Gibraltar travel

Meet Your Kissing Cousins in Gibraltar

Published September 30, 2020 | By Clark Norton

A view from the top of the Rock, with Spain in the background. Photo by Clark Norton

Like Contributing Writer Robert Waite, I was also thrilled to finally set foot on the Rock of Gibraltar — in our case, it was a few years ago, when my wife and I approached it by sea from Morocco.

Previously, we had passed it a few times while crossing the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain to North Africa, but from a distance all you see is a…rock. Not that it isn’t an impressive rock — one time I wasted almost an entire roll of film trying to photograph it from too great a distance — but when you approach it it quickly becomes apparent how alive it is with people and activity.

I’ll let Bob take it from here — with a hearty recommendation that you visit when you can.

By Robert Waite… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, cultural travel, European travel, museums, Shopping | Tagged Barbary apes, Gibraltar, Gibraltar macaques, Gibraltar National Museum, Gibraltar travel, Neanderthals, Rock of Gibraltar | Leave a comment

An Aussie Boomer’s Rite of Passage, Part 2

Published August 3, 2019 | By Clark Norton

Rome’s Trevi Fountain, 1970

When we last left Sandy Coghlan, an Aussie baby boomer who has written up her 1969-70 European travels in her new book, Yesterday: A Baby Boomer’s Rite of Passage, she was in Monaco enjoying the somewhat casual changing of the guard in front of Prince Rainier’s and Princess Grace’s fairytale palace.

If you haven’t read Part I of excerpts from her travel diary, you can go there now. As with Part I, I’ve added some of my own notes to provide context. Sandy has included her vintage photos and a few postcards from her travels.

We pick up the narrative in Rome, where she has gone to work as an au pair, looking after five children under the age of seven. (She confesses she got the job by saying she was the oldest of five children and had lots of experience looking after her… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, European travel, Women travelers | Tagged Aussie travelers, Barcelona travel, European travel 1969-1970, Gibraltar travel, Hitchhiking, Roman Colosseum, Sandy Coghlan, Spain travel 1970, Yesterday: A Baby Boomer's Rite of Passage | Leave a comment

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.