The other day the Boston Globe had a write-up about a name change that was taking place.
Elderhostel was founded in 1975 to give seniors 60 and over an opportunity for a reasonable educational expereience. It will now be known as Exploritas, avaiable to anyone 21 and over.
Over the years my husband and I went to many of the colleges that offered a five or six day program. The most difficult part of planning for this "away from home experience" was looking through the huge catalog and deciding where to go.
This was our approach:
First: How far did we want to travelSometimes our priorities changed: If we really wanted to go to a certain area and were not particularly interested in the classes that were offered, we went anyway. The surprising thing about that was, many times the class we were looking forward to turned out to be a dud and the class that held no interest for us turned out to be outstanding. It was the instructor who made the difference!
Second: What classes interested us
Third: What type of accommodation would we have
Fourth: After the sessions were over, where could we go to extend our time in that area.
When we first started going to Elderhostel we relied on the catalog to give us some idea about the accommodations. Once we got acquainted with other attendees we learned about the pluses and minuses of other colleges.
Sometimes even with this knowledge we would wind up in a dorm where the bathroom was shared by both sexes or the time we were on the second floor and the ladies room was on the third floor. I was not a happy camper!
There were other times when we had a suite of rooms, private bath and a kitchen area.
One summer we were at a college where there was a lake right outside our dorm. (I skipped a few classes)
One summer we attended Johnson & Wales College of Culinary Arts in Rhode Island. We had HOTEL accommodations, maid service, health club and swimming pool.
The classes were held in a lecture hall, the chief conducted the class and once the entree was finished we were invited to taste and THEN we had to go to lunch!
In the meantime pastry chiefs were making all kinds of goodies which we HAD to sample after we had our dinner!!
We were not graded on these classes but if I were graded I would have received an A for my cooperation!!
We went to many different colleges, each one was unique in it's way but one thing was consistent: we always met wonderful people.
It seems to me that changing the name and lowering the age to 21 will change the whole idea of what Elderhostel set out to do in the first place.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has had the good fortune to have experienced an Elderhostel getaway.