Traveling boomers--getting past the fear.

“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the church of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself.” John Steinbeck, opening of “Travels With Charley.”

One of my favorite books. I first read it many many years ago when I was a girl sitting outside on summer days thinking about all the places I had never seen, and how much fun it would be to just travel when I wanted without a care. I always had a kind of wanderlust, maybe because our family moved every few years, or maybe because my soul was just always looking over the horizon.

The need to keep moving, to explore the unknown—do we, as John stated so eloquently, ever really grow out of it?

Or do we just compromise, and tell that part of us to be quiet. That we have to grow up now and be “responsible.”

In “Travels With Charley”, Steinbeck does take off in an old camper he calls Rocinante with his beloved canine companion, Charley. Together the pair really does travel all over and meet all kinds of people. An excerpt:

“You going in that?”

“Sure.”

“Where?”

“All over.”

“And then I saw what I was to see so many times on the journey—a look of longing. “Lord! I wish I could go.”

“You don’t even know where I’m going.”

“I don’t care. I’d like to go anywhere.”

Are we all born with this traveling bug, but many of us lose it over time? I wonder. I never really did, though I didn’t always get to take off on grand adventures. When I finally realized it was time to start seeing the places I longed to see, I did it…and many times I just took of on my own. That really freaked out a lot of people. It still does.

Aren’t you scared? What if something happens? What if you get bored? What if you get lonely? Aren’t you terrified to go somewhere completely new?

Here’s my theory:

A few butterflies in the stomach when you do something new is good for you.
Things can “happen” at any time, no matter how many people are with you.
Traveling isn’t boring for me, unless I’m stuck in an airport terminal for hours and hours.
And loneliness? You’d be amazed how many great conversations and impromptu dinners you can have with people you just met…if you aren’t already with someone at the time.

Fear is a good thing sometimes…it warns us, keeps us alert, can save our lives if we listen. But letting fear tell you that you can’t do something can be very suffocating. Take John Steinbeck. He relates in Travels With Charley that after driving all over the United States, he actually got lost when he tried to get back home. But he found his way.

We boomers and beyond like to travel. We’ve learned to take a larger view of the world. We like new experiences. Maybe that just means driving to a state park you’ve never seen. Or going to an arts festival in a beautiful location. If you want to be alone on a trip, you can be. But if you don’t, you’ll find many opportunities to be around others.

Here’s some stats on how boomers are affecting the travel market from immersionactive.com:

36% of leisure travel is done by mature travelers
60% of American boomers have their passports
80% of boomers want to visit a place they’ve never been before
Baby boomers account for 4 of 5 dollars spent on luxury travel today
On average, older adults will take four trips per year

So hey, if you’ve always wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial, or tour the Baseball Hall of Fame, or dip your toes in the Nile, and you have the means to do it, step through your fear and give it a go. You never know where the road will lead you—and if you get lost, maybe that’s what it takes to find your way home again.