“Check your pouches! Everyone has their passport?” That is my usual question after greeting my students and adult passengers each morning on our trips overseas.
I started leading student tours in November 1988. Little did I know how empowering these educational tours would become for hundreds of high school students and adult chaperones alike, and how many families would see the value of travel for their teenagers as they gained the opportunity to interact with people from other cultures.
My heart pumps faster, thinking of all the planning, scheduling, detailing and worrying I do to make sure things run like clockwork during the tours, and I find myself smiling as I fondly remember the questions, the wondering looks of amazement and discovery, the realization that what we have learned in class about certain countries and cultures really takes place, really exists. Even though my Spanish students are not as fluent as I would hope they would be, they certainly prove more adventurous than they believed they could be, as I witness them trying to understand menus, holding short conversations with locals, reading signs and following maps, even transferring their Spanish knowledge to Portuguese, Italian and French.
First time on a plane? Check. First time out of the United States? Check. First time away from home and family for a couple of daring weeks in a new place? Check. First time across the ocean? Check.
So many of them have told me through the years that I inspired their love of travel and opened their eyes to cultural customs different from their own. One student told me about the trip: “it opened my eyes to the lives of people in other countries. It’s interesting to know how people live differently compared to North Dakota; for example, how late in the morning they started the workday or how much later they stayed out at night — entirely different lifestyles than what I see at home.” I truly believe travelers come back with a broader sense of what being a citizen of the world means, of how we all contribute to a mosaic of multicultural experiences around the globe.
“Octopus, anyone?” I laugh as I recall one of my students asking her classmates to try the unique dish in front of them. For the record, she disliked seafood before we went and after taking a cooking class in Madrid, paella became her favorite dish during our European tour last June!
I cannot deny it: I am filled with pride and satisfaction knowing that every traveler I have taken overseas has come back with a new piece of knowledge: whether it was the difference in the way other cultures greet and interact with one another, the way people prepare and serve food, or the attitudes that make us feel welcome far away from home.
I often hear “I didn’t know …” or “I couldn’t believe …” after trips. It makes me wonder about all of the memories they have made and all of the stories they will tell long after their return home. There is something special about opening their eyes to understanding that in this diverse world there is tremendous value in connecting with others, in becoming aware of various customs, in learning from one another, and in realizing that our way is not the only way to do things.
The value of travel is best summed up with a quote by St. Augustine: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
