Yolanda Cruz stood in the center of a mile-long piazza in Skopje, North Macedonia, gazing up at an enormous statue of Alexander the Great astride Bucephalus. Across the plaza, Alexander’s father Philip II of Macedon waved in greeting. For Yolanda, a 74-year-old retired biology professor and a member of Kendal at Home since 2020, this was a childhood dream finally realized.
"I tarried a long time in this piazza, gazing at the statues and sensing what must be a sense of profound belonging, historic pride, and deep attachment to the city in the people milling about me," she wrote after her recent two-week journey through the Balkans and Greece.
For many older adults, retirement allows for more time to travel and really connect with the places they’ve always wanted to see.
Here's how she approaches adventure and what we can all learn from her experience.
Travel With Purpose, Not Just a Passport
For this particular trip, Yolanda had a clear goal.
She wanted to walk where Alexander the Great walked as a child and to complete her decades-long tour of the ancient Roman Empire's territories.
She'd learned about the land that was formerly Yugoslavia as a child and had been piecing together this historical puzzle through years of travel, from hiking Hadrian's Wall in England to exploring ruins in Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon.
Before deciding on a destination, she recommends fellow travelers think about what cultures they’re eager to learn more about and what questions they may want to answer.
Don’t just go somewhere to check a box or because someone you know has gone there.
“What are your objectives? What do you want to see?" she said. "I have developed this interest in history since I retired. I suddenly realized that in all my travels, I'd seen most of the old territory of the Roman Empire. And that was very meaningful to me, because it gave me a sense of what the Roman Empire really was like, something one growing up in Asia seldom realizes or thinks about."
Go With a Group
Yolanda has been traveling for more than 50 years, taking many solo trips. She’s still not intimidated to go it alone, especially to places where she’s gone before, but she’s realized the value of working with a travel company.
"It's great to have a shortcut — somebody to help you figure out where to stay, for example," she said.
The support of a guide and pre-planned logistics adds an extra layer of security and reduces stress.
Small group sizes make a big difference. Yolanda joins groups that are no more than a dozen people, and on this journey, there were only two other travelers, a couple from Australia. They traveled by car rather than a bus or a plane, allowing them to see much more of the sights they would have otherwise missed on a plane.
And with an English-speaking Serbian guide explaining the significance of what they saw and translating when necessary, language barriers were rarely an issue despite the fact that she didn’t know Cyrillic or Greek.
Don’t Try To Take on Too Much
While this trip lasted two weeks, Yolanda prefers travel durations between 8-10 days. Shorter trips are more focused and can be less draining. It’s also easier to plan them if you stay a few days in each place.
Yolanda's itinerary took her through five countries, each layered with thousands of years of history.
She began in Dubrovnik, Croatia, a gem of a walled city founded in the seventh century on the sun-drenched Dalmatian Coast. Her group took a boat out on the Adriatic Sea, enjoyed fresh seafood, and strolled past through the streets of the Old Town, fortified by stone walls rebuilt in the 1600s after a massive earthquake and fire destroyed many of the city’s original walls. The city is a filming site for Game of Thrones and attracts more tourist attention as a result.
From there, she traveled to Kotor, Montenegro, a city founded in the fifth century, followed by Tirana and Berat in Albania. Berat, a UNESCO Heritage Site known as "The City of a Thousand Windows," offered stunning Ottoman-era architecture nestled into hillsides.
They visited a string of small villages, discovering the distinct charm each one had and visiting churches and the sites of historic battles.
In North Macedonia, she visited Lake Ohrid, one of the world's oldest and deepest lakes, and finally arrived in the capital city of Skopje. Standing in the city center, surrounded by the statues of Alexander and Philip II, she felt the weight of history and the satisfaction of a long-held dream fulfilled.
Next, they spent several days in Greece, staying at a guest house in Litochoro and venturing up the slopes of Mount Olympus. The journey ended with a bus ride into Athens, past olive orchards and vineyards.
"The scenery floating past felt like a slow boat through the thousands of years we were leaving behind," she wrote.
Slow Down and Stay Curious
Yolanda takes a bus or train whenever possible, even if there’s an option to take short flights between destinations. This forces you to slow down and see more of the country, she said.
You can also learn a lot just by listening to conversations in passing, especially if you know some language basics or you’re traveling to larger cities where it’s more common to hear people speaking English. Yolanda learned a lot about the politics of the regions she visited by doing her own research, hearing her guide’s perspective, and interacting with local people when possible.
Supported Independence Makes Travel Possible
Yolanda's adventures are made easier knowing she has support back home and wherever she travels. As a Kendal at Home member, she has access to care coordination and lifetime coverage that follows her around the world.
She and her close friend Ruth Devereaux, whom she met through Kendal at Home's virtual book club, have traveled together to Sicily, Morocco, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Mexico, and India and beyond. They've hiked mountains and deserts, explored ancient ruins, and pushed each other outside their comfort zones.
"I've met some really interesting people my age with a similar background, and that's been invaluable," Yolanda said. "I don't think I could put a price on that."
Whether traveling solo or with friends, Yolanda approaches each journey with curiosity, purpose, and the confidence that comes from planning ahead.
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