Have you ever thought about walking the same streets your ancestors did? This week, we're diving into the world of ancestry travel and how it's become a big deal for folks wanting to connect with their roots. I’m chatting with Jim Lenahan from AARP, and he's got the scoop on why older adults are flocking to these heritage trips. We’ll share some heartwarming stories of people who’ve met long-lost relatives and uncovered their family histories, and we’ll even dish out a few tips on how to plan your own adventure. Whether you're a seasoned genealogist or just curious about where you come from, this episode is gonna inspire you to dig into your past and maybe even book that flight!

Welcome to the 240th episode of Boomer Banter!

Takeaways:

• Ancestry travel is booming because older adults are eager to connect with their roots.
• Many travelers find deeper purpose by uncovering their ancestry, which can shape their identity.
• Planning an ancestry trip involves researching your family tree to uncover meaningful connections.
• Meeting distant relatives during these trips can create lasting bonds and enrich family ties.
• Expectations should be managed; sometimes you find places and history rather than relatives.
• Tour companies specializing in ancestry trips can help make the journey easier and more fulfilling.

Links referenced in this episode:

• Join the Boomer Banter community.
• Check out all the information on the AARP Travel page.
• Do your ancestry research.
• Travel site specifically focused on African Heritage trips

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Wendy Green: 00:00:16

Hello, and welcome to episode 240, wow. Of boomer banter. Very excited about that. And I have a question.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk the same streets your ancestors once did? To stand in the village your great grandmother left behind? Or maybe meet a cousin that you didn't even know existed?

Well, this week on Boomer Banter, we're digging into a different kind of journey, Ancestry travel, and how it can give us a deeper sense of who we are and possibly even where we're going.

I'm joined today by Jim Lenahan, AARP's executive editor, in the travel section to explore how older adults are turning heritage trips into powerful personal experiences.

We'll talk about why this kind of travel is trending, how to plan your own roots, seeking adventure, and we'll hear some moving stories from people who've made the journey.

Whether you've already traced your family tree or you're just beginning to wonder where your people came from, this conversation might just inspire your next great adventure and help you find a deeper sense of purpose along the way. Because for many of us, especially in this stage of life, purpose isn't something we chase. It's something that we uncover.

And sometimes it starts by looking backwards. Hi, my name is Wendy Greene, and I am your host for Boomer Banter, where we have real talk about aging well.

And just a quick reminder that if you want to stay connected with us, if you don't want to miss any of the great guests that we have, the inspirational things that we talk about in the newsletter, go ahead and subscribe right now. Go to heyboomer Biz and click on Age well with us. I'd love to be connected with you.

In fact, I got an email today from somebody who had just connected, and it was so great to hear from someone who really appreciates what's going on. So go ahead and join the community. All right, let me bring Jim on and introduce him to you all. Hi, Jim.

Jim Lenahan: 00:02:51

Hi, Wendy. How are you?

Wendy Green: 00:02:52

I am great. How are you?

Jim Lenahan: 00:02:54

Good. And congratulations. So 10 more episodes, you'll be at 250.

Wendy Green: 00:02:59

I know.

Jim Lenahan: 00:02:59

Can you believe it?

Wendy Green: 00:03:01

It's amazing.

Jim Lenahan: 00:03:03

That's so exciting.

Wendy Green: 00:03:04

It is very exciting. Thank you. And, you know, because, you know, that's something you do, too.

Jim Lenahan: 00:03:10

That's right.

Wendy Green: 00:03:10

Outside of arp, we're not talking about that today, though. Yeah. So I want to talk about this Ancestry travel.

I know this is something that you have worked on before, and I'm wondering, what are some of the trends that you're seeing around what we're calling ancestry travel.

Jim Lenahan: 00:03:28

Yeah. So I think a lot of older people and retirees in particular, we can get that maybe a little later.

But I think a lot of older people just in general start to get interested in ancestry in general. That just, you know, sort of as you get older, you start to think about your own legacy. Right. That you're going to leave behind.

And then that makes you think about what was left or not left to you from your, from, you know, say your parents or grandparents or what have you, how much do you know about them or you don't know about them. And so a lot of older people just in general start to get interested in their own ancestry.

And then that leads to, for a lot of people wanting to travel and sort of experience that. And, you know, this has been a real trend over the last few years.

I mean, the interest, you might remember, you know, there was sort of a boom of interest in it back in like the late 70s with the show Roots.

