Would you like to surprise your older family traveler with a successful family vacation? After reading thousands of itineraries, we have learned that making a difference between a successful family vacation and a bust can be boiled down into a few key considerations. Including older adults in family vacation can help strengthen family ties, develop intergenerational communication, and provide educated travel guides to children. This article presents ideas and considerations essential for planning family travel for an older relative, such as resort accommodations, luggage, housing sections, transportation, activities, schedules, along with additional tips.
When planning a family vacation which includes older travelers, it is crucial to involve every member in the planning and coordination process. Family vacations include members of different ages and tastes, and older members can offer ideas, preferences, and requirements. Inviting and including the older family member in the planning process will make your vacation more enjoyable while ensuring the older member is comfortable and has an opportunity to enjoy themselves without slowing the family down. Comfortable feet will relieve the symptoms of arthritis, which results in less wasted time trying to ease discomfort and especially bring pleasure. When planning a family vacation with elders, the choice of resort to stay is a special consideration. All resorts provide first-class handicap offerings, however, not all will be equally appealing to older seniors.
Importance of Including Older Adults
When considering the planning of successful family vacations that include older adults, it’s important to be inclusive. Regardless of age, an impressive 35% of adults with children under the age of 18 report that they have taken at least one multigenerational vacation in the past year. There is evidence to suggest they are in tune with older adults’ needs and are trying to incorporate those considerations into their attraction or activity. It doesn’t require an online survey to indicate that older adults also like to share milestones and traditions, as well as interact and create memories with younger family members and the family at large. Family vacations provide these opportunities.
Older adults have growing discretionary income, for which travel is a priority. Not all older adults are retired, but older adults receive an average of 13 vacation days of which they only use 11, so they have more time to travel from which to satisfy their wanderlust. We emphasize that older adults are an attractive market segment but caution against developing policies for a specific age group and “othering” older adults in their marketing plans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimates that people in hearty health in their 50s and early 60s to be in good health could live in retirement for another 20 years. When it comes to including older adults, consider the following: engage everyone in the planning stage, the most important consideration is to involve older adults and assure them are considered every step of the way, anticipate slower pace, but understand that people will be able to participate to the best of their own ability, stow pride and bring on the aids, including hearing aids, eyeglasses, medications, and mobility devices.
Choosing the Right Destination
A family vacation can lead to great memories that everyone will cherish for the rest of their lives! In a 2018 AAA survey, 88 million people in the United States were planning to take a family vacation – and they were spending almost $900 million on those vacations! For the money that you will be spending on a family vacation, you want the trip to be successful for everyone. When you start planning a trip for your children and seniors or older adults, how can you make sure that everyone will enjoy it? The right vacation destination can be one answer!
By choosing a destination that the older adults find enjoyable, you are taking a necessary first step in the planning process. Paris, for example, is considered a wonderful destination for people who are in their 60s and 70s. The museums and the food enable them to easily connect to the culture, making the trip educational and fun…especially if they learned French in high school! At the same time, the City of Love—with its esplanades, fountains, and parks nearby—can be an adventurous place for children and adults who are in their 30s or 40s. Older adults are encouraged to find activities in Paris that are fun for all ages. Another fun fact about Paris is that it has two official botanical gardens, open year-round, one for older adults and one for children. You might ask, what about teenagers? Actually, teenagers will have fun at both sites, especially if you encourage them to hunt for rare plants between the two gardens.
Factors to Consider
Where and why When choosing a destination and considering accommodation, several factors require attention. Many destinations are friendly to travelers of all ages and abilities, and some are not so friendly or are downright unfriendly. The variety of travel companions’ ages, activity levels, and interests adds another dimension to the decision-making process. It is important to make the decision that is best for each specific group. Another consideration is the traveler’s prior experiences with the area and types of activities offered. What have your older relatives done 100 times before, and where have they always wanted to go for the first time or again? Some of them have favorite locations, and others are eager for adventure. They may enjoy a combination of old and new experiences.
