Robert Turcotte, who owns Montreal’s Hone Groupe Voyage, said that the Florida snowbird syndrome has not quite evaporated, but “dropped tremendously” in the last few years. Older people still seek balmier climes in the depth of our winter, but are now more likely to do “auto-tours” in Cuba, Mexico, Spain or southern France.
“It’s their lowest season there, too, so it’s cheaper, but it’s also too cold for the beach on the Côte d’Azur in winter, and even sometimes on (Spain’s) Costa del Sol. So their focus is a lot more on stuff like architectural or cultural tourism,” Turcotte said.
The rented cars provide freedom of movement – even in Cuba – and although hotels for the one- to three-month auto-tours are reserved, guests can tweak their reservations if they hit on a spot they just can’t leave for an extra day or two.
Susan Eng, vice-president of advocacy for CARP (Canadian Association of Retired People) said that eco-tourism to relatively unspoiled places like Costa Rica, the Galapagos and China’s Yangtze River has latched on in a big way with boomers.
For Simon Lagimodière of Hudson, retirement and travel are all about one thing: lengthy scenic, gastronomic and cultural tours on his yellow BMW motorcycle with other couples.
He and his wife Margaret have toured many places, including the Gaspé and Prince Edward Island and have just returned from a two-week spin around Spain. Odd, given that Margaret long ago dubbed motorcycles – any motorcycle – “murdercycles.”
She has refused steadfastly to ride with Simon, so the couples have perfected a system where she follows – or precedes – her husband and the others in a rented car. So far so good, Lagimodière said.
“In all this time, she made one exception to her (no-riding) rule. The ferry to the îles de la Madeleine was going to cost $165 each way for the car. She thought that was way too much, so she hopped on to save $330.”
“She denies it, but I think she secretly enjoyed it,” Lagimodière said.
“Voluntary ventures” also are booming.
“Some former teachers and police officers can retire in their 40s,” Eng said, “and are far from ready to hang it all up.”
Many of them are not the type to lounge on a beach or trudge to museums and are finding alternatives to traditional leisure junkets. They embark on voluntary missions, as did retired Toronto cop Ted Prince.
Prince, now 65, has criss-crossed the planet since retiring about 15 years ago, from Lithuania to Myanmar, Mexico, Zambia and Cambodia, engaging in various campaigns that have run the gamut from convincing Lithuanian authorities to treat wife-beating as a crime rather than a family matter to his current good works in Cambodia helping to rescue children from the sex trade.
Any down time squeezed in at the beach on occasion? “Nope,” Prince said from Victoria B.C. “My wife Alice and I just couldn’t do it. We’d feel guilty.” A remarkable focus, considering his wife has suffered three bouts with cancer since their son died in a plane crash in 2004.
