What Turning 50 Taught Me About Travel (And What I’m Done Apologizing For)

I just turned 50. I haven’t done a lot of traveling in my 50s yet, but turning 50 has already rewired how I think about every trip ahead of me. This isn’t a list of places to go. It’s what I’m done apologizing for when it comes to travel after 50. 

Travel after 50 isn’t about packing more into every trip. It’s about packing less stress in. For me it means nicer hotels, slower mornings, saying no to trips I don’t actually want, and saying yes to the people I love most while I still can.

Whether you’re approaching 50 or not, or whether you travel alone or with people, doesn’t matter as much. If you’re at a point of midlife reinvention – empty nest, new chapter, key life change – these may resonate with you. Keep reading to see if they do.

For my full guide to solo travel for wmen over 35, start here → 

#1 — I’m Done Apologizing for How I Travel

Turning 50 didn’t change where I go. It changed what I’m willing to feel guilty about. I’ve traveled for so long that it’s become second nature to me. Sometimes, others are in awe of how much I travel, how I get the time, the money, the courage. There have been plenty of times in my life that I’ve downplayed this, and I’m not sure why.

Maybe it was layered in the conversations and hit on differing budgets – you flew business class?. It could have been about the different ways we prioritize our time – how could you spend three months in Italy?. Perhaps coupled status could also have been at play – you travel solo?

These comments hit harder, I think, because of my deep-seated belief that I should be married with kids by now, and that should take up my time – and quite frankly, being devastated that I wasn’t. Sometimes it seemed like that was other people’s expectations too, without realizing the ‘why’ behind it. Being impressed by my travel could sometimes read as judgment, like I’d chosen this over something else. When you’re facing your own sadness about the situation, it can reinforce that belief, even if people didn’t mean it that way.

Wherever it came from, I’m done apologizing for it. I’ve made peace (mostly) with my single, childless life. And while it’s not what I had planned, I need to make the most of it. This started to happen midway through my forties, but it solidified the day I turned 50. There’s no more what-ifs. There is only now. And that no-more-what-ifs feeling started showing up in the small stuff too, like how I book a hotel room.

#2 — I Stopped Apologizing for Wanting a Nicer Hotel Room (or Plane Seat)

The room isn’t just where I sleep anymore. It’s part of the trip, part of the experience. Back in the day, I used to default to the cheapest decent option and pocket the difference. I’m not sure at which point it changed, but I started realizing that a great room changes the whole rhythm of a trip, with slower mornings, and somewhere I actually want to come back to.

The Shangri-La in Bangkok, with so much hustle and bustle outside, became a retreat with my mom. After a long, busy day weaving through temples and crowds of people, we returned to our peaceful sanctuary overlooking the river. It’s like we were no longer in one of the busiest cities during Lunar New Year. We were in our decompression zone.

It’s no longer just a place to sleep. It’s part of the trip.

There’s a similar feeling with plane travel. I was all about the cheap seat to save money. Then, because I started traveling so much, I began to get upgraded. First class on domestic flights was ok, but business class on international flights? That was a whole new world! I remember when I first took my mom on a business class flight. She loved every minute. So much so that every international trip after that she asked for the upgrade. Now we treat it as a health benefit as it is important to get rest and lay down as you get older, but we know it’s still a treat and we’re happy to indulge.

Midlife Travel Unlocks Permission to Choose You

This isn’t about the price tag. It’s about the choice. Maybe your version of this isn’t business class to Bangkok, it’s one splurge night at the start of a trip you’d normally book bare-bones. The amount doesn’t matter. What matters is giving yourself permission to spend it on you.

I’ve always been a fan of creature comforts, but this reinforced that creature comforts aren’t necessarily indulgent. They’re part of how I experience a place now, and they change my mood. It also helps to land refreshed, wake up revived, to fully embrace the next travel day. I’d rather travel less often and stay somewhere I love than stretch a budget thin.

I used to think comfort was the opposite of adventure, like if I wasn’t a little uncomfortable, I wasn’t really doing it right. Fifty changed that math. Now I think the best adventures happen when you’re rested enough to actually be present for them. Waking up without an alarm. Ordering room service because you can. Not because you’ve earned it, but because you want to. That’s not indulgence. That’s just paying attention to what actually makes a trip good.

#3 — Someday Trips Became Today Trips

Turning 50 made “someday” feel a lot less guaranteed. Like many people, I have loved ones who have passed. Family members who are getting older. Friends facing struggling health issues. It all makes you realize that life, and the people I want to travel with, aren’t infinite.

So many people say I’ll work hard until I retire, and then I’ll travel. But will you still be able to? Will your health be intact? Will your traveling companions be around? You can’t bet on a future when the future is unknown. You’re better off booking the trip instead of waiting for a better year.

So when my mom said she wants to go back to Japan, we’re going back to Japan. This year. When she says she’s not sure how many more long trips she has in her (she’ll be 76 in December), I say make your list and let’s start planning. Because I don’t want to look back and regret not taking that trip. Spending that time together, seeing the joy she gets when she discovers a new place, or when she tries an exotic food, are priceless memories I can keep forever.

