“The outside world is wonderful—the more you see, the more you want to explore!” Luo Daoru, a 75-year-old from Zhejiang, and his 68-year-old wife Jiang Meiya spent three years driving across the country, documenting their road trip experiences in 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in 350,000 words. Their book made them local internet celebrities, proving that even in the twilight of life, it’s never too late to chase dreams.
Friends’ curiosity about their travel experiences inspired Luo to write a book. He penned nearly 350,000 words for “An Elderly Man at Seventy Drives a Geely Across China,” which includes chapters such as “Journey West,” “Voyage North,” and “Adventures South,” detailing trips to Xinjiang, Mohe in Heilongjiang, and Hainan. He is now working on a second travel book themed around Tibet, with over 50,000 words nearly complete.
I sigh that writing is more exhausting than driving.
“Writing is strenuous—it’s even more tiring than driving,” Luo admitted. Having no formal writing training, he relied entirely on notebooks filled with travel memories, as well as ticket stubs, attraction tickets, parking permits, and toll receipts collected along the way as sources of inspiration. He stuck to writing over 4,000 words a day for half a year, then spent another six months revising and a final six months proofreading before the book was finally published.
On the motivation for their road trip, Luo said that during his younger working years, he had been to the south (Hainan), the north (Liaoning), the east (Zhoushan Islands), and central provinces and cities—but the west was the one region he had never visited. It was always a regret he wanted to address. However, due to age and health concerns, his children were initially against the idea. But they eventually relented under his persistence, with the condition that his wife accompany him.
Traveling Frugally and Racing Against Time
In 2012, at the age of 72, Luo bought a car and set off on the road trip with his wife. He knew this bold journey was also a race against time. Despite limited savings, he decided to go ahead anyway, carefully planning expenses while racing to see the great mountains and rivers.
During the trip, the couple stayed in hostels costing just 100 yuan per night, and one-third of their meals consisted of instant noodles and snacks. But they felt it was worth it. “While we can still move about, we should go. By the time we need help to walk, even if we’ve saved enough money, our dreams may be out of reach.”
As both sides of the Taiwan Strait enter an aging society—mainland China alone has over 200 million people aged 60 and above—the elderly travel demographic is on the rise. Although netizens hold mixed views on whether seniors should drive, they all praise the spirit of these elders chasing their dreams, with many saying, “I wonder if I’ll get to do something like this in my lifetime.”