In our Travel + Leisure column, “Traveling As,” we talk to travelers about what it means to explore the world from their own unique perspective. We spoke with 82-year-old single great-grandmothers Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby, who are traveling the world together with their infectiously positive spirit. Their adventures will be collected into a book called “Happy Place,” to be released by Penguin Random House next year.
Sandy Hazelip: I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, from a very humble background, and married a wonderful man before I was 20. My son developed diabetes as a baby, which sparked my interest in studying medicine. At age 34, I told my husband I wanted to go to college and become a doctor, and he supported me from the beginning. I enrolled in medical school at age 39 and started practicing in 1985.
Then in 1999, my husband passed away. But before he got sick, we had talked about taking our grandchildren on a mission trip. Six months after my husband died, a young doctor told me he was going to a medical missions workshop in Dallas the following weekend. I went there and met Ellie Hamby, the director of the Zambia Medical Mission, and her husband. I got to go on a mission, and Ellie and I became best friends.
Ellie Hamby: I grew up in Oklahoma, a farm girl, and lived in a very small town until I graduated from high school. I got married and went to college. My husband was a professor at Abilene Christian University. We ended up going to Zambia and lived there for six years in the 1980s. When I returned to college, I was asked to lead a medical mission.
Neither of us were medical [professionals]But I've been known for organizing things my whole life. We started organizing medical missions to Zambia in the 1990s. It's one of the largest medical missions in the world, and I still lead it. We work in the clinic six days a week, seeing 2,000-3,000 patients a day. Sandy is one of the doctors, and she's been going there every other year for the last 20-some years.
About five years after Sandy's husband died, my husband also died in a tennis accident. Sandy called me about a month later. I was still adjusting to his sudden death. She said, “I'm moving my practice to Abilene and don't want to leave my home in Eastland. I need a place to stay a few nights a week. If you give me a place to stay, I'll take you out to dinner.”
That was 19 years ago. Except when she was traveling, she was usually at my house one or two nights a week. We would stay up late drinking coffee and we started to realize that we both liked to do similar things. Our friendship was born out of two terrible tragedies, but it was a beautiful thing because tragedy happens to everyone. Tragedy doesn't mean life is over. We were both blessed with amazing husbands. We loved our husbands dearly. But we developed this beautiful friendship.
Our outlook on life is similar: we are very happy people, we believe in the goodness of human beings, and we're not afraid to try new things.
I had already traveled quite a bit, visiting around 115 countries.
In 2008, about three years after Sandy started staying with me, we went on our first trip together. We took the Trans-Siberian Railway. Not a tourist train, but a second-class train the whole way.
Courtesy of Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby
Hazelip: Our third trip was in 2011 and we were in Syria when the war broke out.
Humvee: We were sleeping in a Bedouin tent in Palmyra in the Syrian desert, two 72-year-old women with backpacks who had already traveled across Syria on a public bus.
The problem was, there were no tourists in Palmyra, we were heading to Jordan, we hadn't paid for the hotel, there were no ATMs in the city, and they didn't take credit cards. Mohammed from the hotel arranged everything for us, his mother cooked us a delicious meal that night, and arranged for us to go with a driver to Damascus, about 5 hours away.
When we got there, there were soldiers with AK-47s lined up all around the square. The driver must have gone up to them and asked these two old ladies to get some cash from the ATM. They put the gun down. We prayed that we had money. And we did. Then Mohammed told us to get in a plain white car that was parked on the side of the road and go to Jordan. And we did. So we've already had a wild experience.
Courtesy of Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby
HazelipWe're old enough to remember the movie and the book, Around the World in 80 Days, so a few years before I turned 80 I said to Ellie, “When we're 80, why don't we go around the world in 80 days?”
Humvee: My first reaction was, “WHAT?!” After about 30 seconds, I said to my family and friends, “Why not?” I think most people felt like they'd never be able to do it. It was pretty daunting, and we didn't realize how daunting it was until we'd actually done it and had this recognition.
We took the Oneworld Alliance round the world fare, which is a great fare. We had to go to six continents and there were 16 flight segments, which meant we were flying around the world. It was convenient and saved us money.
