u/Dmlandis59

So I’m a male in my mid 60s, retired , and have family at home. Sometimes my wife doesn’t want to go but she’s okay with me doing my thing for a short trip.

I’m just starting a trip in La Paz Mexico and ending in La Paz Bolivia. It’s only been one day and going well . But this time I’m a little self conscious as everyone I see in restaurants is in groups.

I am native English speaker but fluent in Spanish .

My question is where do older solo travelers go to meet others just for conversation/hanging out . I’m not a big drinker or night owl but enjoy day trips where I can hopefully meet others.

Has anyone found any meetups in Latin America? Just to put it in context I’m also going to Mexico City, San Salvador , Bolivia for close to a week, and Panama City.

One thing I found fun on my own is doing an Airbnb pub crawl - I did one in Paris and in Bogota. The participants were generally younger than me but it was nice to have a group to interact with for a few hours.

Just curious if anyone knows of a travel company oriented towards active seniors interested in traveling to less touristy locations. One that emphasizes some outdoor adventure and local immersion as opposed to motorcoach tours that only show the most tourists sites. My wife sometimes doesnt want to travel to the same places and i would rather not go alone in future.

I will be traveling to La Paz Mexico and CDMX next week. Do you know if there is a cellphone store or Oxxo at the La Paz BC airport like there is at Benito Juarez?

Also can Telcel be used in Central or South America?

I have noticed of late that almost all American 7-11s, had stations, and convenience stores stock about 80% energy/caffeinated drinks and few alternatives. Monster energy drinks, gatorades, and “smart” waters dominate. I would love to see just juices, flavored waters, and regular diets in stores.

I cannot have too much caffeine as I just had a heart procedure earlier this year . I think we are an over caffeinated society - if anything we need chill drinks .

FYI I do love my caffeinated cuffed cups 1 or twice a day but those alternative drinks have way more caffeine than coffee- anyone else feel this way?

I will also express my concern about “probiotic “ drinks but that will be another post

I was just in West Portal doing a workout - Barre/Pilates and saw 3 studios within one block . It seems the same in other neighborhoods like Marina and Mission District. And I live near Excelsior and studios are slowly popping up there too

Are there enough people to substain all these businesses. I love these workouts but I wonder if they will be around in a year and what they have replaced.

Most platforms (Pandora/Sirium XM) have a plethora of 1960s to today decade music). People still listen to Beatles and Rolling Stones. But one doesn’t hear 1930s to mid 1960s artists aside from Elvis in these stations. Will Big Band Music and Doo Wop disappear from all mediums as people before 1945 die off. Of course there will always be Frank Sinatra tributes but little else.

I live about 15 minutes away from Pacifica. We recently took a cruise and stopped in Ensenada Baja Mexico. I was surprised how the two cities looked similar in terms of geography. Lots of fog, mountain ranges which quickly descend to ocean, and rough surf., and chaparral. Of course Pacifica is a suburb, not a port, and much smaller. What do others think?

Buen dia. I will be stopping in El Salvador for 3 days as a stop between Mexico and South America.

A Few questions.

1. Phone service. My USA based cell service does not have international service. I normally buy an esim or phone chip for travel. Is there a telecom store at the airport where can get service for 3 days? I do have a sim chip Mexico (Telcel) which I purchased last month and it was a godsend for navigating rather than relying on wifi. Any idea of costs?

2. Airport taxi to San Salvador (colonia San Benito) - How much is a taxi at airport? is uber available and are there shared shuttles to El Centro?

3. Finally Im looking to at least visit the beach (not to swim but just to visit for 1/2 an hour). This would be my last day before leaving on my 12 pm flight. Would it be easy to arrange for a taxi to take me from my hotel to the coast and then on to the airport.

Thank you for all suggestions. Gracias de antemano.

I’m curious about the type of billboards that exist in each area of California . We live in San Francisco part time and part time in So Cal desert. In the Nay Area in 101 and 80 there are strictly AI and techie billboards. Near Palm Spring are strictly casino and plastic surgery billboards( $5k special in face lifts and breast implants). In LA I noticed lots of personal injury attorney and insurance billboards ( same as Las Vegas)

What about in your area of state??

I will be traveling for about a week to Bolivia (La Paz, Uyuni, and then Santa Cruz. What clothes should I bring for the highlands part of trip?

Will traveling to Twin Cities and Duluth in 2 weeks . I’m from CA and been to close to 100 countries and 30 states but never MN. Will 2 days in Minneapolis and 3 days in Duluth.

About me: retired mid 60s, active, and solo traveling - although married. This is a free ticket,

What are only in Minnesota sights to see / I would at least in twin cities like to go to canoing or kayaking ( also on Duluth). Restaurant, culture, and neighborhood recommendations welcome .

I lived on SF Valley until mid 1980s. Much of the summer it was very smoggy / in fact remember flying into Burbank and unable to see the ground .

When did air pollution situation improve? We were just in LA and it looked rather hazy perhaps due to heat wave but nothing like 40 years back.

