Today we had another telephone call : Am I too old to travel? We live in a young society where internet celebrates youth: movie stars to humans called ‘influencers’. Travel brochures display handsome, fit, groomed, ‘seniors’. In our best days we will never look like these fake brochure passengers.
To travel you need attitude, mobility, organization, health, diet, overall strength. Most importantly– resistance to your family.
Attitude: Assess yourself as a person not as a senior. Age does not have to be a handicap. Younger travelers are also restricted by impatience, selfishness, excessive alcohol or exercise. Do not apologize for being a senior.
Mobility: Walking is on most trips, not hiking, not rock climbing but walking on streets and cobbles. If you feel unstable walking on cobbles, here is your back up: May I skip the walk and meet up with the group? Don’t apologize, just work it out but do not slow down the group.
Get organized: Pack lightly if possible. If you cannot, don’t apologize for your large suitcase either.
Arrange medicines efficiently. Carry prescriptions in the generic. Don’t apologize for taking pills at a dinner or if you need to skip a day.
Health and diet: Tour companies understand special diets. Younger travelers are similarly restricted with fad diets. Don’t apologize if you don’t eat something, have a hearing issue or wear a blood sugar monitor.
Our experiences spanning 32 years of travel for women are insightful. We saw an older lady helped up the steep Omo river in Ethiopia so she could visit the villages with the grouip. We witnessed volunteers assist a hearing impaired traveler in Mexico. We took a nearly blind women to Nepal to see a final tiger. Rejoice. Don’t apologize.
Finally tell your family; it is my life and my adventure. A repeat of they told you when they were teens .
Travel tips from award winning The Women’s Travel Group, small group insightful tours for women of ALL ages.
