This article is consistent with my anecdotal experience, where I've noticed high importance placed on travel as a class credential. I grew up in a household that was low income enough that we never vacationed far from home. Now that I'm a white collar software developer on a solid middle class income mixing with middle class folks, mentioning that I've hardly traveled out of the country generates reactions of surprise, to the extent that I often feel I have to explain myself and my lack of overseas travel.
Now that I'm a white collar software developer on a solid middle class income mixing with middle class folks
Are you in the Bay Area? The Bay Area is obsessed with travel. Not that there's anything wrong with that, since I do feel that travel is great, but many in the Bay Area have no idea what it's like to come from a background where it's not even considered a possibility.
When I lived and worked in Arizona, the only "travel" anyone was interested in were weekend trips to Mexico, or maybe visiting an iconic American city (e.g. SF). If I'd brought up Thailand, they wouldn't even have known enough to make ladyboy jokes.