Factors to consider Everyone has their favorite travel style and price range, and older adults are no exception. For some, family vacations mean a trip to the beach or an out-of-town theme park with grandchildren. For others, family travel opportunities mean once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Full-service luxury resorts, “full-service” means wheelchair attendants, appeal to the family who relishes staying put and soaking up the surroundings. A cruise may allow members of the traveling clan to see a few places in just a week or two. Vacations for some families mean all-inclusive vacations, where everything is paid for in advance. A boarding house in the mountains may shed a different light, where the family cooks a few meals as a group and dines out for special occasions. Older adults and their relatives may share any of these travel styles—so everyone will have to give a little or “take” some new experiences until a comfortable vacation style is found for this family.
Accommodation and Transportation
The next step in planning a family vacation that will be fun and memorable for all is to think about practical matters such as the accommodation and transportation. If you’re trying to plan for everyone, ensure that you are booking accommodations in a convenient location where everyone in the family has access to the things they want and need. If you are doing a beach trip, for example, you may want a hotel that is within walking or wheelchair distance of the flat sand. Similarly, folks in your party may use a service like Airbnb or VRBO to choose accommodations that offer amenities like a kitchen, personal laundry, pet accommodations, and comfortable sleeping arrangements.
If you choose to not stay in a hotel or take a cruise that offers transportation options from the airport, look into car rentals or other ground transportation options like public transport, airport shuttles, or even private drivers or services like Uber where they’re available. By keeping accessibility in mind, you may also need to book accommodations with buildings that have elevators or assign accessible rooms, rental cars that can accommodate wheelchairs or scooters if needed, or private drivers who will be willing to assist with heavy bags or personal mobility devices. If you need ramps into a vacation rental or extra amenities on a cruise, this is the time to ask.
Accessible Options
When choosing your accommodation, consider facilities and potential accessibility that might be necessary if other younger family members want to branch off on their own to do more adventurous activities. Go for all-inclusive packages. They reduce the need (or choice) for upper-body strength, such as lifting, pushing or pulling, and are much less work on grandma and grandpa. Before making a reservation, speak to an agent or manager to confirm with the venue that there is little to no difference in the all-inclusive fee for the older adults (those who might not want to go to the amusement park) and those with additional access needs. Choose accommodation that is close to public transport, city centres, shopping, etc. This means that the older adults have choices too. For example, if they want to go exploring and take a boat or bus tour, they don’t need to return to pick up their family. They are already close to interesting stuff. It helps the seniors feel included and not held up!
When making your reservations, remember to mention if you (or anyone in your travelling group) have special access needs. The venue can ensure that your room, bus seat, restaurant table or entertainment seat is specifically selected for you. Check if buses have a lower door entry. Is going to use/operate the bus ramp if there is one? Buses can hold on to one or two manual wheelchairs if needed. Say no to a wheelchair seat on the bus if it’s not needed. By sitting in a regular seat, you can see more of your surroundings. Was an escort needed? If the person with the accessible need was using a guide/service dog, there may need to be room for it. Make the necessary accommodations for children, infants and any seniors who may require nappies and equipment such as strollers, cribs and high chairs. Make packages obligatory and comprehensive. With nearby access, these excursions allow older adults (and the rest of their family) to enjoy one or two activities together on the same site. At the end of the day, the older adults might even want an extra hour to explore something of their choice on their own or simply relax at the hotel.
Activities and Excursions
It is so important to select the right activities and excursions when traveling with family members who are older. This group may have more physical limitations, and it is simply harder for them to do everything available to younger travelers. To assist with the trip planning ahead of time, it is a very good idea to devise a list of all the family members attending the trip and their interests and physical abilities. Creating a list of educational and recreational activities, tours, and adventures with the different interests of the family member in mind is an essential part of organizing an engaging and pleasurable vacation for one and all. Some ideas to consider in this respect include:
Visiting and exploring the beach: One of the most popular destinations for older adults is simply to relax on or near the beach. Playing in the surf and lounging in chairs while talking with the family is a very fun and social outing for most older adults.
Art and painting: Organizing an art lesson with a resident artist could be a great day out for all older family members who are artistically inclined. It would be very relaxing and enjoyable for any artist to sit outside by a creek and paint to his or her heart’s content.
Shopping and visiting local attractions: Selections of shops, markets, and local attractions are also ideal for older adults who are physically active. Offering a bus trip to a famous country restaurant in a little town that also hosts a stone barn selling local cheese, wine, and honey would be great for people to wander through for a morning, for example.
