“You’re as young as you feel” is trite but true. There’s no reason that your age should pigeon-hole you into not exploring the world as you wish. The first thing I would suggest is to seek out tour operators that specifically market vacations to active older people. There’s an impressive list of “soft adventure” tours geared to your fitness level and budget. Join the club, as it were. You might just become a regular.
I always tell people to make a list of activity plans before they travel, rather than on the fly. If you’re booking a resort holiday, research things to do that take you both outside of the resort and outside of yourself. This can be something as simple as a sea kayak tour, a cooking class in a local kitchen or a heritage tour at a museum or fort ruin.
Hiking trails usually have “easy, medium, hard” levels of comfort. Ergo, there’s no reason to miss witnessing the wonders of the rainforest or the waterfalls or the glacier. If you get tired of walking, turn around and walk back.
River cruises, while peaceful and relaxing at their core — and fattening! — are really good at getting guests ashore and out wandering the countryside. If you don’t fancy a bus tour every day, hop on an e-bike. Once you get the hang of it, they practically ride themselves.
Contrary to what you might think, zip-lining isn’t really that rigorous. You get geared up and strapped in, then just let fly. Someone catches you at the other end. Children can do this.
Here’s a trend I’m loving: skip-gen vacations — as in skip the parents. Who wants to holiday with the helicopter parents when you can just hang out with your grandchild for a week? Kids help older people stay active and think younger. This can be a fun bonding experience: The kids escape their parents for a few days, and you can spoil them all you like with zero reproach.
Advice: How to prepare an emergency document packet
Rather than expecting the worst, think of this advice as a way to always be prepared, like any good scout. A handy folder of information — electronic documents stored in the cloud as well as printed out — acts like a safety blanket in case you run into trouble. Make photocopies and scans of:
- all passports, each one separate and in colour (which is best for all official documents)
- drivers’ licences, including international drivers’ licences
- COVID vaccination details
- other vaccination details if you’re travelling to places that may require a yellow-fever or rabies vaccination, for example
- travel and health insurance cards and policies’ phone numbers
- detailed list of medications, preferably a document issued by the pharmacy
- list of emergency info: emergency contacts, the address and phone number of the Canadian consulate of the country you’re visiting, how to dial the various emergency services, and how to dial both local and international telephone numbers in general
