For most of us, the earliest travel memories can be traced back to travelling with our parents as kids. What heady days they were as we pranced around Railway Stations, Airports, and Bus Stations without a care in the world as our hassled parents surreptitiously and anxiously kept an eye on our adventurous exploits of discovery! The wheel of time has moved since then and today as full-grown adults we may roam the world in a swagger of independence. But as and when we travel with our parents, those very guardians who helped us take that first step in our voyage of discovery, we need to take special care of our Mom & Dad to ensure that their travel experience is smooth and joyful without any discomfort whatsoever. If you are travelling or planning to travel with your parents and thinking of tours for seniors, here are some travel tips which will ensure a great travel experience all around while travelling with Parents.
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8 Tips to Plan Tours for Seniors – Guide to Plan Vacations for Elderly Parents
If you are travelling or planning to travel with your parents, here are some travel tips which will ensure a great travel experience all around. Seniors holiday travel comes with its challenges which need to be addressed to make vacations for elderly parents a smooth experience.
Go for slow travel to ensure that your Parents keep pace with you
Avoid those whirlwind itineraries and trips that are exhausting. Plan your trip in such a way that you have time to really relax and experience new places and cultures with your parents. Do not force your pace on them as they may not be up to it, depending on their age and fitness. holidays for elderly parents is all about relaxation, so just slow down! This is best done by opting for custom made tours for seniors.
Be aware of and respect your Parents’ Preferences
Before you plan your trip, talk to your parents and take their opinions in terms of destinations, what to see, activities, etc., after all, you do not want them to get bored and irritable and rearing to get back home. Check out the best places to travel with elderly parents. You may want to go for a trek, but if they are not physically up to it, do not embarrass them, be sensitive and plan for a more sedate activity and look for special trips for elderly, there are many companies that have tailor-made tours for seniors.
Ensure their medical needs are taken care of
When you are traveling with elderly parents and they are on some sort of medication, ensure that all the medicines required are handy and you are prepared for medical exigencies. Have a complete travel checklist for elderly parents ready. It is advisable to carry a travel health kit to keep oneself fit and healthy. This is something which needs to be taken care of even if you are travelling on your own but assumes greater significance when traveling with seniors.
Do not let those unique Family Photo Ops slip through
Travel with elderly parents is a great opportunity in many ways. Would it not be great to have photographs with your parents with the Colosseum or the Taj Mahal in the background during this family vacation?. It definitely makes for wonderful memories of enjoyable times spent together. These photographs are sure to sweep you with waves of nostalgia at a later time.
Be particular about and plan your meals
You should know about your parents’ eating preferences. If they are vegetarians, you need to ensure that you eat right and in the right places. They need to be fortified with healthy and tasty food of their choice to take on the travails of the trip. Also, ensure that meals are taken on time and no meal is skipped. Eating whenever whatever and wherever you like can be reserved for times when you are not travelling with elderly people.
Look out for elderly-friendly places
Do your research about places to take elderly parents. Ensure that you stay at hotels that are elderly-friendly and have wheelchair access if required. While planning about the sights that you wish to see, make sure the places are accessible and your parents are not inconvenienced. Check out for tours for seniors at the destinations that you are visiting.
Do not ever make them feel that they are a burden
Do take extra care to ensure that your parents have a comfortable journey, but never, ever by thought, word or action make them feel that they are inconveniencing you and are a burden. Always reinforce to them about how you are enjoying traveling with them.
Enjoy the time, it will get over soon
Never forget the purpose of the trip. Bond with your parents, sort out those tiny misunderstandings that were rankling in your minds. Be at peace and enjoy the time through some quality bonding. Always remember that the time you are spending with them may never come again.
Is there anything better than seeing the world with your family? A nice and relaxed vacation feels like the best gift that one can possibly give their parents! Take vacations. There are so many places to go with elderly parents. Go to as many places as you can. You can always make money. You can’t always make memories! Now is the time, plan it and bring on the smile on your parents’ faces!
Have these tips for planning tours for seniors inspired You to plan a vacation with your elderly parents?
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Travel is a transformative and enjoyable experience. If you are traveling with parents, then the experience is elevated to a different plane altogether. The experience is as challenging as it is rewarding! We do hope the tips we have shared are of help to you as you plan a perfect family trip with your parents.