Wendy Green: 00:04:24

Oh, right, yes, right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:04:26

The miniseries Roots I got, you know, which is all about somebody tracing his ancestry and, and, and, and traveling to that place. And there was, you know, sort of a boom of interest in it then. And then maybe it died down for a while and everything.

But with, with the Internet, you know, it's become more popular again.

And you even have services like Ancestry.com that will really help you in sort of like finding those, you know, records that can be helpful in learning about your family history, you know, you know, sort of tools and, and help in that way. So that's become a, a big driver of this.

And it's just easier, you know, to search for public records if things have been, you know, some cases have been digitized and you can find them easier now than having to travel to, you know, some office of records somewhere, some, you know, you know, small town library, those kinds of things. Right. A lot of that stuff is more available now. So that just kind of made things a little bit easier or somewhat easier. And then so much so that.

Oh, and I should also mention too, that there's been some recent TV shows that have boosted interest in learning about ancestry and genealogy. So PBS has a show called Finding your Roots where they, you know, have celebrities on and they go through that exercise.

They've done a whole bunch of research and sort of help.

Wendy Green: 00:05:50

I know. It's nice when you have that kind of help.

Jim Lenahan: 00:05:52

Right, right, exactly, exactly. There was another one that was called who do youo Think you Are? And that was on for like 10 years. Or something like that on NBC and TLC.

No, same kind of thing.

Oh, and then I also mentioned too, you've had, again, because of Internet and technology and things like that, you've had the rise of DNA tests that people are able to take.

And that, you know, is a big factor in sort of like, you know, how you put together your family tree, you learn more about your own ethnicity and so on that way. So all of those factors combined have led to this interest now in ancestry travel. And so what you have there is. I looked up some numbers here.

It's expected to reach 15. That market, ancestry travel market is expected to reach $15.8 billion.

Wendy Green: 00:06:47

Wow.

Jim Lenahan: 00:06:47

U.S. travelers by: 2033

Wendy Green: 00:06:54

It's a big number, but it's a big number.

Jim Lenahan: 00:06:56

s in. What it was just now in: 2023

So they're expecting a lot more interest in that kind of travel, and there's a lot of reasons for that. And then because of that, a lot of tour groups now specialize in ancestry travel. So if you want.

If this is something you want to do, you can reach out to professionals, kind of like on the TV show. Right. But there are professionals who will help you with this.

You know, you tell them your circumstance, you tell them what kind of research you've done.

They may even do some more research for you or help you point you in the right direction where you can do that research and then help you plan the trip that will be most beneficial for you, where you're going to get those results. You're going to be able to then look at, you know, they'll plan it out where you can look at records in those places.

Say you're going to go to Italy or Ireland or what have you.

Wendy Green: 00:07:50

Right?

Jim Lenahan: 00:07:52

Yeah.

Wendy Green: 00:07:52

ting to pick up. Looking into: 2032

We now have the curiosity, we want to know about our family trees, and we have the.

Many of us have the income to do this kind of travel, and AARP is giving us all kinds of wonderful other information about travel and how to do it and make it safe and where to go and things like that. So I think there's a lot of factors feeding into this. And.

And you were mentioning you started to mention the retirees as opposed to just older adults. Are you seeing one group more than other?

Jim Lenahan: 00:08:41

For sure. I mean, I think like I said, anyone as you sort of get older and your kids start to get, you know, become grown adults and all that kind of stuff.

Like I said, there just kind of is an interest in that legacy factor.

But retirees in particular, as you mentioned, they may have the, you know, the, the money to be able to travel because they've saved up, you know, when they have that nest egg. But also the real factor, I think is the time.

So if you're going to do the kind of research that will make an ancestry trip really pay off, you know, that really does take quite a bit of time. You start to, you start to go, you know, you start to pull at string, right?

And things lead you, you know, to, to more research, you know, and you go down these, you know, quote unquote rabbit holes, right? And, you know, it, it does take a lot of time to do it in retirement. Find that enjoyable. It's not, it's not a chore.

It's another sense of purpose, right, that you have. It's absolutely right. Another sense of purpose so you can spend your time doing research on your family and preparing for that trip.

Wendy Green: 00:09:51

And because then as a purpose thing, it's not just for me, you know, I'm thinking if I'm doing this kind of research, it's for my family, for my kids, you know, like I'm going to leave this legacy for them to know more about their history and their family too. So that really does feel a sense of purpose for, for the person that's doing that kind of research.

