The time has come to set out for the sacred ground
- the mountain, the temple, the ancestral home -
that will stir our heart and restore our sense of wonder.
- Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage
On the last afternoon of my thirties, I sat across from my friend Maria at an outdoor cafe. I took a sip of chai and fretted: 鈥淚 think I鈥檓 out-aging my lifestyle.鈥� We were in Pokhara, Nepal, one of the world鈥檚 well-known backpacker ghettos. Chinese, Europeans, and Americans wandered by, most in their early twenties and on a gap year. They shouldered oversized bags and pared their hiking boots with loose pants procured probably from the beaches of KohPhangan.
Maria refilled my chai while I reminisced like a pre-mature grandma. 鈥淚 used to be one of them鈥� before the phrase 鈥榞ap year鈥� even existed.鈥� 16 years before I鈥檇 wandered down this same Pokhara street, gorging on winter sunshine, banana lassis and fleeting friendships. Time was cheap and I shelled through days like peanuts鈥攋ust because there seemed to be so many of them.
Now here I was again on the brink of 40 with a travel resum茅 that rivaled Marco Polo鈥檚. I鈥檇 piloted junky vehicles through Malaysia, searched for sea turtles in Koh Tao, dog-sat in Amsterdam, cat-sat in Fez, braced against the winds of Tarifa, and climbed the Rock of Gibraltar. Never mind the gap year, I鈥檇 had a gap decade.
I was suddenly haunted. Would this life-long rambling lead to ruin and rootlessness? Would I die in a bed in Tangier? Lose my mind in the Sahara? End up Queen of Cannibals? Or worse, would my adventure ambitions sag into somnolent cruises and stale bus tours?
鈥淛ust think of Dot,鈥� Maria consoled. We鈥檇 just finished up a trek with the 86-year old Dot Fischer-Smith. Dot is known around southern Oregon as an activist and is a life-long traveler. She is tough and carefree, huffing her bike up the long grade of Oak Street in Ashland in the August heat, dancing front row in loose dresses at summer concerts. Being abroad seemed only to enhance Dot鈥檚 spark, and she inadvertently dazzled us several times: when she origami-ed her limbs into tortoise pose in front of Annapurna South, when she bent to pick up a fifty pound basket of rocks, and when she took off for a solo jaunt up Pokhara鈥檚 Sarangkot Mountain.
But for all her insistence that she is 鈥渙rdinary,鈥� Dot felt like an exception鈥攏ot an entirely accessible role model for the average traveler. But what does adventure look like for the average elder?
I scanned the streets of Pokhara. Its rough and dusty ambiance didn鈥檛 offer the most random sampling. The elders there were all rather Dot-like: trekking, cycling, meditating, rafting and volunteering. But with a bit of research, I found that the overall trend was there. With longer lives and better health, older travelers are one of the largest growing sectors of the adventure tourism industry. Travel companies are now catering to specifically to their needs and wants鈥攚hich is to forgo sedate tours and take on more active and experiential itineraries.
鈥淐omfort travel doesn鈥檛 much interest me,鈥� Christine Jinga, 66, explained. 鈥淐ertainly cruising with couples ticking off the sites feels a little abhorrent. Taking a public bus, meeting a young Nepali woman, later her boyfriend, then dinner with his family that night 鈥� those accidents of trust and chance are what appeal in travel.鈥�
鈥淎dventure before dementia!鈥� exclaimed 73-year old Barrie Peters, quoting a bumper sticker in Australia. He and his wife, Marleen have travelled to India, Yemen, Ethiopia, Oman and many other countries. 鈥淲e travel at every opportunity,鈥� he said.
I continued to research and chatted with as many of these adventure-elders as I could. Here is what they had in common:
A DEMAND FOR MEANING
Perhaps when you are young, just taking in the wonder of being somewhere new and foreign is its own purpose: the people, the architecture, the colors, the food, the release from the sometimes oppressive cliques and concerns of high school, university, and life in general. But older travelers seem to seek even more.
