Wanderlust–a strong desire to travel or a strong desire to explore the world–Wikipedia
I am delighted to be part of the 50+Fabulous online community as the travel expert and look forward to finding out about your wanderlust! And, of course, giving you some travel tips.
According to Hitwise, approximately a quarter of the women who visit online travel sites are aged 55 and older. As a referring travel agent with YourTravelBiz, I am glad to hear this and invite you to visit my online site, http://www.hutsontravel.com.
In preparation for this debut travel column, I contacted a few of my 50+ women friends and asked them about travel in their lives. Read on to find out what they had to say.
How has travel changed for you since you became 50+?
My friend Carol said, “I still keep going like the energizer bunny–I just stay in nicer places!” I expect this is true for most of us. During my college years, I spent a summer in Europe and actually spent only $5/day using Arthur Frommer’s “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” as my guide. Well, those hostels just don’t do it for me anymore!
Amanda has always made travel an important part of her life, going on big trips with her husband that are 1-2 months long, every year or two, outside the U.S. She agrees that nicer accommodations are in order now that she is 50+. “We have slightly upgraded our hotel accommodations, but only slightly. We still travel very independently and very inexpensively, primarily to developing countries. But now we really want rooms with private bathrooms and bed sheets you don’t feel you need to have your own sleep sacks to sleep in! We’ve always looked for locally owned, small accommodations with a bit of charm, and that hasn’t changed. Also, we’re less likely to see really uncomfortable train or bus trips as romantic and more likely to see them as simply uncomfortable!”
What does traveling bring into your life that you wouldn’t have if you stayed home?
As to what travel brings into our lives, my friend Janie sums it up for us–“I think travel lets us find out more about ourselves and others and be better for it….it can relax us…rejuvenate us….inspire us….transpire us…..exhaust us, in good ways! I think travel makes us more fearless and more empathic to others.” Carol adds, “New foods and eating out more, different cultures and a break from here.”
For Amanda, “Travel is a way to experience places and people that are different, somehow, from the places and people where I live–with the goal of simultaneously appreciating those differences and also discovering deeper commonalities and connections. My goal when traveling is to experience wherever I am as fully as possible, in terms of how the place presents itself rather than my preconceived notions of what I ‘should’ experience. So, for instance, I’m less likely to be interested in tourist guide “must see” lists for a particular city and more interested in just wandering the city’s streets.”
Where do you plan to travel to this year and next?
Our 50+ women friends are going many places this year, both for business and pleasure: Olympics in China; scuba diving in Florida and the Virgin Islands; leaf-peeping in New England; 8-day silent meditation retreat in California, sun breaks in Hawaii and Mexico; and business as well as family trips to Chicago, Los Angeles, Missouri New York, Oregon, San Diego, San Jose and Washington, D.C.
What is your dream vacation?
Dream vacations are many and varied–African Safari, Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, France –especially Paris, India, Italy, Japan, Lake Austin Spa Resort the first week of every year, Laos, Malaysia, Mediterranean cruise, Morocco, New Zealand, Portugal, Prague, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam ... And, one fabulous dream is “to fly first-class to some exotic beach area in Southern Thailand, Bali or the South Pacific, where there’s great swimming and snorkeling, great land-based places to explore, and great food, and just hang out for about a month!” AAAHHH!
I would love to hear your answers to my travel questions. Please email me at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Happy Travels!
Susan
