Interestingly, we were talking with friends a few weeks back about our recent three weeks in Central Europe. We mentioned about how we ran into elderly tourists. They are the ones with copious free time and some with the money to visit faraway places. Conversely, we ran into the Euro-youths on parade. It seems as if the tourists in our age category were in fairly short supply.
I'm really happy that we are able to gallivant around. The trips of young people must be fun but as individuals they often lack the maturity and experiences of the world to appreciate many of the things they see. The elderly have enough life behind them to understand the sights but, unfortunately, are sometimes not physically able to keep up. We saw many tour groups where disabilities prevented older folks from sprinting up the mountains or church towers.
I'm satisfied to have lots of free time at this point in my life. I feel people should be most free from obligations when 35 to 50 years old. I understand what Goldilocks meant. Being not too young and not too old means we're 'just right' for world travel. I realize being in this situation is not possible for some, but it's exactly how things have happened for me.