By Adriane Berg, NABBW’s Associate for Successful Aging In anticipation of the upcoming podcast The Ageless Traveler: Lifelong Travel Made Easy, I discovered essential resources for traveling with an older adult. Happy travels. The idea of inter-generational travel conjures up thoughts of warm family closeness, laughing together, and newly created shared memories. But the pitfalls and dangers of traveling with an older adult are rarely considered until a problem arises. Fortunately, new and exciting resources make it easy to preplan and travel with your parents or older loved ones, even... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Readers, I am working on a new book, which is very close to publication, to be called Lost Angel Unleashed: Stories From the Heart, as well as my Lost Angel Adventure Series. Today I’d like to share some of my very favorite places to visit in one of my favorite cities, Santa Barbara. I hope you will enjoy my list and will consider visiting this charming city soon. Please check out the links for more information… State Street Promenade — A Taste of Europe The heart of Downtown Santa Barbara’s entertainment and retail district... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate I’ve just returned from the Adventure Travel Show, and am delighted to report that the travel industry is roaring back with a vengeance.  Airlines are ramping up flights, training and hiring pilots, and upgrading infrastructure to keep up with the demand. Twenty-five new ships for leisure travelers will set sail this year. But, with this frenzy to meet the pent-up demand for travel experiences comes higher prices and over-burdened service workers. How do we best navigate the age of disruption? Here are a few of my best tips. Buy... Read More

By Phyllis Stoller, NABBW’s Group Travel Associate Who do you think were the first to begin to travel post-Pandemic? Based on our experience as tour operators, is was Boomer Women. Why? Older folks were the first with access to the Covid vaccine. We were also the most enthusiastic to get it. Not to forget that we were the most obedient abut safety protocols. And finally, who amongst the 70+ crowd didn’t have a ‘now or never’ gut feel when travel opened? As travel slowly started again, this is what we tour operators experienced. Women wanted to go, more enthusiastically than... Read More

By Carolee Duckworth, NABBW’s Independent Travel Associate This year, let’s plan to set off in early May on an independent, but expertly planned, trip to Normandy on the northern coast of France. Our travel will carry us across the Atlantic to Paris, then west to the Normandy coast, for four nights in charming little Bayeux, where stories of conquest and liberation span from the 11th to the 20th century—from William the Conqueror to the D-Day landings. In Bayeux, we’ll luxuriate in comfort at Villa Lara, and feast nearby on local seafood, fresh from the frigid waters of the English Channel.... Read More

By Carolee Duckworth, NABBW’s Independent Travel Associate OUR LATE FALL ARMCHAIR TRIP: PUEBLOS AND BALLOONS OF NEW MEXICO: SANTA FE & ALBUQUERQUE Let’s imagine setting off for our next Armchair Trip in early October. This time we’ll be mentally travelling to New Mexico, starting with Santa Fe for two days. In Santa Fe we’ll wander through the charming Old Town, relax over drinks on an upstairs balcony overlooking the Plaza and venture up into the hills to gape at otherworldly rock formations and cliff-dweller remains, and stop to admire the work of award-winning weavers. While... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Isabella Bird was a Victorian-age explorer whose time has come again! The best-loved travel writer of her day wrote effusively about her travels in Estes Park in A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains. Three books about her were published in 2021, including my historical novel Embrace of the Wild. In April I was honored to be selected as the “Isabella Bird Expert” for the upcoming BBC documentary “Trailblazers,” a series spotlighting heroic women that have fallen through the cracks of time. I joined the film crew at Bird... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Just 34 miles up sweeping I 70 from Denver lies Evergreen, a popular stop for folks wanting to breathe deeply of crisp, pine-scented air.  Forward-thinking Denver elders forged out huge open spaces for hikers and bikers in this area. A myriad of trail networks lace the hills surrounding the rustic mountain town. I hiked in Dedisse Park on an undulating trail through a forest overlooking the Evergreen Lake. Expect to meet mountain bikers and other hikers on the trails. Evergreen is a hub of outdoor fun and connecting highways to the interior... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate I love this interview with Brett Wilson at The Rocky Mountain Channel podcast. I felt relaxed and welcome. He wanted to know what prompted me to follow in the hoofprints of the indomitable Isabella Bird from pristine Hawai’i to untamed Colorado in 1873. We talked about how Isabella and Rocky Mountain Jim were two seriously damaged people who found their salvation in nature. Isabella describes their legendary romance and the ethereal beauty of the region in her book A Lady’s Life in the Rockies. Her vivid descriptions of the region drew... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Isabella Lucy Bird was a Victorian Age adventurer who endured tremendous hardships in her explorations of the Rockies in 1873. She became the best-loved travel writer of her time, and was the first woman inducted into the Scottish Royal Geographical Society. In my book Embrace of the Wild, I share Bird’s most transformative journeys. A fierce spirit trapped in a frail body, Isabella rode through raging waters on the Hamakua Coast, up the flank of a volcano, and into the Waipio Valley in Hawai’i. Her exploratory adventures began at the... Read More