Happy traveling and happy bonding! Have you taken your parents on a trip? How was the experience? Do share your travel experiences in the comment section. We would love to read your stories.
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Wonderful post. I have an elderly husband, so this post is very relevant to many of the concerns we have faced over the years. Travel with parents or the elderly or those with physical challenges does indeed take special planning. Particularly about ensuring you have a main floor room if there is no elevator in the building, as stairs are the biggest impediment.
Agree, when we are travelling with parents, we need to take care of their needs too. Just remember how they took care of your needs when your were young. 🙂
I wish I had seen this a week ago. My poor mom thought she was a burden because she asked about 5 times over 3 days for me to slow down. I didn’t realize she couldn’t keep up or be on her feet 12 hours a day. I felt horrible. Now I know for next time.
These are really great tips for traveling with older parents. I have wonderful memories of traveling with my mother-in-law before she passed away and we followed many of these tips. I’m so glad we had the chance to spend that time with her.
It’s always great when family members are together and even better when spending time traveling. This takes parents out of their routine which is important. And we feel good about ourselves because we did make time for them, again. 🙂 Nice post, thanks. 🙂
When my parents and I visited our family in Puerto Rico, it was a struggle. The roles were reversed. I was considering their needs like a parents. What helped was my cousins were in the same boat. We conspired together and developed little outings for “the adults” of the trip. It helped that they had choices and others to lean on. Snacks also helped.
Beautiful post. Just recently I was thinking about taking a trip with both our parents! The concept of Genervacation is coming up so much of late. Its really necessary, esp for the kids to bond with their grandparents…
It never ceases to amaze me how life is role reversal as we age. I found myself smiling at your suggestions as they are things we consider when travelling with kids. These are great tips and a fresh perspective on travel. I have to say I’m really not the most tolerant travelling with my parents (sadly my mum has passed away and I sometimes regret I wasn’t more patient) but I’m at an age where mortality repeatedly is smacking me in the face
Some great tips here for travelling with your parents. If anyone has the chance to travel with your parents do it before it’s too late i never had the chance
yes all those things that you have mentioned are true. we should not just impose our will while travelling with our parents. we also have to find the interest of our parents and also do those things.
Great tips! We are having my father in law join us on our travels soon. It’s just for a week, but I will indeed need to keep in mind to think about not packing too much in and going at his pace. When we travel with my mom, I still have to try to keep up! Good point on getting those photo ops in — you probably won’t be back there again with mom or dad.
These are really great tips! I love traveling with my parents more as an adult than ever before. I just got back from a trip to Iceland with my mother. I think my biggest one to remember is the photo op. I know I’ll be SO GRATEFUL I have those for the rest of my life.
Some great tips! My parents are still in their 50’s, so they are still pretty active but making the memories is one of the best things that we can do. Ever since becoming a stay at home dad back in August 2016, I’ve focused on spending more time with family and making more memories, even if it’s not on vacations with them. This time has been awesome for letting our kids get to know them so much better since they are getting to build that relationship as well that will mean so much more in the future!
We are planning to go to our family reunion in June this year though and will be sharing a vacation house with my dad and stepmom! It should be a lot of fun!
My mum and I do a lot of girls trips together and I love travelling with her. We like all the same experiences and know each other inside out so it works out perfectly
Great tips for traveling with our older parents. I forget that my Dad is not Superman, he sure was when I was a kid! We modified several activities to accommodate physical limitations, but it is worth it.
This is so important to keep in mind. We haven’t traveled with my parents yet, but we hope to one day. They live pretty close so there might be a time where we all go someplace, and I’ll keep these tips in mind.
I am Australian and last year my father flew over for the first time to Europe and we went travelling. I loved it so much more than I thought I would, maybe because I am older now. I am lucky that I did not have to modify anything for my dad and he kept up with us on everything. Great post, it really reminded me of my families trip.
it’s always fun to travel with family … i remember when my whole family (34 people) went on a 1week vacation . that was the best trip ever in my life
Thanks for sharing these tips. I just bookmarked it because i will love to travel with my mum someday.
Useful tips!It’s good to plan everything before taking a trip,specially if someone needs more attention!
Such great tips, love travelling with my parents anytime! 😀
Such lovely sentiment to this post.
