GET PACKING: IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
You worked so hard in your life for decades to care for your family and keep body and soul in good working order. Now it’s time for your rewards. If your liberation (retirement) is at hand or if you have just arrived to the sounds of freedom already ringing in your brain, then this “how to” is just for you! More invaluable guidance will come to you in future articles. This will get you started on your adventures, keeping in mind that “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (Lao Tzu) Freedom in retirement can confuse and confound many. There is barely a window of opportunity between the day you are finally free for your “walk about” and the day the inevitable arrives – old age actually sets in to begin thwarting your happy golden age ambitions. Better jump through the window of travel opportunity fast – dodging all challenges. Most important – don’t wait! Here are some hints to get you packing pronto!
THE FIRST STEP.
Better get computer savvy fast! Doing justice to just about everything in today’s world demands that you get at least a good grasp using a computer - especially web surfing and communicating with friends and family. If you are one of those stubborn golden oldies who smugly refuses to get comfortable with today’s technology, just plan to stay home. Like it or not we can no longer ignore progress. You MUST become proficient online or you will absolutely miss the rest of this great adventure – especially if travel is your passion. But not to worry. These days there are endless fabulous things to sit back in your Lazy Boy and watch on TV. If that’s what floats your boat!
For the purposes of travel adventure there is no need to learn to design a skyscraper using autocad on an expensive computerized device. But you MUST learn the following and don’t waste any time about it. That giant all caps word is “MUST!” They (the yungins) tell me using ALL capital letters means one is yelling. Well, so be it!
Get busy with the following for Step One.
You might attempt to go with old fashioned methods of travel planning, but if you do, you will never know the joys of being completely in charge of your world-wide adventures unless you plan them using today’s technologies.
There is a single critically important thing we need to learn in our senior years. Golden oldies tend to be convinced that throughout our multiple decades on earth we learned all that we need to know and must be smarter than the yungins. WRONG! The smartest thing we can learn is to give up our stubborn tendencies and learn all we can from our juniors. Surely you have noticed they have computer technology running through their veins.
You worked so hard in your life for decades to care for your family and keep body and soul in good working order. Now it’s time for your rewards. If your liberation (retirement) is at hand or if you have just arrived to the sounds of freedom already ringing in your brain, then this “how to” is just for you! More invaluable guidance will come to you in future articles. This will get you started on your adventures, keeping in mind that “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (Lao Tzu) Freedom in retirement can confuse and confound many. There is barely a window of opportunity between the day you are finally free for your “walk about” and the day the inevitable arrives – old age actually sets in to begin thwarting your happy golden age ambitions. Better jump through the window of travel opportunity fast – dodging all challenges. Most important – don’t wait! Here are some hints to get you packing pronto!
THE FIRST STEP.
Better get computer savvy fast! Doing justice to just about everything in today’s world demands that you get at least a good grasp using a computer - especially web surfing and communicating with friends and family. If you are one of those stubborn golden oldies who smugly refuses to get comfortable with today’s technology, just plan to stay home. Like it or not we can no longer ignore progress. You MUST become proficient online or you will absolutely miss the rest of this great adventure – especially if travel is your passion. But not to worry. These days there are endless fabulous things to sit back in your Lazy Boy and watch on TV. If that’s what floats your boat!
For the purposes of travel adventure there is no need to learn to design a skyscraper using autocad on an expensive computerized device. But you MUST learn the following and don’t waste any time about it. That giant all caps word is “MUST!” They (the yungins) tell me using ALL capital letters means one is yelling. Well, so be it!
Get busy with the following for Step One.
- Online communication including VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) like Skype. VOIP is a fancy acronym for simply making a phone call! In other words you had best learn to make international phone calls from a computer, tablet or smart phone and you want to do this for little financial expense.
- Online communication including email, chat, messaging, etc. Be it via Yahoo, GMail, Facebook Messenger or other lots of other electronic mail services.
- Online travel research. Where are you going and why? The world wide web will tell you, but only if you know how to do some basic internet research.
- Online reservations. While old fashioned travel agencies may still exist, don’t resort to them or you will go nowhere pretty fast and for more money than necessary. For golden oldies there is just no time to go nowhere fast. To travel today, you MUST be independent. You must be able to do your own planning, strategizing and booking - ONLINE. There is that giant “M” word again. You MUST be independent!
- For all of the above technology needs, find good, inexpensive online learning programs especially for senior citizens. Programs such as SENIOR NET http://seniornet.org/, MAKE USE OF.COM https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-websites-senior-citizens-obtain-basic-internet-computer-skills-si/, and NEW OLD AGE https://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/helping-seniors-learn-new-technology/. These programs will show you that they understand your fears of new technologies and they will focus on teaching what you need to learn and not clutter your mind with things you don’t need to learn. There are many, many more such services but don’t wait forever to get started by doing too much research, trying to find the perfect teachers. Start anywhere and expand or switch programs if you must. There is no time at this time of life to procrastinate!
You might attempt to go with old fashioned methods of travel planning, but if you do, you will never know the joys of being completely in charge of your world-wide adventures unless you plan them using today’s technologies.
There is a single critically important thing we need to learn in our senior years. Golden oldies tend to be convinced that throughout our multiple decades on earth we learned all that we need to know and must be smarter than the yungins. WRONG! The smartest thing we can learn is to give up our stubborn tendencies and learn all we can from our juniors. Surely you have noticed they have computer technology running through their veins.
