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...

There's no such thing as independent travel. Travel depends on fuel supplies, seatmates, ticket collectors, farmers, traders, innkeepers, and governments. It depends on the weather, the landscape, employers, clients, the generosity of others, what your parents did or did not do, the person you're negotiating with, the capital-T Travel Industry, the authorities (and more generally,...