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Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
In our first edition we shared information for travelers designed to make their experience easier, safer and more enjoyable. Since that time we’ve lived through the great global recession of 2008/2009. For that reason we’ve added a chapter on economical travel for those who want to explore the world on a more modest budget. In addition, we’ve updated content throughout our book. August 2009
We share a love of travel, and decided several years ago that we would see as much of the world as we could before those inevitable age-related physical problems set in. We wanted to have new experiences, meet interesting people, and enjoy different cultures. Oh sure, we’ve traveled abroad before, spending a week or two in some wonderful places, but we never had time to visit any destination in depth. Now we are pursuing our dream to see the world, almost full time. We’ve been focusing on the world’s most fascinating destinations and have learned many lessons that we’re sharing with you in this book. We travel to the world’s most magnificent destinations, photographing the sights and writing stories along the way. In fact, we were on the Inside Passage to Alaska on 9/11, and most of our travels have been in this post-9/11 world. We’ve gone from Antarctica to the Amazon to Australia, to you-name-the-place. Even so, we’ll always have more to see and learn, and we’re loving every minute of our journeys. As Boomers, growing up after WWII, our families didn’t have the lengthy vacations enjoyed by our contemporaries in other western industrialized countries, missing out on extended world travels. And as we Boomers have vacationed during our working lives we’ve also been limited in international travel, due to the same lack of time. Most of us have only traveled to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, with maybe a short European vacation thrown in. No wonder Americans are so bad with world geography! In fact, one of the earliest stories we heard while traveling in China was that the Chinese people thought that all Americans were old and had gray hair. The only Americans they saw who had the time for extended trips to China were older, while visitors from other parts of the world were of all ages. Europeans, for example, typically enjoy up to six weeks vacation each year. Even their young, entry-level employees boast about month-long sojourns to every corner of our world. Thanks to their annual travels, many Europeans are multilingual and feel comfortable with many different cultures. We were surprised to find, when visiting South America, that most of the travelers we encounter are Europeans, not Americans. This is our hemisphere, and President Monroe, who famously declared that “…the Americas are our sphere of influence…,” would not be pleased. It’s time for our the Boomer generation to get on the road. So we’re writing this book to give our fellow Americans, especially Boomers, who are or soon will be joining us on global treks, some valuable insights.
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