In my previous post (Why Travel?  (Version 2), I suggested that travel is a form of education.  However, as we age, the need to go somewhere else to gain new understanding seems less compelling.  Not that we know everything — but the wisdom of later years seems more a result of the integration of knowledge than the accumulation of more experiences.

And with a fiber-optic connection to the Internet, the world cascades upon us through various screens.  Some glittering rectangles occupy huge segments of an entire wall.   

As a former teacher and, in the later part of my career, an information architect, I view tourism as a variant of a well-designed educational interface.

As with education, there is a preparatory phase, an actual learning event, and a post-event review / test.

For me, the preparatory phase of travel is reading.  Indeed, reading about this new somewhere else can be a profound catalyst for insight.

The actual event of travel, if it includes a guide, can have the feel of a brilliant lecture with astonishing 3D visuals.

If one travels with a notebook and a camera (we all now carry a camera with a virtually limitless roll of film), there are recordings of the lecture to review.  This review process may inspire more research when we have returned from somewhere else.

[I have a framed quote in my office (a relic from my teaching days).  It reads:
“To teach is to learn twice.”]

Creating a BLOG post is a way to re-experience travel — to travel twice.

It is a literal review and an effort to do what we older folks often do while ruminating: connect the dots …

If you have read the previous post, you know that this overwhelming trip was not a bike ride.  It was a three-part odyssey where the catalyst for the trip to Europe vanished after our plans were made, and after deposits (non-refundable) were paid.  Follow links below for all three sections.

Part 1:                    Gate 1                 Two-week Guided tour of Spain

Includes                  Flamenco Movie

A moment with my buddy, Maimonides

(I read his philosophy in Spanish as a Middlebury undergraduate)
He is emblematic of a civilized era before the:

• Reconquista
• Inquisition
• Creation of extreme wealth by colonialism

Part 2:    Roll-Your-Own    10-day self-guided tour of Spain & Lisbon

Includes                  Fado music Movie

Is the ATM of a Basque Credit Union really connected to the International Banking System?
Would it recapture a US Debit Card?

Would that feel like a Jew or a Muslim experiencing the Reconquista?

Part 3:     Yoga                  One-week Yoga retreat in Portugal

Sea to See…           A summary of a few days in Paradise:

The theme of exploration has been a catalyst for sundry inward meanings as the yoga classes have continued — and as our conversations have ventured past mere pleasantries.  

In Portugal, the explorations of Vasco da Gama are still quite real.

When is the edge a good time to stop?  

When is the edge a good time to extend one’s effort?  

Even after 80 years, new insights can be forged in the crucible of extended travel.