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Traveling Young

I met a young couple at a class we took recently. We shared the table and got chatting. To their credit they were eager to get to know people their parents' age and we were glad that they would even consider it. Adjusted for their age, they have traveled a fair bit together. It was interesting for me to understand if seeing more of the world than the average person of their age from this little town would somehow make a difference. It seemed like the experiences were like a small but unremarkable imprints on their life not that much different than having an nice time at the nearest beach town. 

Meeting with these kids (if they about J's age, that is the only way I can think of them) reminded me of a Francis Bacon quote I had read years ago:

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.

I have found this to be true in my own experience. The travel of the younger years might have served to educate me in some haphazard way just like school might if the student did not arrive prepared to learn  - not knowing the language while traveling to a new place was fairly common in India, just crossing the state line could put you in that position. In my later years, I have made an effort to learn the language of the place I am traveling to and it has made a big difference to the experience. 

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