Dear Reader, Almost six years ago, my colleague Janice Mucalov and I launched Getting On Travel (GOT) to create a self-sustaining online travel magazine that would fill a special niche. We hoped to be a source of information and inspiration for travelers over the age of 50, written by a cadre of talented travel writers in the same age demographic with similar sensibilities.  We were blessed to assemble a team of 60 outstanding Contributors who published blogs and/or wrote for high-quality print and online travel publications. When Janice no longer had the bandwidth to participate in GOT ..read more

Mountain getaways are Mother Nature’s therapy for what ails me. I find an inverse correlation between the elevation of my surroundings and my blood pressure. This was reason enough for my wife and me to recently head west from our Charlotte home to the Carolina Blue Ridge Foothills. Just two hours west, outdoor splendor and the amenities-rich resort of Rumbling Bald on Lake Lure welcomed us. From damming to Dirty Dancing The Dirty Dancing festival is an annual celebration of the iconic 1987 film shot here (credit: Bill Russ/VisitNC) Although only 30 miles west of Asheville, Lake Lure i ..read more

Souvenir stems from the French verb to remember, which is exactly what I do as I look around my office at items collected during my travels. For example, I bought the clay haniwa, a replica burial object of a dancing woman with an O-shaped mouth, in Miyazaki, Japan. Also gracing my office shelves are a small Acoma vase purchased from an indigenous woman in New Mexico, a marble head from Ecuador’s Easter Island, and a death mask from Mexico. So is it any surprise I was keen to shop for Colombian crafts on my recent visit to Bogotá? Colombia’s Indigenous Artesanias The second-most ethnically di ..read more

The author recently returned from two back-to-back Pandaw cruises in Asia and yearns to return for another—after 17 days onboard. I was sipping my Pink Lady cocktail and enjoying the brilliant orange sunset across the Mekong River over Vientiane, the capital city of Laos (Lao PDR). It was the last evening of my river cruise on Laos Pandaw. The day had been very hot, but now a gentle breeze was slowly cooling off the open-top deck lounge.  A dragon boat sped by in the evening twilight. The crew chanted loudly as they oared in perfect unison, dipping their paddles into the water in synchro ..read more

Bilbao became a destination for art lovers as soon as the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum opened in 1997. Occupying land that was once a shipyard beside the Nervión River, the museum designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry is now the city’s top attraction. With this in mind, Guggenheim Bilbao is the primary reason most people travel to Bilbao. In particular, both the museum and the Michelin-starred Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao, located on the premises, appeal to the discerning traveler with a taste for contemporary art and fine dining. Bilbao is a vibrant city with much to offer a visitor, an ..read more

The fish boil is one of the many Scandinavian traditions and cold-weather activities to be enjoyed in Door County, Wisconsin.  With an understated but well-practiced flourish, master boiler Pat McMurtry tosses a tin can of kerosene on a wood fire outside the White Gull Inn. Freshly caught whitefish and baby potatoes are boiling in two wire baskets set inside a large kettle. The cooking area explodes in a fireball and the crowd gasps, shrieks and recoils with delight. The short-lived flames obscure what’s happening. We don’t really see the pot boil over sending all the fats and oils at th ..read more

Our November week on St. Martin — sticking mostly to the French side of this dual-nation Caribbean island — was not your typical, lazy beach vacation at an all-inclusive resort. We came to eat. More specifically, we came to celebrate food at the Festival de la Gastronomie Saint-Martin.  This year’s festival starred plantains, the tropical starchy fruit related to the banana. Cooked when green (for a savory result) or yellow-black (for a sweet result), typically, they’re thickly sliced in rounds, fried and served alongside meals.  “Local people, if I don’t put plantain on someone’s p ..read more

​​Gold lured prospectors west to the Rocky Mountains in the mid-1800s. Nowadays, prospects seek vacation gold. Thanks to a heritage that includes dinosaurs, the Gold Rush, the railway, and cowboys; a vibrant downtown; and a gorgeous natural setting providing abundant outdoor activities, there’s no shortage of things to do in Golden, Colorado. Located in the Rocky Mountain foothills, roughly a half hour west of Denver, aptly named Golden invites browsing art galleries, exploring historic landmarks, and hiking or biking the trails of Golden Gate Canyon State Park and the Table Mountai ..read more

Christmas at Biltmore turns America’s largest privately owned estate into a glittering masterpiece. This season features 67 decorated Christmas trees. The tallest, an impressive 35-foot Fraser fir, stands in the Banquet Hall, one of the Biltmore estate’s 250 rooms. With 14,000+ ornaments, 45,000-holiday lights, 250 candles, 1,000 feet of garland, and 150 traditional poinsettias, Christmas at Biltmore defines “decked out.” And that’s not all. Additional decorations brighten the massive grounds and adorn the separate gardens, the Conservatory, and the Antler Hill Village & Winery. Christmas ..read more

Sand dunes, lighthouses, and golf courses helped Door County, Wisconsin, earn the nickname Cape Cod of the Midwest.  Set on a 70-mile-long peninsula edged with 300 miles of shoreline, Door County separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. That location makes it possible to watch the sun rise and set over the lake. Plus, no matter where you are, you’re only 15 minutes from the water.  When to visit Door County Although most of Door County’s two million visitors come during summer, like Cape Cod, each season has its allures.  Apple and cherry trees and wildflowers bloom in spring. B ..read more