As I was sitting in Patan’s Durbar Square a few weeks ago, I noticed a couple elder tourists escorted by a guide: they were taking pictures, bending into unnatural shapes. The DSLR cameras they were shooting with looked like some sort of futuristic gear they could barely handle. They seemed quite clumsy and out of...

Nearly nine years ago, I made the most drastic decision of my life. I walked away from 36 years of corporate life to pursue a career as a travel writer and photographer. I remember very clearly the day I left the U.S. I was exhausted from years of working 70 hour weeks and excited to...

I struggled down the narrow aisle of the rattletrap bus to my seat near the back, where the stench of gasoline permeated the air. Concerned that other passengers would not be able to get by, I stuffed my backpack on the floor behind my feet and my suitcase in the aisle next to me. I...

I stepped from the dimly lit terminal into the parking lot at at Havana International Airport. Blinking to let my eyes adjust to the brilliant sunshine, I marveled at row upon row of classic cars, their rounded silhouettes a chorus line of humpback whales. I knew about Cuba’s classic cars, but had not expected to...

Last weekend, I landed at Miami International Airport after spending a week in Cuba. My tour-mates, tired and bedraggled from a week crammed with activities, dutifully queued up behind a long line at Immigration. I breezed through Immigration, collected my luggage, took the Green lane at Customs, and was checked into my airport hotel room...

The day that smart phones became available, travel changed forever. Immediately, my smart phone became my watch, my alarm clock, calendar, address book, notebook, mirror, and even my flashlight, lessening the number of devices and the weight I needed to carry. As more and more travel apps became available, my smart phone quickly became my...

A record 23 million passengers are expected to take cruises around the globe in 2015, according to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which recently made the projection in its annual State of the Cruise Industry Report. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of ocean cruising. As a long-term, independent traveler who immerses in the...

In the wake of recent terror attacks in Paris and an article in an Al Qaeda magazine that provided instructions for making a bomb that is undetectable by current airport security technology, the U.S. State Department issued the following travel warning for Americans traveling abroad: “Recent terrorist attacks...serve as a reminder that U.S. citizens need...

Not long ago I was asked to write an article about the differences between traveling independently as a senior and a twenty or thirty-something. Admittedly, I bristled. I replied that the essence of travel was the same regardless of our age. We all visit new places to satisfy our curiosity, to experience something different, and...

Nine years ago, bedridden with a debilitating case of chronic Lyme disease, I examined my life. For 36 years I’d slaved away in jobs I detested because they provided me with a good living, but despite having all the material things that money could buy, I was miserable. In that rare moment of clarity, I...

The Wall Street Journal had a story titled, " The let's sell our house and see the world retirement ." A couple, Lynn and Tim Martin, decided to ditch the stereotypical retirement lifestyle and hit the road. Here's how Lynn describes it: In short, we're senior gypsies. In early 2011 we sold our house in...

Latourex, short for Laboratoire de Tourisme Experimental, is a couple of French charmers who developed their experimental travel techniques to make their trips more interesting. Instead of just doing the same old same old -- go to a place, look at its museums, drink coffee at coffeeshops, attempt to blend in while suavely writing in...

I'd never thought much about senior travel until a wrinkled yet muscled man sat down next to me on the Pokhara to Kathmandu bus. Preston had lived in Mexico, Hawaii, Nepal, Thailand and more -- he'd been on the road for most of his life. He'd relied on his wits and his skills to take...

Some of you may already be familiar with Elderhostel, the hostelling and alternative travel group geared primarily towards retirees or older travelers. Elderhostel has become Exploritas , explained as a combination of explore + veritas -- meaning truth in travel. This is a message I can get behind. The overly slick website aside, I appreciate...

This recent New York Times piece highlights old age as a never-ending adventure, but there are far more desperate, fundamental reasons why elderly people are deciding they'd rather be abroad than at home. Here are three less-discussed motivations for senior long-term travel (the first two are illustrated below by Lawrence Osborne 's unflinching Bangkok Days...