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Today, I am interviewing a woman who fell in love with traveling at a very young age. After she turned 50, she started a travel business to lead expeditions throughout Europe.
As a child, Mary Baskin would pour over new editions of National Geographic magazine with her grandmother, and dream about visiting far-off places.
When she was 12 years old, Mary was gifted a six-week trip to Europe to visit all the major capitols. It changed her forever by sparking a desire to explore different cultures. As an adult, Mary worked briefly as a flight attendant before pursuing careers in interior design and publishing.
When her youngest daughter started attending college in London, Mary went back to Europe and fell in love with travel all over again. After returning to her home, she started asking friends if they would like to make a trip to Europe themselves.
Since then, Mary has returned to Europe multiple times every year for the past 16 years. She has also added trips to South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and India.
I loved Mary’s motivation for starting Vagabond Travel to help people, primarily women, to enjoy first-rate travel experiences while meeting new people and exploring new cultures.
Over the years, Mary has developed an extensive network of connections with local people in every country she visits. That gives her clients unique access to places that aren’t often available on other tours.
Rather than setting up tours visiting 10 countries in 10 days, Mary prefers to offer immersive experiences to a few areas so travelers truly enjoy the culture of those places.
Most trips have no more than 10 people in them, but some go as high as two dozen. The smaller groups make it easier for people to navigate together, and make more intimate connections with other travelers.
Her clients involve people of all ages, but Vagabond Travel generally caters to people over 50. For example, on a recent trip, women as old as 79 were having the time of their lives being driven around the Moroccan desert on motorcycles.
Mary’s trips are so popular that she never needs to do any advertising. All of her clients come from referrals made by previous travelers.
She considers travel to be one of the best ways seasoned citizens can keep their minds sharp by learning new things and forging new relationships. She said the key for enjoying a successful second half of life requires maintaining a positive attitude, laughing frequently, and to keep moving.
In addition to travel, Mary has a fondness for collecting antiques. Next year, she will be launching a travel journal titled “Found.” Mary said it will be more like a coffee table book than a magazine. She is also starting an e-commerce site to sell some of the antiques and other treasures she has discovered on her trips.
For more information about her travel excursions, or to connect with Mary, visit www.vagabondtravelco.com or look for her on Instagram.
That’s all I have for this week’s show. If you’d like help in identifying a purpose for your life or to get help planning your next steps, I’m offering a complimentary brainstorming session to members of the Forward From 50 Facebook community. For details, connect with me on Facebook or visit www.forwardfrom50.com.
I’ll have another inspirational interview on the next episode of the Forward From 50 podcast. Thanks for listening. If you like this show, please consider leaving a review wherever you download the episodes.
After closing his business and enduring several painful years of uncertainty regarding what to do with his life, Greg founded Forward From 50 to help men and women over 50 to live more purposeful lives by pursuing things they are passionate about. A Wisconsin native, Greg currently lives in Arizona.