We flew into PGA (Page Arizona) a couple of weeks ago on our way to a houseboat on Lake Powell and I was somewhat surprised to be surrounded by upwards of a 100 French tourists crowding the tiny municipal airport and talking loudly in, well, French.

We were curious where they'd come from and I asked a man in French if he spoke English. "Non," he replied and I was soon surrounded by a small crowd of people listening to my pathetic few words of their language.

We've spent a couple of months in France over the past five years and I chuckled when the topic turned quickly to nourriture (food) and the lack thereof in French eyes during their bus tour of the Southwest.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I try to stumble along in my high school French when in France and 99% of the population seem to appreciate the effort. In other countries we learn to say "thank-you" at least. So far we've found Turkish and Hungarian to be the toughest at five and six syllables but it's well worth the effort IMHO.

There are so many nuances in different cultures, e.g. a greeting ("bon jour monsieur") even before asking a short question in France, that it's hard for us foreigners to understand.

Likewise, I worked hard not be annoyed when an elderly German woman in the same airport (yes, it was a flock of Germans this time) as we were departing lined up very close behind me when I used the payphone, simply because "proximity" is one of those cultural differences that one may read about or experience through travel, while others are unaware.

There's no way that woman would have known I felt uncomfortable that she was invading my personal space - but for me it all adds up to another great reason to travel and learn a little bit about how other folks live their lives.