Road scholar trips 20216/15/2023 “Our participants are more than ready to engage with the world and with each other,” said James Moses, Road Scholar's president, “and we are delighted to accommodate them by operating hundreds of learning adventures this year, beginning in July.”Īs soon as the Covid-19 vaccine became available to older adults in the United States, Road Scholar participants began enrolling in their next learning adventure. Road Scholar, which serves Boomers and seniors, will operate more than 70 programs between July and August 31, 2021, beginning with two programs that start on July 5: the 10-day “ From Monkeys to Macaws: Colonial Costa Rica with Your Grandchild” and the six-day “ Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park.” And in the meantime, I'd love to hear your stories of crazy twists and turns your journeys have taken.Nearly 2,000 Boomers and seniors scheduled to travel on 70+ learning adventures this summerīOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / / After more than a year of coronavirus-induced hibernation, Road Scholar participants will be able to resume their journeys of discovery with the educational travel non-profit once again beginning this July. “ You’re the ones who slept in the bus at the airport? We heard about you guys.” On our long, complicated journey home through various air transportation hubs, we kept running into people who’d just come from Havana. Afterwards, Road Scholar showered us with apologies, cash, and a discount on future trips with them (as if!). Not to keep you in suspense, we did get on that plane to Tampa. But the peace and sweetness of that night are as sharply etched in my memory as the wincing miseries of the day. Did somebody have a lot of ‘splanin’ to do? You bet. And I was reminded of why I travel: to feel pleasure in things I normally take for granted: fresh air, safe drinking water, a bed. In its own way, it was an absolutely perfect moment. Into the velvety silence came the sound of a couple of young cleaners, chattering and laughing as they swept the gutter, their voices rising and falling like music. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the balmy night air. We snatched a catnap in the Tulipan's lobby, gathered up our bags, and staggered back onto the bus.Īfter a stroll around the parking lot to stretch our legs, Rich and I sat down on hard plastic seats bolted to a concrete slab near the front entrance. My travel companions - or as I was now thinking of them, the survivors - remained remarkably calm and cheerful in the face of each dire new development. No one did Cuba is currently the hottest destination on the planet, and occupancy rates are close to 100%. Also, it helped wear us down so we’d accept the news that they wanted to put us on a flight to Tampa, not Miami where we’d originated.Īround 10:30 pm we were bussed off to the Tulipan Hotel, but on arrival we learned they’d never heard of us or our alleged reservations and had no available rooms. I suppose the goal was simply to get us out of the airport so it could close at midnight after the last plane took off without us. For the rest of the very, very long night, we were fed one whopper after another (and I don’t mean hamburgers). Rich turned to me and said, “There’s no rescue plane.” And of course, there wasn’t. “We are trying to arrange a rescue plane from Miami,” the airport’s travel services manager announced grandly. I’ll be writing other posts about what there is to see, do, and watch out for in Cuba. And we did get incredible, behind-the-scenes access. Organized group tours aren't really my thing, but I have to admit, I loved the people and the camaraderie I haven’t laughed so much in years. Road Scholar offered an 11-day “learning adventure” in Cuba, and we signed up with a group that would include 22 veteran travelers. You may remember them by their original name, Elderhostel (apparently the name Penny-pinching Old Farts was already taken) in 2010 cooler heads prevailed and they upgraded their name and image. So we signed on with an educational tour operator called Road Scholar. Technically Americans can’t get visas to Cuba unless their purpose for going falls under one of 12 approved exceptions, such as scholastic or business interests. It all started when some good friends proposed a trip to Cuba this spring so that we could see it before US cruise ships start arriving in May, which many fear will change the country's character.
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