Phil Cousineau, travel guru and author of the book The Art of Pilgrimage takes note of his evolution over a lifetime of travel: 鈥淲hen I was young I traveled for exhilaration and strange encounters鈥s time goes by I am far more concerned with finding what the ancients called 鈥榯he soul of the world,鈥� the essence of the culture I鈥檓 visiting, and my soulful response to it.鈥�
鈥淚 have that impulse to travel, but I need a reason. I need a purpose,鈥� explained Fisher-Smith. She鈥檇 spend five summers in Ladakh, India, protesting globalization and had come to Nepal to assist with our writing workshop.
The other older travelers echoed this. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 just sit around,鈥� said Peter Lane. I met him wheeling a mountain bike down the street. He seemed particularly aware of the inner journey, conceiving his travels as more of a pilgrimage, rather than a mere trip. In that vein, he鈥檇 just finished up a month long Buddhist retreat at the Kopan Monestary in Kathmandu. He was content to spend a bit of time in Pokhara, but not too long. He looked around at the bakeries and pubs鈥攁 stark contrast from the monastic setting he鈥檇 just been immersed in. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 waste time,鈥� he said.
SURRENDER
Woody Allen said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. By the time you are beyond 50, you have an experiential understanding of this concept. If upturned plans are almost a law of physics, it is somehow magnified in travel where there are so many more variables for the deities to tinker with. For that reason, almost all the older travelers I met had honed the art of going-with-the-flow.
鈥淚 have no itinerary, and I only book one way tickets,鈥� Peter continued. 鈥淒ay by day I make a choice about what I鈥檓 doing next.鈥� In Asian countries, this spontaneous approach seems to work the best for him. 鈥淵ou have to follow intuition because strict plans don鈥檛 work in these areas.鈥�
Dany Blue, 69, has traveled all of her life鈥攖oting her kids along on overland journeys through Tunisia, Morocco, Yugoslavia and Greece. She used to adhere to strict plans, for the sake of her kids and family. But since that time, divorces and employment upheavals have loosened her grip on life鈥檚 wheel鈥攊n a wonderful way. With boxes in India and France and no sense of a permanent home, she has embraced the unknown. 鈥淏efore I wanted things; now I trust life. I have no idea what the future will bring 鈥︹�� She looked off down the dusty road, 鈥渂ut it will be great.鈥�
Christine went through a similar expectation-shedding after a divorce. 鈥淚 threw the tent in my car and headed out into western NSW Australia to sleep on the earth and live with just the bare essentials. Those four or five days were probably the essence of travel for me now - not too much planning, being open to the random.鈥�
Barrie reflected back on his early travels: 鈥淚 used to be quite impatient鈥ut at the end of the day you鈥檒l get the best out of a culture by being pleasant and smiling. There is no point in complaining. It isn鈥檛 going to do anything anyway.鈥�
THE DESIRE TO CONTRIBUTE
The elders I met expressed a strong desire for a reciprocal relationship with a place, although not always through a formalized programs. Dany was helping her trekking guide rent a house for his family and remains committed to supporting them until they have achieved autonomy.
Older travelers are one of the largest growing sectors of the adventure tourism industry.
I met France-native Lily Lefond on a sunny Christmas Day. She missed her grandson but had plans to spend the holiday with a Nepali family. The retired teacher began her relationship with Nepal long ago, spending most of her time engaged in school projects. 鈥淭he first time I came to Nepal I was just helping on my own,鈥� she explained. 鈥淎ll of the children need help. 鈥� She has since been able to magnify her efforts through an organization called Association Babu Nepal. She enjoys lazy-time in places like Pokhara, but enjoys witnessing children鈥檚 gratitude even more. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 come without presents or money,鈥� she said, glancing at her ring, made from an old copper coin she purchased from a homeless street vendor alongside the road.
Marleen and Barrie were in Pokhara to volunteer at Three Sister Trekking鈥攁n agency they were referred to seven years before when they came to Nepal to walk the Annapurna Circuit. The agency trains and employs female porters and guides, an option appreciated by many solo women travelers. Through volunteering, Barrie and Marleen have become deeply connected with the girls and now return every winter to help with marketing, English-speaking skills, and training.
