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Prime Times Weekly feature of the Mail Tribune , Medford, Oregon Photo by Bob Pennell Bud and Claire Carroll have covered the walls of their Ashland home with African art they picked up while traveling. Seniors like the Carrolls are opting for more adventurous travel than previous generations. Many seniors, past their child-raising days, have the advantage of time and money for such ventures. Have desire to learn, WILL TRAVEL By JOHN DARLING The senior travel industry is undergoing a big shift from tour buses and poolside passivity to active learning, eco-travel and "soft adventure." SOME TRAVEL OPTIONS Seniors interested in active learning and travel may want to check out the following: Elderhostel and Senior Ventures, Southern Oregon University, Jean Stallman, director, 552-6378. Servas, a nonprofit travel organization in which members in 130 countries share each other's houses, www.exodus.it/associazioni/servas/ Travelearn, a program offered by SOU in which guided tours are offered by professors who are experts in a destination's geography or natural history, www.village.com/business/travelearn/ or call 800-235-9114. Smarterliving.com , a Web site featuring columns by senior travel expert Ed Perkins, of Ashland. He provides tips on senior coupons, age caps on car rentals, retirement havens, airline deals. Your local travel agent. He or she can provide packages with the right amount of adventure, education and accommodation for seniors, ranging from hikes into Puerto Rican waterfalls to Alaskan fishing trips to African photo safaris. As America's population grows older and -- thanks to today's economy -- more prosperous, travel suppliers are responding with myriad packages inviting seniors to swim with stingrays, study folkways with Native Americans and take long hikes into mysterious waterfalls in Puerto Rico, said Rogue Travel owner Stephen Abelsohn. "Seniors now are moving from that static-passive thing to very involved, hands-on experiences," he said. "They want adventure and health. They love to go to spas and get education on how to improve their lifestyle. They're getting very conscious about food, and they want lots of salad and no dessert. "It's a big paradigm shift," he added. "Affluence and hanging around the pool have become very empty for Western society. People want to connect with something bigger." Seniors today are focused on experiences and learning they didn't have time for during their years in careers and child-raising -- things such as theater and just learning for learning's sake, said Jean Stallman, director of Elderhostel and Senior Ventures at Southern Oregon University. "They want a thinking vacation. They want to expand their horizons. They want something more than what you usually get when you call your travel agent. And when they're here learning about Shakespeare, they love going beyond the plays into the backstage tours. They're a lot more eager to learn and contribute than young people in most classrooms." Travel, said Claire Carroll of Ashland, is the opportunity to get a broader understanding of people and places at a time in your life when you're more open to it. She and her husband, Bud, both in their 70s, have joined Servas, an international, nonprofit travel organization which promotes "goodwill, understanding and peace" through a three-day mutual sharing of homes of members in 130 countries. "Seniors have a broader understanding of people and a sensitivity to other cultures," she said. "You appreciate their warmth. They awaken you and challenge you. We visited in homes in Bern, Naples and France. We found ourselves experiencing the French way of walking everywhere and the difference in their food and being much more open to it (than at a younger age)." Photo by Bud Carroll Bud Carroll took this view of Lake Geneva on a visit to see his daughter, Amy. Amy is a host for Servas, a nonprofit travel organization the Carrolls have joined in which members share home visits all over the world. Ralph Farr, 85, of Mountain View Retirement Community in Ashland, loves nothing more than jumping on a plane alone to England or Australia and calling up the local travel agent when he gets there to book the most interesting tours. "When I arrive, I sit down and work out a plan to get around, making allowance for the fact that, if it took me two minutes to walk a mile when I was young, it's going to take me 40 minutes now. I really enjoy meeting people and exchanging ideas, talking about politics or talking about the local attractions." Mary Ann and Leo Van Dyke, of Ashland, recently rented a cabin in a small Mexican town and"just tried to become part of the culture," she said. Both over 65, they are fans of SOU's Travelearn, which offers tours guided by professors who are experts in a destination's geography or natural history. The laid-back days of senior travel have been replaced by African camera safaris, Alaskan fishing expeditions and an exciting, new package that books grandparents and their grandchildren on travel adventures, said Ron Burgess, owner of Burgess Travel, Medford. Florida, Las Vegas, Hawaii, New Orleans and the Caribbean will always have their lure for seniors, he said, but the stereotype of snowbirds flying off to the tropics to vegetate in the sun has largely given way to organized adventures -- such as Disneyworld Institute, where seniors can jump into hands-on learning about rock climbing, newscasting or being a chef. "Part of the reason is that the grown kids are telling their parents, `Hey, we have everything we want. Don't think about saving it for us. Go spend your money and have a good time. You've earned it,' " Burgess said. Travel is the best thing about old age, "maybe the only good thing about it," said veteran columnist Ed Perkins, of Ashland, who writes "Senior Traveler" for syndication to newspapers and smarterliving.com. "For the first time in your life, you have the time and money to travel without having to think about getting back to jobs and kids." "It's peace of mind to have the time and money," said Martha MacIntyre, 65, an Elderhostel host. "Your only worry is your house-sitter. Everything's really backwards. When you're young, you have no money." If seniors have more money than the young, the travel industry doesn't seem to notice. Most airlines give discounts to those over 62 who show a driver's license, he said, and most hotels offer cut-rates with a card from AARP (American Association of Retired People). Cruise lines are stingier with discounts because seniors have always flocked to them. The main challenge for cruise lines is an abundance of female seniors, simply because they live longer, he said, and some lines actually offer free passage to males if they'll dance and socialize. Mortality creates many singles among the older set, and romance is a common outcome of senior travel. Since it offers theme travel-learning, many seniors attending Elderhostel here have met, found they had a lot in common and married, said McIntyre. Travel is much easier on the senior body and wallet in the spring and fall, Perkins advised, when transportation and lodging rates are lower and there are no lines around the block to get into the Louvre or the wax museum. Perkins' senior travel columns, all on display on the Net, explore such issues as: senior coupons, senior theater, adventure travel for seniors, age caps on car rentals, retirement havens, countless tips on airline deals and how to avoid airports that make you take the "long march" to the next leg. While seniors embrace active traveling, they still encounter some limitations of age. Bus steps are the worst, Perkins said: He's seen tourists stay on the bus when it stops for an attraction because of steps. Elderhostel makes accommodations for its aging clients, such as repeating questions for those with reduced hearing and keeping bathrooms handy, Stallman said. "As for mental decline, we don't make any accommodation for that," she said, "because it's not there. They just don't let aging get in their way." Prime Times Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA