It's definitely a good thing for some people to do, but there are a lot of people who will teach the newbies bad habits and shit. I'm so glad I found a really experienced kid to bring me into traveling. I learned a lot. The only problem was that he was pretty jaded by that point, so he'd act all pissy sometimes, especially when he quit drinking and smoking. He ended up ditching me in Santa Barbara because he was so moody and was in a hurry to retire in OR and see this girl. I admit, I was probably kinda annoying because I was still getting used to shit, but he still shouldn't have ditched me like that. He just disappeared. Anyway, I found him when I eventually made it to OR, and we're still friends. Some people just don't have the right mentality to deal with newbies, and some newbies are just total oogles and probably always will be. It's all about finding the right people.
I'll be taking my friend out for her first time next summer, but I know she's not going to act like some dumbass, so I'm pretty excited about it.