A couple spends a week in Thailand learning to cook in the local style. A group flies to Turkey to join an ongoing archeological dig for the summer. A history professor leads a tour of historical sites of Europe.

The participants in these trips are all enjoying a different kind of travel: learning vacations. Rather than spending their vacations relaxing on a beach or taking a bus tour… they have opted to enjoy their time off by learning something new. According to surveys, close to one-third of travelers each year choose learning programs over other types of vacations, and their numbers are growing.

In the past, these types of vacations were generally considered to be for young people still in school… Now, it has become common for adults, too, to spend their vacation time in educational endeavors.

Art schools and writing programs sponsor trips to interesting parts of the world… Cooking is a popular hobby, and tour companies have developed trips that focus on the cuisine… Travelers to Britain can enroll in courses at any of the twenty-plus adult residential colleges around the country…

In addition to gaining knowledge and skills, another advantage of these types of vacations is that they can be more economical than traditional vacations. Camping out near an archeological site or sleeping in a college dormitory certainly costs less than staying at a luxury hotel.