The late birds get the world

"Older people also need to be able to use the internet, and for some that's not easy. As the mobile internet booms I'm shifting from the computer to mobile apps to read travel tips and make travel plans."

Chen keeps a diary of his travel experiences and shares them on the tourism website Qyer, on which he answers questions about travel. He has also made a few short video guides for older people on how to travel independently.

A lot of the influence in swaying him toward such travel has come from people in other countries, he says.

"What impresses me is that many older people elsewhere don't live with their children and they enjoy that independence."

This summer Chen and his wife stayed with an Austrian in her 70s who with her husband runs accommodation listed on the site Airbnb.com, cooking breakfast for guests and treating them like family.

Meeting people from all over the world had been a fulfilling experience that made it feel as though she was prolonging her life, Chen says the woman told him.