Vintage in a Floppy Hat

Sooo old

It's kind of pathetic when you don't know how uncool you are.

Until recently,  I had a flip phone, which my young neighbor, Leah, called "sooo old."  Jerry still has one.

We used to have phone directory in the kitchen, one of the kind that pops up according to the alphabet letter you choose. One night  her sister, Annika, inspected it, puzzled.

Vintage?

"Is it vintage?" she asked, finally.  I banished it to a drawer.

Rude awakenings.  (It was also news to Annika that Paul Newman was ever anyone but a producer of salad dressing.)  Another unwelcome revelation:  Fleece vests are very uncool and generally owned by moms.

But the rudest awakening I've come across by far was in the travel section of the Sunday New York Times, in an article called "Tours for the Younger Traveler."

A consortium of tour operators have come up with "Yomads," (young nomads, get it?), organized trips that target people under 40.  If you're over 40, forget it.  You won't be able to go with them to China, Cambodia, or Laos.  Younger travelers want "rugged" hikes, not "gentle paths."

So, fine, I don't want to hike up mountains--or crawl on all fours--in some remote place.  I'm too old for that, and I'll admit it.

But worse,  "Young people don't want to be on tours where everyone's wearing floppy hats," said Gert Nieuwboer, director of a Dutch company that created Yomads.

Visor preferred

Right away, I reviewed hats I wear on trips and realized with some relief that I stick with visors because they don't mash my hair.

And then I remembered that I actually bought a brimmed hat in Switzerland last June on a day when I forgot my visor, and the sun was beating down (and probably causing age spot, one more thing).

Here we are:

Switzerland 2013, floppy hat and all.  Jerry's more cool than I am?
 

Whatever floppy hat connotes, Yomads doesn't want me.  It's not fun to feel I'm boring, and therefore unwelcome because I want "gentle paths" and wear a floppy hat.  But let me opt out, Yomads.  Don't sniff, shake your head, and exclude me. 

 

And wait 'til you're old.

 

* * * * *

 

A reader asked about the website I mentioned in yesterday's post, about the little boy currently undergoing cancer treatment.   Here it is:  http://www.ezpowell.org/

 



Adorable pictures.

(And thanks to my sister, who sent meticulous instructions for how to include a link.)