Jim Lenahan: 00:10:13

Completely. Completely. Yes, it, I mean, we do find when we interview people about this topic that they get so much out of it, just personally themselves. Right.

Because not only is it just a sense of like, you know your family better, but you kind of feel like you know yourself better if you understand kind of like where you came from and what others ahead of you dealt with or had to endure or something, you know, to make this life for you. Right. That gives you some sense of who you are and your place in this world. Right?

But then again, all of that is stuff you can pass on to, to your kids and your grandkids in future.

Wendy Green: 00:10:48

Tell me more about that.

Have you, you have some particular stories of people that have found out more about themselves or felt that they learn more about themselves because of what they now uncovered?

Jim Lenahan: 00:11:01

Well, I think, yeah, I think there's some of that. There's One story we did this was some time ago, but we had one story we.

We had where a writer, a journalist who he knew that his family was from Norway, and so he made contact with a cousin from there, or sort of a distant cousin. We say cousin. It can be, you know, three or four times removed. Right, exactly. The tree can get pretty. Pretty wide here.

But he had made contact with a cousin, been able to travel to Norway and more than once and visit this. This cousin. And basically, their. Their great grandfathers were brothers, so that's how they were related. Right. But again, in this case, they.

You know, basically what had happened was those two brothers had split. One stayed in Norway, the other one moved to for opportunities at that time, you know, decades ago. And so you do get a sense of yourself in the.

What he said was, you know, it could have been the opposite. Like, he could have. Right. If it had been the reverse, the brothers had each chosen the opposite path. Right.

Wendy Green: 00:12:16

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:12:16

He would have grown up in Norway instead of the United States. Right. So, yes. It gives you a sense of, like, why you are where you are.

Wendy Green: 00:12:24

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:12:24

Because of the decisions that others have made before you. Right.

Wendy Green: 00:12:28

And then you meet this cousin who you probably didn't even know he existed at first.

Jim Lenahan: 00:12:33

Right.

Wendy Green: 00:12:33

Yeah. That's really cool. So. So through these kinds of trips, are family reunions happening that you have heard about?

Jim Lenahan: 00:12:46

Well, that's actually a pretty amazing thing.

We did a feature story in aarp, the magazine, last year, specifically on ancestry travel, and we interviewed a number of people who have gone through that experience. And, you know, there was. There was one woman. There were a couple stories that were really interesting. One was a woman who lives in Indiana.

So she traveled to Germany, and she found a number of relatives there. So again, one thing I've. I've learned. I. I've learned from these various stories is it helps if you can locate a cousin.

There's always like, a cousin. It's like, sort of at the root of this. Right. And again, it doesn't have to be a first cousin. It could be farther on.

But if you do enough research to find that one person who can really help you out and a lot in many of these cases, they get very excited about it as well. Right.

Wendy Green: 00:13:45

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:13:47

So then this so mentioned this woman from Indiana. She goes to Germany. She had had some. Some communications with this distant cousin.

The person, you know, throws a party, they have a gathering, and then there's all these other distant relatives who get invited. Right. So that, you know, that was one case. And what was Interesting in her case was that she had done so much research.

She, she says she spent 40 years researching her family tree. Okay. Now, you know, obviously it was a hobby. Right, Right. But she had done so much research that she informed them when she went to Germany.

She informed her family members of things that they didn't even know about their family.

Wendy Green: 00:14:25

Oh, that's cool.

Jim Lenahan: 00:14:26

And in fact, connected people who didn't even know they were distantly related.

Wendy Green: 00:14:31

Really? That still lived in Germany.

Jim Lenahan: 00:14:34

Yes.

Wendy Green: 00:14:34

Oh my.

Jim Lenahan: 00:14:35

She was like, did you know that you're related to this person by this part of this, you know, again, sort of distantly, but they didn't even know that. Right. So there was that. There was another man we interviewed from Virginia who traveled to Northern. Northern Ireland. Yep.

And he basically just wanted to see like the church where I believe it was his grandmother was married and things like that. You know, kind of this stuff you might want to do.

You, you've done enough research about that that you know those, those key details of your ancestors lives. And he just wanted to do that kind of thing. But again, he had made a contact with a cousin. He and his family traveled there and the.

Suddenly they're part of this, this family gathering. They met 30 family members in Ireland. Right. Really they had had no contact with before. They had this big party, 30 people they didn't know before. So.

