Grandfather takes ‘senior gap year’ backpacking around the world

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.”