Obviously it is very important to be a little more accommodating, especially if age or mobility is a factor.
I think it is very important however, that there is something for everyone in the trip.
If you’re all enjoying yourselves, then you never dwell on the sacrifices you may have had to make or any trivial inconveniences.
From a totally different angle, when travelling with parents of a much younger age, it’s also great from a budget perspective to be able to enjoy the benefits of “the bank of mum/dad” 😉
Aww what a sweet post! I agree with everything you said. Funny enough, I am a travel photographer and am always snapping photos yet when I’m with my parents I always forget to capture the group pics of all of us… This was a good reminder. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t travel with my parents often, but they did visit us for a few weeks when we were living in the UK. They needed a lot of encouragement to get out and try things and quite a bit of patience from our end!
It is such a nice post. I have been thinking of taking my parents for a holiday so much and this will definitely help.
This is very nice. We often forgo traveling with our parents because they’re less capable to do different activities. We keep forgetting that it’s all about the memories that we’re about to share with them and the time that we spend together as well. These are great tips!
What an informative post. I haven’t been traveling much these days, but I am sure that I will definitely be using these tips!
I have never travelled abroad with my parents and my mum died a few years ago. I have invited my dad away with me but unfortunately he wont go away with me. Maybe one day I could persuade him to go with me though!
Such a lovely post. Parents, after a certain age, become like our children. And it is so very thoughful of you to put these points together for ensuring a great trip with them, just like we do with our children. We do travel with our parents and always practice slow travel, comfortable and elderly friendly places for the travel and ensure their routine is not abruptly broken during the travel
Great tips. I recently traveled with my mom and many of these came into play. You also have to consider your parents budget.
All wonderful tips for traveling with parents! I particularly agreed that you have to plan your meals carefully. My dad only likes to eat Chinese food (even on travels!!), so we always have to make sure to take care of his preference.
It’s so important to think about our parents when traveling. I agree that taking it easy and letting them know that they are not a burden are so important. I wish I had the opportunity to travel with my parents more often.
Aww this is such a lovely post. I’ve only traveled with my parents when I was younger. We dont really spend that much time together since we live thousands of miles away but Id definitely follow your tips when we do go sometime nxt year.
Aw this is such a sweet article. This article can actually apply to anyone who travels with me lol. I’m 29 but I have a lot of health problems so need to make sure people are aware of my slow pace. Great thoughtful piece!
These are great tips! Sadly, my father no longer enjoys traveling, but I still am so thankful for both of my parents for helping me find the joy in new places!`
I wish my grandma would go on a trip with me, but she refuses to do so…
However, my parents are not that old yet so they don’t need any special treatment. I hope I’ll remember one of those tips when I’m older.
This is such a great post, you often see people writing tips on how to travel with children but not the other way around. You made some great points that I never would have considered. I have been traveling for seven years and my mum is planning on doing a trip with me for the first time which is really exciting but this was definitely great to read in preparation of planning it to remind me that travel styles change with the years. Thank you!
How I wish I could still travel with my dad. Great tips. Glad I still have mom to travel with.
Lovely post. Now this is the way to respect your travel partner – whoever they are (grandparents, parents, or even a friend with special needs) and really show them that you care about their wellbeing and not just your own wanderlust. Thanks for sharing these tips!
I really appreciate you for penning down this piece of advice. A lot of has been written about taking care of kids during travel but this is a different perspective. What we often forget is, while our kids learn to match our pace as they grow, it is not true in the case of parents.
Of, I haven’t travelled with my parents for years now. But I have enjoyed travelling with them, and trying to follow similar guidelines to the excellent ones you have laid out here have had a lot to do with that. I have been on a couple of overseas trips with teenagers in tow (I work in a high school) and, with that, I have learnt to gain an appreciation of what I put my parents through in my younger and carefree days on the road 😉
This is really sweet and considerate. I haven’t traveled with my mom since I was just a kid, and both of my parents are kind of “free spirits” so some things might not apply, but I think if I find myself on a trip with either one of them I’ll take some of this advice to heart! Thank you!
My parents are gone and we never did get to travel as a multi-generational family. I do hope that someday I will be the grandparent factor and get to travel along with my kids and their kids!
