How One Woman’s Vision — and Persistence — Sparked a Decades-long Partnership

She had led an adventurous life to that point, leaving the family farm in Italy as a young woman to take her first job in London, where she met and then married a physics student from Chile. They moved to his native country, where she began to work in the travel and tourism industry. Later, when he enrolled at the University of Florida to pursue his Ph.D. in the 1970s, Giovanna and their young children followed, and she began to expand her small travel business.

Unusual for the time, she focused on experiential travel and programs based on studying ecosystems — an approach that soon gained her an enthusiastic following in the academic community, both at the University of Florida and beyond.

During her life’s journey, Giovanna had learned to be true to her travel vision, and fearless and determined in the pursuit of her goals — as Bill Berkeley and Jim Moses was discovering. Eventually, after Giovanna’s steady door knocking, Jim relented and agreed to meet with her at Elderhostel’s offices. She told him about the travel organization she led, and how its programming in Costa Rica aligned so closely with Elderhostel’s mission and values. Her travelers enjoyed immersive experiences that reflected and celebrated local culture, educated them about Costa Rica’s remarkable ecosystems, and sent them home not just with souvenirs and snapshots, but with a deep knowledge of and appreciation for the remarkable place they had just been.

She told Jim Moses, too, about the conference she had attended in Costa Rica, where the nation’s former president Rodrigo Carazo was speaking about an organization called Elderhostel that was helping older people to continue their journey of lifelong learning and become students of the world again. She was certain the synergy would create a strong partnership.

Jim left the meeting believing, in essence, that Giovanna was either delusional or brilliant. After sharing the details of the meeting with Bill Berkeley, the two decided to put their chips on “brilliant.”

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

The new Elderhostel programs to Costa Rica were an immediate and resounding hit. Spurred by the new partnership, Giovanna and her company had built a lodge, Selva Verde, on the site of a private home in a nature preserve two hours from San José that would serve as home base for many of the programs. Demand was so great, a lottery system was adopted. Wait lists were added on top of wait lists. The idea shared by Elderhostel and Holbrook — about travel for older people with education as its central purpose — was virtually unheard of at the time. But Elderhostelers loved it.

Over the ensuing decades, Holbrook Travel and Road Scholar grew together, adding programs in the Galápagos and many other places, while the learning experiences in Costa Rica itself continued to thrive. For many years there, in fact, former president Carazo met personally with every Road Scholar group.

Fast-forward to a Flourishing Present

Today, under the leadership of Giovanna’s daughter Andrea, Holbrook Travel partners with Road Scholar on three dozen programs in 13 different countries throughout Central and South America, as well as Eastern Africa. Asked what makes the partnership such a successful and satisfying one, Andrea Holbrook offered that the organizations have a shared vision organized around four priorities.

The first, as noted, is the belief in educational travel as a path not only to continued lifelong learning for individuals, but to greater connection across cultures and a more nuanced understanding of the nature and needs of the world.

The second is an emphasis on quality and value. As Holbrook observes, that is a constant balancing act, drawing on decades of experience and plain good judgment when it comes to best serving the needs of participants. It also requires an attentive ear, which is why both organizations are passionate about gathering  ­— and acting on — participant feedback.

Third is a focus on the needs of program participants. From giving careful thought to issues like accessibility and mobility to contingency management and the painstaking development of safety plans, both organizations feel a special duty to earn the trust of explorers and ensure their experiences are memorable for the right reasons. Here, too, listening plays a vital role.

Finally, there is a shared emphasis on sustainability in a holistic sense. Each organization looks continuously not only for ways to lessen negative impacts on the environment, but ways to make positive impacts as well. For instance, Road Scholar strives to minimize its carbon footprint, adheres to Leave No Trace principles, chooses reusable products and invests in projects from reforestation in Kenya to wind energy in India.

For its part, Holbrook Travel seeks to support, respect and preserve local cultures through its programming, choosing locally owned sources of food and lodging, for example — initiatives Road Scholar also endorses.

Road Scholar’s commitment was highlighted recently by the hiring of its first-ever sustainability director, Bryn Geddes. Bryn and Holbrook Travel have already begun visioning exercises to see where the organizations can take their efforts next, together.

What the Future Holds

Today, the partnership between Road Scholar and Holbrook Travel is stronger than it has ever been. Costa Rica was named Road Scholar’s 2024 Campus of the Year, driving great interest in Road Scholar programs there — which now number 15 — for 2025 and beyond. One of those, A Taste of Costa Rica, is a newly developed introduction to the country’s culture and ecosystem, taking participants to the rainforest and visiting a cloud forest. River rafting and birding, discovering local cuisines and learning traditional dance are also part of the experience. Andrea Holbrook envisions more such programs in the future, as well as others that offer a more relaxed pace for participants with limited mobility and additional educational experiences for multiple generations of families.

That’s only the beginning of what’s possible for two organizations with a long history of seizing opportunities. It's good to have partners like Holbrook!