Get bucket list ready for summer travel season

For a generation that grew up thinking summer vacation meant piling into the family station wagon with Dad’s trusty AAA map, boomers are amazingly well-traveled.

This year they will take an average of four to five leisure trips and spend about $120 billion in the process, whether it’s that bucket-list cooking tour in Italy or a quick golf-package getaway.

Now that the summer season is here, there is still time to sketch out travel wish lists and start booking. In some cases, there are even excursions and discounts aimed at the 50-plus crowd, it just takes a little research.

The National Park Service is making it easy this year. In honor of its centennial, which officially lands on Aug. 25, it has created a website, FindYourPark.com, loaded with information on the nation’s incredible array of parks, including specific events, guided experiences and exhibits. There are also links that pinpoint the different parks by state.

For those who want to explore multiple sites, there is the annual America the Beautiful pass for $80 which allows entrance to all the parks, as well as wildlife refuges, national forests and other federal lands, a total of more than 2,000 sites. A lifetime parks pass for those age 62 and older is as little as $10, $20 if ordered online or through the mail.

Travelers need to keep in mind that lodging within the parks is usually booked months in advance for the summer, but there are hotels just outside the national sites or in nearby towns, often with varying price points, said Matthew Phillips, AARP’s travel director.

There are also smaller parks that often get overlooked, yet they are less crowded and can be “a completely different world,” Phillips noted.

One of the reasons boomers travel is to check off those adventures on their bucket lists. For some that means taking a cruise, and there are several options these days, noted David Porter, president and co-owner with his wife Carol of the online travel service The Roaming Boomers.

Celebrity Cruises, for example, offers smaller, less-populated ships than other cruise lines in its class and the dining is aimed at serious foodies. Alaska cruises are very popular in the summer, and the intimate luxury river cruises that thread through destinations such as Europe and Asia provide an insider’s look at iconic cities such as Vienna, he said.

Cruise lines will offer substantial discounts to last-minute bookers although they are usually available for a limited time. Sometimes travel agents have access to deals, such as “run of the ship sales,” that aren’t advertised on a cruise line’s website. Porter noted that a recent offering for an eight-day Alaskan cruise was $1,100 below the original price.

One doesn’t have to hit the high seas or fly to another continent for once-in-a-lifetime experiences, however. Phillips gave the example of hiking Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome, the world-famous slice of granite that rises to 8,800 feet, or taking one of the many hot-air balloon tours that are offered across the country.

Trips to the Caribbean and Mexico are more of a deal than they’ve been in previous years, and the strong dollar means more boomers are taking trips to far-off places such as Australia and New Zealand, Porter said.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of a quick getaway to rejuvenate. Las Vegans looking for a deal may want to try regional destinations that snowbirds flee this time of year. The Four Seasons in Scottsdale, Ariz., for example, offers significant rate reductions during its summer season, Porter noted. A recent search of the hotel’s website showed rooms for $179, at least half of what the same rooms cost in November or January.

Check out the AARP websites, travel.aarp.org and aarpadvantages.com, and don’t forget the deals offered for AAA members. There are also a multitude of travel blogs, and some of the best advice comes from friends and family with similar travel interests, the experts noted.