Dana Steinová, Center of Lifelong Learning, Prague

People who lived in Czechoslovakia between 1948 -1989 had very limited possibilities to travel abroad. Their travels were confined to the countries of the communist block. And after the velvet revolution when the possibility to travel became freely available, many of them were already retired, depended upon a fixed pension, did not feel so healthy and did not feel like to travel with a travel agency.

In 1990 Dana Steinová, who was running a U3A in Prague, came with a new idea: reciprocal exchanges with seniors from foreign countries. The very first exchange group arrived from Boston, MA, USA on April 29th, 1991, formed of 23 American seniors who were keen to learn what the country behind the iron curtain looked like. And the Czechs showed them not only the beauty of their country but opened their hearts to them. The Americans loved the personal attention of the Czech senior students, their cooking, guiding, homes. They repaid the Czech hospitality in a splendid way in October 1991 when 23 Czechs arrived for the same length of time.

What a wonderful way to explore the world!

Since that time the Czech senior students went literally around the world, 37 exchanges have been implemented up to now. They have been 3x in the USA, 3x in Australia, 3x in the U.K., in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, 3x Austria, 3x Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France, Switzerland, Hungary, etc.

The exchange partners were similarly motivated seniors, usually members of U3A groups (e.g. South Africa, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Poland) or Institutes for Learning in Retirement / the USA and Canada/ or other forms of educational programs for seniors (Institute for Senior Studies in Glasgow or ZAWIW in Ulm).

The philosophy of such exchanges is very simple: „You do your best for your guests, they will do the same for you when the roles reverse“. The hosting party is always paying the stay of the guests and everyone is paying his own travel costs.

Reciprocal exchanges are a great form of activation of seniors, a visible demonstration of their physical and mental potential, the more energy they put in, the cheaper trip they get. And travels based on personal bases, giving the chance to the participants to learn, appreciate and respect mutually their cultures, history and mentality are very different in comparison with the trips done by travel agencies.