Tours
Classic cars in downtown Havana draw photographers galore. Photo by Clark Norton
I just returned from a week-long cruise to Cuba aboard the Greek ship Celestyal Crystal, in the company of 776 fellow passengers, many of them from the United States.
Along with some journalists who were guests of Celestyal Cruises, the Americans were aboard under the auspices of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, a Riverhead, New York-based “People to People” program promoting U.S.-Cuba relations.
The ship was also filled with Canadians, Germans, French, English and other nationalities who had been free to visit Cuba for years, mostly for Caribbean beach vacations.
Americans, on the other hand, have been highly restricted in travels to Cuba for decades, though things are now loosening up following President Obama’s recent rapprochement with Raul Castro.
As of March 16, 2016, just prior to Obama’s historic visit to Havana, Americans can now… Continue reading
This is one of the beautiful images you’ll find on StrideTravel.com. Photo by Dennis Cox.
“The Savvy Path to Breathtaking Travel, Without the Hassle”
“Less Planning, More Experiencing”
“A Journey of a Thousand Smiles Begins With a Single Click”
These are some of the taglines that express the essence of the new travel website, StrideTravel.com, where I worked for more than a year as Content Director. (My job is now in the capable hands of Content Coordinator Samantha Scott, who, together with co-founders Gavin Delany and Jared Alster, comprise a formidable team.)
In practical terms, Stride aspires to be — and in many ways already is — the best place on the Web to survey the wealth of multi-day, pre-planned trips that are now available from hundreds of travel suppliers around the world.
“Pre-planned trips” may encompass guided group or private tours as well as independent journeys… Continue reading
Beavertail cacti bloom in Kanab Creek, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Mitch Stevens.
In the spirit of the holiday season — and getting into shape after indulging in all those holiday parties — I’m running a guest post from my fellow Tucson, Arizona, resident Mitch Stevens, founder of Southwest Discoveries.
Mitch or one of his trained guides at Southwest Discoveries will take you on a personalized hiking tour in the Tucson region or around Arizona, including the Grand Canyon and Sonoran Desert. His market is primarily baby boomers and multi-generational hiking groups, which is how Mitch and I originally connected.
Appropriately, Mitch writes about the benefits of going hiking (which I can now do in the winter, having recently relocated from upstate New York to sunny Tucson — following in the footsteps, as it were, of countless other baby boomers heading south and west).
So I’ll hand… Continue reading
The author climbing a mountain in Switzerland, temporarily solo.
If you’re planning to travel solo — or, perhaps more to the point, worried about traveling solo — the infographic below from Solos, A UK-based travel company that specializes in singles tours of Europe, may help ease your mind.
Solos has been in business for more than 30 years, running escorted tours to the UK, Ireland, France, and Italy, and has been voted the Best Singles Holiday Tour Operator in the UK for the past four years. An experienced tour leader accompanies all tours and you’re guaranteed your own room, a big plus when compared to many other tours.
You can also choose tours designed for folks in the 50s-plus age range.
Solos is happy to work with American travelers, and has a special website directed to them, with prices listed in U.S. dollars. You can also go to their… Continue reading
Whitewater rafting trips are one good option for baby boomer adventurers. Photo from Whitewater Connection
Over the past several years, I’ve had the following exciting, sometimes scary, often challenging, but ultimately exhilarating adventures:
- Summiting a peak in British Columbia, then rappelling down the side of a cliff onto a glacier.
- Whitewater rafting in Nepal on class IV and V rivers.
- Riding a camel in the Sahara and Sinai deserts.
- Hiking for a week over the hills and dales of County Kerry in southwest Ireland.
- Feeling the rush of whales diving directly under my Zodiac and surfacing less than 20 yards away in Glacier Bay, Alaska.
- Biking 45 miles from the top of Maui’s Mount Haleakala to the shores of the Pacific, the world’s longest downhill bike ride.
- Swimming with piranhas in the Amazon.
- Mushing a dogsled team in Finland.
And I’ve done them all after the… Continue reading
You’ll cycle past castles and vineyards on the Castles and Wine tour offered by Tripsite. Photo from Portugal Bike Tours.
Many baby boomers have bucket lists — some of which include extraordinary bicycle trips through Europe (I know I do).
A company I’ve come across called Tripsite.com makes it easy to check off what they call your “Bike-It” list — which sounds preferable to “bucket list” anyway — with bike trips in more than 30 European countries as well as several in Asia and other parts of the world (including the U.S. and Canada).
And when I say easy, I mean easy.
You can search by type of tour (guided, self-guided, E-bikes — those are the bikes that give you an electric power boost when needed — and whether or not boat trips are included along with the biking portions).
You can also search by country, month… Continue reading
A European river cruise is a popular baby boomer travel choice. Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews
Periodically I like to remind travel marketers that baby boomers — now in our 50s and 60s — are a frequently overlooked travel market.
But why are we overlooked?
According to a recent AARP study, American boomers spend more than $120 billion (that’s with a “b”) annually on leisure travel. We plan to take an average of four or five leisure trips in 2015 alone. That’s more than any other age group.
Many boomers are still working and earning more than we ever have in our lives. Others of us are already retired and eager to hit the road or the skies — with both time and money on our hands.
For the most part, our kids are off on their own and we can look beyond Disney World, the all-inclusive beach resort,… Continue reading
Bike tours are cheaper in Europe this year if purchased in dollars.
A stronger U.S. dollar and falling euro values this year mean one very good thing for U.S. travelers headed over the Atlantic: the dollar will now go a lot farther in Europe than in any time in the past several years.
The current exchange rate is just about .93 euros to $1 U.S. — meaning Americans only have to fork over $1.07 to get one euro in exchange. That’s a big drop from the $1.30 or so per euro of recent years.
One U.S.-based company, BikeToursDirect, which represents European-based bike touring companies, points out that paying for your European bike tours in dollars can save you substantial amounts of money this year.
At the current exchange rate, BikeToursDirect (which I have previously written about here) now offers more than 200 tours under $1,000 and… Continue reading
Picture yourself alone on a tropical beach. Photo by Vale 979, Panoramio.
A female friend of mine, who has traveled extensively but usually in the company of family or others, recently remarked that she didn’t feel brave enough to travel alone.
Having traveled a lot on my own myself, especially in my younger days, and never feeling particularly threatened by it, I realize that single women may have a different perspective: Safety issues, getting hassled by unwanted attention, perhaps dealing with creeps who think they can take advantage of you, having to dine alone, and so on.
So I thought this would be a good time to reprise a post that first appeared more than a year ago, with a dozen tips for women traveling solo or considering traveling solo for the first time.
Never having traveled as a baby boomer woman myself, I asked my good friend and fellow… Continue reading
A Ganges morning in Varanasi, India. Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews.
You’ve done Europe’s Danube, Rhine and Seine, and maybe Russia’s Volga, Portugal’s Douro, or Central Europe’s Elbe.
You’re a devotee of river cruising, and you’re not alone. River cruising is the hottest segment of the cruise industry right now, fueled in large part by baby boomers who enjoy the small ships, the close-up passing scenery, and the informative shore excursions, often included in the price.
European waterways from Spain and Portugal east to the Black Sea are now teeming with river vessels, with more being launched every year.
Cruise lines such as Viking, Uniworld, AMA Waterways, Avalon, Scenic, CroisiEurope, and Emerald Waterways are all competing fiercely for your business there, churning out sleek new ships with tons of innovations like floor to ceiling windows that open up and turn into virtual “balconies” with sitting areas.
Uniworld just launched… Continue reading
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