Baby boomer travel
Bicycling in Holland is the best way to see the countryside and get some exercise, too — but without hills to climb. Photo from Netherlands Board of Tourism.
Is there a better place in the world for baby boomers to take to bicycles than The Netherlands?
The country is mostly flat. It’s also incredibly scenic. Distances are short. There are bike paths everywhere. And just about everyone else is on a bike, too.
Here are some amazing stats:
* Holland has 18 million bicycles — 1.5 million more than inhabitants. And 84 percent of the Dutch population owns at least one bike.
*Holland has some 18,000 miles (29,000 kilometers) of cycling paths and nearly 3,000 miles (4,700 kilometers) of roads have special lanes for cyclists.
* There are at least a dozen different types of bicycles in Holland, according to the Netherlands Board of Tourism. You’ve heard of mountain bikes,… Continue reading
A tantalizing dish from Celebrity Cruises. Photo from Celebrity Cruises
No one — or almost no one — goes on a cruise expecting to lose weight. (A few specialty cruises do prepare diet or vegan meals intended to at least not add weight).
My friend Ed, a baby boomer who has struggled with a weight problem for years, has recently dropped 32 pounds through a strict diet averaging 1,300 calories a day supplemented by a vigorous walking routine. When I saw him a couple of months ago, I was impressed by his new look and his discipline at the dinner table.
He and his wife just got back from a Celebrity cruise in the Mediterranean that sorely tested his resolve, however. So I asked him how the diet went onboard, and here was his reply:
“The most difficult aspect of the trip for me was staying true to my year-old… Continue reading
Lee’s Summit, Missouri, hopes to attract multi-generational visits featuring baby boomer grandparents. Photo from Lee’s Summit Visitors Council.
Lee’s Summit, Missouri — a city of about 90,000 people and part of the Kansas City greater metropolitan area — is targeting baby boomer travelers who are planning to take multi-generational trips in the near future, hoping to capture some of that growing market.
I’ve written a number of times about the growing baby boomer travel trend of multi-generational travel — going on trips with your kids and grandkids, often three generations at once — such as in this piece, which focuses on boomers traveling with their grandkids, and this piece, which identifies a multi-generational trend in taking river cruises.
Lee’s Summit’s tourism sector — the Visitors Council, Chamber of Commerce and some private travel-related businesses — did some research and found that one out of three “baby boomers… Continue reading
American Cruise Lines’ Queen of the Mississippi. Photo from American Cruise Lines
I’ve written several times previously about the hot European river cruising market (most recently here).
But the U.S. river cruising market is getting torrid as well, thanks in large part to American Cruise Lines, a family-owned company whose six small ships cruise rivers and waterways throughout America. Nearly three dozen itineraries range from the islands of New England to Alaska’s Inside Passage, the Intracoastal Waterway of the southeastern U.S. to the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, and many points between — including the mighty Mississippi.
Late last week I attended a luncheon in New York City with American Cruise Line executives aboard one of their ships, the Independence, a three-year-old vessel that holds a maximum of 104 passengers.
The Independence was temporarily docked at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan after completing… Continue reading
A stony-faced Queen’s Guard.
An Australian publication recently nominated candidates for the four worst tourists of the past few years. (To my knowledge, none are baby boomer travelers.)
Here are the four, with names omitted to protect the innocent:
1. Everyone who has been to London has no doubt seen the Queen’s Guards who march and stand stony-faced in front of Buckingham Palace, and I’m sure there have been a number of tourists over the years who have tried to make them laugh, smile, or even give the slightest reaction. And it never works — or almost never. In 2009, one young man from Colombia was so obnoxious in mimicking a guardsman’s gait as he marched solemnly along that the guardsman broke ranks and went over to give the tourist an angry shove from behind. And really, who could blame him?
2. Halfway around the world, three British tourists,… Continue reading
The fabled Inca site Machu Picchu reached by “glamping” in Peru. Photo from Austin Adventures
In a previous post I talked about “glamping” — a contraction of “glamorous camping” — that seems ideal for baby boomer travelers who still seek adventure but don’t want to sleep on hard ground in tents anymore.
Some lodges have taken up the concept, offering roomy tents with beds in them — a creative piece of marketing — and now Austin Adventures (formerly Austin-Lehman), one of the premier adventure travel companies in the U.S., is offering a Peruvian trip called “Glamping on the Inca Trail,” with five departures in 2014.
It’s a 10-day, nine-night trip that leads from Lima to Machu Picchu via Cusco and the legendary Inca Trail, complete with plenty of high-altitude trekking that provides incredible views and takes you through a number of other Inca sites and an Andean… Continue reading
One of my favorite online discount cruise travel agencies is Vacations to Go, which always lists hundreds of heavily discounted upcoming cruises from dozens of cruise lines around the world, including both ocean and river cruises.
In one section of the site, Vacations to Go lists special discounts on certain sailings that are only good for passengers aged 55 and over on the day of departure. Just one passenger in each cabin needs to be 55 or over.
When you call a Vacations to Go counselor to book your cruise, be sure to mention your age. The cruise line will require proof of it before giving the discount.
The number to call there is 800-338-4962, but I would advise looking at the website first to see what’s available for your preferred destination, dates, and cruise line(s).
Carnival offers aged 55+ discounts as well. Photo from Carnival Cruise Lines.
Note… Continue reading
Mayor Bowers with his Spanish-speaking dog. Photo by Clark Norton
Most memorable travel moments revolve around people as well as sights and activities — often chance encounters on the road, sometimes fleeting, other times resulting in more long-lasting friendships.
Here are a few snapshots from my recent stay in and around Roanoke, Virginia, made possible by the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, which sponsored me and a number of other travel writers and photographers so that we could get an overview of the area, dubbed “Virginia’s Blue Ridge.”
In Roanoke, some of my encounters were pre-planned, others serendipitous.
My fellow writers and I were privileged to meet the mayor of the city, David Bowers, who greeted us on an overlook atop Mill Mountain, below the city’s iconic 100-foot-high illuminated star. (Read more about the star here.)
The mayor brought his “Spanish-speaking dog,” who, while not actually… Continue reading
Although I didn’t grow up in the South and have only lived there a few years — in Florida and North Carolina back in the 1970s — I always think of Southern cooking when I think of comfort food.
Biscuits at the Roanoker Restaurant — fluffy yet filling. Photo by Clark Norton
My favorite comfort foods, at least to start the day, are biscuits and sausage gravy (toss in some grits and my bliss is complete). And so it was that I started every day of my recent stay in Roanoke, Virginia, with the very same biscuits and sausage gravy. I was powerless to resist — there they were on restaurant menus, prominently featured, and there they were at the breakfast bar at my Best Western hotel.
Are biscuits and sausage gravy the healthiest foods on the planet? Probably not. But how often am I in Roanoke, Virginia, which,… Continue reading
A pastoral scene near Roanoke, Virginia. Photo by Clark Norton
In my previous post, I talked about my trip last week to the Roanoke, Virginia, area, and what I regard are the smart marketing techniques of the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau by hosting travel writers and photographers from around the U.S. and Canada to experience an area they might otherwise not visit.
The trip was organized by the Florida-based public relations firm Geiger & Associates, who work out every activity down to the minute and somehow manage not to lose any writers — who rank right up there with cats in the “herding difficulty” scale — along the way.
Now I want to detail some things I learned about Roanoke and surroundings — well branded as “Virginia’s Blue Ridge” — that might be of interest to baby boomer travelers.
So in no particular order, here… Continue reading
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