My Life as a 50+ Travel Agent

My life as a 50+ Travel Agent, the invisible me.

Days after my 57th birthday I traveled to Ireland with a group of other Travel Agents.  I was so excited to go and I had a marvelous time.  Ireland is a beautiful country.  A trip like this one is called a FAM, (Familiarization Tour).  The Tour Company puts a load of Travel Agents into a bus and tours us around showing us, at break neck speed, all of the things our customers might see and do.  It's tonnes of fun and very exhausting.  It consists of hotel inspections, late nights, and long hours on a bus.

To prepare for this trip I began a diet to lose a few pounds.  These trips are physically hard and carrying a lot of extra weight makes it even harder.  I was so proud of myself for losing 10 whole pounds in the two months leading up to the trip.  I felt great.

While I was gone, my husband planned to put down laminate flooring in our bedroom.  Great idea. Then I don't have to live in the mess.  So, an hour before I left for the airport, we moved the dressers out, down the hall and into another room.  In the process, I ran a dresser over my big toe and bruised it very badly.  There was nothing I could do at the time but drive the three hours to the airport with my foot on a cold pack.

I had a visible limp the whole trip, and most of the time I was in a great deal of pain.  So much for felling good about myself.  I took care to elevate it at night and bandage it during the day.  I was determined not to let it slow me down or leave me behind.  Over half of the group were under 40.  No way was I going to appear weak in front of them.

It's two weeks later, I've been home for a week. My toe is healed and I'm fine. Yet, something significant happened to me on that trip.  I don't know if it was the limping, or that I don't look as young as I used to.  Part way through the week I realized that I was invisible to the younger crowd.  I'm used to being in charge, in having people come to me for leadership and guidance.  But that didn't happen this time.

Don't get me wrong, no one was mean to me, or unkind.  It was more like I didn't exist at all.  Like I was invisible.  I understand that this happens to women over 50, but it's never happened to me.

As a result, I'm more determined than ever to create Travel Experiences for women over 50, especially Widows.  They are treated worse then the rest of us when it comes to being dismissed and invisible.   I'm not certain where I'm going, I'd love suggestions from you.

Hey, how would you like to go to Ireland?  I found a few pubs along the way where an old lady can get a drink.