Field Trips!

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing With Away-From-Home Classes

We don't need no education, but we sure could use a learning vacation.

While the kids saddle up for another school year, those who tossed their protractors long ago can feed their brains on a scholarly holiday. Jot this down in your notebook: Travel + classes = one smart trip.

"During the vacation, your mind is engaged in learning," Dorlene Kaplan, editor of ShawGuides ( http://www.shawguides.com), an online source of information about educational vacations, said by e-mail. "And you return home with new knowledge that has lasting value."

Vacations with an academic streak are gaining in popularity. Or at least interest in them is. According to a 2006 survey by the Travel Industry Association, 56 percent of travelers said they were interested in taking an educational trip, and nearly 22 percent said their interest was much higher than it was five years ago.

Kaplan defines such excursions as "a vacation in which a credentialed expert provides lectures and/or instruction." That translates to daily classes or hands-on workshops in the subject of your choice (e.g., foreign language, classical music, art, cooking) held in a select destination (Paris, Shanghai, Santa Fe, etc.). Many programs also pair course work with field trips to food markets, museums, ruins, restaurants and other attractions that provide further illumination.

The International Kitchen's Moroccan cooking vacation (800-945-8606, http://www.theinternationalkitchen.com), for one, includes shopping trips to souks, a visit to a local olive press and dinner at a riad, a traditional home with an interior garden. Elderhostel's art collectors program in Southern California (800-454-5768, http://www.elderhostel.org) combines lectures with outings to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Center, the Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Library. In addition, on some trips, the learning never takes a recess. Such foreign-language travel operators as the Eurolingua Institute ( http://www.eurolingua.com) and Eastwestbridge ( http://www.eastwestbridge.org) arrange accommodations at a local family's home. Add in a meal or two around the kitchen table and you will soon be asking for seconds in a new tongue.

To choose an educational trip, you can start with either the subject matter or the destination. For example, if your goal is to improve your Spanish language skills, book a trip to Guatemala, Mexico or Spain, which host a number of schools. (For something more off the beaten path, try Bolivia or Ecuador.) Conversely, if you plan to travel to, say, Oaxaca, Mexico, and care to do more than tour churches and eat mole, think about taking a class in cooking, creative writing or art while there. Also consider length of trip and budget, which can vary considerably. To wit: A paleontology course led by museum faculty in Bowman, N.D., costs $75 and lasts a day (see http://www.ndtourism.com/vacations/learningbased for info), whereas Dale Chihuly's Pilchuck Glass School (206-621-8422, http://www.pilchuck.com) in Seattle offers an intensive 17-day program for $2,885, plus additional fees.

Before you book, research the credentials of the company and trip scholars, and review the itinerary to be sure it meets your expectations and preferred ratio of learning to leisure.

Of course, educational vacations don't always have to be honors-level; just-for-fun electives can be just as edifying. Why not learn to be funny or how to drive an 18-wheeler? With Vocation Vacations (866-888-6329, http://www.vocationvacations.com), travelers get a crash course on a new occupation by shadowing a professional. Trips include baseball team manager in Fort Worth, comedian in New York City, restaurant critic in Seattle and trucker in various locations. After a weekend with an expert, you'll return home with a new set of skills, and maybe even a different career path.