“It’s 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, you’re 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 Verne’s 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. Hamby’s husband also died, unexpectedly. Dr. Hazelip was looking to move her medical practice to Abilene, Texas, where Ms. Hamby lived, but didn’t want to fully relocate. So, Dr. Hazelip made her friend an offer. “She said, ‘If you’ll give me a bed two nights a week, I’ll take you out to eat,’” Ms. Hamby recalled.
It was during those weekly visits that they discovered a shared love of travel. “One day, I said: Ellie, I’ve always wanted to ride the trans-Siberian train. Do you think that’s something we could go on as a trip together?” Dr. Hazelip recalled. That was their first big adventure, in 2008, and trips to Southeast Asia and the Middle East followed in 2010 and 2011.
On their first few trips, the pair used a blog to keep their friends and family updated. For the 80-day tour, a friend helped them set up accounts on Instagram and TikTok, and soon thousands of followers around the world were along for the ride.
“People kept saying how much we were an inspiration — an inspiration for a good friendship, an inspiration to get out and do things,” Ms. Hamby said. The whole experience “has definitely been a life changer.” And they’re not stopping.
The friends can’t travel all the time — they both still work, Dr. Hazelip at…
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