Boomers on the Same Page

Regina and I gave a presentation the other day at the AARP’s 50+ Expo in Los Angeles.  Our subject was Travel - why we go places and how we select places.  We spent part of the hour long session showing videos on our journeys, introduced a guest from the State Department who spoke briefly on tips for traveling abroad and outlined precautionary measures on locations in problem areas of the world.

Our audience of primarily people over 50 was intrigued by our recent experience in Egypt where we were evacuated from Luxor to Athens during the revolution in February this year, with assistance from the US Department of State.  Since all of the people in our group were experienced travelers there was no panic and each of us managed to get back to the USA at the originally scheduled arrival time, basically no worse for wear.

I realized during the days leading up to our evacuation that our people had chosen Egypt because most had traveled all over the world, but somehow not gotten to Egypt yet.  Many had long been intrigued by the wonders to be discovered in this ancient country and all had joined because of the opportunity to travel down the Nile River, in what was supposed to have been a leisurely cruise down this iconic African river. Well, as it turned out, we did arrive in Luxor from Cairo and boarded our very luxurious ship, but due to the escalating uprising around the country, we were not able to cruise anywhere.  What a great disappointment.  But we all managed to occupy ourselves during our four days on the ship while we waited for our evacuation and few complained or became distraught over our plight.  That, to me was a sign of the mature Boomer who is able to take so much in stride.

We didn’t just sit around during our foiled cruise.  We wrote to our families and friends.   Most of our group had computers with them and became new bloggers.  Little informal discussion groups developed with members of the crew and residents of Luxor we met during our walks into town. And of course, there were those to took advantage of the very tiny exercise space on board.  I couldn’t find a complainer among the group!

Travel is a strange animal.  The true traveler is able to meet the unexpected head on because that is the most sought after experience one can have when traveling.  Now I won’t say that revolution is an expectation when one plans a calm Nile cruise.  But I can report that 14 intrepid Boomers made the most of what was initially an unsettling episode and lived to report to the world (mainly because CNN and several news outlets queried them) that they survived very well thank you.