By Rebecca Jones
Traveling is a phenomenon which can act as a great stress buster and provide an enjoyable experience to nurture for life. While traveling is a great experience in itself, senior citizens and older people must make sure that they are covering all aspects of travel and safety before embarking on any tour. Here are the top seven tips that can bring an added sense of security in the traveling plans of senior citizens that can help enjoy their trip without any mental worries in case of any emergencies.
Health Checkup before Travel: Getting a proper health checkup is recommended for all travelers especially senior citizens to avoid any hassles while traveling. Before embarking on your journey, consult your physician for all wide-ranging medical investigations including any pre existing diseases or old age related potential diseases that may occur. Senior citizens are advised to check with their physicians about potential change of dietary habits while traveling depending on the area of travel as diet has a direct impact on health aspects of senior citizens. If you are traveling to a tropical country it is advises to avoid regular water and opt for bottled water to avoid any water borne diseases that can impact the stomach and hurt potential travel plans.
Carry Adequate Medication: It is advised to carry adequate medication before embarking on any travel or tour. As a safety measure it is helpful to carry medication with a cushion of an extra week to ten days to avoid any shortages due to emergency situations or potential extension of the trip due to any reason. Also medications are pretty unique for each country and all medications may not be as freely available in foreign nations. Apart from carrying disease specific medicines, it is advised to carry general purpose medication that can be useful in case of an unwanted emergency. Taking hand sanitizer along can help when water for washing hands isn’t available. Germs abound on planes, elevator buttons, etc. Senior citizens traveling to cold countries are also recommended to carry an extra protection of clothing to avoid any cold related diseases that affect the children and older people much more than young adults.
Get Travel Insurance: Getting travel insurance is one of the most useful tips for all travelers’ especially senior citizens. Getting a travel insurance not only adds a comfort level mentally to the immediate family but also allows a peaceful journey knowing that the worst case scenarios are fully protected. While most people consider travel insurance as an unwanted expenses, it is a wonderful protective tool that must be incorporated in all travel plans to avoid any untoward incident while traveling be it while flying across various airlines or traveling locally in foreign countries. With many tourist specific places usually also have a high rate of crime, it is an essential tool for the older people to counter any bad situation.
Carry Medical Prescription for Pre Existing Diseases: All senior citizens must carry their original medical prescriptions for any existing diseases to help them avail medical help in case of an emergency. If god forbid any health issues occur during travel, local doctors or local physicians can understand the case history and the pre existing diseases and the current medications being taken by the person to quickly diagnose any medical problems. Also medical prescriptions an make sure that one can procure medications from any chemist store across the world which cuts out the risk of running out of medications being carried in person.
Update Information on Mobile Networks: Mobile phones are a marvelous helpful tool for tourists especially the senior citizens. A mobile phone can make sure that a senior is connected to his immediate family and loved ones at all times. It is recommended to check the availability of mobile networks in the area one is traveling to. Also while traveling to foreign countries, a tour guide must be involved which can have a local contact number for the family to contact to in case of an emergency of networks of the old age traveler not working in alien conditions or foreign countries. Updating as much information for mobile networks, availability of local mobile numbers or other contact numbers must be shared with the folks back home to avoid any communication gap in case of any untoward incident.
Travel in a Group: Older people are advised to plan their travel in group which can have immense benefits. While at the one hand, traveling in a group of known people is much more enjoyable and fun, it also makes sure that there are people to take care of the individual in case of any medical or local emergency. Traveling in a group also allows for far better discount rates on various travel itineraries plus providing a comfortable cushion of having people with the same understanding around the seniors at all times.
Avoid Hectic Itinerary: Prevention is better than cure it is said. The saying is much more apt for older travelers and senior citizens. Traveling can be a hectic experience both mentally and physically. While young adults may have no problems in planning a hectic travel plan, older people must make sure that they cater for adequate rest between travels especially after long flights to avoid any travel related tiredness that can be potentially fatal in some cases. Traveling a travel schedule must cater for rest days between travel even if that means adding a couple of more days in the overall itinerary. Also senior citizens must avoid hectic adventure activities while traveling so that they remain safe and secure at all times.
About the author: Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing, reading and travelling. Besides this she is fond of luxury cars and wishes to own a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 one day.