Travel Secrets For Seniors

By Ely Lazar and Adele Thomas

Adele and Ely prove that being over 50 is the best time to take on the world. Travel Secrets for Seniors is an incredibly helpful, witty and well-written book. The book gives tips on choosing your destination, planning your trip, organising your information, packing, staying safe and so much more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780992406417

Book preview

travels!

Part One

NAPOLEAN HILL

Cherish

Dreaming Your Dream

Sunrise, Patagonia, Chile

Chapter 1

What Are Your Travel Dreams?

We rarely ask ourselves, Why am I traveling? If we did, some of us would answer, Because I need to get away from it all, or

I need a vacation. Is that really the best motivation for going away? Some people may feel like that when they are actively working, but it hardly sounds inspiring. It’s a lot more exciting asking ourselves,How can I create a dream? or How can I have a great adventure?

Have you ever noticed that if you have been away for one, two, or three weeks, after a few days back home, it seems as if you were never away? A few weeks down the track, your trip is just a distant memory. Part of the problem is that your vacation was never really inspiring to begin with, a bit like a job you don’t enjoy. We believe that no matter what your age, life is about doing things that are fulfilling and adventurous until the day you die.

Perhaps you are interested in exploring a country’s history. Maybe you are interested in ancient archaeological sites. You may want to have a more active vacation, such as hiking through mountain regions or going on cycling tours and exploring the countryside. We all need to define a purpose for our travels.

Some years ago we learned a manifestation formula from Dr. John Demartini. To paraphrase: What you dream about, think about, read about, you tend to bring about.² This applies to many things in life including your travel plans. If you want to have the time of your life on your next vacation, you need to make sure, in advance, it’s the trip you really want to take.

Over the years we have seen husbands grudgingly agree to go with their wives on a cruise, only to be bored to death, or a wife going with her husband on a golfing holiday and being just as bored. In both cases, one partner is disinterested and can’t wait to get home—so much for a fun holiday! Some couples find it is just so much easier to travel separately. So the question is, how do you make a trip inspiring for both of you? You need to start by dreaming!

Create a Travel Dream Book

Dreaming is fun. Some years ago we created a dream book. The dream book was about our goals and aspirations in many areas of life. Our dream book also had a section in which we set our goals and vision of places that we wanted to visit. It’s a good idea to sit and meditate, and let your mind open up to different ideas and places.

In 2009, while browsing the internet, we came across a site called Ten Places You Must See Before You Die. Number one on the list was Torres Del Paine National Park in Patagonia. Now, Patagonia had never entered our consciousness, but when we saw the photo, we knew we had to go there. So we meditated on it, dreamed about it, and regularly looked at the photo, which we had placed in our dream book. In 2012 we made the dream a reality.

This photo of ours, is almost an exact replica of the photo we first placed in our dream book.

So what do you put in your dream book? It’s important to write down the places you want to visit. Don’t just write, I would like to go to France. Phrase it differently—in the present tense, and as a fact, not as a wish. Write, I happily travel to France for four weeks by June 30, 2015. Also it’s a good idea to write, I save up $10,000 by June 30, 2015 for my travels to France. Here you have linked a financial goal with your travel goal.

There is an old saying, By an inch it’s a cinch, by a mile it’s a pile. Let’s say you need the $10,000 for your trip and you need it 12 months from now, but perhaps the amount seems a bit daunting. If you are still working, you might split that $10,000 into twelve portions, which means $833.33 per month or $196 per week. You could generate an extra $196 a week or reduce spending somewhere by that amount. Write it down as a goal in your dream book, and make the wording as specific as you can, remembering to put a date by which you will achieve your goal.

It is important to regularly look at your dream book, and advisable to read your travel affirmations out loud. Verbal and visual input together have a greater potential of filtering through into our subconscious mind. It becomes more effective and more likely to manifest into reality.

Study Maps

In order to develop a passion for travel, start looking at maps. These could be paper road maps, an atlas, or even a globe. Now some people would say that is rather old-fashioned, given the easy availability of online maps. While there is no doubting the excellent value of the internet with sites such as Google Earth, Mapquest, and various mapping apps, there is something special about actually looking at a physical map.

While the internet can be valuable in calculating distances and giving you details about certain locations, it doesn’t provide the same overview as a physical map. When we were planning a trip to Romania, we bought a large map of the country and opened it up on our dining room table. It was all laid out before us: the road system, the topography, and the various towns and cities. It gave us the big picture and a familiarity with the country that computer maps could not.

The more you start to look at maps, the more inspired you will become about various locales in the world. It’s all about getting excited about a place that you are planning to visit. After all, the first step is finding your dream before you can turn it into a reality.

When Ely was in high school, he used to regularly look at maps, any maps. Says Ely: I remember after school, before starting my homework, I would get something to eat and munch away as I browsed through my geography atlas, looking at various countries throughout the world. At one stage I memorized every U.S. state with its capital city along with every European country and its capital.

Surf the Web

We live in amazing times! Computers, tablets, smartphones and the internet are all part of our lives. Anyone who is 30 or under cannot remember a time before computers. People in the 55-to-90 age group have not been as comfortable with the computer age—until recently. Many of us have acquired basic techie skills, while others still find it challenging. (We will delve into technology in a later