Some people call this a Bucket List, or To Do list. A list of things they want to see or do before they are no longer physically or mentally able.
What is your Elderly Travellers list?
What do they see on Tv and say 'oh Ive always wanted to see that/ go there'
Do they say 'Ive always wanted to visit or go back to my home town/ home country before I pass on, or all the people I knew there pass on'
'Ive always wanted to visit this religious site'
See this wild bird, that wild animal, catch that fish, see the Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Egypt, AntarcticaEverybody has something they would like to see or do, for some it is adventurous or far flung, for other it can be close to home or even mundane.
You just need to find out what your elderly traveller wants
Where do you want to go
Writing down your bucket list, more or less in the order in which you rank each destination, is a good way to start.
- Is your Elderly Traveller watching the travel channel, Tv shows, even reading a book that makes them have itchy travelling feet.
- Are they keen on art, architecture, history, militaria, wildlife, food, scenery.
When we started writing mums list down, some were specific, some were quirky, some were broad.
As an example - see the pyramids of Egypt , return to southern Italy where she went as a 21 year old, stay on the Old Queen Mary in Long Beach California, drive Route 66, walk the great Wall of China, see a volcano up close, see the Canadian mountains and Lake Louise, Vegas baby, visit everything from her childhood in London, visit New York, see an iceberg, stand on the corner in Winslow Arizona (no explanation, you either get the reference or you don't) visit Russia St Petersburg's Church of Spilled Blood
Yes in the past few years we have done all that and then some
Once you have a list no matter how long or far fetched it could be, then its time to narrow it down.
The mobility, and health status of your elderly travelling partner may also impact which country you visit, and during what time of year.
If they want to see see the Canadian mountains and Lake Louise all covered in snow and ice or see an iceberg in Alaska, Antarctica or Greenland but they are affected by the cold, have breathing issues in cold weather or very poor circulation you may have to plan this more carefully or strike it off
See if everything on the list stands up to scrutiny; some items on the list might not seem as interesting after you have looked at them several times.
Some might just not be practical or cost effective. If mum just wanted to stay on the Queen Mary in Long Beach California but had no interest in anything else nearby or even in USA then that would probably drop off the list.(Unless we were changing plans in LA and could arrange a 24 hour stop over.)
Once you get a sense of where you might go and more or less when you might go, you will want to narrow down your choices to the trips you most want to take.
You don’t have to plan to go all the way around the world, see everything you've ever wanted to see in one trip either. Start your adventure small and let it grow from there.
For the first time overseas traveller I would suggest a short flight trip first, to test the waters so to speak
If your in Australia maybe fly to NZ or Fiji, even Singapore or Hong Kong are great choices for Elderly Travellers.
If its somewhere further afield that has your interest, and you dont fancy the thought of a long flight consider splitting up your journey to give you a breather. Breaking up your travel means you can have a walk around on dry land and refreshments before taking to the skies again.
If I can we break up the trip with an overnight stop over, we've stopped in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Gangzhou, Honolulu and LA.. Our next is Dubai
You can also decide on what type of holiday you want or need.
An all inclusive tour. A riverboat cruise. A cruise ship. A single destination or a multi city Do it yourself trip
You have to consider practical things like what time of year you can get off work versus the best time of year to go there, how much time it takes really to do the destination justice and how much money you will need to do what you must do.
Unless one destination rates well above and beyond the others, start researching two or three of your top choices, picking only one could set you up for disappointment if the logistics turn out to be forbidding.
The best choice of date at destinations is not only guided by what time of year you can get off work, or the time that has the least conflict with family commitments, or even the weather at the destination.
While it is important you don't mistakenly book journeying to Russia during the dead of winter or visiting a jungle during the hottest, rainiest season there are also festivals, holidays and events to research.
We'd booked to go Beijing for 8 days on the way home from USA. After everything was just about booked I noticed that 7 days of this was 'Golden Week' , a holiday in China where it seems Chinese people choose to visit all the Chinese tourist spots at once. I changed our booking to before USA, at the start of the holiday, with a 16 hour layover on the way back instead.
We were amazed at the difference, its been described as a human avalanche of people shuffling along
Here's a couple of shots showing why we changed our booking
Research and Plan 3
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