5 Minutes With Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels

For McCool Travel’s 63rd travel profile, I am pleased to introduce you to Jane Canapini. Jane is the force behind the travel website: Grown Up Travels, which caters to boomer (and almost boomer) travelers. Grown Up Travels shares “adventures with rough edges but soft landings.”
Jane’s bio:
“Jane Canapini is a 20-year veteran of the advertising world who, after getting fired at 51, decided to turn her preoccupation with travel into an occupation. Her website, grownuptravels.com offers inspiration and information for travellers 45+ who have outgrown the backpacker lifestyle, but still want adventure and authenticity—just minus the shared bathroom. With an art director’s eye for beauty, and her photographer husband in tow to capture it, Jane is living proof that 50, is in fact, the new 35—and that even though you may be a grownup, you don’t have to see the world by following a pom-pom on a stick.”

Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels
Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels

Jane Canapini

Hometown…
Toronto, which as Steve Martin describes it in TV’s 30 Rock, is “just like New York, but without all the stuff!”
Always in my luggage…
NeoCitran (a cold/flu decongestant). Got caught without it in Brussels and had to alternate between breathing and eating, not try to do both. Seriously cut down on my chocolate intake.
3 favorite home-away-from-home places…
You meant home-away-from-Rome places, right? I guess that’s your answer.
A favorite travel memory is…
Arriving at the temples at Abu Simbel before anyone else, and following the caretaker inside as he opened the doors. For 30 minutes, I sat surrounded only by ancient pillars of Ramses II, and birds flitting between the columns. Going there was a dream I had since I was 8 years old and the adult experience overdelivered on my expectations.

Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels
Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels

3 favorite travel brands…

  1. TripAdvisor; I’m not just a client, I own the company—well, a few shares in it anyways
  2. TrufflePig; they had me at their ‘Saab’ mobile office startup story on their website
  3. Costa Rican Trails

3 money-saving travel tactics I use are…

  1. credit card loyalty programs; my husband and I use Capital One for everything
  2. take local transit
  3. do online research—a LOT of online research

3 ways that I have fun while traveling are…

  1. Photography; it helps you look at beauty everywhere
  2. Trying to learn the language even (and especially) if it makes locals smile
  3. Exchanging stories with other travellers

8 word (or less) travel mantra…
Eat fat. Food tastes better. Okay, that’s more of a life thing—how about this one instead: The best souvenirs are stories.

Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels
Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels

favorite non-travel website…
Boredpanda
most memorable souvenir…
A replica Etruscan vase I bought in Sutri, Italy, because the modern artisan used all the same techniques as the ancient potters, including a single-hair brush for painting them. We had quite a conversation.
favorite cheap eat…
Corn dogs (see ‘travel mantra’ above)
I am fortunate to have met…
Evelyn Hannon (Journeywoman) who at 50-something began ‘travel blogging’ before blogging existed, and who continues to inspire in her 70s.
I would like to meet…
Rocket Man David Bowie, or Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, whoever is more down-to-earth.

Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels
Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels

Thank you very much, Jane.
Follow Jane and Grown Up Travels on FacebookTwitterGoogle+, and Grown Up Travels.


Check out McCool Travel’s previous profilesMcCool Travel presents tips from travel experts in our 5 Minutes interview series—featuring travel industry giants, super frequent travelers, and adventurous persons. Previous 5 Minutes post: Betsy Wuebker.


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6 thoughts on “5 Minutes With Jane Canapini, Grown Up Travels”

  1. Who wouldn’t want to meet David Bowie right!! Love the quote “The best souvenirs are stories” because there is nothing quite like the memories that only you get to cherish after experiencing something amazing on your travels around the world.

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