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Are you ever too old to take a RTW trip?
One BootsnAll member asked this very question recently, saying he’s a 38-year-old single guy with “fairly limited travel experience.” Not satisfied any longer with the 2-week trips he’s been taking, he’s been contemplating a RTW adventure lately. But he’s got some concerns, and he wanted some advice. So he asked this question on the BootsnAll message boards:
I’m no spring chicken, so I’m a little intimidated about quitting a great-paying job, and the lost savings and income potential for a two year journey (factoring in not only the trip, but maybe 6 months to find a new job). Not to mention the lost retirement savings (I have about 120K now, and not planning to touch that). A lot of the stories I’ve been inspired by on this site seem to be by younger people, who have the idea of doing a “Gap Year” or two before getting seriously into a career, or maybe early retirees who have no desire to return to a traditional working life after the completion of a RTW trip. Not too many by mid-career folks like myself…
Taking an extended break in the middle of your career can be a scary proposition, even if you’re really motivated to start a grand adventure. Just because you know you’ll regret it if you don’t do it doesn’t mean it’s easy! This BootsnAll member just wanted reassurance that this leap of faith he wants to take won’t come back and haunt him.
The great news is that he’s gotten plenty of positive feedback from other BootsnAll members who tell him he’s not only not crazy to be thinking about taking a RTW trip, he’s in a great position to do it. He seems to be feeling better about his decision, and has been getting some good advice from people who have been there and done that, and who didn’t end up destitute on the other end.
If you’ve got some experience to share, chime in!
October 21st, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I posted in that original thread… but I’d like to add that there is no such thing as being too old to go round the world, unless there is a specific reason - physical or otherwise - that prevents you from doing it. Age on its own is not a reason to avoid RTW travel.
I bought my one-way ticket to Cape Town when I was 43, leaving behind a great career - which, by the way, got even better when I came back three years later.
Along the way I met a 65-year-old Italian who was chasing a map - trying to put a pin into every country he’d visited; an 80-year-old South African hiker - I awoke in my dorm room to find him changing right next to me; a 70+ nun in Uganda, with whom I shared a room in a Kampala guesthouse; and remember Dervla Murphy, the author: she’s still going strong and must be at least 80.
And being older has a few advantages - seats on the bus, party animals keeping the sound a bit lower because you’re there, preferential treatment in countries where elders are respected.