Tonight, I drive to the Austin Gateway REI up north for a 7 pm class called “Europe on a Shoestring.” It is being taught by a volunteer from the local youth hostel.

I arrive 10 minutes early to discover that the class has been rescheduled. I just drove nearly an hour to attend and I’m disappointed. Several others are standing outside the classroom talking about how the class was cancelled and wondering what to do. I ask if they’d like to have class anyway and I offer to lead it. They say yes. By the time we start the class, at least 10 people have  joined us.

As I go around the room and ask each person for their name and what they would most like to know about travel, I write their interests on the white board. For an hour and a half, I lead the class in a discussion about travel, touching on everyone’s interests. It is a very interactive class.

At the end of class, the attendees applaud. I feel like everyone got something from the class. If they like the way I taught the class, I invite them to let the director of the hostel know as I had planned to volunteer to teach some of their classes. As I leave, several attendees thank me for teaching the class, as do several REI employees. The REI manager asks to see me, thanks me for teaching the class, and asks for my contact info to pass on to her manager.

What a blast! Ideas for more classes are swirling through my head!!!

What travel topics would you like to know more about? (Respond in Comments below.)