What type of travelling do you do now

you are part of the older generation, by this I mean seniors
We are off this October on a 7 week overland trip in a truck and camping from Cape Town to Nairobi then 5 weeks on the Kenya coast.
We'll be in our late 60s by 2011 winter so thought perhaps we should be thinking of staying longer in each place we visit perhaps a month and then move on. The moving every 1-2-3 days can be very tiring and certainly if you do a 12 month trip.
I'd like to hear what other older members do and have their travelling habits altered over the years.
Jean

I never traveled except for business & short vacations until the winter of 08/09 when I did a 6 mo. trip to Central America & Cuba in search of the perfect retirement location, which I thought I had found. Until on my RTW, started Aug 09 & due to be back at starting point the end of next month, where I discovered SE Asia.

On both trips I tried to spend a minimum of 3 days in one place, on occasion spending 1 - 2 months in a location.

However, now, having traveled to most of my bucket list destinations + from me experiences staying longer in different locations, I have come to realize that short term stays are not only too tiring but that you don't get to know much of the local way of life.

The plan now is to use my newly acquired (in Bangkok) TEFL certificate & teach a term or more in a location then travel a bit doing shorter stays then teach another term. I intend to do this as long as I am able as when I return to my old home next month it will be to sell my remaining possessions, finish the European & Middle Eastern portion of my RTW & return to Bangkok for the November term. Will be 64 when I leave again.

I'm 63 and soon to be 64. I stay mostly in B&Bs now, hostels with bathrooms down the hall don't work very well for me. Moving from one place to another is harder than it used to be and I like staying longer in one area. I get a better taste of the local culture that way and it's a lot easier on me. As I age, I prefer western-type destinations, western and eastern Europe instead of SEA,Africa and Central America. That's just me and, since travel is such an individual thing, others may have completely different ideas. You might read Hey Boomers Dust Off Your Backpacks by Linda J. Brown. At 67 she traveled around the world by herself.

Hi both,
thanks for your comments it's interesting hearing from people of my age and how they travel. We more or less have now come to the idea of longer stays that's after our next trip in October. For the winter of 2011 thought we would stay on 4 of the Carribean (never been to that part of the world) islands 3 weeks on each travelling around the island as and when we felt like it. So love retirement.
Happy travelling and keep safe.
Jean

Hi Jeanie 99,
I do a lot of short term assignments, two to three months, as a volunteer. After being a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 90s, I was over 50 then, I began international volunteering. I started as a UN Volunteer for the elections in Bosnia in 1996 and haven't stopped. I used to fight the long air trips but have now learned to relax and enjoy - most of the time! I am currently in Egypt on assignment. There is more on my website, Over50andOverseas.com

Guess I should do an update as my plans have changed.

Mother (90) took a turn for the worse just before I returned to Canada, so after considering all possibilities I purchased a house in El Salvador, moved mother there. Plan on doing a bit of teaching this winter then when she has settled in will do some shorter trips in South America, leaving SE Asia on the back burner for the time being.

Sort of checking out the Silk Route for the next Asian adventure.

Please keep the stories coming! I'm only 23 but I absolutely love reading about the inspiring travels of older and wiser folks than me Reminds me to slow down and stop worrying- I like the reminders that adventure doesn't end when you hit 30 (or 50 or 70...)

Golly....I came to this site after years. Fortunately, even as my hair has turned grey, I still remembered my log in and password. I haven't travelled for years (apart from a ten day vacation last year), I mean there were problems to be conquered. Perhaps the tide will turn and I may travel next year, someplace somewhere.

Living in cheap hotels is definately out, as is trekking in the wilds. Maybe exploring the streets in small towns may be a better idea. It is good to be back and until I return again, Ciao.

Hi everyone

Not been to this site for a while thought I'd check it out for our next trip.

It was interesting reading what you are all doing, yes the time trundling on where does it all go. I'm so glad that my husband and I are so fortunate to be fit enough to still do all the traveling we love. We have friends who have died in their late 40s and 50s and boy does it scream out live life to the full as you never know what's around the corner.

We are off again in January for 3 months, backpacking again, well traveling on a budget using the lower end accommodation and using local transport. Florida Everglades and then the Keys, out to Ecuador for a few days then on a very expensive Galapagos 7 night cruise couldn't find what we wanted in the budget market, but hey it's a once in a lifetime and you can't take you money with you. We then fly to the Caribbean, didn't realize the accommodation would be so expensive, anyhow I've found most just within budget. Barbados, St Lucia, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines taking in Union Island Bequia and then home. We are so looking forward to the snorkeling and hiking but would love to hire a small boat that would be heaven.

Year after are thinking about doing an epic train journey, London to Japan. Anyone done anything like this I would love to hear from you.

Anyhow best regards to you all keep traveling but keep safe out there.

Jean

On my RTW London was my start point for my first segment so I flew from Heathrow to Oslo where I got the train to Stockholm then up around the bay to Helsinki where I spent a couple days before getting the train to St Petersburg for another few days in a must visit city.

Overnight train to Moscow where I had the day to visit Red Square, the Kremlin etc before boarding the Trans-Mongolian for Ulan-Bator, went straight through as I was on a time constraint to be in Kathmandu for the last week in Oct, but would recommend a couple of stops on the way or at least one at Lake Baikal.

From Ulan-Bator I returned to Ulan-Ude to catch the Trans-Siberian to Vladivostok where I had planned on taking the weekly ferry to Japan but for some reason that weeks sailing was canceled so I managed to get a ticket on the one to South Korea & made my way to Japan after a weeks unscheduled but thoroughly enjoyed Korean visit. As I was only really interested in seeing Hiroshima it was not a big deal to cut the time allocated to Japan by the time spent in SK which was a fair trade off imo.

While on the Trans-Mongolian I talked with a couple who started in London, going through to Beijing & were thoroughly enjoying the trip.

http://www.seat61.com is an excellent site for researching any rail travel & they have a section on the Trans-Siberian trains covering the different routes + the ferry connection to Japan.

Once you have decided on your route the nice folks at http://realrussia.co.uk are an invaluable in arranging the purchase of your tickets. In my case some tickets could only be purchased a maximum of 3 weeks in advance & as I was starting my trip before that time frame they got they had the tickets delivered to their office, where I picked them up prior to my flight. The train ticket from Uan-Bator to Ulan-Ude had to be purchased in Ulan-Bator however Real Russia had a contact there who looked after that as well as arranging a tour for me & I was given that ticket upon arrival in UB.

Any other questions feel free to ask on the forum or PM, will answer what I can. A word of warning, your expectations on what you see traveling through Siberia going to be way off, it will blow your mind when you see the real Siberia.

Note food wise you can pretty much buy food from vendors at the stations where there is usually a 15-20 min stop + each car is heated by a boiler so there is an endless supply of hot water for tea, soup or noodle packs that are available at most stations.

It's am amazing trip that you won't regret taking!