Volume 23　素晴らしい旅を！


The Pleasure of Traveling

Michael Rhys: Hello everyone, and welcome to the June edition of Cultural Crossroads. I'm Mike . . .

Ann Slater: . . . and I'm Ann.

Michael: Well, June! We're heading gently into summer now, and I'm thinking it's vacation time soon.

Ann: Well, that is a nice thought.

Michael: Yes.

Ann: Ha-ha, yeah.

Michael: So, today we're gonna be talking about traveling, which is a great subject - one of my favorite subjects. I know what the answer's gonna be - do you like traveling?

Ann: I do.

Michael: Who doesn't?

Ann: I do. Well, some people - actually some people don't, I think. They just prefer to stay close to home, you know, but . . . 

Michael: Well I've, I mean I've, I've, true, I have heard that.

Ann: Right? Yeah.

Michael: I mean, I, I-you hear about people, for example, in the States who've never left their county, let alone the state.

Ann: Uh-huh.

Michael: Is that true?

Ann: Yeah, I think so. Uh, I think especially coming to, you know, countries that may seem more difficult or dangerous . . .

Michael: Mm.

Ann: . . . in some way, or- And, of course, you know, once you get there and you do it you realize you can do it, but I think, perhaps, uh, the image . . .

Michael: Right.

Ann: . . . can be that way.

Michael: Which is a real shame, because I think, you know, traveling is something that everybody should be forced to do! Because it does open your eyes to a lot of things, I think.

Ann: What was the first big trip that you took? Like, how old were you and where did you go?

Michael: I was, um, about, I think I was about 10 years old, and I went to France. Which, now, is like, well, that's nothing! It's just . . .

Ann: Ha-ha, it's . . .

Michael:  . . . across the English Channel, you know. You can, you can go through the tunnel now. But back then, of course, people didn't really travel so far. Most people took their holidays within the U.K. They might've gone to Spain, perhaps. So for me going to France was, was a big thing, and it was my first experience of being overseas and, uh, yeah, it was wonderful because everything was so different - the smells were different, the sounds were different, the environment where I was. I'm, where I come from in England, it was very flat - a lot of just farmland. Whereas where I went in France, it was all mountains.

Ann: Where in France was it?

Michael: It was up near the Belgian border. A town, I believe, called Revin, I think, was the name of it. Just the whole environment was just magical, and, uh, it gave me a love for traveling.

Ann: Well it's great, too. I mean, I think being in Europe, too, it's so easy, right? 

Michael: Right.

Ann: Well it's great, too. I mean, I think being in Europe, too, it's so easy, right? 

Michael: Right.

Ann: . . . to travel to other European countries. And these days I suppose travel has changed so much. We were talking two months ago about social media and how to connect with people and so on. And traveling is interesting in that way because, of course, with the Internet, I really notice that how much easier it was to plan trips.
 Like when I, you know, was planning trips with my family, for example, you know, you can easily see, like, you can put up questions - like, what's the best way to get from this place to that place? You know, what's the best travel agent? How much do these tickets cost? And in the old days you had to rely on guidebooks.

Michael: Right.

Ann: Which was OK, but the problem is they are often somewhat outdated by the time they were published because all of those things change so much. So that has really changed travel, I think, the accessibility of information.

Michael: Absolutely. Um, so now I think that, yeah, the Internet definitely has opened up a lot of possibilities for people.