I love the angle you’ve taken with this post. My parents first introduced me to the world at a young age and they always believed that there’s nothing more enriching than travel. I try to to return the favour now as much as possible, but it can be challenging since I love adventure travel and they’re not so capable of climbing mountains and riding quad bikes at their age lol.
I’m taking my first trip with my mom this summer. Luckily my sister is coming along, but she doesn’t care to travel much, so I am hoping that she is able to relax and enjoy. We are going to Charleston, SC so it should be a nice slow paced trip for her, and luckily a direct flight!
Great advice!!! Life can get so hectic that you don’t think to plan your trip for the accommodations of your parents. Slowing down can actually be a way for me to relax more on the trip as well. Slow paced, taking it all in!
These are useful tips but in particular if your parents are a little bit older lol
One of our favorite tips is to enjoy the time. We think that everything is related with traveling has to be done with joy and passion but in this case this is something that will become a memory and we have to do our best to trasform it in a GOOD memory.
This is such a sweet post and often something we take for granted. I always forget my parents are getting older; they will always be young in my eyes, but that’s not the case. I was recently in Chicago with my father and realized he was having a hard time walking around and I felt a bit guilty and sad. This post really hit home.
This is such a great post! Even if I never traveled with my parents (except when I was a kid and we had family vacations), I can see the value in every single one of your tip. Indeed our parents are older now and they don’t have the same agility as in their youth. Thinking about this should be the key in taking a vacation with them.
This really resonated with me. I traveled a ton with my parents when I was growing up. Now that they are both in their early 80s, they still love to do it, but they do it in a very different way. They’ll be making a big trip with me in May, and I’m already trying to come up with good ways to make it fun for them. I think the big one is the pacing. Rather than trying to plan many different things, I’m going with trying for one significant thing a day with some contingencies. And I plan on taking a lot of photos along the way!
I have traveled across the USA with my grandparents before and it is so important to respect their needs ahead of your own. Thank you for the positive post with great advice!
I love travelling with my parents. It gives us the opportunity to spend quality time with them away from the pressures of home.
Great post for traveling with your parents. It’s been a while since I traveled with them. But I think I will do again. Your tips are very useful. Meds are definitely something to take into account. it’s a good thing to make sure if it’s elderly friendly with possibilities for a wheelchair.
These are some very good pieces of advice. I haven’t traveled with my parents in years. They are still not so old, they are middle-aged people. But, traveling with them would be so much fun, I think. Still, I would have to avoid that trek activity since they enjoy more in long walks and quite places.
This is great advice. I don’t have parents to travel with, so for those that do I especially think that it’s great advice to appreciate it while you have the opportunity. I often regret that my mother is not around to travel with me anymore.
What a unique post! People always think of tips for travelling with children but what about with your parents. Great tips!
I love my parents but am not sure I could travel with them! We just have very different preferences so at some point I’m sure we would come to blows, even bearing these tips in mind! I think involving them in the planning process is key to a successful trip – I would want to share responsibility for any disasters (or successes!) we had!
We couldn’t agree more. We travelled internationally with our parents a couple times. It did have a different focus and pace than our normal adventures, but we loved the experience.
I have travelled all my life and it has always been a lot of fun with parents. I look forward to traveling more with them in the near future.
Amazing post. This makes me miss more of my family in the Philippines. We always go to some places together including my aunts, uncles, and cousins when we have time. Now, they’re still doing it, and they include me with their photos and video calls. Truly, spending and making memories with your parents (and big extended family) is really cool. 🙂 Thanks for this post.
I tend to plan very active itineraries so it is a good reminder to slow down and adjust the pace to suit our parents needs. Like you I am a huge proponent of takungvthose family pictures they will become treasured memories. Great article with tips on how to travel better with our family. Something we all should do
I always wanted to plan a road trip in the States with my parents and you gave me lots of very interesting tips. Thank you! 🙂
What a lovely blog post, with such great tips. We sometimes travel with one of my husband’s relatives and I try to choose places that will be suitable for him and that he’ll be interested in. So that often means art galleries which have the added advantage of being warm. We try to avoid being outdoors for a long time when it’s cold, so I think that’s another important consideration
As our parents get older, these are certainly some tips to keep in mind. There are a lot of things on this list we would not have thought of right away, and appreciate you sharing your perspective. As we travel with them more and more in the future, we will be sure to keep these things in mind.
