The pink sand of a Bahamian beach coalesces with the blue ocean, reminiscent of the delicate tones of a baby’s nursery.
The relentless mist of Icelandic waterfalls billows up in clouds, swirling around visitors standing before their roaring majesty.
The sun settles into the Blue Ridge Mountains, its fiery light casting shadows on the sweeping expanse of trees and shrubs.
If these descriptions make your heart pound, then you probably love the thought of packing a bag and hitting the road or runway on an adventure to see new places. But if you’re getting older, even if the spirit is willing, the body may not be quite as excited at the prospect of a journey.
Traveling can become a lot more complicated the older we get. Technology is changing all the time, and it can feel overwhelming to navigate reservations and boarding passes that are all digitized. Plus, we may have physical limitations we didn’t have when we were younger, such as needing to carry oxygen or use a walker. But it is still possible to travel as an older adult into one’s 80s and 90s with a little assistance.
One way to make travel a little easier is to go with a younger person, namely a family member. Melissa Donald didn’t necessarily plan to travel with her parents, who are in their 80s. When she moved around to different states in her young adult years, her parents would always come visit her, which planted seeds for later years. “During those visits, I played the role of tour guide,” Melissa says. “I would show them around the area. We would do activities together, go out to eat, see a show, take sightseeing tours. Many times the three of us would also travel together and explore areas in my new state that I hadn’t even explored yet.”
In 2023, when Melissa’s father began talking about wanting to take a trip to Germany, her mother wasn’t totally on board. Melissa offered to go with him if he couldn’t find a travel buddy. The next day, he asked if she was serious about her offer, and she reassured him that she was. “With a relieved look on his face, he said, ‘That’s good because your mother said she would go if you went with us,’” Melissa says.
There are a variety of reasons why Melissa thinks her parents liked the idea of having her as their travel companion to Germany. She has lots of experience traveling in Europe and knows how to get around. Also, traveling with another person you don’t live with all the time can add some unique flavor to a trip because of their perspective and personality.
Melissa handles all the planning and confirming related to the trip, which includes gathering information about mobility challenges and alternatives, ensuring wheelchair assistance booking for the airlines, and speaking for her small group at security points, she says. She also handles luggage as needed, especially placing bags in overhead compartments on airplanes.
Of course, not everyone has a family member who is able to be a travel companion, but there are companies that provide this service for older adults. BrightStar Care offers Companion Care Services that include travel companionship. Teresa Doyle, director of community relations, says the company offers both medical and nonmedical companions depending on a client’s needs. Whether a client requires catheter care, uses a feeding tube, or has to have intravenous medication, nurses are available who can travel along and tend to these needs. Some clients may not need nursing help, but rather general assistance with their activities of daily living, such as bathing or grooming. Still others may just need help with logistics and technology.
In order to meet clients’ needs while traveling, Teresa meets with travelers or their families to go over the details. Sometimes this means BrightStar Care is involved before the trip is planned, while other times clients already have a trip planned and call for a traveling companion to provide additional support.
“People are living longer, but with all the aches and pains, trying to maneuver airports and hotels or cruise ships [is hard],” Teresa says. “They can have companions to finish strong and do the things that they used to do or they want to do. They can still have an awesome life just doing it a little bit differently.”
If an older adult is considering traveling with a companion, it is critical to keep communication open and clear. “I never kept anything from my parents except for pleasant surprises like upgrading our airline tickets for better seats,” Melissa says. “The information I gathered was always shared with my parents, and we made decisions together.” If a companion outside the family is hired, it is essential to have a contract in place delineating exactly what the companion’s roles and responsibilities are to protect all parties.
It’s also important to remember that sometimes you can’t make decisions in advance because you don’t have enough information…or motivation. While an older adult might say they aren’t interested in visiting a place with stairs, they might become highly motivated to take stairs, albeit slowly, when they are in the midst of grandeur and history. Melissa’s parents had never seen a castle before and were blown away with their visit to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, even though it did require them to climb some steps.
By Carrie Vittitoe | Beach photo by Maarten Vandenheu
P.S. You may also find this article interesting as well A Weekend Excursion With My 78-Year-Old Parents.
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