So yes, you know, again, if you can make the right, you know, do the right research and make the right contact, that can really be a big.

Wendy Green: 00:15:40

Difference in terms of find that cousin, find that cousin. And do you know if these people have like maintained contact with some of the people they meet in these reunion kind of things?

Jim Lenahan: 00:15:51

Oh, I'm sure they have. I'm sure they have. It's really interesting. You know, there was another man from Oregon who traveled to Japan and this, the.

He didn't expect to meet any family members because his grandparents had, had immigrated from Japan to Hawaii.

Wendy Green: 00:16:13

Okay.

Jim Lenahan: 00:16:13

In: 1906

Wendy Green: 00:16:20

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:16:20

And he, he went there just basically again, kind of like the, the Northern Ireland story kind of just to see where they lived, you know, what was the town, what is this town. Right. And that's, that can be in and of itself very informative to people just to see this, the, the place.

Wendy Green: 00:16:38

Sure.

Jim Lenahan: 00:16:39

But he did bring along some photos that he had some old photos and he, and he also had a tour guide. This is another thing you can find now these days is you can get a genealogical tour guide who can help you with this stuff. So he had that. And the.

Because of that, they were able to sort of go around and knock on some doors to see if they could get some more information. You know, it's the kind of thing you may not. You may feel weird about doing just on your own.

Wendy Green: 00:17:06

Language issues, right?

Jim Lenahan: 00:17:07

Yeah, totally, totally. But if you have somebody local who's like, hey, let's go check this out.

Wendy Green: 00:17:11

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:17:12

And that's what they did.

And eventually it took a while, you know, and he didn't expect to find again any family members there, but it took a while and eventually they found somebody who looked at the photo and said, oh, I think I know someone who can help you, and sent them to another place. And it turns out that they did actually connect with distant family members. And the woman, one of the.

One of the women they met, she and her brother, one of the women recognized herself and that her name was. Was written on the back of the photo. So that was a key. But she was like a young child, like a toddler or something like that in the photo.

And she was like, that's me.

Wendy Green: 00:17:51

Oh, you're kidding. Oh, that's from. That gives me chills.

Jim Lenahan: 00:17:54

Wow. From that, they had a great time together. Again, in this case, they were asking more. More and more questions about America.

You know, they want to know that part of the story because these people left and maybe they lost touch with what happened, you know, after that. Right. So they were asking all these questions and all that.

But, yeah, I know in that case, you know, now they have a lifetime bond with these people who was really just sort of a chance encounter.

Wendy Green: 00:18:19

That's amazing. That's amazing. So not only do you need a cousin, you need some pictures.

Jim Lenahan: 00:18:24

Well, pictures are really, really important. And. And people who.

Who run these tour groups, things like that, they advise that if you have any old family photos, you know, from as far back as you can find, bring those along, because you never know when that. That can be helpful.

Wendy Green: 00:18:39

Yeah. So these are great stories.

But then I know there are people that will go on these trips and they hopefully will have an experience like that, but they end up not finding family. They just find locations, which is.

I shouldn't say just because that also is very meaningful, but I know in some of your writings, you have encouraged people to. To moderate their expectations or how would you say that?

Jim Lenahan: 00:19:10

We do say that. We. We do tell people that they need to keep their expectations realistic. Right.

So again, you may not be able to connect with family members when you go on an ancestry Trip. But again, you may just find that seeing the. These places can really give you, you know, a great sense of that, of accomplishment from it. Right.

So, you know, again, it all depends on the research you've been able to do. And, you know, to see that, that will determine sort of how specific it can get.

So, like I said, you know, if, you know, grandparents or great grandparents or whatever it may be were married in such, such a church and, you know, churches are the kind of thing that tend to last a long time, especially in Europe, you know, where they, Right. You know, they, like, they preserve buildings, these buildings, right. So you can, you know, you may be. Be able to actually see that.

And then you get the sense of like, you know, you're walking in the footsteps. So all that can be, can give a feeling of accomplishment to people. But.

And so I don't know that they feel necessarily disappointed by not meeting family members as long as they feel that they, you know, got some sense of, again, it's a. It's that sort of walking in the footsteps kind of thing. This is where my ancestors were and this is what they experience.

And one thing we also advise people is when you do research, don't just research your family, but research that place.

