Study your area as well as personal preferences and determine which freeway is the quickest to your peticuliar destination.

You are destined for success if you keep making decisions or you at least give your chance time to fail fast. 

Hopefully in exchange for networking and learning.Got preapproval from one lender, finished application with another.Had 2 agents set me up on automatic email alerts for plexes, foreclosures, etc.Listened to podcast 29 and others and got inspired to check out peer to peer lending.Placed CL ads for my websiteReceived a book on inspecting homes and cruised halfway through the book.Followed the local newspaper on the growth of the F/M areaSaw one duplex with Realtor, haven't put in offer...Dang... that felt good.

So you never intend to be able retire on the beach or enjoy cruising, because you will be too busy still putting in that hard work - until you die?...

I wouldn't consider it a major profit center in any event - unless you went whole hog and bought prime real estate next to a major highway near a tourist destination.

Our criteria for the surroundings are:Proximity to a substantial airportEstablished community with good schools, growing employment, low crimeA resort destination that offers potential for vacation rentalsOlder and newer homes in mid- to upper class neighborhoodsImproving real estate prices, but not yet over-heatedWe are taking the month of November to visit and research the southeast (Miami - West Palm Beach) and southwest (Naples - Tampa).

You can even set certain destinations to automatically categorize for you.

If you don't have success, recognize that you can't begin a trip without knowing the destination and the best route to get there. 

Are there websites or ways that a person could search for REI-related conferences/cruises/etc happening around the US/world?

I likened real estate similar to an electric trolley hanging and traveling across predetermined destination, that is hanging over a medium, which is an electrical cable.