PHYSICAL CHALLENGE
When they weren鈥檛 volunteering, Barrie and his wife were regular trekkers, as were a lot of the older people I chatted with. He admitted things are changing since they trekked here 30 years ago. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more uncomfortable. It鈥檚 getting harder to sleep on solid beds and solid pillows. Every time we come back from a trek, I ask: Is this going to be our last trek? Then I brush off my boots and go again.鈥�
Dot derives a certain vitality from the discomfort. 鈥淚鈥檓 a primitive at heart. If I believed in past lives, I鈥檇 say that I have had many peasant lives. There is something about being in little bamboo hut on a little board bed 鈥 don鈥檛 know how to explain it. I feel more connected to myself.鈥�
Christine surprised herself by signing up for parahawking flight鈥攁 combination of paragliding and falconry. 鈥淚 really never planned to paraglide - but I felt utterly confident in the skills of the team, knowing that the car and bicycle I use in the city present much greater risks. Flying with vultures, watching the dawn on Annapurna One鈥攁ll offer a moment in the divine.鈥�
If there is a down side to traveling into elder-hood, it鈥檚 the pain of seeing the world change鈥攐ften for the worse. Most missed the way that travelers used to interact with each other pre-Internet, trading tips on the obstacles and delights ahead.
Development and modernization also proves a bit traumatic. Marleen looked across the street to a high-rise hotel and mused, 鈥淭his whole lakeside used to be grass. The trekking routes are more crowded now, too. Thirty-years ago this was a new frontier.鈥�
Dot also remembers Pokhara from a visit thirty years before. 鈥淭here is memory, there are contrasts, things that come up about the past, things you wish were different.鈥� She looked out at the hotels. Horns honked below us, dust swirled up from the street in the wake of traffic, and a line of tall shops now blocked the lake view. 鈥淭his was just a little town 鈥irt roads. It鈥檚 just tragic to me.鈥�
鈥淚 try not to keep dwelling on what was,鈥� she continued. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a task. But it鈥檚 always a task to be in the present. That鈥檚 my thread that I follow 鈥ust to be present with what is. I certainly don鈥檛 always succeed at it.鈥�
Despite all these drawbacks, all felt that traveling into old age helps keep a person young and sharp. Dany was struck by how her older self contrasted with her younger self鈥攖he one who struggled with divorce, the expectations of others, and jobs she didn鈥檛 want.
鈥淚鈥檝e never felt as young as I do now. At twenty, I was an old woman inside. Now I鈥檝e regained my sense of curiosity.鈥�
On the morning I turned 40, I strolled Pokhara鈥檚 lakefront. Raft-laden Jeeps idled in the road and paragliding wings colored the sky. I spied mountain bikes and drift boats, and trails heading off in every direction. I stopped at a caf茅, ordered a coffee, and contemplated the birthday message a friend posted on my Facebook wall: 鈥淭he view is different on this side,鈥� he messaged, 鈥渂ut I think you鈥檒l like it.鈥� It felt true. The adventure was just beginning. My vagabond future looked bright.
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SAGE ADVICE
Only take short tours to get started.
Seek local places to eat and sleep,
you鈥檒l see more of the culture.
鈥� Peter Lane 鈥�
Don鈥檛 be scared, but be cautious.
Don鈥檛 be over confident, but dare.
鈥� Dany Blue 鈥�
I think you need to be healthy,
or have a very strong younger companion
who is willing to hold your hand to
鈥榡ump across the river鈥�.
鈥� Dot Fisher-Smith 鈥�
Don鈥檛 just read about a place.
You can鈥檛 imagine it.
Just go.
鈥� Lily LaFond 鈥�
If you have issues with patience,
go to India.
鈥� Barrie Peters 鈥�
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On April 25th, several months after this story was written, Nepal was struck by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Tandem para颅gliding pilots and other adventure professionals from Pokhara quickly mobilized to deliver medical care and supplies to many of the hard-to-reach villages that were devastated by the quake. Although relief operations are underway, rebuilding is a long term process and so Nepal could use your ongoing donations. Consider sending your contribution to support the grassroots efforts of the KarmaFlights organization. Go to: www.karmaflights.org