Because the more you know about that place you're visiting and its history and its culture and, and specifically, as best you can, like, what it was like at the time when your ancestors lived there, the better sense of place you'll have when you're there and, and a better sense of, like, what it was like for them than, you know, and sometimes it can even be fiction, you know, like, sometimes there's great, you know, historical fiction that was about their eyes that, that'll give you just a great sense of place, you know, very vivid descriptions of, of these places and what they were like back then. So, you know, that's another thing you could do as well.

But I want to mention, you know, another story that we had in the magazine was a woman who traveled to Sierra Leone. So when you think about the African American experience in this country, you know, there just aren't a lot of records, right.

Ancestral records and things like that. So I don't know that I don't think she had any expectation that she was going to find family members. And because it's very difficult to trace.

Wendy Green: 00:21:55

But the DNA had indicated Sierra Leone.

Jim Lenahan: 00:21:58

That's exactly it. That's exactly it.

So with that understanding by itself, she traveled to Sierra Loan, Sierra Leone, and was able to at least trace back to, you know, the, the People.

Wendy Green: 00:22:14

Right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:22:14

Where her ancestors, you know, were part of and made such great connections there with those people that she was named a chieftain.

Wendy Green: 00:22:25

Really?

Jim Lenahan: 00:22:26

Yes. And wow. And now she travels back annually and has made such connections with.

With these people in Sierra Leone that this group of people that she is able to, you know, make it feel like family.

Wendy Green: 00:22:43

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:22:44

You know what I mean?

Wendy Green: 00:22:45

So, yeah, there is something about that. You know, I remember as a young person going to Israel with my family, and, you know, they, of course, they're not from Israel.

They immigrated to Israel during the Second World War.

Jim Lenahan: 00:23:01

Right.

Wendy Green: 00:23:02

But there's a sense of, like, that's part of me. That's part of my history. And my family, they survived and they went there.

And, you know, so it's that kind of thing that I think a lot of Americans, we don't have that here. And when you. We're almost all immigrants. Right?

Jim Lenahan: 00:23:22

That's right.

Wendy Green: 00:23:23

And so when you go back to a place that your family came from, there is something very moving about that.

So what would you say would be, like, step one, if someone decides they want to do an ancestry trip, what would you say would be one of the first things they should do?

Jim Lenahan: 00:23:41

Right. So a lot of times, you know, people will say, and we've said this already here in this conversation, you know, is do research.

But what does that mean exactly?

Wendy Green: 00:23:51

What does that mean, Jim?

Jim Lenahan: 00:23:52

Right, right. So you really should do your best to create a family tree.

So, I mean, that can be as simple as starting by just talking to, you know, your family, who you interact with on a regular basis anyway, and then, you know, ask the right questions and start to put that family tree together. And then once you sort of like, you know, reach the end of what you can get from just, you know, your close family or living relatives. Right.

Wendy Green: 00:24:21

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:24:21

Once you reach that dead end, that's where then you can go to places like Ancestry.com or search for various public records.

If you know somebody was from a certain place, you, you know, there's, you know, you can search through public records in, you know, with local governments, local libraries, things like that. Sometimes it's a matter of, again, if stuff was. If records were digitized, you can look at them online. If they weren't necessarily.

Sometimes it might take some phone calls, find out, you know, where do these records exist, birth certificates on file in some courthouse somewhere or, you know, what have you.

Wendy Green: 00:25:01

Ellis island, probably.

Jim Lenahan: 00:25:02

Right, right.

So you can make, you know, within the United States, you can start to think like, well, is it worth making a trip here, there, wherever to kind of create this family tree to the best of my ability. So there's that, like I mentioned, interview relatives. That's, that's the first source that makes the most sense.

We also recommend, we say sift through closets, right. So a lot of times there's personal information records. The people kept important records.

Birth certificates, marriage certificates, family photos, things like that that might be in some box that you didn't realize. Right. So you gotta, you know, look for those boxes of old stuff. Closets, basements, attics. You know, ask relatives if it's okay.

Maybe they have boxes of stuff that they haven't had time to go through. Can you look through and organize it for them? Right. Maybe then you'll find some great information there. So that's another thing you should do.

The genetic tests that I mentioned can, you know, at least give you information on things like ethnicity and and so on that can give you some sense of, of your roots that maybe you didn't know. In fact, I'll just. A quick aside here. Another woman who we wrote about in an upcoming issue of aarp, the magazine.

Wendy Green: 00:26:21

We're getting a sneak peek.

Jim Lenahan: 00:26:23

This will be in the August, September issue.

