This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
BackPacking Granny has demonstrated how much fun it is to go travelling with a girlfriend and on a budget. Not for her 5* hotels and 7 course meals, she would much rather experience the local customs and sample their fayre. She has been to Borneo to see the gorillas, Malaysia to improve her features, Greece to help the refugees, the French canals where she had to navigate a barge single-handed, tight-rope walking in Burma and is currently planning a trip to Cuba!
So there are no excuses because BPG is doing all of this having brought up four children and helping out with an increasing bevy of grandchildren.
I personally believe it is because all of us are guilty of thinking that we can’t because we have responsibilities, lack the funds, or are scared to step out of our box. However now is the time and if we don’t do it now when will we do it? The older we get the quicker time seems to whizz by. All I know is that every person that I have ever spoken to who has made such a life-changing trip never regrets it. There may have been mishaps, problems and issues but nothing that we don’t experience in our every day lives back home. We are so much more capable than we think and we now need to add a little daring into the mix.
I am just approaching this time of my life. So in preparation OH and I have made a list of places we each would like to see and the ones that overlap we are now planning to visit. It may take us a few years but there is much fun to be had in the planning. Of course we are so lucky with the internet as everything can be ‘Googled’ and that was how I came across this website, dealchecker, with an article called 60 after 60 – Top Travel Ideas for your later years.
I have become obsessed and now my list is growing longer. The article has given me so many ideas – The Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Beijing, Dance our way through Latin-America, Learn the Legacy of Whisky in Islay – the list is endless. The article also gives tips on how to organise a house swap, volunteering on a ‘golden’ gap year, or becoming a senior au-pair. All of these are helpful if you want to keep the costs down.
My days of lying on a sun-lounger, sipping Margaritas and burning myself to a crisp are over. But my days of discovering the real world are just beginning. My children have all had gap years, a modern phenomenon and one that I am now advocating, albeit a ‘late-life’ gap year.