RTW Backpacking for Older

check out the website www.couchsurfing.com its a fantastic site for travellers. You can hook up with people from all over the world and they can offer you a bed for the night in return for you maybe taking them for dinner or cooking them dinner and in return you offer them a place to other travellers - its the very best way of meeting locals and learning about local life and culture. - and its safe! check it out read up on it and have a wonderful trip

I 'backpack' on my own (I've just returned from a trans Mongolian trip through Russia, Mongolia and China) but I neither use hostels (ick) nor 5-star, western-style hotels. It's not the only two choices, you know . . .

I stay at simple, characterful small hotels/guest houses/pensiones as that suits both my budget (moderate but not shoestring) and my desire for privacy - when I choose it. I also enjoyed two 'homestays' on my most recent trips - in a village house on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia and in a Ger camp in Mongolia. Both allowed me to interact with genuine locals, rather than the other westerners who largely populate hostels.

If we won't fullfill our innermost old dreams, who should?

And unfortunately, like making art, its labor intensive.

old gawk saw; Two on-going problems, we old road monkies have; Whether to go back and see new faw scattered friends, or try that new place we've been wondering about.

And 2; What not to take this time, that we never use anyway.

happy trails. Stay actively curious.
rick steves money belt!

By the way: the night before you leave on your first big trip you will be a nervous ninny....thinking of all the things that might go wrong. Once you start on the trip...you will be just fine. then your mind is busy with just logistics and the wow of travel. Aloha
PS. Use a money belt.

FROM OP

This has turned out to be a very useful and inspiring thread. Thanks for all the GOOD responses. My original concern was being the only one in my age group staying in hostels, but you have all put me at ease about that. I enjoy mingling with the younger crowd but am over the party stage, so am excited to know I will have some mature travelers to connect with along the way also. You have all given me so much more info than I expected and encouraged me to get things in order to start this trip. When I do, I hope to have a blog and will post the link here for any of you that might be interested. Thanks again for your time in responding.

When I was in my late 40s and backpacking, I was usually the oldest one in the guest houses and hostels. Now that I'm 63, there is almost always someone my age, and usually someone older. The oldest backpacker I've met was 84.

I'm not even in good shape. I'm overweight, have arthritis, etc. etc. You should find it a lot easier than I do.

You are correct in your assessment that people who say it's a crazy idea really mean that it would be a crazy idea for them.

GO! GO! GO!

I read repeatedly on Thorn Tree years ago. So maybe that poster has actually checked this out;

"On your deathbed, you'll regret the things you never got around to trying."

When people, after your funeral, say the old "He led a full life."

Give 'em more stories.

rick steves,'thru the back door'...i started out at 60 so i took along a rolling duffel bag to save my back; tucked inside i had a school backpack. sometimes i left my duffel in storage at one hostel and carried the packpack for a week or two til i got back to the duffel.

young people are happy to see an older packer, that shows that they can do the same for many years. also, they are often willing to travel with your for a week or days until your destinations become different.

i never met any attitudes v. loud americans; i continuallly found people want to talk and ask questions about american life. people like a chance to use their english. you will need to learn hello, please, thank you, where is the...

i have seen people take the moneybelt off and tuck it under their pillow at night, big no-no.

i used two money belts; one around my waist and one around my neck for the train ticket and small money,etc.

when you stay in hostels you meet many other backpackers, yes, but they are from many other countries and they all have interesting stories to tell.

oh, and by the way, if you are worried about illness; you can go to a clinic in most countries of europe, once i walked into a pharmacy and drew a pic of a body and pointed to the pain and was given pills and a glass of water. a few minutes later i was pain free and what had been re-occuring for years in usa, was gone forever. two other times i got meds from the pharmacy. i got my blood pressure meds in ireland, cairo and isreal at the pharmacy.