The midlife adventurer: In search of the work-life balance

• Research shows that increasing numbers of people in midlife are getting bitten by the travel bug. 
• We’re active, curious, up for some thrills...
• ... But we also want quality guides, comfortable means of getting around, and a better standard of accommodation.

In a nusthell, backpacking has got an upgrade.

"Like all of us, I have times when I feel 20, but even then, I know that age has altered the way I look, softened or hardened some of my views, and changed my capabilities and needs. What it hasn’t done, though, is dampened my passion for travelling, my intrinsic hunger for adventure, and the accompanying desire to fill my life to the brim with people, to understand their cultures, and to find peace in nature. I still want to see, do, go, learn.

I still yearn for meaningful holidays that broaden my mind. Travel has enabled me to realise long-held dreams – be that seeing penguins on the White Continent or tracking leopards in Botswana – and I’ve returned home enriched by my experiences. In this, I’m like many of my middle-aged peers. Travel surveys consistently show that mid-lifers are the most adventurous age group, based in no small part on us having the time, a little more income, and the growing awareness that undoubtedly comes with dodgy knees that our vitality and vigour are likely to diminish.

Knowing this has spurred us on to grab opportunities because we’re increasingly aware that the time is now. But with our evolving needs comes a desire to travel a little differently from our younger years. For me, age 59, it’s my own room. Someone who can tell me things I can’t get from a guidebook. And a schedule that allows me to have down time as well as sociable or out-of-my-comfort-zone time. It turns out I’m not alone." - Xenia Taliotis