Lying on the beach and sipping margaritas isn’t everyone’s idea of the perfect vacation. Some people resist taking a vacation because they prefer to stay busy and they cringe at the thought of a week or more of idle time. Programs like Elderhostel, TraveLearn, or AmeriSpan might be just the thing for those folks.
Elderhostel is a not-for-profit organization aimed at life-long learning for people over 55. Wherever you want to travel, there’s probably a program there. Elderhostel is for those who want to learn as they travel an area that’s close to home or around the world, and there seems to be a program for everyone. And the real question is not so much “where do you want to go”, as “what do you want to do”?
Do you love the outdoors, hiking, rafting, or bicycling? Are you into art and cultural? How about learning to play the banjo, improve your writing skills, study painting or photography? Maybe you’d like the grandkids to come along; some programs are for mixed generations. And there are service programs... giving time and skills to help others.
Programs include more than a cursory tour of the location. Field trips explore and lectures explain the history of the area. An art tour to Belgium and Holland might trace European art from the 14th century, introduce local artists, explore museums, and tour gardens. The Scottish Highlands is an active walking program, averaging 3-6 miles a day. Meanwhile, learn the history, see the countryside, taste the food and hear the music of the Highlands. Enjoy workshops on history, birds, archeology, or local cooking. Back in the United States, follow the path of the armies of the North and South in the final days of the Civil War. A military historian leads field trips to important stops on the paths of both armies.
Creative programs are offered for beginners or the more advanced in an array of projects. Learn to create a painted floor cloth or weld sculptures from found objects at workshops in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. One Eastport, Maine, workshop helps get digital photos from your camera to the computer, while others will help hone your mystery writing skills or improve your oil painting techniques.
If outdoor adventure is your ideal, there are endless options for you here. Hiking, bicycling, rafting, horseback riding, hot air balloon rides, snorkeling, sailing, and any other activity you can imagine is there for you to enjoy with folks your own age. If you choose a multigenerational program, be prepared for children to be along.
This is merely the tip of the Elderhostel iceberg. There are over 10,000 programs offered in 90 countries. And Elderhostel is not the only program that offers a learning experience to the 55 and over set. And not the only one to offer the most interesting of all programs, the service program.
Service programs are an opportunity to give something back to the world we live in. In a service program you might work with street children in Brazil, teach English to school children in Italy or China, research or excavate woolly mammoths in South Dakota, maintain trails or plant flowers in various national, state, or city parks, aid in preserving a lighthouse or historic Shaker building, inventory historic cemeteries, track humpback whales, build an orphanage in Chile, help provide clean water in Nicaragua, restore a cottage garden in Virginia, or offer any number of services at The Children’s Foundation at John Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. The need is world wide. Desire to help, not skills, are all that’s required. A service vacation is an opportunity to live among, and learn about, other cultures. It’s an opportunity to give back a little of what we’ve learned in our more than 55 years on this earth.
Maybe you’re eager to learn a new language, study in another country? AmeriSpan is a language travel organization, calling itself the bridge between cultures. AmeriSpan offers language programs include optional homestays that encourage learning the culture of the country, as well as the language. Travel to Quebec City, where 95% of the population speaks French. Attend small classes in Vieux Quebec, the city’s Old Town, for 4 hours a day, then explore the history of the city on your own. Learn Russian in St. Petersburg, Russia... the city of Czars. This cultural center holds many festivals and special events that are certain to enhance your knowledge of Russia and it’s culture.
While AmeriSpan isn’t just for mature travelers, it does recommend favorite destinations for those over 55. They suggest nine language programs that appeal to older adults. Cuernavaca, Merida, and Oxaca in Mexico, Quito and Cuenca in Ecuador, Sucre in Bolivia, San Jose in Costa Rica, Antigua in Guatemala, and Marbella in Spain. AmeriSpan grades each of it’s programs in four areas... language program, homestays, school atmosphere, and site location... and adds detailed pro and con comments about each program. Additionally, employees of AmeriSpan are world travelers and have offered helpful remarks about what they do or don’t like about each program destination. With more than 80 schools to choose from offering 20 languages, AmeriSpan probably has a language program wherever you want to travel.
TraveLearn bills it’s self as being for people who take their minds with them on vacation. Lectures and field trips are conducted by experts from the area. Small groups of travelers allow for closer interaction with lecturers and the local population. A trip to Egypt will not only include everything you would expect to see on such a trip, but you may also learn about today’s Egypt, recent archeological finds, and the changing role of women in today’s society. An upcoming sixteen day China tour highlights the Yangzte River. Just a few of the scheduled details include the Great Wall, the Three Gorges dam project and an opportunity to talk with people who have been forced to move because of the project, a cruise on the Yangzte River, Chinese cooking demonstrations, lectures on China’s one child policy, a visit to a university in Xi’an for a lecture on Chinese education and to meet with some of the students, and attendance at a performance of the Shanghi Acrobatic Circus.
Look into the many resources for learning vacations. Magazines such as Transitions Abroad or Travel with a Challenge are full of information and destinations and are a good place to start searching. However and wherever you decide to spend your vacation, learn as you go.
