Asia. The name immediately conjures up visions of inscrutable people, mysterious jungles, and an amazing variety of history and religions and foods…In short, you have to visit. But where to begin? Here are 10 tips for the Boomer/Senior traveler to consider when deciding where to go in Asia. Generally, we suggest you just go for it ( i.e. When in doubt, choose Adventure), because what’s the point of traveling if you don’t experience different things? Just be aware of the pros and cons of each place.

1. What are your favorite Asian foods (if any?). This may seem a superficial way to look at choosing a destination, but you’ll find that affinity with the food leads to affinity with the place.

2. What’s your tolerance level for crowds? For example, in India you will be besieged by traffic, people, wandering cows: it’s a chaotic cacophony of honking cars and brightly colored craziness. Elaine and I love it (and we love Indian food). Others don’t.

3. What’s your tolerance for dirt? If you can look past the litter and see the beauty, then you’ll love India. If you can’t, you won’t. On the other hand, if you want squeaky clean, Japan or Singapore are for you.

4. What’s your tolerance for air pollution? For some, China and Nepal are just too smoggy, especially if you have respiratory issues. Whereas it’s not an issue in Thailand or Japan.

5. What history are you interested in? If you’re a Vietnam vet, taking your partner to see the place is a powerful reason to visit.

6. What’s your shopping preference? There are great opportunities everywhere, but what you want to acquire – such as rugs in Turkey, for example – may drive your feet.

7. Does exotic stuff turn you on? If you love, for example, the dances in “The King and I”, then you’ll really love Thailand and Bali. If you’re into more modern cultures, then Japan is hip, clean and industrialized (but with a fair amount of ancient stuff thrown in).

8. What activities are you planning? For snorkeling or surfing, you can’t beat Bali. Not available in China. For shopping, Hong Kong is market after market.

9. What does your partner want? Some places offer a fabulous combination of beaches, cultures, history, so if you need to reconcile your guy vs girl preferences, think about places that offer a bit of each. Thailand is a good example.

10. Decide on tour vs independent travel.

Asia, more than anywhere, can be difficult to navigate. For kids wanting to tour India, it’s safe enough and possible. For us, it’s too complicated, and a tour of the Golden Triangle gave us what we wanted plus we made fantastic friends. On the other hand, we traveled independently in the less-crowded South India, and that was fine too.

These are just guideposts for those who don’t know Asia much yet, but frankly, we can’t do a massive continent justice with a few tips. Plus, you may have been to half the places we’re talking about already.

Let us just tell you our experiences from Turkey to Uzbekistan, Nepal to Bali and many places in between in the posts we’ll be publishing here regularly.

In the meantime, here are our Top 10 Personal Favorite Asian Destinations:

1. Turkey
2. India
3. Singapore
4. Bali
5. Thailand
6. Cambodia
7. Hong Kong
8. China
9. Nepal
10. Japan

We’ll be publishing lots more about each of these, but in the meantime, we recommend these resources:

You can get some more boomer-specific input here:

http://www.aseantourism.travel/articles/detail/top-senior-friendly-destinations-in-southeast-asia