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The Loneliness Question – A Health and Wellbeing Series
Road Scholars outside Nidaros Cathedral in Norway, the world’s northernmost medieval cathedral. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
Road Scholar
Winning against the loneliness epidemic for 50 years through learning, friendship and adventure
By Geoffrey Williams
Briefly …
For five decades, Road Scholar has combined travel and lifelong learning to create environments where connection happens naturally. As loneliness emerges as a defining issue of modern life, its model offers an effective and widely celebrated response.
In the early 1970s, Marty Knowlton, the director of the University of New Hampshire’s youth hostel program, had just returned from four years of backpacking through Europe. Sharing tales of his travels with colleague and longtime friend David Bianco, who was the university’s director of residential life, Knowlton stressed how impressed he was with Europe’s youth hostels and with the Scandinavian tradition of ‘folk schools’ for adults – places where learning and social connection were inseparable. Knowlton and Bianco couldn’t help but wonder: Why aren’t there more opportunities for American adults to travel and learn? And why don’t Americans have more options for staying active, engaged and connected in retirement?
A self-described world traveller and “hippie”, Knowlton had challenged the notions of ageing by backpacking for four years through Europe in his 50s, mostly on foot. He was on a mission to fight ageism and provide enriching ways for older Americans to stay mentally active and engaged. David Bianco helped popularise the notion that education is a lifelong pursuit relevant not only to young students, but also to older adults – revolutionising not only the world’s view of older Americans, but older Americans’ view of themselves.
The two had an idea to offer courses for students over 60 to engage with faculty and stay in unused dorm rooms in the summer. Inspiration hit Bianco when he glimpsed the white-bearded Knowlton sitting beneath a sign that read: ‘Youth Hostel’. “This campus ought not to be having a youth hostel, it ought to be having an elder hostel!” Bianco exclaimed. And ‘Elderhostel’ was born.
And so, in the summer of 1975, hundreds of older adults communed on University of New Hampshire college campuses around New Hampshire, USA, sleeping in the dorms, attending lectures from the university professors, and eating in the dining halls. By 1981, there were more than 400 colleges, universities and other educational institutions throughout the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway hosting ‘Elderhostelers’.
By 2010, Elderhostel programs had grown and evolved in many ways. The course catalogue included international options, scholars stayed in comfortable hotels instead of hostel-like dorms, and older adults no longer felt represented by the word ‘elder’. In order to express the spirit of their modern programs, ‘Elderhostel’ became ‘Road Scholar’ – the new name capturing the global phenomenon that Elderhostel had become and reflecting the passion for learning and travel that has remained the same throughout the organisation’s history.
Chobe National Park Safari Tour, Kasane, Africa. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
Cooking class in Lefkes, Paros, Greece. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
A model built on connection
Over the past 50 years, the not-for-profit Road Scholar has become the world leader in educational travel for older adults, serving more than 135,000 lifelong learners annually (with an average age of 72!) on 4,775 learning adventures in over 100 countries across 7 continents.
Road Scholar’s President and CEO James Moses has been at the helm since 2002. “At Road Scholar, we have understood the value – the critical necessity – of supportive, joyful, social connections. For over 50 years, Road Scholar has provided opportunities to connect America’s elders through our learning community, providing enriching and stimulating social connections to hundreds of thousands of older adults.”
“Road Scholars have the power of their life experiences to help the world overcome its differences, one new friendship at a time. Engaging with people gives each of us an opportunity to better understand our differences, to accept other points of view, to accommodate and compromise, to cultivate cultural exchanges that celebrate our differences and reinforce the concept that there is so much more that connects us than divides us.”
The breathtaking Northern Lights onboard the MS Nordkapp, Tromsø, Norway. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
The walking tour of Fira, the vibrant capital of Santorini, perched 400 metres atop the western Caldera cliffs, Greece. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
Travelling alone, together
With the first ‘solos only’ departures in 2025, these programs have been developed as a response to the continuous increase in solo travel. Up to 28% of Road Scholars travel solo each year, and that number has been on the rise, driven by married women travelling without their husbands. Road Scholar has always been conscious of creating a welcoming environment for solo travellers. Solo travellers overwhelmingly report that they feel very welcome by fellow participants, often making lifelong friends who they travel with for years after. These programs are designed not to remove independence, but to ensure it does not come at the cost of connection. Road Scholar also offers a collection of programs with no single supplement as well as a roommate matching option.
Once someone enrols in a Road Scholar program, nearly everything is included: an expert Group Leader who will take care of all the logistics; lodging and most meals; all taxes and tips (including for your Group Leader); on-program transportation; field trips and classroom lectures; authentic local interactions and behind-the-scenes access you wouldn’t get on your own; 24/7 emergency assistance as part of the Road Scholar Assurance Plan; and the precious camaraderie of a group of curious and open-minded peers. What is structured here is not only the journey, but the conditions in which connection can happen.
