Community-Based Slow Travel for the 55+ Set – As Featured on Ageless Adventures (formerly Senior Travel Adventures)

Guest: Andrew Motiwalla, Founder of The Good Life Abroad Host: Debbie

DEBBIE: Well, hello and welcome. Welcome to Senior Travel Adventures, which is being rebranded as Ageless Adventures. We are so happy this month — we have a really interesting guest with something I think a lot of my viewers will really like. With me today is Andrew Motiwalla. He's been in the travel industry for 30 years and he created a concept that I think will be really beneficial to my viewers. So, thank you Andrew for joining me today. How are you doing?

ANDREW: Thanks for having me, Debbie. I'm great.

DEBBIE: Well, Andrew, I wanted to let my audience know that you are based in California. So that's interesting because a lot of our viewers are in California. But what was the spark that made you think — first of all, let's tell them what The Good Life Abroad is, and then what made you think that this was something we should all have?

ANDREW: Great. Yeah, The Good Life Abroad is fundamentally a way for people 55 and older to live abroad in Europe for a month or more — but having a built-in community of fellow travelers, friends really. Everyone has their own apartment, but it's all in the same building or in the same neighborhood. You have your own apartment, so it's independent. However, you have the support of our local staff person — we call them a community manager. And we have activities and events sprinkled throughout the month that you can come together with these other community members to meet up, get to know them, maybe form some friendships. But fundamentally, we are the bridge between living abroad on your own and being on a tour. So you have the support of a tour — you have medical insurance, all that kind of risk management happening, vetted apartments, activities and events — but it's still independent.

DEBBIE: Right, right. So what made you think this was something we should have? I mean, I know a lot of people know about the traditional renting apartments through various vendors, but what made you think this was specifically needed?

ANDREW: Yeah, so I know myself — this started out rather selfishly, let's say. I knew that in retirement I would like to live abroad for some part of the year. I love being in California and I'd love to be here for six to seven months of the year, but I like to travel. And so I started going into chat groups and forums and Facebook and whatnot, seeing what kind of questions and concerns people had about actually getting a place for a few months in Europe. And a lot of the concerns made sense to me. Like, first of all — yeah, anyone can get an apartment, but don't you get kind of lonely? Wouldn't it be nice to have friends, especially if you're a solo traveler?

DEBBIE: Mm-hmm.

ANDREW: And then as we get older, we think about — well, what happens if I get hurt or sick? Where's the support? And then the other thing that we've all had happen to us is the photos in the Airbnb don't always match up to reality.

DEBBIE: Oh yeah.

ANDREW: And that's fine for a few days if I'm on a trip, but if I'm going to be somewhere for a month or two, that's going to be a little more painful. So making sure it's really vetted — that this is going to be a great place to stay. So with all these different pain points, we thought: how do we solve this and make it really simple and turnkey for someone to say, "I want to live abroad," press a button, and have it be amazing. That's what we wanted to solve for.

DEBBIE: And that's a really interesting concept, because I know myself — I've wanted to go and spend more than a couple of weeks in one location. Maybe two or three weeks for me, but I know a lot of people might want to go for a month or longer. Just getting started is so hard. Where do I want to go? Where do I want to stay? How do I know the area is safe? Particularly because I would go solo. So how do you choose the cities and the neighborhoods where the community members might live?

ANDREW: Yeah, so the cities are a mix of what we get requests for — when people find out about our concept, they're like, "This is amazing, why don't you do it here?" We listen to our audience. But we also look for cities that are really walkable, that have a lot of layers to them where you can keep exploring for a whole month and not get bored. Florence, for example, is not a big city, but I could spend years there and never get to the bottom of it. It's such a rich city. And of course we're in bigger cities too, like Paris — Paris is wonderful and Paris is endless. We look for places where people can really sink their teeth into and be very happy to be there for a month. Although I would say about 30% of our people will also travel to nearby cities on the weekends.

DEBBIE: Yes, well, public transportation in Europe is just a whole different animal than what we're used to. You can get everywhere so easily in most of Europe. I was actually in Florence last year — we have a distant cousin who owns a place there and goes back and forth between California and Florence. We will put up a list at the end of the show of where the locations currently are. And what do you think about the differences between the longer stay and the shorter stay? Because I know right now you have two-week stays and one-month stays.

