AARP site offers guidance for travelers

These days, travel for baby boomers can be challenging. But AARP wants to make everyone’s road to their favorite destinations quicker and more enjoyable through their new website, travel.aarp.org.

Multiple studies cite travel as the top inspirational activity for individuals ages 50 and over. And recent research conducted by AARP shows that approximately 80 percent of people 50-plus spend between 30 and 36 hours a year researching, planning and booking their trips online. Ideally, they would prefer to spend about 12 to 18 hours per year doing so. Additionally, they spend about 18 hours a year online booking these trips, when they would rather spend 12 hours on this.

The nature of travel for boomers is diverse and includes business trips, visiting family members and taking exotic getaways. But online travel planning for any trip can be tedious, with time-consuming tasks of visiting many websites to get information to plan and book a trip.

The new AARP Travel website offers a one-stop shop to plan, book and share a trip – be it a quick weekend getaway or a longer vacation. Anyone can explore the site, which pulls together content, tools and features – making each step both fun and easy.

The site’s articles and tips are particularly geared toward helping people 50-plus think about fun ideas on where they may want to go, including food festival-themed trips, places to reimagine their lives and must-see international destinations. The site also offers more practical information such as saving money, locating accommodations for special health needs and managing safety concerns.

The site’s interactive tools were designed to make the planning process easier and more delightful. If a user would like more ideas on places to go, AARP has created a “Trip Finder” tool that offers suggestions. Destination Guides include key information and details about specific locales, including suggested things to do.

Within each guide, a detailed “Map Explorer” function shows users street-level details of an area’s hotels, restaurants and attractions that can then be saved to “My Saved Trips,” where users can save personalized itineraries and build upon them each time they return and log in.

For more information and travel tips for individuals 50-plus and their families, visit travel.aarp.org.