This one goes out to all our WISE folk out there. You’re only as old as you allow your heart to think it is. Age is more a matter of practicality than reality, and the amount of living you do has less to do with the quantity of years and more to do with the quality of them.
As a travel blogger, day after day I get emails with stories from mothers, the middle-aged, and new retirees wishing they could travel, but feeling like they’ve missed the curve and just don’t know where to start.
If you’re sitting here reading this from a phone or computer, you already possess the biggest tool to make this happen. The internet makes the world so much smaller and travel that much easier, it’s now just a matter of where and when.
Since I’ve already decided that even when I’m on my deathbed, I’ll have one last cruise commissioned to transport myself (and my coffin) to set sail across the Atlantic, I may indeed have a problem. But on the spectrum of addictions to have, I’m okay with traveling being mine. It’s forever a part of my soul and as long as I’m alive (heck, I’d like my ashes to continue jet-setting if possible) travel will always be in the equation.
So as a little boost of confidence, here are five reasons you are never and will never be too old to travel.
1. As long as you’re alive, there’s still a chance to see the world.
One thing I’ve learned through traveling is that life is temporary and fleeting. Our time on this planet isn’t guaranteed past our todays. That should both scare and inspire you because it gives you the opportunity to continue dictating exactly how you want your chapters to be written and ultimately, how your story will end.
Because life is unfair, illnesses, financial instability, and other obligations get in our way and deter us from pursuing what we want in life. You have/had all your life to be a responsible adult, so what’s a little splurge on a 2-week getaway across the world going to do but make you wish you did it sooner. The time and answer is always now!
2. Many travel passes and tickets offer substantial discounts for older people.
While I once read that senior citizens shouldn’t qualify for discounts because they’ve had twice the amount of time to save for the money, (hahahaha), they absolutely exist in almost every aspect of travel when it comes to train passes, tickets, and even restaurants. So count those greys and get excited! You could be looking at up to 60% less expenses in train and rail passes around Europe just for being older than the first computers. That’s certainly something to be proud of.
There are also special tours that are made for older people that allow for a more accommodating pace, spacious seats, and more thorough tour guides.
3. Because what else will you do with all that retirement time?
So after Billie Jo and Mary Ann finish their respective sport, dance, and choir seasons, you have no more grandchildren to attend to and deserve to spend all the time you want on yourself.
And because you’ve been such a *responsible* adult, you have a bit of savings to splurge on a bit of luxury accommodation if you wanted. Things that a peasant like me could only hope and wish for in the future.
4. It’s more affordable now than when you were a child.
Remember when TVs, computers, and cell phones were luxury items and buying these things qualified as a modern-day mortgage payment? Oh we have it so good now.
The resources, budget airlines, and travel hacks out today can’t compete with anything that was around even a decade ago. Travel has never been cheaper and trendier. It’s the one thing you spend money on, but keep reaping rewards from.
5. Because one of the biggest regrets people have on their death bed is not traveling more.
And you don’t have to be that person. When was the last time you had a major regret? Whatever it was, at least it wasn’t on your deathbed where some people have run out of time to take action on their goals and dreams.
There’s still time to plan, save, and go on that getaway you deserve because not only will you find it to be one of, if not the, most rewarding things you do, but because this world is just too damn amazing to spend it only seeing and living in one part of it.
Read more about Gloria Atanmo’s travels on her blog, The Blog Abroad.
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