The Holy Trinity of Synchronicity

See that box with the big number in it over here to the right → that’s a countdown clock for the Wine Pleasures International Wine Tourism Conference that will take place in Porto, Portugal starting January 31, 2011.

I have been invited to speak at the conference and join a Blogger/Media Press trip through the Minho and Douro wine regions. So naturally I’m researching the area and looking for information about Portugal before I go. After the conference I plan to spend a week in Lisbon and the surrounding area. I started to follow Portugal related wine and tourism folks on Twitter and searched for key words on the places I would be going. And that’s how I ran into David Hoffmann of DavidsBeenHere.com.

David's site offers a webshow service that allows people to ask questions about locations, trip ideas, or for tips on different destinations—and then David creates a personal video that answer the questions. The service is free and it’s amazing. It’s like sitting down with a friend who just came back from where you want to go and they give you all the inside details on what to see and what to do.

Check them out:

The first one is about Porto and the northern region of Portugal. The second details Lisbon and surrounding area. My screen layout tends to cut them off a bit but you can view them on at facebook.com/davidsbeenhere1 or on David's YouTube channel.

David was in the middle of touring Portugal when I began to follow him. We tweeted back and forth a bit. He asked me where I would be going in Portugal and I told him about the conference and that I was interested in Lisbon and possible day trips from there. As soon as he got back from his trip he made me these videos.

This to me is the perfect example of the power of connection and social media. And the power of wine, travel & twitter. In fact, I just added a slide in my presentation to talk about this at the conference.

To make things even more connected, it turns out the David is from Miami, South Miami to be exact, and his parents live just a few blocks from where my Grandparents lived and less than two miles from one of the areas where I grew up. It gets better… we both belong to the same church- Epiphany and attended the elementary school there although not at the same time. Pretty trippy huh?

So if you are planning a trip be sure to Ask David before you go. You won’t be disappointed. You can follow David on Twitter at @davidsbeenhere and click here to visit his site.

I’ll be posting about the wine and port while I’m in Portugal of course, but before I go I'll post a little preview of where I will be going so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can click on the box at the right and it will tell you everything you need to know about the conference and how to register. Or just click here.

Thanks again to David Hoffmann for his time and for making these videos for me.