Wendy Green: 00:26:26

Okay.

Jim Lenahan: 00:26:27

This woman knew she was of Mexican descent. She lives in Texas. She took a DNA test. I don't even know what prompted this. I can't remember.

But with urging of a family, something like that, like, everybody's taking these DNA tests. You know, you should do that, right. Or friends or what have you. She took one and she found out that she's 70% Spanish. Okay.

And so then she wanted to specifically take a trip. And she did this in retirement. This was like her big post retirement trip.

She and her sister went to Spain to this specific towns that they could figure out that the family was from Granada and Seville. And what they, what they really found was just in terms of like physical characteristics.

Wendy Green: 00:27:21

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:27:21

The women looked like them in a way that they had never experienced before, even in the U. S or even in Mexico. And going to Mexico, they went to these towns just, you know, they just had the similar sort of look to them physically.

And so they found that just to be very, you know, very heartening in some way.

Wendy Green: 00:27:43

Absolutely.

Jim Lenahan: 00:27:45

That sense, you know, that this was, this was really the place where they, where they were from. So.

Wendy Green: 00:27:49

Oh, I can't wait to see that article. That's cool.

Jim Lenahan: 00:27:52

Yeah. So DNA tests can really help in some way as a. So all of that, as much research as you can do ahead of time will really help.

And then I mentioned if you Want to use a tour company?

Wendy Green: 00:28:06

Yeah. Tell me more about that, how these tour companies work.

Jim Lenahan: 00:28:09

So there's a number of those and you can find them. You can, you know, you can Google for genealogical travel or ancestry travel, and you could find a number of these.

And there are some that are even very specific. Like I mentioned, the woman went to Sierra Leone. She used a company called African Ancestry. Like they can get that specific. Right.

But there's a number of those. And basically you give them the information that you have, and it can be a little or it can be a lot.

You know, I don't know that there's an expectation that you have to do or have done all of this research. They can help with that. But if you give them whatever you have, they can really help you sort of in create that trip.

So these are the places that you should visit. They can in some cases set you up, as mentioned, with a genealogical tour guide who can help you in that place.

They can help you not only, I mean, like any kind of travel agency, tour company, they can help you with the accommodations and book on all of that as well.

Well, sure, but they can really, you know, kind of help you with an itinerary and you should visit this place and you should visit this place and you should go here.

And you know, like I mentioned some cases here, somebody can help you with that and help you with the language and, you know, kind of help ask the right questions and make those inroads.

Wendy Green: 00:29:32

And so once you're on the ground, does the tour guide they asso. They assign to you help you with further research or do you.

Jim Lenahan: 00:29:39

They certainly can. So.

Because in some cases you want to do some research while you're there because again, a lot of those records and things that you might be looking for only exist in, say, you know, Dublin or wherever you might be going. Right, right, right. So.

Wendy Green: 00:29:57

Or you knock on doors and you find somebody who's in the picture.

Jim Lenahan: 00:30:00

That's right, exactly.

So we tell people that, oh, when you go to the place, the things you should really, the information you should really have if you're going to be doing additional research once you get to that destination is, you know, names.

So have as many names as possible of your family who you think would have lived there or maybe are children of people who would have lived there, you know, something like that. So get, get, make sure you have all the names written down, you have all the that with you, as many dates as possible.

So when, you know, when did people live here? That sort of thing. Again, you know, the places, obviously, as much as you can, and then the relationships. So if you.

If you have names, dates, places and relationships, all the stuff written down when you go there, that can make a big difference when you go and do further research and talk to people, whether they're officials or hopefully, you know, people who knew your family or friends or, you know, family. Other family members, that sort of thing. And then the photos. Yes, of course. Really big thing. You never, never know when somebody looks at it.

And you can even just put all that stuff on your phone and, you know, you don't have to take the physical photos with you, but you never know. You swipe through and somebody might say, hey, that was my uncle.

Wendy Green: 00:31:18

That's right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:31:18

My grandfather. Right.

Wendy Green: 00:31:20

That's right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:31:21

Yep.

Wendy Green: 00:31:22

That's right. So. So we talked about this before, Jim. A lot of times when people retire and they travel right away, it's.

It seems to be, in my experience that they're avoiding the question of, you know, what's next now, am I going to fill my time? And they're just making a tangible break from work life to retirement life.