Road Scholar’s programs are guided by expert instructors whose depth of knowledge often shapes the experience as much as the destination itself. Figures such as Dr Jeremy Yudkin – an esteemed author with a PhD in historical musicology, a professor who has taught at Boston, Harvard and Oxford, and co-director of the Center for Beethoven Research – bring an academic rigour that sits comfortably alongside the spirit of exploration.
The Acropolis, Athens. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
Bergen, Norway. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
Where connection takes shape
The breadth of programming reflects the diversity of those who travel. In Mexico, participants might find themselves making tortillas from scratch and learning the cultural deer dance in the traditional adobe home of a local Indigenous Maya family – moments that feel less like tourism and more like shared experience. Elsewhere, access is granted in ways that would be difficult to replicate independently. An overnight stay aboard the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, for example, offers a rare opportunity to step into the daily reality of the sailors who once lived on the historic vessel during World War II.
Popular collections span national parks, signature cities, women-only departures, and seasonal journeys such as Winter in Southern Europe. Alongside these sit more specialised offerings – including “skip-gen” programs designed for grandparents and grandchildren, as well as multi-generational experiences that bring three generations together, often strengthening bonds and creating shared memories that extend well beyond the trip itself.
For those drawn to life on the water, adventures afloat range from shorter journeys on riverboats and barges to multi-country voyages that span the globe. Others choose to settle more deeply into a place through ‘living and learning’ programs, staying in apartments, taking language courses, and venturing out on weekend jaunts to the countryside, with ample free time to experience daily life as a local.
Health and reassurance are also built into the structure of each journey. The Road Scholar Assurance Plan is included in the price of every in-person program, recognising that travel health insurance carries particular importance for older travellers. The plan covers elements such as emergency medical evacuation and 24/7 emergency assistance, offering a level of support that extends beyond the immediate itinerary. Practical considerations are handled with similar care. Listening devices are provided on more than 80% of programs, supporting those with hearing challenges while also allowing groups to move more discreetly through busy city centres, an often-overlooked detail that subtly improves the experience for everyone.
Mixing it with the locals, Havana, Cuba. Photographer: Lola Kenet.
Hiking Big Bend National Park, Texas. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
What that looks like in practice
Road Scholars are no ordinary travellers. They are lifelong learners over the age of 50 from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. They are students of the world and the guests you hope to sit next to at a dinner party. They lead interesting lives because they’re interested in everything. Road Scholar attracts adults who are open-minded and intellectually curious, and these shared characteristics often create a quick and lasting bond among participants.
Road Scholar serves adults from 50 to 100+, with the average age of 72. Road Scholars defy ageing stereotypes every day as they ‘Age Adventurously’, like 91-year-old Annette Samuels who will travel to Galápagos, Botswana, and Iceland in 2026! Or Sid Gelb, a 96-year-old retired science teacher who went to Spain last year on his 15th Road Scholar program.
Rosalyn, 77, from Frisco, Texas, connected with Susan from Atlanta on a Road Scholar message board in 2011, and they decided to room together on a trip to Albuquerque. They hit it off, went on to share five Road Scholar programs together and visited each other in their home cities. Sadly, Susan passed away from cancer in April 2024, but Rosalyn is so grateful for the Road Scholar memories they shared. She has now been on 38 Road Scholar programs and heads to the Rockies with her grandchild in 2026.
Carol, 81, from Pleasanton, California, has been on 53 Road Scholar programs on all seven continents, with two more booked for 2026. Carol worked as a high school registrar before she retired. Her husband wasn’t interested in travel, so she began travelling after he passed away in 2000. For a number of years, she travelled with a group of three other women whom she had met on Road Scholar programs. Now she typically travels solo or with her grandchildren.
Margaret, 82, from Seattle, lost her husband in 2022 and went on her first Road Scholar program to Iceland about a year later. “In our group of 23, six were recently widowed. We understood each other’s experiences”, she said. “It was such a restorative journey. I started to live again.” Margaret has now been on nine Road Scholar programs and is headed to Australia and Greece in 2026.
Sandy, 81, from Oak Park, Michigan, got the travel bug from her father, who took their family on trips across the country despite the challenges for a Black family travelling in the 1950s. He died when Sandy was a teenager, but she has carried on his legacy through travel to her children and grandchildren. “As an adult, every spare quarter I got, I used to go somewhere, and I did it for my children, too.” Sandy has been on 18 Road Scholar programs, both solo and with her five grandchildren.
Exploring the Rio Limay, Bariloche, South America. Photographer: Alyssa Bichunsky.
For many, a journey with Road Scholar begins alone but does not remain that way – evolving into shared experience, renewed confidence, and in many cases, relationships that continue well beyond the journey itself. In the context of a growing loneliness epidemic, this outcome feels less incidental, and more like a vital part of the solution.
To learn more, visit the Road Scholar website here.
Geoffrey Williams is The Solo Traveller Group’s Founder and Publishing Curator.
You are not alone. If this topic resonates more deeply than expected, it may help to speak with someone you trust or reach out to a support service in your area.