For seniors, Road Scholar offers learning adventures around the world.
As a child, Bill Baker remembers learning about the world outside his home in Massachusetts from his uncle. “He was an avid reader who would travel and gather his family for slideshows.”
Today Bill, 79, and his wife, Susan, 77, of Blacksburg, share their travel stories. The couple has made his 36 trips with Road Scholar. A world leader in educational travel for over 50 people, Road Scholar offers cycling tours in Cambodia, wine his tours through Portugal, and far-flung adventures in Mongolia, Patagonia and Polynesia.
This year, the Bakers moved out of their home in Blacksburg’s Warm Hearth Village. We cruised the iceberg-laden waters of Alaska and enjoyed her five days of opera in Santa Fe. Next year he will explore the Australian outback and Great Barrier his reef for 17 days.
These itineraries may sound extravagant, but Boston-based Road Scholar offers affordable jet configurations for seniors. “Being a nonprofit, we can keep costs low, value high, and provide financial assistance, including grants to caregivers,” said Kelsey Perri, a spokeswoman for the company. says.
All-inclusive trips range from $750 to $4,000 and some include airfare. While his 14-day trip to Antarctica can cost him $11,000, 54 Road Scholar’s “adventure” is less than $750 and includes many online opportunities starting at $25. And while a 103-day Queen Mary II cruise (stopping in 18 countries on four continents) costs $40,000, he’s still under $400 a day.
learn from the experts
The company was founded in 1975 by University of New Hampshire colleagues Marty Knowlton and David Bianco. They launched Elder Hostels, a program that takes traditional Scandinavian boarding folk schools and introduces older Americans to lifelong learning through travel.
At the time, Elderhostel destinations were limited to university campuses. Participants stayed in dormitory rooms during the summer to attend professor-led lectures. Today, the organization offers over 4,000 learning adventures a year “from Albania to Zimbabwe” and “in all 50 states and 100 countries.”
Accommodation now includes a four-star hotel and offers “immersive field learning” with experts ranging from archaeologists and guides to local winemakers and shrimp boat captains.
Road Scholar is visited by approximately 100,000 travelers between the ages of 50 and 90 each year. I also travel with my grandchildren.
choose your own adventure
Each trip is graded by activity level and comes with a reading list. Road Scholar knows we are ready to support people with mobility and health challenges, so our clients can choose how much of a challenge they are willing to take. For one of her 90-year-old travelers, the organization arranged dialysis treatment at local stops along the itinerary.
Bill Baker says a boat followed their group along the Mekong River to cycle through Cambodia. “We were driving on dirt roads and passing through small villages. They gave it to me,” recalls Susan.
Traveling, Mr. Baker said: I think people can become so closed off that they lose their sight. We are all human and share the same desires. ”
Relatives for Solo Travelers
Warrenton’s 73-year-old Connie Mercys Baum was a widow when she first joined Lord Scholar in 2008. Now Lorde has made more than 60 trips for her scholar, after which she became an ambassador of her program, stating that about 30% of the group’s travelers are single. “People reach out,” she says. “And the guides make sure everyone feels included.”
Baum praises the educational focus of travel and the camaraderie of fellow travelers. “People who sign up really want to learn. Shopping is not her tour,” she says. “Accommodations are always comfortable and the food is very good. When you sign up, basically everything is paid for. No extra tip or transportation required.”
The closest to her heart is a 2009 trip to Kentucky called “The Mystery and Beauty of Appalachia.” There she met her 70-year-old Bill Baum, a former music teacher from New Jersey who, like her, was a widow. We both had booked our trip last minute, so we never imagined we would find love on the program.
But they came up with it. Back home, their correspondence led to travel plans and then romance. And in her 2013 Road to Abingdon choral trip to her scholar, Bill and Connie made their feelings public, surprising fellow travelers with the finale of his show Talent He. After Bill invited Connie on stage, he sang Jim Her Croce’s “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song”, introducing the magistrate, whom he married on the spot.
“There was no dry eye in that place,” recalls Connie.
Since then, the couple has explored the rainforests of Costa Rica, volcanoes in Hawaii, and kayaked in the Florida Keys. In September they traveled by train from Quebec to Maritimes. A month later they saw Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks.
Although he’s been a Road Scholar 70 times since retiring in 2006, Bill still gets excited when a new catalog arrives in the mail. His watching of storms on the Oregon coast is still one of his favorites. “The ruggedness of the Pacific coast was just amazing,” he says.
Connie adds:
caregiver travel
Adventure is just one of the benefits of travel. It can also be therapeutic. Kim Wright named his mother Peggy, 78, when she learned about Lorde’s Scholar Caregiver Grant through his clinic’s support group for Memory and Aging Care at the University of Virginia.
Her parents, Peggy and Gary Wright, founded the Tiffany Bridal Shop in Richmond. Together, they traveled to Chicago on frequent shopping trips for the store.When Gary was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, Kim told his mother he needed her around-the-clock care. I persuaded him. Even after entering home nursing, “I still went to him for lunch every day,” Peggy says of Gary’s final months.
After years of devoted care, Peggy cried with joy at the news of her $2,000 Lord Scholar Grant. She could choose any trip in the US or Canada. On top of that, the Road Scholar provided her matching grant so Kim could join her.
They chose Chicago. “It was our Covid bust-out trip,” says Kim. “But it became a celebration of my father. It felt like he was with us.” In lieu of bridal purchases, they took mural tours, architecture cruises, and visited Wrigley Field, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Shedd Aquarium.
At 54, Kim was the youngest on the trip. “But there was another mother and daughter traveling with me,” she says. Will Peggy choose her Road Scholar again?”It’s a great way to travel,” she says. “Everything is taken care of. They are very kind, very careful. They take everything into consideration.” RoadScholar.org
This article originally appeared on in February 2023 problem.
