Traveling the World With Your Best Friend at Any Age
The New York Times Its Never Too Late is a series that tells the stories of people who decide to pursue their dreams on their own terms.
When Eleanor Hamby and Dr. Sandra Hazelip met more than two decades ago, it was best friends at first sight. They never imagined that, one day, their friendship would be featured on news shows, get joked about on Saturday Night Live and stop people in their tracks in a Tokyo train station to exclaim, Oh my God, youre the TikTok traveling grannies!
Ms. Hamby, 81, and Dr. Hazelip, 82, have inspired people all over the globe with their project Around the World in 80 Days: At 81 and Still on the Run, named in homage to Jules Vernes 19th-century adventure novel. Their travels earlier this year took them from the icy shores of Antarctica to the rocky majesty of the Grand Canyon, and racked up more than a million likes from thousands of followers along the way. We totally, totally were not expecting this, Ms. Hamby said.
The women first crossed paths in their late 50s at a Christian medical mission in Zambia where Ms. Hamby, a documentary photographer, was the director and Dr. Hazelip, a recent widow, had come as a visiting physician. Five years later, Ms. Hambys husband also died, unexpectedly. Dr. Hazelip was looking to move her medical practice to Abilene, Texas, where Ms. Hamby lived, but didnt want to fully relocate. So, Dr. Hazelip made her friend an offer. She said, If youll give me a bed two nights a week, Ill take you out to eat, Ms. Hamby recalled.
