Elderhostel/Road Scholar

We've had great experiences with Elderhostel--we've done at least 17 "service projects" with them. Great organization,well planned out activities,and super coordinators on site!! We have found it to be a very worthwhile program to be involved with.

When I was a university dean our school hosted Elderhostel programs in the summer. The feedback from the participants was always excellent. Now that I am retired we have intended to participate but haven't found the time. In many ways I think the Elderhostel program is very intune with the Steves' approach. Do a US based program to try them out.

I did a Road Scholar trip to Italy last October and loved it - they really respected the group intellectually and provided outstanding lecturers and guides to the art and the sights of Renaissance Italy (we traveled from Rome to Florence and then on to Venice). I'm 58 and was definitely the youngest person in the group. Accommodations were comfortable to luxurious and they really took good care of us. I will probably do more Road Scholar trips in the future after I've retired and fit in more with the older people. I'm still young enough to hike long distances and carry my suitcase up five flights in a hotel, so I'm doing a Rick Steves tour in France this coming September. But Road Scholar is first rate in my opinion and I will be doing more with them in the future.

My Mom did many Elderhostel trips and thought they were fantastic. Many friends have also spoken highly of their trips with Elderhostel.

I havent done Elderhostel to Europe, but did do an Elderhostel to Yellowstone. I had been to Yellowstone maybe a dozen+ times, but decided I wanted to hike (am a big fat chicken when it comes to hiking alone in Yellowstone) and leave the driving to someone else. The program was excellent and I learned a lot and saw a lot even with all my previous trips. The leader was very knowledgeable and the instructor was awesome. Saw WAY more wildlife than I usually see on my own as they brought spotting scopes. I'm looking at their hiking trip to Switzerland but thinking I want to do an RS tour first to check it out and see if I can actually tolerate going up in a cable car to Murren!! I'm also looking at their hiking trip to Cornwall and the Cotswolds as well. Pam

Pam, Yes I'm sure it's a very active group. I'm looking at the Walking the English Countryside:Cotswolds and Cornwall or Walking in the Lake District and Scotland. Thanks for the information. Regards
Tony

Thanks folks, I've been on nine RS trips but like some of the more focused trips Road Scholar has to offer. I'm a very young (I think) 60 and do worry about the older mix on the Road tours. I'm looking at tours oriented around art and music. I'll give it a try. Thanks so much Tony
(just a comment, I noticed some of these discussions back and forth look a bit like fights in the sandbox. I've gotten lots of good information on the site but sometimes the egos do rise up.)

As far as the mix of ages, there were maybe 30 people on my pretty strenuous hiking trip. I was 60 then, there were probably 1/3 my age or younger, 2/3 older. Several solos. Most all were very well traveled, some had been on 9 or 10 ElderHostel trips, many on overseas ElderHostels. The lecture parts were absolutely top-notch. The set up for us was usually a lecture in the AM, hike in the afternoon. If you are concerned is there an Elderhostel tour scheduled near where you live that you can just do the day portion of to get a feel for how they do things?

Tony, we did their Splendors of Switzerland by Rail tour last year and it was outstanding. We normally do RS tours, but this tour sounded so interesting, we just couldn't pass it up. We spent a couple weeks in France on the RS Villages & Vineyards of Eastern France tour and then took trains to Lucerne to join the Elderhostel tour. (The name change to Road Scholar occurred during our tour.) The hotels were a little better than RS and the guide was simply amazing. The tour members had her full attention 24/7 on that trip. It couldn't have been better organized or more thoroughly thought out. And, I learned more on that trip than any other I've been on. The downside for us was that there was very little free time and virtually all of the meals were included. I thought the meal situation would be great, but it turns out that I don't enjoy making small talk three meals a day every day. And, I do enjoy some free time on a tour. Even with that, I would happily travel with them again as long as the tour group size was kept down. Some of their groups are fairly large.

I have thought about the group size and yes the thought of eating EVERY MEAL WITH EVERYONE kind of put me off.
I'll have to think about it. The tours do seem very interesting

Tony, too funny but I've had my eye on both those walking tours as well!! They sound awesome. As far as eating with everyone all the time, on my tour everyone swapped around tables every time (my only tour of any kind so don't know if this is standard behavior or not). The tour leader and the instructor moved around as well. I will say I got sick of the breakfast place where we ate (in the small town of Gardiner MT so not much choice) and went by the grocery store to get my own breakfast stuff to eat in the room. It might be easy to opt out of some of the dinners if you want to go off on your own, depending on where you are staying. There is one hiking one that stays at a lodge for the whole stay, but that may be the one in Scotland. They were pretty clear in our schedule as to what time the lectures started in the evenings, so would be easy to go somewhere and be back by the appointed time. I would say...go for one of those walks!