Seasoned travellers: Senior citizens are increasingly choosing to travel well beyond their prime

Senior citizens are finding their wings and travelling in groups to destinations across the world

November 03, 2017 08:00 pm | Updated November 06, 2017 03:50 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

 Senior citizens from the city in Paris

Senior citizens from the city in Paris

Ever since he retired five years ago, artist B.D. Dethan, along with his wife, Vasantha, a homemaker, have been on the move, exploring the world. The couple are just back from a group tour of the art capitals of Europe and this week they are in Vietnam and Cambodia, with two other couples, on a privately organised tour. Another set of 63 senior citizens from Thiruvananthapuram, among them retired professors, bankers, lawyers and homemakers, just touched down after a 12-day, whistle-stop tour of the United States.

A few doctors from Kozhikode, all in their late 70s, meanwhile, chose to spend Deepavali wandering around ancient Angkor Wat in Cambodia, along with a bunch of other retired couples, and a friend’s parents, recently went on a tour of Japan and South Korea, with several other retired professionals. Everywhere senior citizens and retired folk in their 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s are waking up to wanderlust, packing their bags and flying off to destinations around the world.

“Being a graduate of Fine Arts, it was always my dream to see, with my own eyes, masterpieces such as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and the Mona Lisa in the Louvre museum. When I got the opportunity to go on a curated museum tour of Europe, I jumped at the chance,” says Dethan. The couple have already been to Malaysia, Singapore and West Asia. “It’s only after I retired and our children were well settled that we had the mindset, freedom and financial wherewithal to travel and we are determined to make use of the opportunity,” adds the 70-year-old artist, candidly, echoing the thoughts of many of their fellow senior travellers.

Veteran art director Nemom Pushparaj was also part of the group that toured Europe. “I retired six months ago and now I have the time to indulge in my passion for travelling. Touring with people of the same mindset was great fun. By the end of the tour we became like one big family,” he says.

Similarly, Chandrika Devi too found her wings after she retired as an assistant general manager at the Reserve Bank of India four years ago. She makes at least one trip abroad every year.

 Senior citizens at Universal Studios in LA

Senior citizens at Universal Studios in LA

“When I was working and while my children were growing up, I never really had the time and the freedom to travel, save for a weekend in Sri Lanka long ago. I enjoy travelling and I have always had a bucket list of destinations to visit. Now I’m ticking them off one by one. I’ve already covered the major ones on the list — China, the U.S., Dubai and now Europe,” says Chandrika, already thinking of trips for next year.

“The retired folk at RBI in Kerala have a Whatsapp group and they are always planning trips or passing on information about trips being organised by other chapters. The Kochi branch are, in fact, presently vacationing in the Andamans. My elder sister wants me to accompany her to Canada to visit her daughter and my son-in-law has family in Australia. So, I have a lot of travel options coming up,” she says.

Many of the senior citizens appear to prefer organised group tours. “ All you have to do is pay the fees, pack your bags and turn up and the travel agencies will take care of the rest,” says Chandrika.

Travel agents guesstimate that the trend of the elderly going on tour has been gradually picking up over the past five years. “Every tour we conduct now has at least a few people above the age of 60; we even have a few of them signed up for our upcoming expedition of Antarctica, which is not for the faint hearted. Most of our senior citizen travellers seem to have a disposable income that allows them to go on such trips. We have several repeat customers who get in touch each time we organise a trip. For instance, the very first tour we organised for senior citizens was for a group of retired teachers of Cotton Hill Girls High School in the city, who went to Thailand and Malaysia a few years ago. Since then the group of women have been flying to destinations every year,” says Dinesh Nair, AGM, Kerala Travels. “Their numbers are growing by the day. Age is not a factor for these travellers. Often they are the more sprightly ones, courteous, curious to learn about the places they are visiting and always good sports,” he adds.

 Senior citizens in the Alps

Senior citizens in the Alps

Nitin Chandran of Soman’s Leisure Tours in Kochi corroborates. “Earlier, travelling for leisure was thought of as a luxury. Over the past five years, it’s become a lifestyle choice to go on holiday; a concept that’s been borrowed from the West. Mostly only seniors will have the time for long haul group tours such as those to China, the UK and the US, which require at least 10 days. We also get a lot of requests from customers wanting to send their parents on group tours, with the idea of safety in numbers,” he explains.

As such, most travel agencies now cater group tour packages to accommodate elderly travellers. “We try not to schedule too many early starts or late-night drop offs and give them plenty of time to rest in between. Senior citizens often require tours that move at a more leisurely pace. For example, Universal Studios in Singapore is a full-day adventure activity that might be too hectic for the elderly. Similarly, white-water rafting in Bali and skydiving in New Zealand. We drop such popular items from itineraries and instead plan museum tours, dinner cruises, factory visits and the like,” says Nithin.

And that’s how you have a grand old time!

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