Just because you're an adult doesn't mean your learning days are over. Our recommendation? Take an educational vacation. Many museums, college alumni associations and advocacy groups offer adult-learning vacations year-round. You can challenge your brain at a Caribbean cooking school, an Argentine tango studio or an African stool-carving demonstration. Whatever your desire, there's a trip to suit your style.
Learning vacations tend to involve group lectures, lessons or demonstrations that would be hard to arrange on your own. And they often stray off the beaten path. A trip to Ghana with the cultural-heritage--focused Henderson Travel and Tours (hendersontravel.com), for example, has excursions to villages where African stools are carved as well as a city tour.
What you won't find on your learning vacation are exams, grades or anyone hassling you out of bed each morning. You might, however, discover you are more energized than you would expect. "Sometimes you can recharge your battery more by immersing yourself in something totally different," says Amy Kotkin, program manager for Smithsonian Journeys, the nation's largest museum-based educational tour program. "It puts your own life in perspective when you realize how vast the world and its opportunities really are."
To make the most of the experience: Read up on the subject--guidebooks, novels, memoirs, the Internet. Try local foods before you go and while you're on vacation. Bring a journal to record your thoughts. Take along the right attitude--one that's nonjudgmental and open to new experiences. Remember that you're on vacation. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone," says Evelyn Kaye, author of Travel and Learn (travelbooks123.com). "You're trying something new." So enjoy yourself!
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Cook Caribbean-Style in St. Lucia
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Orlando Satchell (above), executive chef of Dasheene Restaurant at the lush, upscale Ladera Resort on St. Lucia's southern coast, will take you to organic farms, a rum factory and a market, and teach you to make rotis, jams, curry and creole sauce.
DETAILS
Five-day, four-night package, October 13-17, 2004; April 19-26 and October 11-18, 2005; $1,180-$2,600, including room, excursions, demonstrations and classes ([800] 738-4752 or ladera.com).
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