ANDREW: Yeah. So the core of what we do is the one-month abroad, but what we saw happen is people would come to Lisbon for a month, do our program, and then go up to Porto and spend a week or two there. And we thought — why don't we offer that as a way to extend their experience? They do a month in Lisbon, two weeks in Porto, a month in Paris, two weeks in Nice, for example. We call them short stays, but you don't have to book them combined with a month-long. You could book one on its own. And what we've found is people doing two weeks in Edinburgh, two weeks in Porto, and then they make their own month in two different places.

Now the difference is — in the month-long programs, you're really living like a local. We give you a really nice apartment in a building where regular local people live. We give you a roll of paper towels to get started, toilet paper, some dish soap — but after that, you're going to the market. You're going to buy your groceries and really do what locals would do. In the two-week short stays, we just want you to hit the ground running. So it's full service — almost like an apartment hotel. There's a front desk, your soaps are refilled, everything is just handled for you. It's a little more full service, and it gives you more time to just get out and explore.

DEBBIE: Well, and I'm sure you've heard this — you've been around travel for a long time — this reminds me of what people call slow travel. People who want to go somewhere and immerse themselves in the culture. And to me, when you're talking about going to the market to get your food, that's very exciting because one of my things when I travel, even on hotel stays, is I'm always at the markets. I love markets. So that's really cool. And community is a big part of what you do, right? Can you describe how that looks to my audience?

ANDREW: Yeah. I think you're hitting on two really key things — slow travel and community. That's how I think about what we do: community-based slow travel. The community aspect — first of all, it's a cohort-based experience. There are start dates where everyone arrives on the same day. Then we do orientation. We literally teach you how to live like a local — getting you on public transportation, giving you the metro card, showing you how it connects to the buses or trams. Grocery stores, houseware stores — we teach you how to live. But then we break, because it's not a tour. You have a lot of time on your own. But that first evening we come back together, usually at a rooftop bar — drinks, food — and we get to know each other. Our local staff, the community manager, facilitates that sense of connection.

They'll do activities like ice breakers — make a circle and step in if you play a musical instrument, or if you paint or do any sort of art — because what they're doing is drawing connections between people. "Okay, I've got three music lovers in this group, I've got four historians..." Because over the course of the month, our community manager will be suggesting things through a text messaging app where you can create affinity groups.

DEBBIE: Okay. Like WhatsApp?

ANDREW: Yeah, we use WhatsApp's community feature.

DEBBIE: Yes!

ANDREW: In Europe, everyone uses it. In the US, not as common, but it's a great app. And she'll be suggesting local things throughout the month — for example, there's a student jazz recital happening at the local university. I wouldn't find that just Googling "jazz clubs" — anyone could do that. But in that WhatsApp group, I'll say, "Hey, who wants to go with me?" And in a group of maybe 16 people, seven or eight might come. "Oh, why don't we go to dinner first, then the concert, then drinks after?" And suddenly I'm connecting with people who have shared interests. That's the beauty of the community — the joy amplifies when you share experiences with others.

DEBBIE: And I found out about The Good Life Abroad a few years ago through some social media, and everybody was very apprehensive. No one had heard of it. What does it really mean? Does it really exist? And now, a couple of years forward, there are actual, tangible things we can look at. I do feel like there are all types of travelers — when you're a solo traveler, there are all types of travel needs. For me, just like you said, I like to have the option to be with other people when I want to and have my privacy when I don't. If I want to go to a museum and spend three hours in one room, I want to do that on my own. And that's what drew me to want to have you here today — because I do want people to know this exists and that they can have the best of both worlds.

ANDREW: Absolutely. And that said — I'm still a pretty private guy myself. I like my alone time. So I like the combination of both.

DEBBIE: And you are 55 and up, right? That's your demographic?

ANDREW: Correct, correct.

DEBBIE: This is not something we had mentioned, but — can people bring a younger person? A partner?

ANDREW: If they have a partner or spouse, we have a fair number of people say, "Hey, I'm 58 and my partner is 55" — that's not a problem. But the intention is that it's not for families to bring kids, and it's not for young professionals or digital nomads who are working remotely. For the most part, our people are semi-retired or retired. They're really out to enjoy themselves while they're there.

DEBBIE: And that's important, too, because the mix matters. I love my grandkids, but when I'm doing something for myself, I don't need to be worrying about whether they're bored. So you have these organized activities, social hours — can you describe what some of those organized group activities look like?