Someday trips became today trips.

Similarly for me, there’s trips I’ve put off, thinking I’d do them with my partner some day. But as much as I want that day to come, I can’t keep waiting. So I book St. Lucia. I go to Hawaii. I talk to a friend about booking Moorea. Because as great as they are for couples, they are also wonderful for women traveling alone after 50, or women traveling together on a girls trip.

Ultimately, travel becomes a way to spend time with the people I love most, while I still can. Do it now, do it often, and cherish every moment of it while it lasts.

#4 — Slow Travel Isn’t Boring Travel

This one was a slow burn. I used to feel like every minute had to be used or the trip didn’t count. Resting felt like I was missing out on all the new city had to offer – the FOMO was real. Then I would wonder why I would come home more tired than when I left. Why I couldn’t remember the difference from one museum to the next. Was that great pizza place in Florence or Venice? It would all start to blend together.

I’m not traveling more carefully. I’m traveling more honestly.

There have been trips where I’ve gotten sick, like Christmas in Paris where I spent half the trip in my bedroom. That’s the other extreme, and not the kind of slow travel I’m talking about. But some trips, like my last one in Italy, I built in rest periods. I had been traveling for so long, I needed a sense of normality – a laundry day and some Netflix. Then I realized, it was kind of great. I could still see Sardegna, enjoy the beaches and take a boat tour along Cala Gonone, but I could also have a chill night in and watch some shows. I could wake up late, do a mellow stroll around town in the afternoon and head out for a nice dinner in town. 

And suddenly, resting on a trip isn’t wasting it. It was enhancing it. Now, naps, slow mornings, unscheduled afternoons, are now part of the plan, not a failure of one. I go with what I feel in the moment, with zero guilt about it.

Because the funny thing is, the trips I remember most aren’t the ones I packed tightest. They’re the ones I let breathe, let flow naturally, that left me with a knowing and understanding of the place I was in that was so much deeper than racing through, checking off as many sights as I could. I travel for much more than that now.

#5 — What Travel After 50 Really Means to Me

Travel after 50 isn’t about the itinerary. And honestly it’s not always about the place, as odd as that seems. It’s about what it does to me. It’s a chance to disconnect from my daily routine, and at the same time reconnect with myself. Travel gives me the opportunity to broaden my perspective while sharpening and fine-tuning what I actually believe.

When I’m in a foreign destination, connecting with a place, with its people, with nature, it’s allowing me to connect with something bigger than my own life. Seeing beyond our own four walls, beyond our own natural biases, and beyond what we thought was even possible. It’s all quite extraordinary.

What Travel After 50 Is All About

Midlife travel, at its core, comes down to this. Trekking through the countryside of Nepal in my 40s, going village to village, seeing how they lived was so eye-opening. Being welcomed into home after home for a home-cooked meal after a long day’s trek, showed what true hospitality, and real kindness, are. Coming home from Nepal knowing that I wanted to take more time for people, and to give that graciousness back the way it was given to me, is a life lesson I still carry with me. I know on my trip to Vietnam next year, I’ll come home with similar learnings and a broader perspective on life.

I think about that trek more than almost anything else I’ve done. Not because it was the most beautiful place I’ve been (though it really was beautiful), but because it cracked something open in how I think about what I need versus what I want. I came home wanting less stuff and more moments like that one. And honestly, every trip since has been chasing some version of that feeling. Not the destination. The crack.

If you travel for no other reason, travel for this. Travel for yourself. You may learn something new. You may be reminded of something you already have deep in your core. And honestly? You may just have fun.

FAQs

Conclusion

I’m not traveling more carefully now that I’m 50. I’m traveling more honestly. The trips ahead of me look different than the ones behind me, and I’m done apologizing for that. It’s ok to take your time, to splurge on the things that make your trip more enjoyable, and to look beyond the place, to its people. 

Has this inspired you to make the someday trip a today trip? To spend more time with the ones you love? To just say eff it let’s go!?! Share below, I’d love to hear where you’re off to next.

Wherever you go, however you do it, I want you to have a trip to remember. 

Happy travels, kindreds!

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Ready to embrace midlife travel? 

• The type of solo trip you take depends on what you’re looking for. Here’s 6 Kinds of Solo Trips to Take in Your 50s
• Wondering if you need a travel advisor to travel solo? Here’s how to decide
• Japan is a great place to travel at any age. Take a look at my complete Japan Itinerary for first-timers
• For everything to take to Japan and how to pack for any trip, check out my 431 packing system and get your free packing checklist
• My mom, her cousin and I had a wonderful midlife trip in Italy. Read about our travels and see our ideal itinerary here: Northern Italy Family Girls Trip
• I take away so much from every trip with my mom. You can read all about my learnings and our adventures
• Traveling alone after 50 is a great time. If you’re nervous about going it alone, take a look at How to Start Traveling Solo
• Hear all about what I learned taking it slow during my 3 months traveling through Italy
• It’s true there are The Hard Parts of Solo Travel, but they’re well worth it
• Read every aspect of solo travel for women in my full guide
• Ready to plan? Take a look at my 2026 planning framework in How to Plan Your Best Travel Year

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