Age is just a number.

As I have written before in this blog, when you travel alone, you don’t have to stay alone if you don’t want to. Not for very long at least. In my travels over the years, I have often spent time with travelers younger than I. Many of the travelers I meet are in their “gap year” between high school and college. Or they’re taking a break from college. Or they have just finished college.

I have met travelers who were older than that – some who were just taking a vacation for a few weeks. Some were from Europe and had loads of vacation time so they could spend an awesome amount of time traveling. I met a German woman in Nicaragua who was taking a sabbatical from her job as a veterinarian to work in Guatemala for a year. I met a number of couples at various times traveling for a year or more through Central and South America. I’ve met retired people, taking advantage of their freedom to learn a new language and see new places.

During the first few weeks of my stay in Guatemala, I hadn’t met anyone to “hang out with” of any age. I just didn’t connect with any of our volunteers or students and I wasn’t meeting people yet. At the time, I thought it was because most of the people were just too young. And in essence, they were. Sometimes the age gap is more noticeable for whatever reasons. I just couldn’t really relate to these kids. 

One friend I did eventually meet was Brian, a guy from the U.S. who was traveling for a while, trying to pick up some Spanish skills, and volunteering at a bike shop. Brian was younger than I, and we got into this discussion about Generation X. I am a Gen Xer and I would’ve loved to meet more Gen Xers from any country, because I could not relate to these young travelers I was meeting, nor they to me it seemed. Brian swore he was also a Gen Xer, although that wasn’t really important because he was cool. But we did some internet research and sure enough, he just made the cut-off year ... a fellow Gen Xer at last.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Generation X includes those who were born between 1964 and 1980, more or less, depending on the source. So it still encompasses a pretty wide range of ages, but you have a lot of the same cultural references and influences, such as the fall of the Berlin wall, the Space Shuttle disaster, grunge music, and the AIDS epidemic. (But I bet the youngest of the generation may not fare as well in a trivia contest.)

Brian was a fun friend, but he was also hanging out with a lot of younger, shall we say “more clueless,” youngsters, even younger than he was. He had a similar Gen X conversation with some of them, knowing that they were not from that generation. He told them the general birth years of a Gen Xer, and to that they replied “Huh uhn, those aren’t Gen Xers! Those are Baby Boomers!” 

Yikes.

But the truth is, the age of a person does not necessarily signify anything. Most travelers I have met over the years are younger than I am, and as I get older, this becomes even more likely and the age gap even greater. I have met some awesome people who I would probably never hang out with otherwise, just because in every day, non-traveling circumstances, our paths would probably not cross because of where we are in life (9-5 job vs. college) or the countries we live in.

Ronja, my then-20-year-old friend from Denmark, was a great travel companion in Guatemala. She was smart, read interesting books (she had just finished To Kill A Mockingbird and claimed it was her favorite book ever), was fairly obsessed with Roger Waters, and was adventurous. We had fun traveling to northeastern Guatemala, including an amazing trip to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Our other travel buddy was Evelyn, the 19-year-old niece of a Guatemalan friend in the U.S. who lived fairly close to Flores and Tikal. We had a great time, even spent a few days on a ranch where we rode horses (Evelyn and Ronja for the first time) and played ping pong (Evelyn for the first time). Did they treat me like their mom? No. Did I treat them like ignorant children? No. Did I stay out as late as they did? No. But we did have fun.

Here are Ronja (front) and Evelyn (back)
horseback riding at Finca Ixobel, just south
of Poptún, Guatemala. 

When I was still in Xela, I did finally meet a Gen Xer who was closer to my age. He was from San Francisco and he made a reference to the old game show, Match Game ’77. I was so excited to meet someone who actually remembered Gene Rayburn saying things like “Alice went to the dentist because she had a tooth ache. After her exam the dentist told her, ‘I’m sorry to inform you that I am going to have to      blank     your tooth.” (Here’s a video clip from that long-ago show to jog your memory). We even high-fived in generational solidarity. But despite that small connection, that was all there was. I didn’t hang out and talk with him over beer or hot chocolate, like I did with Ronja and Evelyn. I didn’t cross the country in a bus with him like I did with Ronja. I didn’t wake up at 3 a.m. to get to a sunrise tour of Tikal with him like I did with Ronja and Evelyn.  

Here I am with Evelyn (left) and Ronja (right) in the town of Flores,
Guatemala, near Tikal. I am sure my young friends had no idea who
the heck the Partridge Family was (see my t-shirt, center).
Come on get happy!

Sure, it’s sometimes nice to hang out with people who understand where you come from, not just geographically, but historically. I have met awesome people from the U.S. when I travel.  I have met some great people who are my age. But I love meeting people from other countries. And age really is just a number. Sometimes it accurately depicts a person’s knowledge base/experience (“ ... those are Baby Boomers!”). But sometimes it camouflages the maturity and intellect of a younger person. Don’t think you’re too old to hang out with 20-somethings if you’re not one yourself.  When you travel, you might be surprised at who becomes a friend. In the end, the memory of a game show from the 1970s is probably not an important connection. Many of the people you will meet as you travel were not even born then. Maybe you weren’t even born then. No matter what your age, just have fun with those you meet on the road ... whether you or they know who Gene Rayburn is or not.