia
      • French Polynesia
      • New Zealand
    • South America +
      • Argentina
      • Bolivia
      • Brazil
      • Chile
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
  • Resources +
    • Travel Insurance
  • Work With Us

Go Backpacking

Adventure Travel Blog

Go Backpacking > Destinations > North America > United States > World Hum & Art of Non-Conformity Happy Hours

World Hum & Art of Non-Conformity Happy Hours

November 2, 2009 By Dave

  • Share
  • Tweet
Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC
Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC

I was lucky enough to cross paths with a handful of travel bloggers during my trip around the world, and it was a lot of fun to meet the people behind the travel blogs I'd been reading. 

I find it at once amazing, and strange, that you can get to know a person through their writing.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend two happy hours and meet a lot of new and interesting people in the Washington, DC area.

Travel Writers

The first happy hour took place in The Saloon on U Street and was a get together of World Hum contributors, travel writers, and their friends.  I arrived at about 6:30 pm, as suggested by Michael Yessis, a co-founder of World Hum who lives in the area.

While sitting at the bar, I realized that aside from a photo or two from Twitter and his blog, I had no clue how to identify Michael from the other patrons. 

At least the bar was small because it made approaching random strangers and asking them if they were traveling writers a palatable task.

Five approaches and a few awkward laughs later, I met Michael, Julie Ross, and Andrew Evans. 

Over the course of the evening, we were joined by Adam Karlin, a writer for Lonely Planet, Chris Gray, Travel Editor for USA Today, Chris' husband, and Joanna Kakissis who had just returned from a trip to Bangladesh. 

Plus, there was Benjamin Spatz, who after returning to the States after a few years in Liberia, was as confounded by his new Blackberry as I was when I got mine.

The conversations were great, as you might expect from such a well-traveled group, and also touched on the changing face of travel writing and media.

Non-Conformists

A few days later, I had the pleasure of attending the Art of Non-Conformity gathering at Busboys and Poets on 5th and K Street. 

As a reader of Chris Guillebeau's blog by the same name, I'd seen photos of past meet-ups and knew there could be a big turnout.

I went early, arriving at about 6 pm on the dot, and the first reserved table on the second floor was already full. 

A kind soul vacated his/her seat so I could join the group, which also gave me the chance to talk a little with Chris before he'd have to start mingling with the new arrivals.

In his invitation, Chris mentioned, “The best thing about AONC meetups has absolutely nothing to do with me — it's about everyone else who shows up.” 

I didn't believe it until I actually begin to meet other attendees!

I got to know the lovely Jen Lemen of Mondo Beyondo, and the friendly Justin Premick of AWeber (an email service I use for GoBackpacking's weekly newsletters). 

I met many others as well, including Nicholas Kralev who writes for the Washington Times, and Thursday Bram. 

I couldn't bring myself to mingle fast enough to meet even half the people who showed up over the three-hour event.

At some point during the night, perhaps at the end as the tab was being closed out, I remember telling Chris about going to Gary Vaynerchuk's recent booking signing for “Crush It!” and feeling really inspired by the guy. 

If Chris could garner that kind of response from the people who come out to meet him, including next year when his first book launches, he'd be in great shape.

He responded that “it's all about building relationships.”

It wasn't until I reflected on the evening later that night, that I realized, he had done just that with as many people as possible, and without knowing it at the time, with me as well.

Planning a trip? Go Backpacking uses and recommends:

  • G Adventures for small group tours
  • Skyscanner for researching flights
  • Hostelworld for booking hostels
  • Airbnb for renting rooms and homes
  • Rail Europe for train passes
  • World Nomads for travel insurance

  • Share
  • Tweet

Related

Filed Under: Features, United States Tagged With: Washington-DC

About Dave

Dave is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Go Backpacking and Feastio. He's been to 65 countries and lived in Colombia and Peru. Originally from New York, Dave now calls Austin, TX home. Find him on Instagram and Twitter.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thursday Bram says

    November 3, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    It was great to meet you! I look forward to seeing you around DC.

  2. Dave says

    November 3, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    Hi Thursday – nice to meet you too. I already checked out your site. I was going to invite you to a DC tweetup:

  3. Anil says

    November 5, 2009 at 12:30 am

    I'll be headed out and back into town in time for the Tweetup. Will try my best to make it!

  4. Dave says

    November 5, 2009 at 12:55 am

    Great Anil – hope to see you there, looks like we could have a great group of people come out.

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Dave and I've been backpacking for 20+ years. We're here to make your next trip your best trip! Read More…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Topics

About | Archive | Travel Resources | Submissions | Work With Us | Contact

© 2021 Go Backpacking · All Rights Reserved

Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy