I was feeding my relatively new addiction to Twitter a few weeks ago, browsing through the Tweets (is that what they’re called?) and came across one with a link to what they described as a course for travellers. A course for travellers, you ask? I was asking myself the same thing and went to check it out.
In their ‘about’ section, Travel Trainers say “Travel Trainers focuses on running seminars and courses for those wanting to travel” and that the company’s vision is “to use the company’s in-depth travel experience from both sides of the fence to help people to travel.” What is on offer are a variety of seminars for travellers. Everything from ‘First Time Travellers – What the Guide Book Doesn’t Tell You’ to ‘Travel Safely – Tips and Ideas to Keep You Safe’.
There are countless travel guide websites, blogs from people who are there now, guidebooks approaching travel from every possible angle and budget, word of mouth via Twitter, online reviews on everything from backpacks to hostels to tours, video blogs, Google Earth for a bird’s eye view in advance, and now you can even take your planning into the classroom. Just when I thought it was impossible to plan more for a trip, now there’s this.
I guess my question is whether or not you think this is over the top? Are ‘how to travel’ courses something that you think will catch on? Will young first-time travellers start to feel like they won’t be able to go abroad without paying $150 for a course that will tell them how to travel safely or what they should see? Will nervous parents start making their kids go on these courses before they let them go overseas? How much planning is too much planning?
I am trying to think back to my very first solo backpacking trip and I think I remember being so excited about it that I was eating up every possible bit of information I could possibly get in order to prepare myself. Would I have paid for a seminar? Probably not but I definitely would have wondered what I was missing.
I really hate seeing people spend money out of fear of the unknown. I know it’s easy to get carried away with the excitement of your trip but I believe it’s possible to prepare too much and I think these seminars are taking things a bit too far. Good on the guy if he can make a business out of it, but my advice would be to save the money because Europe is seriously expensive.
I would love to hear comments about this. What do you guys think?
Ps: To anyone who wants to drop NZ$149 on this course please read my living in London site first to answer many of the questions the seminar addresses and then shoot me an email with any other questions you might have. Cost: free.
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