Something that you called retirement moon, kind of like a honeymoon, but they come back and they're right back into real life. So ancestry travel could be part of this retirement moon, and it can help the traveler reconnect with their heritage and their identity.

So, you know, how. Have you heard people use this retirement moon thing that you talk about to energize themselves? And.

And do you think that if they were looking at ancestry travel, it would be even more energizing?

Jim Lenahan: 00:32:16

Yeah. That's good. It's a good question. The.

So the retirement moons is something we write, were writing specifically about in that August September issue of aarp, the magazine, and we have several stories of people who've taken these types of trips. One of them, the woman I mentioned who went to Spain. So ancestry travel can be part of that. We have another.

There's another interest, ancestry travel story of sorts in there with a woman who went to Italy as part of her first big retirement trip. Not so much to trace her ancestry, but to specifically see where her grandfather fought. I believe it was her grandfather.

Oh, might have been her father. Actually, I think it was her father. Father fought in World War II, which.

Wendy Green: 00:33:04

Is a heritage thing.

Jim Lenahan: 00:33:06

Yes.

Wendy Green: 00:33:06

Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:33:07

So she. That was her. She just wants to get that one aspect of his life. You know, he.

He was an American, but because he fought in Italy in World War II, she wanted to see that place.

Wendy Green: 00:33:19

Sure. Yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:33:19

And she did.

And she was again able to Connect with people there who showed her this is like, this was the American headquarters, this like building that's now a house, whatever was the, where the American troops were headquartered in this town. So she was, you know, by able entering that building right now, you're like, again, it's the footsteps thing. I'm walking in the footsteps of.

Wendy Green: 00:33:43

Sure, yeah.

Jim Lenahan: 00:33:44

So anyway, but getting back to your question about retirement moons in general. So the retirement moon, if for people who haven't heard that term before, I mean, it's kind of self explanatory in the sense of.

It's built off of the idea of the honeymoon. Right.

So a honeymoon is something, you know, obviously you first get married and you've planned this big trip and it's sort of to, you know, mark the, this new phase of life. Right.

Um, it's kind of the same thing with the, with the retirement moon, which is that these tend to be the first big trip that people take when they retire, which is not necessarily a new thing. You know, people have been doing that for a long time. You know, what is the question you always get asked when you're approaching retirement?

Are you going to travel?

Wendy Green: 00:34:28

Right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:34:29

The big thing. So a lot of people do. That's like one of the first things they do, take a big trip.

And so the industry, the travel industry has now started to call this retirement moon and sort of like caters to that for people who are making those kind of plans and they can be anything. So we're talking now, you know, kind of about ancestry travel and that's one thing that people might do.

But you know, it can be, you know, taking that road trip that you always wanted to take across the United States. You know, it can be just, you know, traveling to some exotic land that you have always wanted to go to. It could be any number of things, right?

Wendy Green: 00:35:04

Yeah. Kind of a bucket list trip.

Jim Lenahan: 00:35:07

Right. And I always think that travel kind of falls, generally kind of falls into one of two buck, you know, one of two categories. Right.

Which is either the relaxing vacation where you just don't want to do anything. Right. Or the active vacation where you want to go and be on the move and see a lot of things and learn about that place. Right.

And so these retirement moons tend to be more on this sort of active side or at least, you know, because it's a sense of like, I, I really want to do some experience something, do something that I haven't done before.

Wendy Green: 00:35:41

Right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:35:41

But that's not to discount the people who just want to go and be on the beach, you know, and just relax. You. You've earned that. So that's okay, too, you know, for sure. Yeah. So. So, yes, we are seeing that. Oh.

So I guess getting back your question afterward after energizing.

Wendy Green: 00:36:01

Right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:36:01

I think, Yeah. I think that when we talk about things like ancestry travel is one example of that sort of active, purposeful retirement moon. Right.

It does have a lasting impact. And, you know, as we mentioned with all these people, they've made connections that will continue on. Right.

And so now they, they, whether they go back to that place, whether they communicate with these people, you know, family members or in the Sierra Leone case. Right. Just, you know, this new sort of family, quote unquote family that she's made.

Wendy Green: 00:36:37

Right.

Jim Lenahan: 00:36:38

You know, now you have a whole new fulfilling sort of phase to life that you can experience with other people.

Wendy Green: 00:36:46

Yeah. All right. I want to have a little fun now. I want to ask.

I want to ask you and me and our listeners, where might your roots take you if you were to do an ancestry trip today?

Jim Lenahan: 00:37:00

Yes. Right.