Great tips! I would love to do more trips with my mom. She would love to travel like this I think.
I love traveling with my parents! We always have such a great time together, but we don’t get to do it enough unfortunately. Love the last tip–remembering to enjoy the time you have together is key–it definitely goes by fast!
I too have travelled a few times with my parents and my kids and surprisingly they were fun and enthusiastic. They did flag down a bit in theme parks as they couldn’t go on to many rides but otherwise I loved having them around. I think they are very happy travellers.
This is such a nice article! I love my family vacations. My parents are in their mid 50s, so they are still young, if I can say. They are the ones that organize our family trips, and we always have an amazing time. I will certainly keep that tradition we they are older 🙂
Some really nice ideas on how to make a great trip for everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve gone on a trip with mine – must try to organise something soon. Especially when you mention the photo ops – it’s nice to have that to look back on.
Great post and super useful information for anyone thinking about travelling with family. This information isn’t always readily available so it’s important to raise! Happy travelling with parents, everyone! Thanks for sharing.
Travelling with your parents when you’re an adult yourself is certainly a challenge but one that is worth it. I last travelled with my parents, my brother, nephew and sis-in-law in May of last year. It the final time we got to go away as a family before my father had to enter a nursing home.
Last summer I spend 11 days with my parents on a trip through Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. We talked ahead of time, and they made it clear that they would do their own thing if what we wanted to do looked like too much. So when we wanted to climb the bell tower or hike, they found a cafe or went to an art museum. Taking these little “breaks” from each other made the activities we did together that much more enjoyable. Pinned this!
Great post with some good tipsand I tottay agree, you do need to slow the pace down alittle sometimes so you can both enjoy.
We have travelled quite a good number of trips with our parents in India and also in Europe and the most memorable till now was our Rajasthan trip. And we completely agree that a family trip requires planning considering everyone and has to be a relaxed one.
These are great tips for making sure you get the best out of a destination whilst visiting with your parents. I recently took a trip with mine – just 4 days – but they almost drove me crazy at certain points!
What a lovely thoughtful post! We are currently embarking on a life of nomadic travel and Sy’s parents want to come and join us at some point and we have had to take a lot of this into consideration. A lot about travelling is a state of mind and how old you feel you are so that has to be thought about as well; if you are with someone who has had a hip replacement at aged 70 but is still happy to walk along the Great Wall of China, they have the mindset young enough to achieve and enjoy that (yes that happened to us), yet other people who are much much younger feel a lot older and you know they can do more if they set their mind to it (yes, we have experienced that as well). Thank you for taking the time to be so caring and writing this post for others’ consideration. #feetdotravel
Lovely post and these are great tips for us to keep in mind one day! We are currently travelling around the world at 100mph but we would also love to travel with our parents once we finish, and definitely some of these tips we probably wouldn’t have realised!
What a beautiful post. And original ! I’ve seen so many posts about traveling with kids but this is the first one I see about traveling with parents. I will keep your quote “you can always make money, you can’t always make memories!” for my collection. Thanks
Great tips. I still travel with my parents sometimes. I live in London and they are in Tehran. Sometimes they join me on my trips in different countries.
Nice tips. Looking forward to have a trip with my parents very soon. Really busy travelling in South Africa right now. Wish parents were here right now.
Great tips on traveling with parents. An important thing to remember that you mentioned is to not let them feel like a burden. That is so true and to capture those photo shots. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for the handy tips! My parents are still not in elderly category (more about 55 years old and still sporty) but I think it still applies that the regular meal itinerary is really important. Also as you say: just adjust the program to the needs of them. I guess once we grow older we understand what it is being tired!
Congratulations on the post! I read a lot of articles and travel blogs and hadn’t yet found any that addressed the topic of travel with older people. I think that it’s more and more important to spend time with those that we love the most. And even more if we can show them a little bit of this wonderful world.
I’m lucky I didn’t need to worry about some of these things with my parents – medical stuff etc. They are also so easy to get along with that they just went with the flow and were happy to just let us do the planning etc. We drove for 6 weeks periods, twice, through Europe in a motorhome. Super fun. Always great to have extra people to share the experiences with.
