I think we also have the point that, where-as most all "modern" Aes Sedai are "jacks of all trades" as far as weaves go,w ith only a few secret weaves per Ajah, the Aes Sedai of the AoL were specialized.

 

To expand on that, another issue to consider is the life spans of AOL AS and present AS.

 

It's basically agreed upon (as far as I know) that the average lifespan of an AS in the AOL was anywhere from 500-600 years.  The AS in the AOL had basically twice the amount of time to hone their chosen profession, or at least half their lifespan to pick a specialty, then the other half to study and advance it.  Not to mention the numerous numbers of tutors in their chosen fields to study under.

 

 

If Traveling requires some knowledge about locations, perhaps the world was simply changing too much too quickly for it to be reliable enough to bother with?

 

I like that idea. Add to that that any place you previously thought safe might now be buried underground or flooded with lava, traveling during the Breaking might have been both difficult and extremely dangerous.