ANDREW: Yeah. Every week we have programming — in addition to the welcome party and farewell party, we do three activities a week. Tuesdays, we have a tradition called the Tuesday Lunch Club. The idea is not just to have lunch, but to take the group to parts of the city — or maybe even neighboring towns — that they wouldn't go to on their own, and expose them to different parts of the geography. We pre-order a bunch of appetizers and starters to teach them about the culture through the food, and then everyone orders their own main dish. The community is there, the wine is flowing, friendships are being formed.

Wednesdays are some kind of cultural activity — a cooking class, an art workshop, flamenco dance workshops. Something that reflects the local culture. It's a few hours, and then you're done. You can be off on your own again.

DEBBIE: Right, right. You know, tours are always — "here's your free time, but at 10:00 we're going to be here." And sometimes you're just like, I wish I had more time, I didn't have to be at point A to B in an hour, let me shop a little more.

ANDREW: Exactly.

DEBBIE: So have you seen a lot of meaningful moments? Friendships forming? I know it's a relatively new concept, but are there people saying, "Let's meet next year at this time"?

ANDREW: This has been fascinating, Debbie. We've only been around for a few years, and I was recently visiting one of our alumni — they live in Northern California. They've been on three of our programs already in just a few years. He said, "Andrew, once we discovered The Good Life Abroad, we realized that's how we want to travel. Our lives now are about looking at what we want to do next, booking it, researching — the subway lines, the restaurants, everything. We do the thing, we make all these friends, and then we go visit the friends when we come back to the US. And then we do the next one. This is our life, and I want to do it, Andrew, as long as I'm physically able."

And I think the reason why is that often in retirement there's a kind of identity crisis — like, who am I now? I'm no longer the accountant, no longer the parent at the PTA. What's my identity? And what people find on our program, because it attracts a unique breed of traveler — they find their tribe. People who hold travel and cultural appreciation as a core value. And I found all these other people who share that.

DEBBIE: That's beautiful.

ANDREW: And we announce all new programs to alumni first — and the alumni jump on it. Yesterday we finished our first group in Seville and it was like 75% alumni from different programs. They said, "We just know the type of people who come on this — they're super fun, outgoing, they get it." They know our community is one they want to be part of, not just in one session but across all our programs in Europe.

DEBBIE: Well, it's funny you said that — before I even knew more about this, I had looked online and some spots were already booked for times I wanted to travel. So, if someone was watching right now and said, "I'm really intrigued but I'm not sure I'm ready" — what would you say to them?

ANDREW: I would say go to our website, but even better — if you're on Facebook, type in "The Good Life Abroad Community." We have a private Facebook group for past and present travelers. There are thousands of people in there just sharing their experiences. A group arrived in Split, Croatia just the other day and someone posted a photo: "Oh, this is so beautiful — I love this little café next to my apartment, I'm going to go there every day." And you just get a sense directly from the people about what this experience feels like. So just go there and follow along, and when the time is right, you'll know it — and you can jump in and join us.

DEBBIE: How many of the people coming to these locations are from North America — is it the majority?

ANDREW: So we're 90% US and about 8% Canada. And then we've got our random Australian or Brit that shows up, but it's pretty much North America.

DEBBIE: Okay. Because sometimes — I know with certain cruise lines — people didn't realize they'd be the only English-speaking people on board, and when you're trying to make friends, that's a little challenging even with Google Translate.

Well, thank you so much for this, Andrew. I'm very excited. I know I've been trying to figure out how to make it work with all the travel I do. This has been so fascinating and I'm so excited that this exists. One of the things I do with my show is I don't do sales per se — I do education and information. I love to promote and talk about things that I think are important to aging well. Adventure is ageless. And I like things that are different yet secure, because safety is so important when we travel. So thank you again for coming on today, and hopefully I'll get to visit at some point and see how it all works.

ANDREW: Thank you, Debbie. Yeah, we'd love to have you at The Good Life Abroad. I appreciate your time and thanks for giving us a shout out.

DEBBIE: Oh, absolutely. I actually already shouted it out in my newsletter and it got quite a few clicks — I put a little blurb and the link, and off they went. So that's good!

ANDREW: Great. Thank you. Appreciate it.

DEBBIE: All right. Well, take care. Thank you so much.

ANDREW: Take care. Bye.

DEBBIE: Bye-bye.

Thank you for joining me today on Ageless Adventures, formerly known as Senior Travel Adventures. I appreciate you viewing each month, whether it's on Village Television, CAMAC, or YouTube. I hope you enjoyed today's episode about The Good Life Abroad — I really hope I'm going to get a chance to go experience it so I can come back and let you all know exactly how it went. Again, thank you always for watching, and safe travels.