Seniors Taking Vacations

The day Jack Marshall turned 73, he did something he'd been meaning to do for 50 years -- stand on the steps of Nashville's country music mecca, the Grand Ole Opry.

It's one of several trips the former TransCanada PipeLines worker has enjoyed in recent years as he -- like many others in their 60s, 70s and older -- takes advantage of retirement to enjoy some travelling.

Marshall has fond memories of a cross-Canada tour he took through Anderson Vacations. He went through parts of the country he'd previously only seen while on the job.

"I'd been in a lot of those smaller communities and back roads, but I never saw them as a tourist," he says.

Many older travellers are looking for something different from the standard beach-and-sun vacations they might have enjoyed when they were younger, says Lucy Nidzgorski, branch manager for Senior Tours Canada, Inc.

"They're no longer into lying on the beach or partying all night, and they don't have kids to keep amused," she says.

"Many are following their hobbies and interests. Some may want to investigate their ancestry."

Companies like Senior Tours Canada and Anderson Vacations offer escorted package tours ranging from explorations of some of Canada's nooks and crannies, to trip-of-a-lifetime destinations like Italy and Egypt.

"Egypt is a big hit for us," says Nidzgorski. "Greece and Turkey are other biggies."

Mature travellers in the 55-plus age range have become more conservative with their spending during the economic downturn, but they're still travelling, says Corey Marshall, president and CEO of Anderson Vacations -- which, like Senior Tours, offers Canadian and international travel packages.

"You talk about 55-year-old travellers, they don't necessarily want hand-held escorted vacations, so we've developed fully independent travel (options)," he says.

"We have fully escorted travel lines. Our guides are there to give them interpretive knowledge and expertise, so they don't just go away with a fantastic holiday, but they get to know the region."

Elizabeth Muir, one of several volunteers who staff the travel desk at the Confederation Park 55-Plus Activity Centre, helps members arrange getaways and daytrips.

But she has also had a chance to enjoy some of these excursions herself. One of these was a wine tour to B.C.

"We got a beautiful tour at the Mission Hill winery and it wasn't a tour that most people get if they just stop by," she says. "They know you're coming and they set people aside for you."

She also recalls taking a trip to Mesquite, Nev., for an off-season festival of performers from the stage-show mecca of Branson, Mo.

Not all 55-plus travellers are interested in taking long excursions, either because of age or interest level, says Jacquelene Slater, another Confederation travel desk volunteer and a veteran of a 15-day escorted trip from Calgary to Branson.

"It's come to the point where daytrips are what a lot of people want to do now, like out to Kananaskis or someplace like that," she says.

Popular destinations from Confederation have included casinos in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, dinner theatre in Rosebud, Alta., and seeing singer Daniel O'Donnell perform in Edmonton, she says.

"We also took a Hutterite trip. They picked us up here and took us out to near Beiseker, where there's a small colony that allows the buses to go in," says Slater. "They took us into their houses, their church -- it was very interesting."

Needing new people "and seeing new things you've not seen before" are reasons why Donna LePard enjoys the escorted trips she takes through Confederation Park -- whether following the Oregon and California coast to San Francisco, or taking a short drive to Olds, Alta., to tour Olds College and take in a fashion show.

"The drivers look after everybody so well," she says.

"Down the Oregon coast, there was beautiful scenery and I'd never driven down before. I went to Vegas four years ago. We walked our legs off."

The Kerby Centre has its own travel program, Globe Trotters, which helps arrange excursions to destinations ranging from Waterton and Alaska to Britain.

For older travellers who aren't interested in arranging a fully independent trip, package tours are the best option, says Muir -- both for providing company and for making sure all arrangements are taken care of.

"(On my own), I'm paying for the trip, the plane, everything I'm doing in each port -- and I'm left with the hassle if there's a problem," she says.

"If you go with a package deal, you don't have to worry about it. If the plane is delayed, someone else deals with the problem."


For more information contact Senior Solutions at (954) 456-8984 or toll free at 1-800-213-3524