I am flying from Asuncion, Paraguay back to San Francisco, CA in October. One way tickets were very expensive ( close to $1000). I noticed that one flight had a layover in San Diego and then on to san Francisco on Alaska. I called Copa and it turns out that my flight to San Diego was close to $500 less than flying through to San Francisco. I was able to get free ticket on Alaska Airlines just by using credits.

Anyway i am happy about credits but very curious as to why the price differential.

Im also happy not to take Avianca although i will have to take them on an leg of my journey.

We are currently on 3rd day of 5 night cruise and its been quite enjoyable. We are both retired and this is the 4th cruise for us. Previous cruises were Disney Caribbean (20 plus years back), Celebrity to Alaska, and Princess to Eastern Med. Here is synopsis good and bad - comparing 3 lines.

Good

Value. - this is definitely cheaper than the others. We are treating a large group and we are spemdimg between $300- $400 per person for 5 day cruises. Celebrity and Princess were definitely much more expensive although longer. Drink packages were expensive though at $70 oer person per day
We just have been buying drinks and it comes out to $30 per day .

Diversity - i like how there are all kinds of ethnicities and ages - it has a young feel. We are in our 60s and by and large Celebrity and Princess were old white folks 55 and above. Of course the crew on all ships is diverse.

Staff- All very nice amd professional.

Itinerary - both Cabo and Ensenada day stops just enough time and both places are worth visiting. Our Eastern Med cruise had stops in Croatia, Greece, and Istanbul. But 6 hours in these places was too little and crowds were awful. Dubrovnik os spectacular but with all the cruise traffic it was a medieval Disneyland.

The not so good

Definitely a step below other cruise lines. Buffet was so so and not so many offerings. No theme nights. I had ceviche amd huevos rancheros today - both were so much worse than anything Ive had in Mexico. Guy Fieris burgers were good and we enjoyed sunrise and sunset dining areas.

Entertainment

less offerings than other cruise lines. Shows were not as elaborate and spaces were smaller. Carnival radiamce dows not have jazz, irish music, or classic but then again we are an older demographic.

Sp all in all i enjoyed mymcarnival,cruise and it was better with 15 plus family members. I,would try a 1 week carnival to caribbean but would probably go more up market for future cruises,

I have a $180 credit on Alaska Airlines which expires before end of October. Can I use it for upgrades or anything else besides a flight.

I have two flights planned before end of October. I don’t know if I can cancel one of the flights and use the credit to buy the flight again using the credit. Is that an option ?

I have a question about taking a bus overnight from La Paz Bolivia to Uyuni. The plane takes 1 hour and would get to Uyuni 1 - 2 hours before tour. Problem is Bolivian Airlines is noted for delay and don’t want to miss tour. Overnight bus leaves at 9 pm previous evening. It’s a sleeper bus and has good reviews. I’m just wondering how confortable and altitude would prevent me from sleeping . Any thoughts??

I love learning languages. Retired now but was a Spanish teacher for years. I also am intermediate in French and studied a bit of Mandarin and Indonesian for travel. I live in S F Bay Area amd lots of filipinos here most are assimilated it seems. Its mainly elders who speak it.

I have had a few lessons through Preply. Pronunciation is easy but grammar is difficult. I learned all the comjugations of kainan today ( to eat) and there is a lot to learn . I also learned that mani means peanuts and its a Spanish word.

Im doing this for fun but wondering the best to practice. Maybe go to a filipino restaurant or market? Spanish is so much easier to speak here but maybe I will find a way to meet others who are learning .

I have booked Uyuni salt flat tour 2 days and 1 night in October. The tour starts at 1030 am. Bolivian Aviation flight arrives 8 am from La Paz But I concerned if there are delayed. Could anyone comment on options

1. Take Bolivian flight arriving day before / hopefully can find things to do in Uyuni for day.

2. fly from La Paz the very same day hoping for mo delays

3). Take overnight bus from La Paz arriving early morning. I’m not sure how comfortable it would be. I am in good health but no longer a spritely 20 something but am in mid 60s,

Gracias de antemano

I’m curious as to crew makeup - doing the Carnu al Radiance trip next week - Long Beach to Cabo. I’m bilingual in Spanish but am also learning Tagalog . I know it’s quite easy to converse in Spanish ( even in Cabo) but I would like to at least practice the little bit of Tagalog I’m learning with staff (only not if it’s not intrusive ).

FYI this is first Carnival cruise. We did Disney cruise years back and although passengers were not diverse it was United Nations for crew. But the recent cruises I did were Celebrity (Alaska) and Princess (Eastern Med) and I could hear at least 20 different languages spoken by crew. Passengers were definitely much more diverse than Disney ( that was 20 plus years back )

Gracias and salamat.

I plan to be in Bolivia in early October
for 6 - 7 days after brief stops in Mexico and El Salvador. My flight arrives at 230
Am on October 9 from Bogota.

I would like time to visit La Paz, Uyuni, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. From Santa Cruz will fly on to Asunción, Paraguay.

Traveling my own, retired senior in good health. Soy bilingüe. I would be interested in walking but no mountain climbing because of altitude.

What would be an ideal number of days in each locale. Most likely would fly between cities unless there were a a comfortable bus ride between La Paz and Uyuni and Santa Cruz

Also recommendations for boutique accommodations as well in each locale.

Gracias