Age is but an attitude

I met two older couples in the span of one afternoon while in Hue. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and think about these interactions until now, but they are actually quite telling. The first couple, Rolf and Gertje, were from the Netherlands. They were spending 6 weeks in Vietnam and maybe Cambodia and doing it largely on their own. I’d say they were close to sixty or so, and seemed quite independent. I met them while eating a bowl of Bun Bo Hue right before my bus to Hoi An. They were doing the same thing, having wandered into a local corner restaurant. We got to talking when they asked me what I was eating, and then we began trading travel plans. They had been on the road for a couple weeks already, and were considering heading into Cambodia later. They said they made it a point to take 1 to 2 month trips to one country every year, and had been doing so for close to a decade now. They’d been to Laos, trekked in Nepal, visited countries in Central America like Guatemala and Nicaragua, and traveled to a bunch of other very adventurous places. Best of all, they were doing it together, and looked so very happy.

I met the second couple on my bus to Hoi An. Paul and Marie, they were probably younger than Rolf and Gertje – in their fifties – and from New Brunswick Canada. In talking to them, it became clear that they were not really well-heeled travelers, but they told me they were going on an 8 month around the world trip and were already in their 4th month. Like people decades their junior, they were carrying big backpacks and doing it the budget-traveler way. They had gone to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong already, and were continuing on to Cambodia, Thailand, India, and Europe before going back home. Paul even jokingly referred to it as them “living out their lost youth.” It was cute, charming, and inspiring, all at the same time. To have that sort of energy and attitude at that age – well, its enough to make a person who is complaining about being tired of backpacking at thirty feel downright shameful.

Speaking to Rolf and Gertje, and Paul and Marie, was really fun, enjoyable, and enlightening. It was endearing to see how much they were enjoying their time travelling, and their time together. I think it is more common to think of these types of huge trips as the domain of young people, but that’s really just not true. They are defying the stereotypes and having a blast while doing so, eschewing tour groups and big buses for striking out and discovering on their own. No doubt they’ve had troubles and will run into more, but they’re surviving and surviving well. Yet for me, it is more than just their age and attitude that is impressive – it’s the fact that they’ve been able to find life partners in each other that so fully share in their passion for discovery, exploration and travel. Their stories give me hope that I might be able to do the same – find a life partner that shares in my passions and with whom I can be creative with and figure out ways in which to live a global life while maintaining the roots I desire to maintain.