TRAVELING AFTER FIFTY ~ The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
by Doris Gallan
Imagine yourself atop the green peaks of Machu Picchu looking down on the abandoned stone buildings of an ancient civilization as the wafting clouds provide the perfect
atmosphere to your early-morning hike. Or, in a Vermont farmhouse, where you and four greenhorns hover over a stove as a chef demonstrates cooking techniques to be followed by a gourmet meal, fine wine, and the company of new friends. Perhaps it’s the idea of shopping in a Cairo market with its cacophony of sounds that awakens your wanderlust.
There’s no reason you can’t experience any of these settings now that you’re in your fifties or better. We shouldn’t kid ourselves that traveling when we’re older isn’t different than when we were in our twenties and thirties, but it’s not all bad. It can be better (The Good), worse (The Bad), or no different (The Ugly).
The Good:
Depending on your situation, you may be at a point in your life when you have more freedom to journey off as you have fewer people to answer to. Other advantages to traveling at a, ahem, more mature age include:
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A better sense of what you like and the knowledge of how to get what you want,
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Increased confidence from years of managing money, situations and people in authority
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Faster immigration and customs processes as you aren’t suspected of anything, and
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Fewer instances of crime and harassment against you.
The Bad:
Depending on your health and physical shape – more than your age – you may tire more easily in your travels. Other issues may include:
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Access to health care, medications and insurance takes on greater meaning but a bit planning easily takes care of this, and
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Less participation in activities such as sky diving, mountain climbing, bungee jumping: but did you, or would you have, done these when you were younger?
The Ugly:
The ugly travelers live amongst us – heck, sometimes we are they. Pet peeves boomer travelers have shared with me include:
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Tourists who complain about the way things are done in the host country,
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Travelers who return to a once-favorite location and bemoan all of the changes brought about by tourism, and
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People complaining about their aches, pains, and surgeries. But they do this at home, too!
The absolute best thing about traveling as we age, however, is learning that you can still do it: learn a foreign language, hike a difficult trail, try exotic foods, meet new people or whatever it is that strikes your fancy while traveling.
Doris Gallan inspires baby boomers to find new pleasures in life through travel. She has journeyed to 50+ countries on all seven continents and lived in five as an expat. She is currently working on a book for baby boomers who want to travel. You can find and subscribe to her weekly blogs, Baby Boomers Traveling and This ExPat Life, as well as daily travel tips at www.BabyBoomersTraveling.com.
EILEEN BARISH ~ Travel Writer
Eileen Barish is a multiple award-winning author and nationally known niche-travel expert. Eileen’s books have been reviewed by over 1500 publications. She is a contributing columnist to national magazines including GUEST INFORMANT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER and NEWSWEEK and is a frequent guest on CNN and other networks. Eileen’s sage advice in her articles and books on unusual travel experiences has enriched the lives of hundred’s of thousands of her readers. Her current books are available at all major bookstores or by calling 1.800.638.3637 and include: Lodging In Italy’s Monasteries Lodging In France’s Monasteries Lodging In Britain’s Monasteries Lodging In Spain’s Monasteries Best Spas USA Vacationing With Your Pet Doin’ California With Your Pooch Doin’ Arizona With Your Pooch Doin’ The Northwest With Your Pooch Doin’ Texas With Your Pooch Doin’ New York With Your Pooch. Website: Eileen Barish’s Monastery Lodging Blog Twitter: @eileeneeo
DORIS GALLAN ~ Babyboomers Traveling
Thirty years of working as a reporter and writing for others, Doris Gallan decided it was now time to work for herself. In 2006 Doris and her husband quit their well-paying jobs, sold their house and 99 percent of their worldly possessions and set out on a 26 month ’round-the-world trip. Combining her love of writing with her love of travel she has since traveled forty countries on six continents – including Antarctica, learned the polite words of some two dozen languages, ate foods she didn’t know existed, used practically every mode of transportation still in use and learned a lot herself and the world around her. With this much experience to write about she decided she had no excuse but to start putting words on paper (or more accurately computer). Author of “The Boomers’ Guide to Going Abroad to Travel” she is a speaker & travel coach who inspires boomers to live their passions. You will find her on Facebook and posting on her various travel blogs. Her website is a wealth of tips and information. Be sure and drop by! or follow Doris on Twitter: @boomertraveling Doris also occasionally posts traveling articles on Huff50. You will find [...]
DONNA L HULL ~ My Itchy Travel Feet ~ The Boomer’s Guide to Travel
A freelance writer with and an active traveler, Donna and her photographer husband Allen travel the globe reporting their adventures and experiences as they go. Their first hand accounts are delightful to read and they provide lots of tips for the boomer with “itchy feet”. Their website “My Itchy Travel Feet” provides a wealth of information on topics such as Where to Go What to Do Where to Eat Where to Stay Plan Your Trip Inspiring Photographs Product Reviews Blog News You can also find Donna on Twitter (@DonnaLHull) and Facebook where she hosts the My Itchy Travel Feet page. Keep up to date with her travels and latest adventures. If you need some travel advice, where to go, what to see, what to bring, you’ll find it on My Itchy Travel Feet.
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