Some think “travel” is a modern concept, with some saying travel only began in the past few decades. This, however, is not true. Travel has long been an established form of learning for the upper classes.
Visiting an historic mansion in Iowa, a few years ago, we learned that the young adult children who had lived there were, once of age, sent to Europe for the summer to become worldly. This was typical of the upper class.
From Wikipedia, the practice goes back even further:
The typical 18th-century stance was that of the studious observer travelling through foreign lands reporting his findings on human nature for those unfortunates who stayed at home. Recounting one’s observations to society at large to increase its welfare was considered an obligation; the Grand Tour flourished in this mindset.[3]
In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholarly pilgrimage nor a religious one,[4] though a pleasurable stay in Venice and a cautious residence in Rome were essential. Catholic Grand Tourists followed the same routes as Protestant Whigs. Since the 17th century, a tour to such places was also considered essential for budding artists to understand proper painting and sculpture techniques, though the trappings of the Grand Tour—valets and coachmen, perhaps a cook, certainly a “bear-leader” or scholarly guide—were beyond their reach.
The advent of popular guides, such as the book An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy published in 1722 by Jonathan Richardson and his son Jonathan Richardson the Younger, did much to popularise such trips, and following the artists themselves, the elite considered travel to such centres as necessary rites of passage. For gentlemen, some works of art were essential to demonstrate the breadth and polish they had received from their tour.
What has changed is that travel today is easier and more accessible to more people. Is that a bad thing?