Advice to those from 30-50

[AnnaGWS]

We never had a problem traveling with our daughter. She traveled to over 25 countries by the time she was ten years old. International flights were never a problem. As a toddler, she usually settled in nicely and slept most of the flight.

Now that she is a teenager (away at college), I find my fondest memories of her childhood are from our travels: zip-lining in Costa Rica, shark cage dive and surfing lessons in Hawaii, bicycling and cave exploration in Spain, fjords in Norway, trains all over Europe, cruises, etc. I would not trade a moment of it. Travel was very easy when we lived in Europe. Last minute trips where pretty cheap, too. She does not remember a lot of the details of our early travels, but I know they shaped her into the person she is today. She flies alone and/or with her friends during summers and breaks. She is very confident and loves it.

My husband has traveled frequently for his job; mostly overseas. We are going to Barcelona in a couple of months. He agreed to go because I caught him in a weak moment (LOL). But....he said this is it for him. He is done with recreational international travel. The time change is too hard on him. It takes him several days to adjust his sleep. Hopefully, I can convince him to go to Galapagos and Australia.

When he retires in 10 years (hopefully), we plan to get a camper and travel all over the US for a year or two.

[Ottawa2011]

I agree with the OP. Good health makes travelling easier, and the one thing that's a certainty with our elder years, is that our health will decline. Inevitably.

A relative of mine and his wife spent just about their entire careers planning for all the things they were going to do when they retired. Mostly they planned on travelling. They had detailed plans, destinations chosen... and he passed away the year he was supposed to retire.

Not that retirement planning is a bad thing...! Just saying: time waits for no one.

[Sand&Salt]

So, so true. Do it NOW while you can. I was always very active (job, too) with arduous hiking, white-water rafting, horseback riding, roller-blading, skiing, etc. Up till 2013 when joint problems took me down at age 58.


Now its just a stroll on the beach. I am SO glad I did my major travel when I could in my 40's. I figured then "these are my last *good* years, so I took 5 years off to horseback camp across the Pacific Crest Trail.


Yeah and the zip-lines in Hawaii and hiking out 7 miles to see the lava flow, nope, not now.


But I was still hoping to do the Galapagos, now that we are in Ecuador. Is that very strenuous? And I guess Machu Picchu is out of the question? Hard hiking?