Yesterday: A Baby Boomer’s Rite of Passage

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 →

An Aussie Boomer’s Rite of Passage, 1969-70

Published August 2, 2019 | By Clark Norton

Today I have the pleasure of introducing guest poster Sandy Coghlan, an Aussie Boomer who has written a diary-style book, Yesterday: A Baby Boomer’s Rite of Passage, about her sojourn in Europe in the magical mystery tour days of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Back then, it was literally cheaper to travel on the Continent than it was to stay home — especially if you were willing to catch a few winks on some overnight ferries, crash with friends or in inexpensive hostels, and maybe do some hitchhiking that didn’t always take you where you planned to go. (And many young travelers did just that.)

I enjoyed Sandy’s account in part because — despite our differences in nationality, gender, and travel experience — it reminded me of my own first adventures in Europe nearly 50 (gasp!) years ago: memorable moments of discovery and revelation, and perhaps even more… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, European travel, Foreign travel, singles travel | Tagged Australian baby boomer travelers, Carnaby Street. Monaco travel, European travel 1969-1970, London travel, Sandy Coghlan, Yesterday: A Baby Boomer's Rite of Passage | 4 Comments

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.