Travel Education Fatigue Makes Well Rounded Snob

 

The first time I heard an acquaintance talk about travel education I was impressed as hell. They made me want to do it, to go where they’d been.

Then I heard it again, and again. And again. Has this happened to you, travel education fatigue?

You need to fight through it.

A facebook friend talked about travel plans. They loved the Grateful Dead, or any band that sounded like the Dead. Is this a surprise? That anyone today still listens to jam bands going on and on and on like they forgot to work in a chorus and verse deal?

It works in the garage searching for a groove, but the audience is pretty small. When you play out, it’s time to tighten up, or so you’d think.

Listening to music shouldn’t be a chore. Instead it ought to inform your life, reflect your feelings, give direction. I’m a fan of live music, loud music, head banging music, but I’m not banging my head too hard trying to figure it all out.

If it’s a song about a car, or a girl, or a girl in a car, I’m fine. Broadway BRUUUUCE got it right in “Fire:”

I’m driving in my car
I turn on the radio
I’m pulling you close
You just say no
You say you don’t like it
But girl I know you’re a liar
‘Cause when we kiss
Ooooh, Fire

Late at night
I’m takin’ you home
I say I wanna stay
You say you wanna be alone
You say you don’t love me
Girl you can’t hide your desire
‘Cause when we kiss
Oh, Fire

I feel his confusion between fire and ice. Anyone who dated beautiful girls in high school feels it, and who wasn’t beautiful in high school?

They might want to be alone, but they didn’t say anything about you sitting under their window and telling them the depth of your love. It’s okay to cry down there, so don’t make fun.

That’s what great memories are made of, embarrassing eruptions of raw emotion. It’s sweet and tender unless you went through life stages that pounded you into a different shape and you lose perspective.

Not everybody hangs onto the Grateful Dead, or Phish, or Dave Matthews, but if they do and explain following the band in terms of travel education, be a good listener.

No one wants to hear this: “Well have fun, I’ll be traveling a mile down the road to the little store for a beer listening to the radio. Same thing.”

No, it’s not the same thing. They might sound like travel education snobs, but you sound like a small town, stuck in a rut, red neck. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Every place in Oregon gives the small town, stuck in a rut, red neck option, every place except Portland. Then it’s just an act, not the real thing.

The next time you hear someone joining a concert tour for multiple dates in different cities, show some appreciation. Try and not make fun of them, of ragging on the Coachella Music Festival, or Desert Trip’s Oldchella.

It’s simple, the saying goes, show up at the airport, get on a plane, good to go. That’s how it works if ‘your people’ do all the work. If it’s all on you, then you’re are awesome when all of the plans work, the connections connect.

Only people who make the calls know the truth. Whether you’re the planner, the tag-along, or the stay at home, none of it’s easy.

But out of the three listed, one makes it happen. If that’s not you, learn how it’s done.