Dear friend,

As we celebrate our 35th Anniversary year, Elderhostel has extended the Road Scholar name to all of our learning adventures across the globe. We believe Road Scholar best captures the vitality and excitement of our educational experiences and we know that all of our participants are energized by the Road Scholar program name, from the new generation of 50-year-olds to our seasoned lifelong learners in their 80s.

"Road" connotes a journey and real-world experience, and "Scholar" reflects a deep appreciation for learning. Together the words capture the heart of our program experience: learning from expert instructors, enhanced by direct discovery of an idea, issue, subject or place. Our educational experiences range from snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef with a marine biologist to immersion in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with a noted professor.

Even though we are naming all of our programs Road Scholar, rest assured that the programs themselves will not change. Our programs will continue to be the same diverse collection of learning experiences, suitable to people of all activity levels and interests. Our small group, active programs that were formerly known as Road Scholar are now called "Small Groups on the Go."

Elderhostel’s co-founder, David Bianco, and I think that Road Scholar is a great name for our programs, and we are excited to extend its embrace to all of Elderhostel’s learning experiences. Elderhostel will, of course, proudly continue to be the name of our organization, and we will continue to offer a great variety of programs and activity levels across North America and around the world.

All of us at Elderhostel are dedicated to you and to our not-for-profit mission — creating innovative educational adventures. Caring staff members are eager to assist you, expert instructors have a world of knowledge to share, and the warmth and camaraderie of fellow lifelong learners await you!

We look forward to welcoming you on a Road Scholar learning adventure very soon.

Sincerely yours,

James Moses Elderhostel President

P.S. Feel free to share any comments with me at comments@roadscholar.org.