> When my grandmother went on her once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe 30 years ago
I think it's really sad to do a "one in a lifetime trip to Europe". Every single country has way too much to offer to do just "one trip for everything". Hell, you can spend a month a year touring France like my parents and never run out of interesting things to see after 25 years.
I agree with you, but in defence of my grandmother...
A) Things were a bit different 30 years ago. Flying from Australia to Europe is expensive now, it was even worse then.
B) Things are particularly different when, like my grandmother, you're a working class person, living in a working class inner city suburb, in government housing.
Given those circumstances, I think planning a "once in a lifetime" trip is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
I think it's really sad to do a "one in a lifetime trip to Europe". Every single country has way too much to offer to do just "one trip for everything". Hell, you can spend a month a year touring France like my parents and never run out of interesting things to see after 25 years.