Today I went to a Rick Steves travel workshop. Rick Steves is, I think, the single most prominent travel adviser in the English speaking world. He hosts an excellent European travel documentary series that is available on dvd and shown on public television channels, and he supervises the writing of travel guides for all areas of Europe, and he hosts a podcast about travel to worldwide destinations, and he founded a travel agency based in Edmonds, Washington, which is near Seattle. I watch his shows, read his books, sometimes listen to his audio, and I have been to hear him speak in public several times on different topics.
His travel agency in Edmonds is downtown and it has a library, study rooms, and classrooms that are for free use. Twice a week he has his travel guides give free lectures about traveling to a particular place, and then on Saturdays someone else gives an introductory European language lesson. The language lessons cycle through Italian, French, German, and Spanish, and then at least every six weeks some other language is offered. The language lessons are vocabulary and pronunciation for 90 minutes covering basic needs, like “I want…” and a list of nouns.
Having something like this locally is a terrific resource, and I think it is even better that Rick Steves is able to do this on a commercial model and stay profitable. I suppose the cost to host the classes and lectures is predictable, and if he only gets a few people to sign up for one of his tours then I would imagine that every expense in hosting these events is covered. I feel like this system makes travel accessible to people who would not otherwise have they information they need to make informed decisions, and I am glad that the system seems able to sustain a network of travel guides.
When I went today, the talk and accompanying powerpoint presentation were about France, and the language lesson immediately after was French. I enjoyed both and would recommend them to anyone who thinks they might be interested in such things.