Meet the 73-year-old, mountain-trekking, pilgrimage-making, French-born, Swiss citizen, Lydie Carbou.

Lydie Carbou hiking the Bisse de Ro in Switzerland

She’s a retired traveler. Not retired from traveling. But retired. And can’t stop traveling. It’s hard for Lydie Carbou to stay in her 7^th floor apartment in Geneva for very long without setting off on another adventure. I caught up with her for an e-mail interview after recently returning from a trip to Nepal.

GN:  How long have you been traveling? Is this something you started doing after you retired, or have you been traveling all your life?

LC:  As long as I’ve had money, I’ve been traveling during my holidays from work. I’ve always loved going places, but when I was working, I only had about four weeks (and later five) of holidays per year. I started traveling sometime after I turned 25.

GN:  Which place would call your favorite place on earth? What draws you to that particular place?

LC:  My favorite place is Bhutan. It’s a very special place–untouched, very pure, no new construction, no roads, people wear typical dress and there are the most beautifull monasteries I’ve ever seen in my life where locals stay the whole night to pray. When I visited, the government was protecting the country by accepting only 2,000 tourists per year, so it was very expensive to get a visa.

GN:  Have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong place, like you belonged someplace else?

LC:  Sure I was born in the wrong place. I should have been born in Asia, probably India, a place I go at least once a year.

GN:  It’s been almost 2 years since I first met you on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. What have you been doing since then?

LC:  Since I met you two years ago, I’ve gone to Porto, Portugal and walked the Camino Portugues to Santiago. But it was not enough. After that, I took the train to Oviedo, Spain and walked to Santiago on the Camino Primitivo. In August, I went to Ladakh, India to trek to Zanskar, up to 4,800 m (15,748 ft.). In November, I was in Nepal, around the Annapurna, up to 5,416 m (17, 769 ft.).

GN:  How many times have you made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela? Why do you like the Camino de Santiago so much?

LC:  I’ve made five caminos and have five compostelas, about 5,000 kms of walking total. I very much like walking continuously, always farther in front of me.

GN:  When did you get interested in long-distance walking?

LC: I started walking long-distance on the caminos after I retired. As you know, long-distance walking is a very good school for both your brain and your body. It’s nice to make a break with your own life, you have plenty of time to dream when walking and to get lost sometimes…and you meet people from everywhere which can be good value.

GN:  You’re 73 now. What’s your secret? How do you stay healthy and physically strong when you walk such long distance, trek at such high altitudes, or visit countries with more difficult living conditions?  What advice can you share with our senior traveling readers?

LC:  Well, if i am strong at 73, it is because I choose to be like that. I think we can do what we want. Just to wish it is enough and easy. This is very important and everyone can be the same as me.

Just beleive it. If i am physically strong, it is because I don’t care too much about my body, I am asthmatic and have some arthritis…but never mind…I keep going..I try and I’m always positive and optimistic and my mind is happy.

GN:  You grew up in France during the Second World War? How did you get away from the war? How did you end up in Switzerland?

LC:  I was two years old when the war started and all I remember is that we often went hungry. For this reason, I carry a lot of food with me when I hike. But I was really too young to remember much else and except for the food I missed, we got away from the war without any big problems.

My sister was living on the border of Switzerland and in 1959 I came here and never left…except to travel. I’m always thinking about traveling.

GN:  Any plans for you next trip?

LC: Next trip will be to Mt. Kailash in Tibet if it is possible to go. And one day I will pass away in Asia….and stay there…