baby boomer travel
Ellen Perlman of BoldlyGoSolo (top) on Maui. (She did ride the bike down Haleakala volcano solo.) Photo courtesy of boldlygosolo.com
Last week I was interviewed about baby boomer travel for a recorded series called the Age Busters Power Summit, which will air sometime on or after March 13 (I’ll have more specifics in a later post).
The target audience is baby boomer women, and — never having traveled as a baby boomer woman myself — I asked my good friend and fellow travel writer Ellen Perlman, who writes a blog called BoldlyGoSolo.com, to give me a few pointers about what to suggest to women traveling alone.
Her tips were so valuable that I want to pass them along on my own blog.
While they pertain to just about any woman traveling solo, a baby boomer woman who is trying solo travel for the first time might find these especially… Continue reading
Vilnius, Lithuania — if you leave tomorrow, you can get a great deal on a flight there via Kayak.com.
Whenever I book a plane flight, I always turn first to the website Kayak.com, which displays an array of choices from a wide variety of airlines, and allows you to sort by price, airline, preferred takeoff or landing times, and flight duration.
You can also compare Kayak’s findings against different sites like Priceline, Hotwire and Expedia, so you get a pretty complete picture of what’s out there before you book. And Kayak lets you compare hotel and rental car offerings as well.
But when I went to the site yesterday, I noticed something new — at least new to me.
It’s a feature called “Explore,” which shows you “where you can go for how much.” That is, you can see the lowest fares for round-trip economy-class flights to destinations around the… Continue reading
A boat sails through Qutang Gorge, one of the fabled Three Gorges, along China’s Yangtze River. Photo by Liu Liqun/ChinaStock.
River cruising has been one of our big topics recently, and for good reason: it’s the hottest segment of the cruising market, and it’s become a global craze, especially popular among baby boomers.
Asia is one of river cruising’s new hotspots, and while China’s Yangtze River cruises have been around for a while, it’s hard to think of a better way to experience the country than cruising through China’s heartland, with visits to Shanghai and Beijing on either end of a nine-day river voyage.
Pacific Delight Tours, one of America’s leading tour operators to China, has just announced a two-week all-inclusive package that includes those three highlights — as well as transpacific airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to boot (airfare from JFK in New York will… Continue reading
The foldable front cover of the “studio” iPad Air case converts to viewing as well as typing modes. Photo by Lia Norton.
The “studio” iPad Air case comes in a variety of colors. Photo by Lia Norton.
If you’re like a number of other baby boomers I know, you’re trying to keep up with the latest generations of iPads and iPhones. (Yes, it’s true, baby boomers are big consumers of all things Apple.)
You might even get a free upgrade — but you still have to buy new protective cases.
Perhaps knowing that I’m always dropping my smartphone and tablet and generally treating them roughly when I travel, STM Bags asked if I’d like to review a couple of their cases. I wasn’t familiar with STM, but that’s all the more reason to see what they had to offer, and I’m always glad to keep up with the… Continue reading
Hiking along Virginia’s Appalachian Trail is a favorite activity of international visitors. Photo by Clark Norton
In yesterday’s post, we asked the rhetorical question “Can A Rebranding Campaign Boost Tourism to the U.S.?”
According to new research that’s just out, apparently so.
Brand USA, a public-private partnership that aims to improve the image of the U.S. around the world for the purpose of increasing international visitation to the States, is now citing a study by Oxford Economics that shows the new advertising campaign — called “Discover America, Land of Dreams” — resulted in 1.1 million new visitors to the U.S. in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013. That’s a 2.3 percent increase over the number that would have visited without the campaign.
Those 1.1 million visitors, according to the study, spent $3.4 billion in the U.S. and had a total impact on the economy of $7.4 billion, supporting… Continue reading
From Maine’s Acadia National Park….
If you’ve traveled overseas recently, you may have noticed a well-produced ad that promotes the United States as an alluring tourist destination: part of the first U.S. national advertising campaign designed to draw more international visitors to America.
The campaign is called “Discover America, Land of Dreams,” and the commercial now running in Germany and other countries features Rosanne Cash singing her song “Land of Dreams” while images of America — from Manhattan to California to Florida to New Orleans — flash across the screen. The Americans pictured reflect the country’s diversity: Muslim women in New York, an Asian-American man riding a motorcycle, a gay couple on a San Francisco cable car, a blonde woman in the Florida Everglades.
Spearheading the campaign is a public-private partnership called Brand USA, with the federal government and the U.S. tourism industry joining forces to promote the country as… Continue reading
Uniworld’s River Victoria sails Russian waterways. Photo from Uniworld Boutique River Cruises.
River cruising has gone global, in a big way.
In yesterday’s post, we had a look at the phenomenal rise of European river cruising over the past few years, to the degree that many 2014 cruises are already sold out or nearly sold out.
Baby boomer travelers are the primary driving force behind the river cruise phenomenon, which has averaged a 14 percent annual growth over the past decade. (Just 20 years ago, most European river cruises were day cruises only.)
One line alone, Viking River Cruises — which caters mainly to baby boomers — will soon have 48 river cruise ships operating on European waterways, with 30 of them launched in the past three years.
In Russia, a series of waterways links Moscow and St. Petersburg. Viking, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, Imperial River… Continue reading
The Viking Europe river boat, part of Viking’s rapidly expanding fleet. Photo from Viking River Cruises.
If you haven’t booked your planned 2014 European river cruise by now, you may be out of luck — at least for your preferred cruise line, cabin or destination.
European river cruising is the hottest trend in the cruise world right now, with many 2014 cruises already selling out or almost sold out. And its popularity is being driven largely by baby boomer travelers, who can afford to pay more per day than on a typical ocean cruise.
Several river cruise lines and travel agents who book cruises say they’re now more focused on 2015 than on 2014. This despite a rash of new ships being introduced into the market:
* Viking River Cruises, the giant of the industry, is launching 14 new European river ships in March, bringing its total there to… Continue reading
The Aranui 3 journeys through the remote Marquesas Islands. Photo by Clark Norton
We all know the feeling of looking forward to a particular trip for weeks, months — sometimes even years if we have to save enough money or find the time to do it.
And then the trip takes place. And then, all too soon, it’s over.
What now?
You might feel a natural letdown, at least for a while. But then memory sets in.
Whether or not those memories are good, bad or indifferent will probably spell the difference between whether or not you’ll return to that destination, lodging, or cruise line; or recommend to or warn against taking a similar trip to your family and friends; or take another tour with the same operator or decide to look elsewhere next time.
For baby boomer travelers, memories are perhaps even more important than for younger… Continue reading
Aroma Thyme’s lamb burger with vegetables on the side. Photo from Aroma Thyme Bistro.
My first encounter with Aroma Thyme Bistro, located in the town of Ellenville in New York’s Hudson Valley, was at a fundraiser for our local public radio station. Called Foodstock because of its proximity to the original Woodstock concert site, the event brought together restaurants from around the region to give out free samples (once you paid your way in) and perhaps lure you to come dine with them in the future.
Aroma Thyme Bistro stood out for two reasons.
First, they didn’t just hand out any old samples. They handed out samples of one of the two most expensive items on their menu, rare sesame crusted albacore tuna with Sriracha and peanut glaze. It was so good I came around twice, hoping they wouldn’t recognize me from the first time.
Second, they gave out free… Continue reading
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