OK, so I’ve been asked about this topic a lot. Mostly because I am the trip planner for many of our family trips, the most recent of which involved nine of us ranging in age from 10 to 86. Not only did we have a variety of wants during the trip (daily outings, food, and rest time, to name a few), but the housing for this many people can get pretty complicated.
But let’s take a step back and take a moment to remember that far beyond the trip itself will be a lifetime of memories. The first time we took a major international trip as a group – six of us travelling for my mom’s 80th birthday – was one we still look back on fondly. We made a wonderful photo album that my kids still enjoy looking at, and my mom has her album prominently displayed in her home. Even though my kids were pretty young when we took this trip, the pictures, stories, and joy that we felt is still very evident to them when we talk about it.
So fast forward to our most recent trip – one week in London and Bath, England, and one week in Paris. My mom was a prolific traveler in her day, but she has never made it to Paris. It’s been on her bucket list for a while, and as she likes to say, we don’t know how long she’ll be able to keep travelling. So, not wanting to waste time, my siblings and I decided to get on with it and get the trip planned.
As I mentioned, I’m a planner! So I get started with big trips like this with a spreadsheet and an overall plan. We started discussions about eight months in advance, and knew that we would be taking the kids out of school for some of this trip, so details on dates had to be set pretty early on. Plus, wanting to capitalize on better pricing for airline tickets and securing a place to stay in all three cities was important.
The details and nitty gritty are what overwhelms many people when planning for trips like this – this, however, is the part that I love. While we don’t book everything in advance – as we want a lot of free time to see where each day of exploring takes us – the major museums and other touristy destinations often require some pre-planning.
But let’s get back to the importance of travel experiences within generations.
Most recently, this article on HumanGood talks about the benefits of travel to seniors as encompassing major touchpoints of health, including:
- Physical Benefits,
- Emotional and Mental Wellness Benefits,
- Nutritional Benefits,
- Cognitive Benefits (specifically).
And having people to travel with – other seniors, younger friends or of course, family members – makes the experience even richer. Your experiences while travelling keep you engaged, interested, and curious. I would also argue that the pre-trip excitement also adds to all of this – planning takes months, and it’s something you will be able to talk about together as you research outings, experiences, places to eat, etc. The benefits last well beyond the trip experience itself. I imagine it as an increasing benefit that continues to exist well beyond the trip, like so:
We have a fun story from that trip with my mom when she turned 80, which is this: my kids decided to create a “spa-like” environment in the backyard of our rental house in Tuscany. They picked some rosemary from the property, prepared some hot water and towels, and asked my mom to relax on a lounge chair. They used the towels on her eyes, and rubbed the rosemary on her face, arms and legs. They also played quiet music. They called it, “J and A Relaxation”, and we still revisit the video I took while my mom was enjoying one of her spa sessions. This was just one moment in a lazy afternoon before going out for aperitivo and a memorable dinner.
Remember, memories are made while looking, listening, and fully experiencing a place. You don’t have to plan a grand adventure overseas to enjoy this time – even a weekend away at a local destination can be a memory-building event. And while everyone will take away a different experience, I always feel that the experience and memories for the older members of the family are ones that keep them going and excited, as well as feeling like true members and contributors to the trip. It may be so effective that they may be planning the next trip soon after returning home! Which is what my mom usually likes to do.
Get out there, get planning and get travelling!