Nonprofit Road Scholar, which arranges study vacations for older adults, turns 50 in 2025. The Boston-based business began as Elderhostel in 1975 with six participants. Today, around 100,000 senior travelers each year traverse more than 100 countries on 4,900 global group itineraries. In 2010, the company changed its name to Road Scholar because aging Baby Boomers didn’t like being referred to as elderly.
When most people picture world-class mountain biking, they may think of the rugged Alps, the red rock of Sedona, or Utah’s slickrock trails. Few would guess that the official Mountain Bike Capital of the World lies in the heart of Middle America, in the rolling hills of the Ozarks. The town of Bentonville in the…
In a beautifully restored olive oil mill in Urla—on Turkey’s Aegean coast, west of Ephesus and its now-crowded ancient streets—oleologist Pelin Omuroğlu swirls a golden-green liquid in a blue, tulip-shaped glass, its color concealed, its character revealed through scent and texture alone. “Smell first,” Omuroğlu instructs. “Then slurp—pull in air through your mouth and take…
It’s not difficult to see fall colors in Colorado. There are more than two million acres of aspen trees in the state — one billion trees that, if placed together, would cover Rhode Island and Delaware. And what a show they put on! Rocky Mountain aspen leaves don’t just change color in the fall; they…
What remains today of Tudor London, the city ruled by Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603? Although two-thirds of the wooden city succumbed to flames during the Great Fire of 1666—which also cleaned out plague-carrying rats—a number of Tudor buildings remain. They include the Clink Jail (now a museum), the Seven Stars Pub, close to Shakespeare’s original London apartment, the Royal Exchange (modeled on the Bourse in Antwerp), and a 1520 riverside pub-restaurant called The Prospect of Whitby where Captain Kidd plotted his piratical schemes and writers like Charles Dickens and Samuel Pepys dropped by for beer.
During Elizabeth’s reign, urban life centered on the Thames River. Three thousand “watermen” offered taxi service to various river stops. Today, boats, including Uber-taxis, leave many of the same docks for destinations like sumptuous Hampton Court. Read More
Long before British colonists arrived in Burma in 1824, the hill tribes of Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand domesticated more than six million elephants, transforming the largest land animal into a beast of burden. They pulled heavy teakwood logs from the forests of the upper Salween River, raised great stones to build ancient cities like Bagan, and led warrior kings into battle against rival Asian powers. Thankfully, elephants don’t have to do that anymore. But history has done irreparable harm to the Asian elephant population. Whereas the wild population was once estimated to have been more than 100,000, it is now less than 50,000 across 13 countries, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Today, about 15,000 are in captivity, with the greatest number of those in northern Thailand. Read More
By David DeVoss It was the opening game of the baseball season and the atmosphere at Legends Field, home of the Kansas City Monarchs, resembles that of a carnival. Four skydivers dressed in bright primary colors started the festivities by parachuting onto center field. Action then shifts to the infield, where a handful of Little…
By Mimi Slawoff With dreams of traveling around the world while in the prime of their lives, New Zealanders Katrina and Mark Howard sold their vacation motorhome in Auckland to invest $25,000 in Villa Vie Residences, a relatively new company that touts affordable residential villas at sea. The Howards initially paid a deposit for a…
By Jacqueline Swartz From a hilltop vantage point with a sweeping view, visitors gaze down at a 12,000-year-old Turkish archeological site located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. In the past few decades, as new discoveries have been unearthed, archaeologists have been changing their views about the significance of the site. Among non-archaeologists, it’s…
By Kerrick James Later this summer, Americans will begin celebrating Route 66, America’s Mother Road. It was formally established on November 11, 1926, in the heart of the Roaring Twenties, when newly affordable automobiles like Ford’s Model T and Model A offered unparalleled freedom. Its mythic aura and worldwide fame have only swelled since the…