|
 TM
Four for the Road
Four new books help seniors plan smartly
to maximize their traveling pleasure.
By Patricia Kutza
Seniors are traveling more than ever today, no longer
deferring their travel dreams until retirement. Four new travel books
suggest that seniors as well as travelers of all ages can maximize their
travel time by not only careful planning prior to trips but also continuing
that mode while traveling.
 The AAA’s Ready, Set, Travel! Series is attracting
praise for its timely and thoughtful content. Travel Tips You Can Trust
continues in this vein by offering interesting advice for travelers who may
be motorists, airline passengers, bus riders and cruise passengers
all within the duration of one trip. Author Anne
McAlpin, veteran world traveler and packing expert, skillfully integrates
common sense advice with street smarts. I can remember a few unpleasant
encounters which might have had better outcomes had I first read McAlpin’s
chapter, Taxi Tips and Tactics. Closer to home, I wish a few of my former
house guests had read her advice about visit etiquette. Travelling
well is an art that, cultivated with attention and care, returns wonderful
benefits for hosts and guests alike.
 It is not an accident that AAA chose the subject of
intergenerational travel when launching their Ready, Set Travel! Series.
Many seniors have both discretionary dollars and the desire to connect with
their grandkids. A marketing dream made in heaven? Perhaps. But I know
more than a few grandparents who weren’t able to translate their travel
fantasies into successful trips. While no amount of careful planning can
guarantee perfect results, I bet at least some of their angst could have
been lessened or avoided by considering the advice author and psychologist
Virginia Smith Spurlock dispenses.
Sometimes the age factor plays havoc with the best of
intentions (Spurlock recommends no younger than traveling with kids no
younger than 4 years old). Other times the grandkids parents themselves may
provide the obstacle. I like the optimistic yet realistic approach Spurlock
recommends for facing the challenges seniors can expect to encounter when
traveling with their grandkids.
Eight chapters are dedicated to major US destinations,
such as Florida, California and the Southwest. I first thought that adding
these chapters might limit the imagination. But I soon realized that
Spurlock’s suggestions about where to go and what to see are the result of
countless travel experiments. If you have limited time and money, why not
piggyback on her recommendations? I expect that even the most
fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants senior travelers will benefit from her
no-nonsense yet creative strategies for relating to their ken.
 The US National Parks rank as some of North America’s
premier destinations. Yet few travel experiences can be as frustrating as
searching in these vast regions for the photo opportunities so fetchingly
promised in the tourist brochures yet so hard to find while on site.
National Park Photography addresses these experiences
with “Photo Hot Spots” sections for each of twenty-one Parks. Here,
author/ photo-journalist, Tim Fitzharris, not only tells you the best way
to get there but also what special challenges await you given the season
when you choose to visit. Fitzharris nicely juggles his technical
photographic advice, giving enough details for the most discerning photo
buffs without making his tech talk too unapproachable for more casual
enthusiasts.
The book is full of stunning photography that by itself
would make it worth getting. It also renewed my interest in visiting these
national wonders, convincing me that schlepping more than a point-and-shoot
camera will be well worth the inconvenience.
 I think good travel preparation means mixing it up,
mixing practical advice with food for the spirit. Seniors want to not only
know what makes good travel sense but also sense with makes travel good.
For veteran hiker Earl Shaffer, that meant embarking on
a historic 1998 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, retracing at 79 years of
age the trek he first blazed 50 years earlier. The Appalachian Trail
celebrates this remarkable man and his journey and marks a fitting end to
his life, as Shaffer died just a month after its publication.
There are plenty of hiking monologues in print, some
just as eloquent if not matching the level of Shaffer’s commitment. Yet
they haven’t been able to accomplish what this book did. Its evocative
photos and text gave me a window into the hiker’s passion. I don’t share
the feeling but I still feel compelled to lurk in its shadows. His
matter-of-fact reporting style, capturing historical anecdotes with personal
history, is the perfect counterpoint for his intense lyrical poetry.
Award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee’s great Afterword rounds out this
wonderful book.
Contact Information:
Travel Tips You Can Trust
Traveling with your Grandkids
National Park Photography
Available at AAA offices nationwide or online at
www.aaa.com
The Appalachian Trial: Calling Me Back to the Hills
Available at major bookstores nationwide or direct from
Westcliffe Publishers, (800) 523-3692 ,
www.Westcliffepublishers.com.
Images by Patricia Kutza and courtesy of the AAA
(American Automobile Association)
Back to
TravelLady Magazine |