Grandfather takes ‘senior gap year’ backpacking around the world

Widower Chris Herrmann on his travels

A grandfather from Perth has inspired thousands of people
worldwide after embarking on a round-the-world trip following the
death of his wife of 40 years.

Chris Herrmann, 64, says he realised “how life can be
snatched away at a moment” after losing his wife to cancer in
2016.

“It all happened quite suddenly. She kept saying, as she lay
there in her final hours, ‘I
can’t believe this is happening,’”
Herrmann told Australian broadcaster ABC.

The devastated widower realised that he needed a change of
pace. Despite his adult children’s concerns, Herrmann sold his flat
and car before booking a flight to Spain to begin what he calls
his “senior gap year” .

“I suddenly found myself where I was 40 years ago – single, no
dependencies,” he told 9 News Adelaide. “Look at all these young
people taking a gap year all the time, I thought ‘Why should they
have all the fun?”

Herrmann arrived in Spain with no accommodation
booked and no knowledge of the language. In the following months,
his odessey took him across Europe, North Africa, Central America
and Southeast Asia.

Herrmann posted a series of selfies online to share his
adventures with other people.

Wanting to get a genuine gap-year experience, he opted to
stay in hostels alongside backpackers who were usually decades his
junior – sometimes to their initial surprise.

“Once I got to engage with them and told my story, they’d say,
‘you’re a legend.’ That came up a few times,” he
recalls.  

Herrmann has now written a book about
his year-long journey, which took him through 23 countries, and
is urging other older people to embark on their own
globetrotting adventures.

He believes his late wife would have echoed that
sentiment. “She
would have been saying, ‘Look, just get on with life’,” he told
ABC. “She would have been right behind
it.”