Doris on a Yak in Tibet.
Visit Doris’ website. Follow @boomertraveling
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”I’m told I was looking at a terrestrial globe when I was about five years old and said to my older sister: “One day I’m going to visit all the pink countries.”
You’re the author of Boomers’ Guide to Going Abroad to Travel|Live|Give|Learn.
What inspired you to write this book?
I wrote the guide when I found there was no information about travel specifically for people in my age group. Most books, websites and travel products were for younger travelers or much older ones.
Also, to someone who might not be familiar with the term “boomer” - could you explain what it means?
I’m part of the Baby Boomer generation — a group of people born between the years 1946 and 1964 — representing 78 million people in the USA and 100 million in the English-speaking Western world. What makes our travel needs different than those of the two groups at either side of us is that we’re somewhere between them in terms of risk aversion, activity levels, and on a whole lot of other points.
For example, we don’t want to go on sedate “Golden Ager” tours and cruises where you don’t do much all day but look at people and things. We need physical activity that provides intellectual challenges while involving the senses (like younger travelers). Don’t take us to a demonstration on cooking: let us shop for the food at the market, cook the food with the help of a chef, and dine on exotic dishes we’ve learned to make.
Another example offering a contrast against younger travelers might have Boomers staying in hostels, hiking in jungles and maybe even partaking of mild adventures such as zip-lining (I have) but most will probably not go so far as to bungee jump or rock climbing (like older travelers).
You’ve visited over 50 countries and lived in 5.
What are the five countries that you’ve lived in?
I grew up in Canada and immigrated to the USA as an adult so those are my first two countries: the first by birth and the second by choice because of opportunity and the Southern California weather. After traveling around the world for 42 months, I lived in Mexico, Costa Rica and China where my husband taught English as a foreign language while I wrote travel blogs, travel tips and my book.
What was it about each of the five countries individually that made you want to not just visit them but actually live in them?
Mexico is my all-time favorite country in the world despite the problems it’s currently experiencing. The people are warm and friendly, the culture is so inviting, the country itself is beautiful and much safer than you might think from reading media reports.
Costa Rica is an oddity because the capital of San Jose, where we lived, is crime ridden and poverty is obvious everywhere. The beaches and mountains are beautiful but it’s an expensive place to live considering the level of development.
China was an incredible experience especially since we don’t speak Mandarin (the Latin countries were easier as I’m fluent in Spanish) and most of our communications were carried out using charades. Being in China during this time of tremendous change was interesting and experiencing the culture first hand was something not to be missed.
How did your love of travel start?
I’m told I was looking at a terrestrial globe when I was about five years old and said to my older sister: “One day I’m going to visit all the pink countries.” It was my favorite color and Canada was pink. Growing up in Northern Canada with its long winters gave me a lot of time to lose myself in books where I traveled the world through my imagination. I left the North at 17 years of age and started by traveling across Canada several times, later traveled through the USA, then Europe, and eventually went around the world twice.
What’s some of the best travel advice you’ve ever received?
To not worry about every detail, have confidence that you can take care of issues as they arise, and just go.
What’s one country that you haven’t visited and would like to visit and why?
Russia.
The history fascinates me—the time of the tsars, the Russian Revolution, the fall of the Wall. As the largest country in the world—twice as large as Canada—it would be great to color all the countries I’ve visited on my terrestrial globe and see that most of the world was covered!
What would you like to do/see there?
I was in Hungary about 10 years ago and saw a society that hadn’t developed much under the USSR and would like to see the remnants of that in Russia before it completely disappears. I’d also like to go to Saint Petersburg to see the Hermitage Museum, maybe attend a performance of the ballet or philharmonic orchestra, and do a canal tour to experience the city the way residents did for hundreds of years before roads became the main way to travel.
