more observations from 'mature' travelling friends still on the road....

The are now in Portugal, and have been lucky enough to find a small furnished apt. in Porto for a couple of weeks because while hostels are good enough some of the time.....

1) You wake up about the same time everyone else staying at the hostel is coming home from the clubs

2) You make sure the breakfast you prepare (while everyone else is still sleeping including the night staff) has all four food groups, plus enough protein and fiber for the day, and you never forget your morning meds

3) You have made it a habit to request extra pillows and blankets before even seeing your room

4) You feel the need to mother youngsters who are far from home and don't know how to cook/clean/navigate/aim INTO the toilet

5) The girls visiting from Holland were born in 1990

6) The amount of hair you pull out when shampooing increases to the point of giant hairballs you have to hide from the youngsters lest you scare them with the realities of aging

7) Investment in earplugs

8) The American girls you've tried to engage in conversation have nothing to say until the cute guy who works at the front desk arrives, then they're giggly and perky as butterflies

9) Your husband is praying another tooth doesn't pop out during mealtime. Scares off the chicks.

10) You keep your olive oil, shampoo and other groceries in your room, not out in common areas like everyone else. Because you, not your parents, are paying for them!

Well said!

Thank you . . . everything you've written is so true . . .

When stuck in a quite decent hotel in Athens during the volcano, every night I had to get up early (for a tour or eventually a plane) I was woken about 2 or 3 in the morning by large groups of teenagers staying in the hotel. Their best trick was to phone my room number looking for their friends who were in nearby rooms. Unfortunately, the 24 hour desk staff seemed unable to do anthing.
My (schoolteacher) view is that their supervisors (they did have them) should have removed their phones from their rooms, at least after the second complaint.
This sort of behaviour is expected in hostels, but not in hotels.

I like the part about teen...I"m 66 and was stuck on a plane on the tarmac in Dallas after a trip in from their
Puerto Vallarta senior trip....drunk and roudy...for 3 hrs....I just took a Valium and stuck in 2 ear plugs.
Everyone was scream ing at Amer. Air and it WAS a NATURAL weather ....so hey you are on your own.
I was droggy and just waited .....then walked up asked if they could help me get a room ...I was so nice
( usually off the Valium , i"m demanding old lady) but they gave me a free night and then I asked does this hotel have a BAR that is open....so they immediately changed me to another upgrade. It pays to be nice ...especially when they don't have to be nice to us. Their only responsibility is to make sure we get there
safely. REmember that !

1. About 6 hours into a 14 hour flight...you go to the back of the plane to do leg exercises... To avoid "throwing a clot"...

2. You have learned the amazing benefits of having an alise seat....

3. A 6 bed dorm is your worst nightmare...

4. You know that at stripper bars the drinks cost $25 each...so the bill is not a big surprise.

5. You know that ready cash solves a lot of travel problems...

I agree wholeheartedly with #2 and #3 in post 5.

Ha ha ha, loved this. I had an experience at the night market in Luang Prabang, trying to engage a few 'youngsters' in conversation over our chicken on a stick. After 5 minutes of desperately trying to engage in traveller conversation and getting nada in return, I finally got the message when my husband said 'Lynne, they don't want to talk to you, you're too old, just get on with your chicken'. Quite put out by this I said in a rather confrontational and desparate way 'yes, but I cycled here, I bet I'm fitter than anyone on this table, despite being treble their age!'.

None of them were impressed, they all moved to the next table. Nice thing about getting old is that it doesn't really bother us because it doesn't really matter. The next day I had one of the hardest days cycling I'd ever had, Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. The thought of those young, beautiful people, sitting comfortably on an air conditioned bus heading towards the hedonistic capital of South East Asia was what spurned me on.

I AM interesting and I'm NOT old!

:)

I had to laugh and I am not even quite there yet. I have noticed though ... what happen to the travelers my age of 43? My hair is not falling out yet, but I I know keep the olive oil in my room and am scared of dorm rooms. Where are you?

do you mean me? if you do, i am on Van. Island.

LOL - and so true. Having said that, on several trips I've met up with/was confined with/travelled intermittently with, some 20 somethings, both groups and singles, and on each occasion they were absolutely delightful, interested in talking travel, insisting I go for dinner with them, night club/drink beer on the beach, etc. Maybe it's the part of the world where you happen to be travelling through that governs young 'uns reactions to us oldies.

Love that comment. Had a similar experience in a hostel in Paris. At breakfast a twenty something leaned over and whispered to us "you do know this a 'youth hostel' don't you?"

I am a 58 year old female.
Often when I am checking in to a hostel a young adult will come and stand near me.
They are waiting for me to get done checking in so that they can help me with my luggage.

Sat around a camp fire with three girls who were about ten years younger than me, they started talking about the ideal age for a boyfriend. I offered my tried and tested minimum and maximum age: no younger than my brother and no older than my dad. One of the girls looked me up and down and said: "At your age, I'd take anything I could get."
I was 31 at the time.

"I AM interesting and I'm NOT old!" Ah - but perhaps THEY aren't interesting. Many 20 somethings couldn't carry on a real conversation if they tried - they're not snubbing you, they are afraid of looking stupid.

That said, I've met some exceptional 20 somethings and even teens - all depends how they were raised and what interests they developed.

Quite put out by this I said in a rather confrontational and desparate way 'yes, but I cycled here, I bet I'm fitter than anyone on this table, despite being treble their age!'.

None of them were impressed, they all moved to the next table. Nice thing about getting old is that it doesn't really bother us because it doesn't really matter.

I AM interesting and I'm NOT old!
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Im not suprised they werent impressed, you just insulted them. No wonder they moved!

I laffed when back at work my buddy, now a partner in an accountants, could see the young troops sidling up around the photocopier on Friday arvo planning out their coming evening's big night out. When my mate asked 'So, we going out tonight?' they all mumbled excuses in their beards and scuttled off, just like we used to do when we were that age. Gee, I laffed!

I was chatting with a young German girl in Estonia lately and was talking about World War II. When I said that I remembered the war very well, she exclaimed, "Well, then, how old ARE you?"
World War II is 'ancient history' to them.