Comments on: Do it while you’re young.

By: feeder_goldfish

feeder_goldfish — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:01:23 +0000

Gee, I loved this article! Traveling is definitely different depending on age, but each stage of life has its advantages. I would never let age stand in the way and it’s wonderful that your Frenchman felt the same way.

I had such fun hiking to Monterosso on the Cinque Terre with a 65+ year old Kiwi gal. It had started to rain and the rest of our little group turned round to head back. But, my Kiwi companion had no intention of joining them. I looked at the muddy trail, felt the rain dripping off my nose and said, “Yeah, it’s not so bad… I’ll go with you!” I was so glad I did.

By: XtremXpert

XtremXpert — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:08:19 +0000

wow, great article.
You experience traveling in different ways as a young or an old traveler. Then, you must begin traveling when you’re young and end, don’t know, when you die, so you will see the difference.

“What’s the worst that can happen – I die?”

By: Reeti

Reeti — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:05:02 +0000

Hi Josh!

Great article. There’s a typo though- in the second line, it says “Frenchmen” instead of “Frenchman”

By: Carlo

Carlo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:17:25 +0000

Loved this: “His knees and the rusty rental bike creak towards us.”

By: Joshywashington

Joshywashington — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:04:49 +0000

Hats off to the awesome older expeditious agents of adventure!

By: Joshywashington

Joshywashington — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:02:11 +0000

nice. I fancy we are all travelers all the time. That is why we call our life a Journey and our way a Path.

By: Joshywashington

Joshywashington — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:59:35 +0000

is youth wasted on the young?
The thing is when you are young you know you’re young, people tell you all the time, but you don’t KNOW you are young. Only age can bring and understanding to youth. While young you are too busy being young ( and backpacking around the world ) to look up.

It’s funny, I don’t feel young but I don’t feel otherwise.

By: Joshywashington

Joshywashington — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:55:30 +0000

Love it. If the worst thing that could happen to us is that we are gonna die then GAME ON! I saw this National Geographic article about the communities that have the oldest healthiest people, folks living to 100 routinely. Above diet (but they ate very healthy) the three things that the researcher said he thought were the correlating factors were
Gardening Family & Curiousity

Just thought you should know.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:18:14 +0000

Haha loved this article Josh. I could just picture Mr. Magoo shooting pics indiscriminately shouting “extradordinary”.

By: David Miller

David Miller — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:15:42 +0000

big up Josh.

it’s all about staying stoked.

By: Paul Sullivan

Paul Sullivan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:40:11 +0000

Proof that the spirit of travel comes from the heart and the mind – and not from a birth certificate…

By: Eva

Eva — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:49:34 +0000

I think there’s something to the idea of experiencing things at different stages of life. This is obviously a less extreme example, but I’ve always been glad I waited to do my big European backpacking trip in my mid-20s, rather than right after high school as I’d originally planned. Looking back, I knew I would have been one of those teenagers who romps through Europe drinking and partying and sleeping it off at the hostel all day. I think I got a lot more out of my trip by going a little later, and I’m sure later in life there’ll be other instances where I appreciate things more / get more out of a trip than I would have in my younger years.

Plus, I’ve shared a few dorm rooms with senior citizens in my day and I always think they’re the coolest folks – I hope to be that awesome when I’m old.

By: Somchai

Somchai — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:19:25 +0000

Being able to see it from both perspectives I’d say yes, there are many things that can be seen and experienced while young that are impossible at age. Often I see people in their 30s that are too old to travel. Minds closed too early. There is no substitute for the freshness and perspective of youth.

As a matter of fact I recomend reading Joseph Conrads short novelette by that title, Youth.

As an oldie I am immeadiately seen by the village headman, seated with the general, but youth is irreplaceable, use it wisely, dole it out as if it was a limited comodity.

By: tom gates

tom gates — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:56:57 +0000

“I don’t think any of his pictures are going to turn out.” I laughed for minutes, not seconds.

I met a woman named Betty in Chile this year. She was in her 80’s. She rode a backpacker bus with us and slept in dorm beds. She told us that her children had “all but forgotten” about her and that her husband had recently died. She was off to do the two things she’d always wanted to do – Chile/Patagonia and see the pyramids. Over the course of a week I’d watch her do about half of the things we did, including hikes and a ropes course. Her catchphrase, “What’s the worst that can happen – I die?”

I think that there are exceptions to every rule. So when it comes to this question…why make a rule?