I’ll never forget the moment when I crossed over to the other side.

I was at a restaurant in Rome, one of my favourite places in the world, when a waiter greeted me with a polite “Buona sera, Signora.”

Not “Signorina“.

Okay, it might have been overdue given that I was 45, or maybe it was because I was with my newly acquired 40-something husband, but it felt like a blow to the muffintop. Seriously, “Signora“?

There it was – I was officially a “Ma’am” – as in “Good evening, Ma’am.” Good God.

Even the Eternal City recognizes that youth isn’t eternal, but as a traveller, where did that place me? I was neither a backpacking student, nor a pom-pom-following bus tourist. I was officially somewhere in between.

Turns out I wasn’t alone. In fact, there are a lot of us in exactly the same position, who still value experience more than expense, but who are now able to afford some of those ‘grownup’ extras that make the trips that much better – whether that means having your own bathroom (non-negotiable!) or splurging on that hot air balloon flight over the ruins in Myanmar.

So I decided to create Grownup Travels, a travel website and blog filled with information, destinations, inspiration and conversation appropriate for travellers just like us. I hope you enjoy the stories, tips and photos, and that you’ll share some of your own here as well.

After all, we may not be hosting toga parties in the Forum, but we’re “not not dead yet!”, to quote a famous Monty Python line.

We’ve just been around.

Jane Canapini

Jane is an award-winning travel writer and photographer and an accredited member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC). In their annual awards competition, TMAC named GrownupTravels.com as the Best Self-Published Travel Blog in 2025 .
She is also a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, and a freelance travel writer contributing to both print and online publications.