Extraordinary Women Blog #3: Traveling is a Great Anti-Aging Program!
In every aspect of our lives, we get better at certain things, the more we do them. Nike’s old tag line, “Use It or Lose It” is true! And it’s not just our muscles I’m referring to, it’s also true of our mindsets.
Being stuck in our homes for the two years of Covid drove us all a little bonkers, but we became totally comfortable with our surroundings. We drank the same coffee every day, we ate the food we wanted to cook, we sat in the same chairs, slept in the same bed, used the same remote for our television, and suddenly we better understood the idiosyncrasies of the people we live with. And if we lived alone, Alexa and Siri became our “new best friends.”
Now suddenly, we all have to get a little uncomfortable again and it’s hard. Once again, we find ourselves commuting to offic- es, waiting for appointments, dealing with a cougher on an elevator, but now you wonder, how fast can I get off? We now sit in restaurants that are understaffed and learn to accept the long delays for things we want and the lack of availability of things we thought would always be available.
And we haven’t even left our home towns!
This is the microcosm of why traveling is an anti-aging program for our mindsets, whether in our own country or to distant lands.
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Café Marly at the Louvre
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#1 Travel Mentally Stretches You!
There is a superb book by Carol Dweck on Mindset. Click HERE to order it on Amazon. She talks about the growth versus closed mindset, and this is important in every activity in your life- it’s a way of thinking!
When you travel, if you are going to have a good time, you have to be to be open (or have a growth mindset) and be culturally flexible. I love that phrase, culturally flexible.
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Being culturally flexible means, you accept the culture of the country you are visiting versus bringing your own culture with you. I love being mistaken as a local.
In Paris, nothing makes my heart sing louder than when a person asks me for directions in French!
In some countries, service is fast and others, it’s slow. Some cultures are conversational and others, not so much. This is true in the US too!
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Jardin Tuileries & gorgeous Paris buidlings
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In Vermont, everyone wants to talk to me. In NYC, no one wants to talk to me. I don’t look like a native in either place.
In Amsterdam, I find people more focused on the task at hand than the conversation.
In Paris, waiters will make eye contact and try to talk if they have the time.
In London, it depends but when I arrive from Paris, I’m always surprised that no waiter will be excited to try out his English pro- ficiency with me or question why I am visiting. British culture is far less forthcoming and questioning than the French.
I have learned that I have to go with the flow, or I’ll be in a constant tizzy.
I look at travel as a great anti-aging practice. We do get set in our ways, we do become more convinced our way is the best way, and we do get accustomed to certain things, but as Carol Dweck said, (and forgive my paraphrasing) the quickest way to sound like an old lady is to have a closed- mindset!!
So, checking in on whether I am operating with a closed or open mindset is one of my best anti-aging practices.
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#2 Travel Physically Stretches You.
Let’s face it. Travel is physically hard work but that makes it anti-aging!!
You will walk more when you travel than you ever will staying home, especially if you do not live in one of a handful of large American urban cities where most people don’t have cars.
It starts with the airport. Up the escalators … walking on the moving sidewalks…. getting to the terminal … standing as you creep towards a customs agent … waiting to check your bags. You are engaged in movement and lugging those darn suitcases filled with the items that you were sure you couldn’t live without for more than one day.
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At the airport, that mindset will shift. I promise you! When the French TSA agent took my jars of mustard
from my carryon bag, I was ready to give him books to read, journals to write in, sweaters to put on … all while eating whatever he was planning to put my mustard on!
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No more books in my carryon bags! I had to make friends with my Kindle because now, I am the one who has to lift that heavy bag up into the tiniest of overhead bins. Is it just me or are those bins getting smaller and higher up? Maybe I’m shrinking…
Once in the city of your destination, if you are using their subways, you are walking up and down stairs. There are rarely elevators and if they do exist, there should be a disclaimer you have to sign to touch anything. Bus routes are never right next to where you are planning to end up and there are never enough seats. I’m still at the age that I feel a little depressed when someone offers me their seat. Do I look THAT old? So, we stand and try to balance and the driver whips through turns. Balance skills are another great anti- aging practice!
In Paris, I walk a minimum of 8k steps a day just going about my regular life. Do I want to take a bus or subway that is never direct to have a glass of champagne with my friend over at Le Maurice or do I walk through the Tuileries? I’ll walk, thank you.
