Dr. Karl Pillemer

Or I interviewed people in East Texas who, until the World War II or Korea, had never been outside of their own county.

So they knew what it was like not to go anywhere.

And they valued travel incredibly.

I had one woman say to me, you know, if you've got a choice between a kitchen remodel or a trip, I say take the trip.

I would say that was something we had to resolve in my own marriage, but I think we now do take the trip rather than the kitchen remodel.

But the idea there is it didn't have to be adventure travel.

It could be anything but something that takes you out of your normal daily route.

So people who were unable to travel much when they were young

think that this is a critical thing for young people, in part because it symbolizes an attitude of openness and receptivity and adventure.

We think of older people as being more conservative than younger people, but in terms of what you should do with your life, they're generally radical.

It was over and over, don't waste your life.

But one woman told me, you know, you have only a few years here on Earth, you have to cram as much into it as you can.

You know, don't take for granted these things.

And travel is that symbol.

It's a symbol for doing things that they were unable to do and discovered later in life and felt that it was too late.

So I would think of it that way.

I believe it is.

Because most people, we have to remember,

Despite our times right now, one thing that hasn't changed in 20 years and since Jane Austen's time, still if you look at surveys, most young people want to get married, most young people plan to get married, and most young people have as a value in that marriage being married for a lifetime.

So those values, even though people are doing it later, they're living together first, the core desire to have a life partner is still there.