The Lawrence Welk Of Travel?

We end Rick Steves Week with a photograph of the audience at his "Travel as a Political Act" talk last Saturday at the Amazing Adventures Travel and Leisure Expo, sponsored by The Denver Post and Mike's Camera.  My friend Doug, the Textbook Manager of the Follett Corporation run DU Bookstore, calls Rick Steves the "Lawrence Welk of Travel."  I assume he is implying that Rick appeals to a more mature audience and that I should be watching more "with it" type of travel shows, such as Globe Trekker, where the hosts and hostesses often take part in such activities as bungee jumping over China's Yangtze River and eating live insects for dinner.  This from the DU Bookstore's resident curmudgeon, who does not want to travel overseas - or anywhere else for that matter - and especially does not want to interact with new and different people. Doug says that if he wants to talk with a French person, he will simply walk over to the University of Denver's Foreign Language Department and talk to Frederique, DU's French instructor, until the moment passes.  To help broaden his horizons, I once suggested a bargain-priced trip to Devil's Island, off the coast of South America, but he rejected the idea outright, despite the fact that many Bookstore staff members were willing (and even anxious) to contribute to the trip.  Go figure.