Comments on: A little travel music

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:52:33 +0000

PS I have been to French Polynesia for $300 r/t. The catch was I had to fly on Christmas Eve redeye to Christmas day! No big deal. Much better than staying in consumerland for the holidays. And Tahiti and Moorea were more than worth the price of the tickets and the passport.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:50:12 +0000

I think that travel could be limited by lack of money, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. I flew from Seattle to Brussels for $139 r/t once in the summer because of a computer error I found on Expedia. Then the hostels are cheap. I’m about to spend 10 nights in Belize on the beach for $35 per night. There are ways to travel inexpensively if you really want to travel. Please, please consider stretching to find a way to send your kid to Japan. I never left the U.S. until I was 27.

By: walt

walt — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:27:21 +0000

Rochelle makes a very good point. While my wife and I have become more frequent travelers/tourists (which has slowed down recently), that didn’t happen right away. Indeed, I’d have to say that ALA conferences were the initial way that I saw something other than the Pacific Coast… (and speaking at conferences is still responsible for most of the states I’ve visited, I believe).

One rite of passage is getting a passport. Another is renewing it, meaning you’ve at least had the option of traveling internationally for a full decade.

By: rochelle

rochelle — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:21:22 +0000

I’m feeling a little less rube-ish after seeing your 4/5 statistic, Walt. I don’t have a passport, and probably wouldn’t have a need for one unless ALA goes to Canada again. Ican’t help but guess that passport ownership is tied to socioeconomic status? As a jr high and high school kid, I was invited several times to participate in exchange student programs, but there was no way my parents could afford it, even with scholarship help. Now my kids are that age, and the 14 year old has asked about Japan. And, since I don’t make much more (and maybe even less) than my construction worker dad, there’s no way I can consider it. At 12 and 14, neither of my girls has been on an airplane, and neither have been farther than an eight-hour drive from home.

Jenny’s post about ditching ALA had me thinking about what I get out of my membership, and I just figured it out: Most of my travel experience is due to my involvement in ALA. Without regular conference attendance, I would probably never get more than a few hours’ drive away from home either.