Elderhostel Abroad

By Ralph Shaffer

So you're retired now. And you, or you and your spouse, have pretty well worked out the domestic routines of the new leisure life. Now it's your time to plan a vacation. The question is where. And with whom. If you haven't already done so, maybe it's time to investigate Elderhostel.

This 22-year-old Boston-based nonprofit organization offers much more to the over 55s than just low-cost study-travel in the U.S. It arranges group study-travel tours almost everywhere in the world. Their programs feature clean, low-cost accommodations plus academic and cultural experiences found in few other travel plans. More than 160,000 Elderhostelers journey to more than 90 countries every year. The success of the organization's concept is attested to by a 75 percent repeater rate.

So what makes Elderhostel so attractive?

A typical total for a seven-day program in Britain comes to about $1,500 per person. A longer trip—say a month in Australia—comes to about $7,000. This includes everything: accommodations, meals, field trips, tips, transfers, and instruction.

Elderhostel treks are selected by participants for their academic and cultural aspects as well as for the areas to be visited.

There are no exams and no grades. The you-don't-really-have-to-study-up courses include art classes and history, folk remedies, archaeology, weaving, photography, animal legends... you name it.

To back up these casual study groups, Elderhostelers visit related places in the region--museums, farms, castles, schools, seats of government, libraries--as adjuncts to learning that are not usually a part of group tourist activities.

Elderhostel was founded in 1974 by Marty Knowlton, a former Boston educator, and Donald Bianco, a Univ. of New Hampshire administrator. Knowlton expanded on the youth hostel idea he found during a four-year walking tour of Europe and embellished it by adding instructional components similar to those he found in folk schools (adult "schools for life") in Scandinavia.

For information on the Elderhostel overseas programs contact: Elderhostel, 1-800-454-5768; www.elderhostel.org.

RALPH C. SHAFFER is a widely published travel writer who lives in San Francisco, CA.