How age changes the way we travel

With age comes more savvy, more free time and a keener sense of what’s important…

Age doesn’t diminish wanderlust but it sure affects the way we travel: The physical, mental, and emotional changes commonly associated with aging lead to adaptations in travel style and preferences.

An AARP study of 2015 Baby Boomer Travel Trends found that older travelers anticipated taking 4 – 5 trips the following year. Most respondents (97 percent) planned at least one domestic trip and nearly half (45 percent) planned international ones. While most research on over-50 travelers focuses primarily on boomers, data on the Silent Generation (those born between 1925 and 1945) suggests that with improved health and increased longevity, these folks, too, are opting to travel as long as they can as opposed to retreating to rocking chairs and recliners.

“I wasn’t afraid to stroll instead of run.”

— says one Cruise Critic member

sOf course, age is only one factor—among many—affecting travel. Being part of the same age cohort doesn’t necessarily put everyone in the same proverbial boat: Individuals vary widely in terms of their economic status, lifestyle, interests, attitudes and values—along with health and physical stamina. Yet travelers (50 years and older) as well as experts can identify distinct differences between groups of older and younger travelers.

My latest article on PBS Next Avenue, entitled 6 Ways Age Changes How We Travel, describes some of the subtle and not so subtle ways that travel tends to change with age.

Click here to read the Next Avenue in its entirety.

The article was also published on MarketWatch on 3/10/17.