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I lived in Minneapolis during Covid, and there I had to plan to walk where and when. I bought those ice grabbers you put on the bottoms of your boots and still I was terrified I was going fall and end up freezing to death as I laid on an icy side- walk before anyone would see me over the huge snowbanks. Not wanting my kids to have to deal with my frozen body, I gave up walking. Boston is more like Paris but still, I don’t typically walk as much for my daily tasks as I do in Paris so I’m swimming!!
Travel is super motivating. When we are traveling, we want to see things that don’t exist in the USA. Castles are fabulous but there are no elevators and steps galore. As you trudge up, you reflect on the life expectancy of people when those castles were built. Want to go to a museum, expect to walk and stand for hours. Ready for a visit to a famous garden or park? You’ll be walking.
But let’s go back to packing and weightlifting. Besides the walking and going up and down stairs, you’ll build muscles you may not have used for years, so prepare yourself. Seriously engage in some weight training.
I saw this good video on what happens to our muscles as we age. And for those of you who are smugly thinking that doesn’t apply to you, we peak around 40 years old! We don’t rebuild and regenerate as quickly as we do when we are young so go to it ladies. If you are interested, here is the link to the conversation HERE.
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Covid was horrible for everyone because most people became incredibly sedentary as we stayed in our homes. For those of us over 50, that was the kiss of death. I feel it and now a lot of super hard work is needed to regain all the muscle I lost during Covid. No one told us that when we were subscribing to all those streaming services that we needed to watch the movies and shows while standing and lifting up cans of soup!!
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Now I love trains. I’ll take a train any day before I’ll go through the hassle of an airport but maybe I should clarify what trains.
Years ago, when I lived in Winter Park, Florida and my daughter was going to college near Pinehurst, SC. I had this great idea that I’d take the overnight Amtrak train from Winter Park to Pinehurst….and avoid the drive. I purchased first class tickets in a private sleeper compartment, thinking this was going to be fabulous.
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It was a nightmare. The toilet was in my “cabin” right next to my “bed” that turned into my dining area in the morning. I’m using quotations because it wasn’t a real bathroom or bed or dining area. It was more like spending ten hours doing all your business, in the tiniest of closets.
Plus, the train stopped at every small town between Winter Park and Pinehurst, with bumps, whistles, flashing lights and screech- es. There is not an earplug made that could block out the noise and don’t get me started on the tracks. America missed the golden age of train travel.
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If you want a good laugh of what train travel in America looks like, watch this Sex and the City episode where Carrie and Samantha decide to take a train somewhere.
They actually dressed up for their trip! Shocked, Carrie said, “But I ordered the “deluxe, private compartment!” It’s hysterical but very real.
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Not true in Europe but even so, YOU will have to drag those bags through check in, YOU will be the one who has to lift your huge suitcase on (and off) the train. And you’ll be storing that bag possibly quite far from your seat because the luggage racks are by the door. But, once at your seat, you’ll see scenery you’d never see from a plane. You’ll be able to get up and move around and you’ll have the joy of heading right to the taxi stand when you exit your train.
In September I’m going on a river cruise with my good college friend and her husband. It will require TWO train trips!
This time I’m going to do several dry runs in my building and keep emptying that suitcase of unneeded items until I feel I can walk, lift, and navigate my bags without needing oxygen.
Be decisive. Ask yourself whether you really, really need it. Your body will thank you every time you are moving that suitcase.
Travel is, in my opinion, THE BEST anti-aging program.
Travel forces us to:
Keep an open mind
Be aware of different ways of doing things
Move to explore our interests and curiosities
Includes weight-bearing activities
Pivot when needed
Grow connections with people who also love to travel.
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Institut de France
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Happy Travels!
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What a great article, Shari.
So many things are on point, especially the part about aging & how it plays with you. As an older (70+) traveler, I can say for sure that when I first started traveling outside of the U.S. I didn’t give much thought to packing, or should I say lugging what I packed along wherever I went. That certainly changed my perspective on what I ‘need’ to pack when I travel now. I’m hoping to get to the point where I can travel with only a carry-on regardless of how long I will be gone. That will be put to the test when I head to France this October for 2 weeks of garden work & then 2 weeks of adventuring.
Keeping an ‘open’ mind-set as you mention in your blog.
Thanks again for sharing your words of wisdom.
DiAnn