Her name is Yelena, and she travels the world alone. She does it armed with a backpack or a small suitcase, a stick, a scarf on her head and with a great desire to learn new things. This shows that age is only a number and when dreams knock on your door it is possible to make them come true.
This wonderful woman is 91 years old and has been using her retirement money to travel the world since she was 83.
As age often acts as a hindrance to travel, we tend to limit ourselves by believing we can’t do it. Yet this woman shows us that there are no age limits for dreaming and making those dreams come true. After several years of retirement and an entire working life, Yelena decided that she did not want to stay at home watching television, she felt that it was not the right choice for her.
What she really wanted was to live life as she had dreamed when she was young, traveling around the world away from the house where she had spent her whole life. Among the many countries visited by Yelena are Poland, the Czech Republic, Vietnam, Germany, Turkey, Israel, Morocco. She was able to approach every place and culture with curiosity and open-mindedness. She also had te chance to see new animal species such as elephants, camels, dromedaries and managed to do many gastronomic tours of each area that she visited.
In Vietnam she found herself having dinner at a table next to a Russian lady, Ekaterina Papina, who then spread her story on social media, rendering Yelena’s adventures popular and loved by many people around the world. These are the words of the Ekaterina:
“I was in Vietnam and I heard a conversation in Russian while I was having breakfast. She was a very old woman who was sitting at the table next to mine and trying to explain to the waiter that she didn’t want spicy food. She caught my attention because she was completely alone “
This is where their friendship was born. As they cycled together, Yelena would tell Ekaterina her story. The first posts and the first pictures of the two together immediately became viral, collecting hundreds of likes and comments supporting the elderly woman.
Yelena’s goal is to invest her life savings into something to remember forever. Her wish to live life to the very last day is contagious and has become an inspiration for many people all over the world.
