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Travel with an educational element
Elderhostel is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1975 with the mission of providing lifelong learning for fifty plus North Americans through travel.
James Moses, President of Elderhostel, describes what Elderhostel offers:
Within Elderhostel, there are a variety of different programs tailored to different people and different tastes:
Helen Cusworth has been travelling with Elderhostel for many years, and has also been a guide for some Elderhostel excursions in Canada. She has often combined an Elderhostel tour with independent travel.
Helen says that Elderhostelers are more intent on learning about the places they visit than most tourists, and they always get good tour guides. There is always a broad range of people in each group, and she feels that the companionship in learning together makes Elderhostel special.
Although there is a wide choice of programs, Helen warns it is a good idea to look at the catalogs as soon as they come out, because some of the most popular trips sell out quickly.
She feels that Elderhostel trips generally include more of the costs of the trip than other tours, and generally offer more generous insurance and cancellation policies, which makes them good value even though they are sometimes a bit expensive.
Helen recommends reading the details about the trips carefully, to understand the type of accomodation offered, and the physical demands of the trip.
