• Women between 50 and 75 are in the sweet spot for travel — more time, more financial freedom, and the life experience to make every trip count.
• Research shows that regular travel reduces mortality risk by 36 percent and lowers Alzheimer’s risk by up to 47 percent — making travel one of the best investments you can make in your health.
• Waiting for the “right moment” to travel is a trap — the window is open now, and the least regretful people are the ones who didn’t wait.

Last week, a woman in her late 60s who’d been eyeing our Iceland trip finally reached out with her decision. She wasn’t going to book. Not yet. She was going to wait until the international situation settled down.

I wrote back something warm and understanding because of course people have to do what makes them comfortable (plus, I have not one sales person bone in my body). Inside my head, however, a small riot was breaking out.

NextTribe creates small group travel experiences for women 45 and over. If you’re ready to stop waiting and start going, we’d love to have you along. Check out all our trips here.

Because here’s the thing: when exactly does the international situation settle down? In recorded human history, has there been an extended stretch where every corner of the globe was humming along in perfect geopolitical harmony? I’ll wait. And while we’re at it — Iceland? It’s about as far from global conflict as you can get and ranked the safest country in the world. The biggest dangers there are geyser steam and the price of a beer.

But more than any of that, what I really wanted to say was this: we cannot keep putting off the experiences that will sustain us, enliven us, and frankly make for better dinner party stories — because we’re waiting for a world that may never arrive. We need to grab travel now. While our bodies cooperate. While our spirits are willing. While we still can.

And as it turns out, science agrees with me.

The Sweet Spot Is Real

Travel experts and researchers have landed on a remarkably specific consensus: the best years for travel are roughly 50 to 75. Before that window, most of us are too broke, too busy, or too deep in the logistics of raising small humans to really do it right. After it — well, bodies start to have opinions about things like long-haul flights and cobblestone streets.

That middle stretch, though? It’s something.

Accumulated wisdom means you’re not going to waste two days of your Rome trip at the wrong trattoria. You know what you like.

The kids are launched (or at least no longer requiring constant supervision). Career pressures have eased or evaporated. Accumulated wisdom means you’re not going to waste two days of your Rome trip at the wrong trattoria. You know what you like. You know how to pack. You’ve stopped caring whether your travel outfit is fashionable.

Free from the burdens of a young family and not limited by financial or work-related constraints, people actually find more freedom to explore in older age than when they are young, according to Woman and Home magazine. Which, when you think about your 34-year-old self frantically nursing a baby while trying to figure out the Paris Métro, makes complete sense.

You’ve Never Been in a Better Position For This

“I’m `youngish’ now,” says Leigh Anne McKellar, a retired teacher from Los Angeles. “My body isn’t going to be in better shape 10 years from now. Neither is my brain. When I’m in the rocking chair on the porch, I’d rather have memories of wonderful adventures than regrets about things I wish I had done.”

She admits she’s spending a lot on travel right now, but she feels the urgency. “Eventually my travel days will come to a close, and I won’t be spending then. It all evens out in the long run,” she says.

When I’m in the rocking chair on the porch, I’d rather have memories of wonderful adventures than regrets about things I wish I had done.

Women in our community regularly tell us they spent decades dreaming about travel — and couldn’t quite make the math work between school schedules, aging parents, demanding jobs, and the seventeen other things pulling at them simultaneously.

Now? Boomers between 55 and 75 average 27 vacation days a year and typically take four to five leisure trips. That’s not a vacation. That’s a lifestyle.

Your Brain Will Thank You

Here’s the part that should make every woman in her 50s, 60s, or 70s put down whatever excuse she was about to use and open a browser tab.

A 2025 expert roundtable convened by the Global Coalition on Aging and the Transamerica Institute — bringing together neurologists, public health experts, UN officials, and travel industry leaders — produced findings that are nothing short of remarkable: regular travel has been shown to reduce mortality risk by 36.6 percent and lower Alzheimer’s risk by up to 47 percent, through culturally enriching activities like museum visits, live music, and hands-on classes.

Let that sink in. Travel — the thing you’ve been putting off — is literally protecting your brain.

Regular travel has been shown to reduce mortality risk by 36.6 percent and lower Alzheimer’s risk by up to 47 percent.

A scoping review of the research found that older adults who travel had significantly higher well-being scores than non-travelers, and that participating in tourism was a 43 percent predictor of increased well-being. Research published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications confirmed that regular travel enhances subjective well-being among older adults. And a survey by Exodus Travels found that 77 percent of Americans say travel has helped them make lifelong friends.

About That Window

Here’s the part none of us love to say out loud, but all of us know: the window does eventually close.

Peggy R. from California, got a taste of that a few years ago. After an injury, she experienced a setback in her mobility, which was scary because she had always been active. “Once I recovered,” she says, “I made this decision: I am going to travel more!”

She’s starting with more international destinations while, she says, she has the strength, stamina, time and desire. After that, she will focus on domestic trips.  

At 63, I feel really good and I’m not taking that for granted. You never know what the future holds.

“At 63, I feel really good and I’m not taking that for granted. I see people in situations who remind me that NOW is the time,” she says. “You never know what the future holds–physiological limitations or other responsibilities that keep you from traveling. So I say yes to trips, pack my heavy bags (I’m still not good at packing light ) and I go.”

It Can All Go South Quickly

For Delcy Brockman of Scottsdale, Arizona, a medical emergency has brought the “seize the day” approach home to her in a big way. “One day you’re walking the streets of Paris like a champ and the next day you’re in the ER wondering `what just happened?'” says Delcy. “I will never regret taking five international trips in one year with NextTribe! I will treasure those memories till the end of my days and more importantly what a serendipity to have picked up lifelong friends that have enhanced my life in ways I can’t put into words.”

This is not a story about doom. It’s a story about timing.

The point isn’t that travel becomes impossible after a certain age. The point is that many adventures are best done when your body is still enthusiastically on board.

So, About Iceland

To the woman who wrote me last week: I hear you. The world feels uncertain. It always has. There will always be a reason to wait — a headline, a wobble in the markets, a nagging sense that maybe next year will be calmer, easier, more convenient. Instead, give more weight to the reasons to go.

There will always be a reason to wait. Instead give more weight to the reasons to go.

But here’s what the research tells us, and what every seasoned traveler we know will confirm: the people who wait for the perfect moment are often the ones who look back and wish they hadn’t.

What I should have told her:

You are in the sweet spot right now. Iceland in August is extraordinary — long golden days, landscapes that look like another planet, a culture that will charm the boots off you.

The international situation will always do what it does. As a counterbalance, do what your heart tells you to do.