Hazelip: You can make your own itinerary, just follow the rules. If you get to a country and want to see more, you can fly to other places using airline miles. Sometimes you have to buy a ticket. Our average cost for an 80-day stay was $29 per person per night, and breakfast was usually included.
Humvee: The best deal was $13.50 at the Royal Pyramids Inn in Cairo. You had to enter through an alleyway, but once you got to the rooftop there were the pyramids. And at night they had a light show that you could see for free.
Hazelip: When other women say they want to travel with us, the first thing I do is look at their hands: if their fingernails are nicely manicured, they won't want to travel with us.
Humvee: We don't have a travel agent. We book all our own hotels, we book our own flights. If we have a problem, we have to solve it ourselves because there's no one to call. We don't have anyone to carry our luggage.
Hazelip: I had originally planned to travel around the world when I was 80, but because the plan was canceled due to COVID-19, I went when I was 81. The theme was…
Hazelip and Humvee: At age 81, he traveled around the world in 80 days and is still on the run.
Courtesy of Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby
Humvee: We started off in Antarctica, which is one of the most awe-inspiring places in the world. When you stand there and look around you 360 degrees, it's just unbelievable. The vastness of Antarctica, the icebergs, the icebergs, the water, penguins everywhere, it's just unbelievable.
Hazelip: Then we were in the Arctic Circle. We had a driver in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland. One day the driver said, “Do you want to go on a husky sled ride today?” I thought we were going to go on a little sled ride, like at the Texas Fair, so I said, sure.
Humvee: He had a pack of huskies, and we drove four miles through the woods, hanging on for dear life as we rounded sharp corners, in temperatures of minus four degrees.
Hazelip: When we came back we said, “Wow, that was fun!” Another day he asked if we wanted to see a reindeer farm. It turned out to be the family farm where he grew up and we got to feed the reindeer.
Humvee: Sandy and I don't really plan things. Things just happen. We rely on locals to plan things for us. In Bali, for example, we hired a driver for $50 for eight hours. If there was something we wanted to do, we just did it. He turned back because he saw a sign that said “Happy Swing.” It was the most fun swing over rice paddies.
Hazelip: Finally, I said that we didn't go on a vacation, because vacations leave you exhausted. We went on an adventure, and each adventure reinvigorated us for the next adventure.
Ellie found a saying that I really like: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
One of the World Heritage sites we had planned to see on this trip was Machu Picchu, but it was closed due to political unrest. Ellie and I are eternal optimists, and we were sure that the unrest would be over by the time we got there. Three days before our flight to Peru, we had to make the decision to cancel it.
So this year I'm in South America, and my last stop is Machu Picchu. I'm having a great time. My new theme is…
Hazelip and Humvee: We are 82 and we're not done yet.
Courtesy of Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby
Humvee: We are in La Paz, Bolivia, at over 12,000 feet above sea level. The other day we climbed the Valley of the Moon, and the whole group of Bolivians applauded when we reached the top.
On this trip, we went piranha fishing in the Amazon. I caught three, but Sandy caught the biggest one. We had piranha stew that night and it was delicious. We also went crocodile hunting. We caught two. We swam with pink dolphins in the Amazon. We are not afraid of adventure.
Hazelip: We're not afraid to have fun.
Humvee: Also, for reference, Sandy and I have 4 artificial knees. These things happen to everyone as we get older. You just have to work hard, go to physical therapy, and keep a positive attitude.
Hazelip: Ellie's family is used to her wild journey. My family is getting used to it too. I promise I will text them every day to let them know we are safe.
Humvee: There are some things in our plan that we don't need to tell our kids. For example, we don't need to tell our kids that we are going piranha fishing. Why should we tell our kids and make them panic? They can find out later by looking at the pictures of the piranhas we caught.
We'll keep traveling as long as we can, and we can come up with a quote. I don't have a quote for '83 and '84, but the quote for '85 is, “We're 85, and we're still alive.”
We hope to travel as long as our health allows. For now, it's ok, but we're getting older and we know there will come a time when we won't be able to travel. We don't let age dictate what we want to do. We are fearless travelers, we don't like the nightlife, and we're not looking for a man. We're just two single women looking for an adventure.
Hazelip: Every day we experience one amazing adventure after another.
Humvee: South American languages are a little more difficult than others, but Sandy and I say there is one universal language: smiling. We use it over and over again.