I travel with my parents all the time – love these tips. I always go as per their travel preferences and pace. I usually never budget much either with them – they simply deserve the best 🙂
I love that article !! I’ve been traveling with my mum since I was an adult and it really is a different dynamic. But it’s also really cool and we’ve grown so close 🙂
I always have to travel with my parents. Great tips! -Scarlett 🙂
What a beautiful post and great suggestions indeed! I’ve traveled with my parent’s couple of years ago when I was in my teens. But now I’m traveling solo but soon I’ll plan an epic travel plan with them!
Loved this! Travelling with parents is not the same as travelling alone or with children. The entire planning needs to be careful and well-planned. Thank you for thinking of writing this post, we often forget this aspect
This is very unique post. I loved the expression of care and kindness. I liked the part where you have mentioned “don’t make them feel like burdens”. Everyone should plan at-least one trip with their parents. And make them feel so special. This information you added in your post are very useful.
As much as I love traveling with my parents, these are all great tips that anyone can find helpful! I especially love how you mention taking time for a photo op. Making memories is why we travel so it’s so important! Great post, thanks for sharing 🙂
Such good tips for traveling with parents. I do travel with my parents at least once a year. But thankfully they are avid travelers and they usually end up traveling more than me too. I am always thankful to them for introducing me to traveling. My parents have still not reached an age where they are dependent on anyone during traveling and they end up choosing the itinerary most times when we travel as a family.
Really great tips, I love your article! I really like to travel with my parents and I have amazing memories from our trips. Unfortunately, now we don’t have much time to do it, I hope that will change.
Yes, I think planning your meals is very good advice! I’m actually a chef so I enjoy doing that anyway 😉 I think my parents know I’ll take care of them there! All great tips, thanks for sharing 🙂
What a nice post. Although all of your advice was great, I especially liked to go slow and let them see things at their pace. I am guilty of getting frustrated when traveling with my parents and rushing through. Thanks for the reminder to slow down and enjoy our time together.
I definitely want to travel with my parents in the future, btu I feel they fear they’d be a burden to me. I tend to travel fast and crazy, but I would of course slow it down for them. Hoping I can coax them out to Korea this year! These are great tips and I’ll def keep them in mind!
Great emotional post. This is something I rarely do but yes, it is a delightful yet challenging experience for obvious reasons. Good point about medicines, this must be sorted out even before the trip.
Very thoughtful post. Too late for me now… my badlyck. But I think every Traveler must follow this before it is too late. Fills me with regret. 🙁
I love traveling with my parents, even now that I’m in my late twenties. Great tips all around, especially not forgetting to stop for a perfect photo opp … these are the trips you want to remember because it’s such special time 🙂
Really great tips! I would love to travel with my Dad around his native country The Netherlands one day. I definitely think we should travel with our parents more than once because you never know what could be around the corner. Enjoy the time that you have with each other!
These are really good tips! I went to Peru with my Father a few years ago and we spent 6 weeks travelling around slowly. We did the Inca trail together which was amazing, considering he was in his 60s he handled it really well, he was by far the oldest member of our group but it was nice because I just walked slowly with him and I actually had time to take in the view. We made sure we got a few pretty lame but funny father son photos along the way!
I think this is one of your best posts…a reminder for some of us. Especially that last point where you say dont think of them as a burden. After all, we owe our current lifestyle to them and it is our turn to treat them. Lovely post
What a lovely post and so cute too! Love the way you have written how to take care of the ‘elderly’ 🙂 It’s true, the time never comes back. It’s very precious and you need to make most of it while you can.
haha lucky my parents are not that old. My mom is 51 and dad is around 60. Dad is very active and actually up for anything but Mom recently went through cancer so shes been not as active as before. Will be taking a trip with them soon so yea we will have to adjust the pace but they let us do our thing too. Thanks for this.
It is a beautiful post with a great thought. All the points mentioned makes so much of sense. I try planning a vacation at least once a year with my family as it strengthens bonding and gives a quality time to everyone.
Such a lovely post! I have been traveling with my parents since I was 6 months old. We take a trip once a year to a new destination. I’ve seen their pattern of traveling changing over 20 years. They are entering the phase of slow-travel after running around so much. Hence, I’ve read this post at the very perfect time. 🙂
Beautiful post, all the points you mentioned make sense. I remembered last time I went for a hike with my mom and she couldn’t keep up but she was too stubborn to stay behind.