So for myself personally, and this is something that I do want to do, and I haven't done it yet, and I kicked myself a bit at now, you know, having worked on these stories and not interviewing enough living relatives while they were living, I wish I had done more of that. And so anybody younger who, who's listening to this, you know, do that while you can because, you know.

Wendy Green: 00:37:24

Absolutely.

Jim Lenahan: 00:37:25

You know, you don't. You, you may miss that opportunity. But, but certainly I would like to go to Ireland at some point. You know, that's my family history.

You know, I have not done all this research yet.

I would like to do it, but, you know, to my understanding, it's the kind of typical American immigrant story, you know, the whole Ellis island and all of that. And I don't think it would be.

I don't think it'd be terribly difficult to create that family tree that I'm talking about, find those roots and then, you know, travel there and experience. My understanding is it's County Cork, so at least I have that.

Wendy Green: 00:38:08

Oh, okay. Well. And like you said, Jim, you know, you're just now getting close to that phase where you might have time to do that kind of research. Right.

So you. Your kids are still just leaving the house.

Jim Lenahan: 00:38:20

That's right. That's right.

Wendy Green: 00:38:22

It takes a. Yeah. I think for me, I've heard a lot of family stories and, you know, some of it is probably mythology, so I would like to know how much of it is real.

But I would. My family on My mother's side is from Latvia and on my father's side is from Poland.

And so it would be interesting, I think, to, to explore that a little bit. I don't know where. I don't know if there's still family there, you know, but I think that would be fun.

I would love to find a cousin to go with, you know, wouldn't that be cool to go with another family member?

Jim Lenahan: 00:39:03

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you never know. You may find that person.

Wendy Green: 00:39:07

I may find that person. Right. So, and, and all of you listening, I would love to know. So share with us and your comments or, you know, after the show, whatever.

Make let us know where you're going to go. Jim has a, a place where we can go and get more information about what AARP is doing around travel.

So you can go to aarp.org travel and they have an abundance of resources there and more of the stories like Jim was sharing with us of people that have done these kinds of trips, as well as how to travel safely and you know, how to pack all those things.

Jim Lenahan: 00:39:49

Yes.

Wendy Green: 00:39:50

That are helpful. So check out aarp.org travel. Jim, any last words that you want to leave us with?

Jim Lenahan: 00:40:00

Well, you know, I think that just travel in general, I'll just say this. One other thing we, we've learned is no matter what you do, it's all good. Right?

So don't just, although we're talking about one particular type of, of trip or vacation, do what's right for you. You know, the world is huge. It's big. There's so much to discover. And don't, you know, let other people determine where you go and what you do.

Find what works for you, find what's important to you and, and go out and do it, you know. Right.

Wendy Green: 00:40:35

Do it right. That's great. That's. That's great advice. Don't wait, don't put it off because you never know what's going to happen next.

If you'd like to join our Facebook group, it's a private group, you can go to facebook.com groups boomer banter and you could tell us about your travel trips there. That would be fun and it inspires other people that are in that group looking for connection.

And then as I said, go to the website heyboomer Biz and click on On Age well with us so that you can subscribe to the newsletter and find out about all the great stuff that's happening in the Boomer Banter community. And please share this with friends, family members. Family members. Right. So you get them inspired to start talking about Ancestry travel.

But I want to tell you who is my guest next week, and it's a bit unusual. Okay, so this is July 14th. I'm going to combine purpose and your smartphone. Okay. I was skeptical when I heard this, too, but here's the story.

Ann Goldberg, who will be my guest, was searching for work that would be fulfilling and give her life meaning. And she realized that she was good at helping older adults with their technology.

So now she focuses exclusively on phones, both iPhones and Androids, and she even has a book coming out.

So we're going to learn about how she found her purpose through work in her later years and pick up some tips on using your phone safely, avoiding scams. And Jim, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much.

Jim Lenahan: 00:42:22

It's been great.

Wendy Green: 00:42:23

Yeah, this has been great. Now I'm looking forward to when we're going to take our trips.

Jim Lenahan: 00:42:29

Exactly.

Wendy Green: 00:42:30

I'll see your story in the magazine one day. I.

Jim Lenahan: 00:42:33

That's right. Absolutely. For sure.

Wendy Green: 00:42:34

Awesome. Thank you so much. My name is Wendy Green with Jim Lenahan, and thanks for joining us, and hopefully I'll see you next week.