Cooking workshop: This is an especially good day out idea for all of the older women in the family who like to cook and learn about new recipes.
Tailoring to Different Interests
Some family members may like hiking, while others may prefer exploring a new city. Therefore, we often recommend incorporating active and leisure activities into your itinerary to accommodate different interests, suggests Vars. Patricia Tripple, founder of the Baby Boomer Travel blog For the Health of It, agrees. For a successful multigenerational trip, try to customize activities as much as possible. For example, a cruise ship might offer excursions in port; these could be a city walking tour or a more strenuous hike, she explains. Others might opt to stay on the ship or take a bus tour through a national park. The idea is to give older adults options. Don’t book tight itineraries. Relief stops are a must, says Tripple. The older adults in your party will need frequent relief stops to stretch and use restroom facilities. Even if older adults are usually very active, airplane travel, bus travel, and altitude adjustments can throw you for a loop, Tripple points out. In addition to meal breaks and rest stops, we find it is helpful to look for fun and scenic roadside attractions along your route to stop and see. This not only helps to break up the monotony of long travel days, but also fills in a travel day where doing less physical activity helps recharge your batteries!
Health and Safety Considerations
While emergency medical attention is often one of the last things that we think about when planning a fun family vacation, when it comes to events like caring for older adults, this is a vital consideration. Younger children are likely to get the treatment they need if it’s an emergency and there are urgent care centers and walk-in clinics in most areas of the U.S. or a child can be seen by a pediatrician when needed. For older adults, however, ensuring peace of mind and the ability to adequately address medical needs is crucial in planning a successful vacation. It is extremely important to remember that if there is an overnight hospital visit, that means that the individual was admitted to an obgyn, a person with disabilities, or an adult lingering care facility must be free from communicable diseases for 24 hours before they can be admitted to these facilities. A hospital patient will have to have permission from the discharge site before it is safe to send the individual there.
Here are some health and safety considerations when planning events for older adults. Depending on the abilities of the adults, plan for frequent hydration, bathroom breaks, rest breaks if you are doing some sort of physical activity such as hiking, and ask about the need for accessibility. Be aware of the accessibility features of spills in areas with a significant number of older adults when planning an event where there are adult beverages. It might not be allowed to have a non-alcoholic alternative to drinking beverages.
Wheelchair Tip: Positioning of older adults in wheelchairs is very important in that older adults do not have the padding or range of motion that younger people might have. Palm in lunchmeat is important in supporting posture and decreasing skin breakdown. Ensure that all wheelchairs have working brakes.
Vehicle: While a common travel method that is often deliberately chosen is the bus, I think that rural Soles can be a fun day trip or travel experience. Check the Historical Vehicle Association for tour ideas as well.
Medical Needs and Emergency Preparedness
Older adults may have specific medical needs – more frequent prescription administration, medical monitoring, limited access to certain types of public transportation, or special needs in case of an emergency. Some emergency situations – ones that are associated with closed spaces at high altitudes – should also be prepared for and, in the future, avoided if people in your party do have difficulty breathing. Knowledge is the best approach to handling any situation, and emergency preparation is the best reaction. Some adverse reactions can occur while vacationing that will not typically occur at home. For instance, consider food when traveling in other countries. Eating the same fruits and vegetables, for example, as the locals is not a good idea.
There is a possibility that the local cooks did not peel the fruits adequately, and if not peeled, then be wary of eating food treated with local water. Regrettably, ice is often made with local water and should be avoided. There are medications that older adults should consider before they travel, like water pills, heart medications, insulin, emergency treatments, and oxygen treatment. Conditions commonly seen while traveling and common recommendations for prevention and treatment include motion sickness, motion sickness medications, prevention of unsanitary water and food consumption, and treatment for traveler’s diarrhea. A first aid kit should be considered when traveling. Reserve prescriptions and a list of the prescribing doctors’ telephone numbers, a copy of your medical health insurance card front and back, a local doctor’s address and telephone number, your eyeglass prescription if needed, a list of medication you are currently taking, and a letter from your doctor that lists your current medical care and your medical history.