GOODBYE
Today was Martha’s first group last day. They celebrated by going out together to Ghar, and Indian restaurant for lunch and then had a final dinner of Honduran island food cooked by Bevy. I got to join in both events. Before dinner Lucy Ray and Pascal each played their guitars and sang including a goofy round that Lucy had us sing in three groups.
SINGING
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a7Vvvb24M5QyPZbWT2ffH64g
But what has been on my mind lately is the realization of pleasure of group travel which I have experienced lately through this group.
I have led more than 20 groups to Sri Lanka and India over the years in which I have tried to give people as rich an experience of these countries as I could through Gandhian groups that hosted us. On the student trips I also arranged for a time in which students, after becoming acquainted with India would then travel on their own independently in small groups. My feeling was that being on your own was the way to experience the culture most deeply. Often being in a group, sometimes listening to their music on their Walkmen or eating only western food and centering on each other insulated them from the culture around them. Traveling on their own, or with one or two others, forced them to open up.
But this week I have been rethinking my attitude toward group travel and the advantage of having a leader who will seek out good group experiences. Group travel by its nature usually leads, for middle aged groups, to staying at the most comfortable hotels and traveling in the best buses and eating at the expensive restaurants to ensure that no one will have a chance to have bad experiences or reason to complain. To keep the group happy a group organizer will almost always choose the most expensive option. The costs of administering the program with a number of people involved also adds to the cost. Having, at times, myself as the leader chosen less expensive and sketchier options and having everyone start to grumble, I know why group travel, to avoid any possible problem is much more expensive than traveling on your own and making your own choices. But it also often cuts you off from the culture and the ordinary people you are visiting.
But there is another side to group travel which I experienced this week which makes well organized group travel seem very worthwhile. One of the things I noticed with this yoga group was how much the people in the group got to enjoy each other’s company until by the end of the trip, tonight, they had bonded and were having a terrific time being with each other. The second thing that well organized group travel gives this group was a sense of security in a strange place. Everyone could relax. Nothing was going to go wrong or threaten them. A third thing was that every day there were interesting activities organized by Martha. There was no wasted time trying to figure things out or getting lost. The week was packed with activities that weren’t things that people could easily have discovered on their own. I realized why the Road Scholar program is so popular. Many of these people had been on numerous weeklong Road Scholar programs in the United States, through which they met Martha, and all over the world. This was not a Road Scholar program, but could certainly have been one. I am realizing more and more that travel is more fun when you share it with someone else, that the social experience of group travel is something that you miss in individual travel, and it has been a good lesson.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 