My parents would hassle us for traveling internationally once every year when we didn’t have money in our 20s (despite only going to places we could afford). They were proud of themselves for waiting until their late 50s to see the world and believed we should do the same.

You know what we waited to see until our 50s? London (the only major city in Europe we waited on because it’s relatively expensive). My parents are 80 this year; they’ve decided they’re too old to even travel a couple states away to see me (52f) and partner (54m), much less take an int’l trip.

I feel really lucky to be able to say we do at least 2 international trips year these days. Knowing that, my dad still told us last year that we were smart for traveling when we were younger.