This is a great topic! We mostly read about travelling with kids or disabilities, but no one ever writes about travelling with elderly people. And one more tip to add… travel while you still can. I really wanted to take my mom abroad but ended up postponing the trip. Now, she is very fragile and tired, and prefers to stay home. It makes me sad that I didn´t take her when it was still possible.
love this post as I think of travel with my parents.
agree with talking with parents, bonding time is important and time is precious.
great tips for people who’s planning to bring their parents on travel
I agree with your tips there. When I planned the trip to Bali for my parents, I realised that they are not as physical as I am, so I have to scale everything down to their physical capabilities .
This made me think that I am missing something. I have been spending most of my time to work. Glad I got to read this and yes, paying some time for our parents is something not that expensive to do. Great tips for those who are planning to travel their parents along with them. I’ll surely be sharing this. 🙂
Whenever we travel, I always make use my Dada’s emergency pill is available. But funny thing is, i always eneded up using that pill 🙂
Great tips. Thanks for sharing. Time with parents is really precious. Beautiful post.
This is a beautiful post. Well worth sharing.
Hahahaha, this could be renamed ‘how to travel with me.’ All of these things are also SO relevant for travelling with someone with health conditions 🙂 My parents still go on major cycling holidays while I have to be super with my energy levels. It’s such a beautifully written post and really touching that you’ve noticed these things – no matter what they apply to! 🙂
We are in our late 50’s and travel with our son and his family all the time. They know we walk slower, have use bathroom more often and don’t want to drive. We tell them what we would like to see and do and they make it happen.
This is such a thoughtful post. My parents are in their 60s, and still pretty spry, but I think all the time about traveling with them again. I want to go back to the places we went as kids for a reunion, now that the five of us have our own kids.
I wish that we could have convinced my husband’s father to travel more. He passed away last year, and I know that my husband wished he could have made more travel memories with his dad. These are all great tips when traveling with parents.
Aw this is such a beautiful article. I don’t travel with my parents much but I think I will need to invite them to a trip soon. It’s true… Spend quality time with them and cater to their needs. Life is short and we should spend quality time with them.
What a beautiful article, it went straight to my heart! I have so many great memories while traveling with my parents and big brother. The latest and dearest one is from the USA, when we traveled for 1 month by car and when we stopped at the Grand Canyon my brother proposed to his girlfriend. It was such a beautiful moment, with that gorgeous backdrop of the canyon at sunset. Now I miss them all 🙂
It has been ages since I took a vacation with my mom. She lives with me, but we always have to travel separately so someone can stay home with our dogs. It would be great to take a big family vacation together. These are fabulous tips. At 60, my mom is still pretty young and in good shape, but she definitely wouldn’t have the stamina for, say, an outdoor adventure.
This is something I’ve never really thought about. I would love to take my Grandmother on a few of our family trips but never considered the considerations that we may need to take to make that happen. Thanks so much for this post and helping me figure out the how to of making it happen.
I love this! All of these are such great reminders. We travel with my in-laws on a fairly regular basis and I look back at those moments so fondly. We don’t always remember to take photos, but this is a great reminder that these moments won’t be around forever, and we need the photos!
I love these important reminders for traveling with parents. I have the best memories from traveling with my family, and I definitely use these tips when we’re on vacation. It helps all of us enjoying our trip more.
You are so right! Traveling with parents can be a lot like traveling with children. It’s important to keep their needs in mind when on vacation together–I will have to save these for future trips. Thank you!
I wish I would have known these tips before I traveled with my mom in Japan. Mentally, my mom is the same age, but physically, she cannot endure the stair climbing and mountain trekking. When we went to Fushimi Inari, she couldn’t make it to the top. My sister and I were sad, but we also understood her. I should have planned more elderly friendly activities.
thank you for the great information.i will plan my trips efficiently after this information.appreciate your work.these are great tips.
Beautifully written post. I have traveled with my parents before but by god, they were slow and wernt really adapting to the local culture and cuisine when we were in places like Canary Isles and Paris. But its still great fun and to create great memories.