My partner and I currently have 2 asian box turtles (1 malayan and 1 chinese). We had a Greek tortoise that we lost under tragic circumstances, and we fostered/turtle-sat for a Russian tortoise for the past year. My partner has had the chinese box turtle and the Greek tortoise for almost 14yrs (since he was 13) and they were pretty old when he got them.
They've all been great pets and really fun to have around and I'd highly recommend a tortoise as a pet. They're really easy to keep. Ours eat mostly escarole/endive and various fruits, summer squash, other random seasonal greens. They share their (large) cage with an iguana, so they get the same thing she does. We have a tub of water in the bottom of the cage that they can drink from or spend time in. The malayan box turtle spends most of her time soaking and the others really only use the water for drinking. It gets changed out once or twice a week. They have a heat lamp for basking and that's about it. Their cage is homemade and 3.5' x 2.5'. I always prefer to let them out and about as they want. We just moved to a carpeted home though, so they can't be as free range since turtle poo on the carpet can't be cleaned as easily as turtle poo on hardwood/tile floors. We let them outside in the summer to roam around the lawn, but unless I'm right out there with them to keep an eye on them, I keep them in a portable cage. We never hibernate them in the winter. They have the heat lamp and they're fine. Generally less active, but fine.
In terms of personality, the russian tortoise we had was really friendly and curious. He was a 2yr old male. The Greek tortoise we had was a big bully and rather aggressive with his buddy the chinese box turtle. He was once wandering around the living room and walked over and bit one of my toes (not hard). I think russian tortoises in general are less aggressive. The box turtles are much more laid back, but that also means they can be less exciting. The malayan box turtle doesn't have much personality at all.
My biggest recommendations for pet turtles/tortoises is just to make sure before you get one that you are familiar with their dietary needs. A lot of common veggies are just empty nutrition for them (i.e. romaine lettuce, tomatoes, spinach) and/or don't have the proper ratio of certain vitamins and minerals for them. There are tons of sites online to help you learn which veggies are good. I also recommend the Rep-cal and Herp-ti-vite powders on their foods. These are very high quality supplements.
Finally, my only other suggestion would be to try to find a reptile rescue in your area and look into adopting a turtle. Turtles live a very long time and there are always tons of turtles needing new homes. An old turtle is really no different than a young turtle.
Best wishes!
