How to Travel Well After 60—Safety, Joy, and Realistic Plans

Most bucket lists go quiet after 61—not because the desire fades, but because barriers get louder. We unpack the real reasons older adults stop traveling (no companion, health worries, cost) and replace them with practical steps that make meaningful trips feel possible again. From choosing the right pace and accessible destinations to planning for medical needs without panic, we lay out a clear, repeatable approach families can use to turn “someday” into booked.

We dig into smart destination choices—why national parks with shuttles and viewpoints can deliver awe without strain, and how cruises bundle mobility, meals, and onboard medical care while opening the door to Alaska, the Bahamas, and beyond. Then we get hands-on with planning: book early and verify accessibility, layer discounts that add up fast, build Plan B/C options for each day, and treat rest as part of the itinerary. Health prep becomes a bridge, not a barrier—brief doctor consults, carry-on meds with prescriptions, and travel insurance that protects the trip you’ve waited decades to take.

Companionship reshapes everything. Whether it’s a friend, adult child, or senior travel group, the right travel partner adds safety, momentum, and shared joy. We also spotlight simple tech that smooths the journey: airline, translation, and rideshare apps; “Find My” check-ins; and offline maps that keep stress down and confidence high. Finally, we talk memory-making—journals, intentional photos, and revisiting old places to honor a life’s map with new pages. Imagine the next decade as ten annual trips, each one a story you’re glad you wrote.

If this resonates, hit follow, share with someone who has an aging loved one, and leave a quick review. Tell us where you’d send a parent or grandparent first—we’re collecting ideas to help more families make aging awesome.

Chapters

• 0:08 Welcome & Last Week’s Tie-In
• 0:28 Why Seniors Stop Keeping Bucket Lists
• 1:32 Travel’s Promise in Retirement
• 2:02 Choosing Senior-Friendly Destinations
• 3:21 National Parks and Cruises
• 4:01 Book Ahead & Use Discounts
• 4:37 Health Prep, Doctors, Insurance
• 5:51 Pack Light and Smart
• 6:07 Companions, Groups, and Safety
• 7:09 Tech Tools & Capturing Memories
• 8:53 Mindset Shift: Make It Possible
• 10:35 Annual Trips, Well‑Being, Closing CTA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Welcome back to Senior Care Academy. This week it's another one that's just me, and it's going to go along with what we talked about last week. Last week we talked about staying active, staying in your community, maintaining friendships and your social life as you get older. And this is similar, just a little bit of a different flavor. We're going to be talking about the joy of traveling in your golden years. So the reason why I want to talk about this one is because there's some statistics out there that are crazy. With bucket lists, there's this statistic that basically everybody maintains, or the vast majority of people maintain a bucket list, well over 70%, until people turn 61. And then all of a sudden it drops down to less than 30% of them have a bucket list. Community, they don't really have anybody to go with. Accommodations, like their health concerns or safety concerns, and then cost. And so they kind of give up on their bucket list. So they stop traveling, even though they really want to. I forget the other statistic of the percentage of seniors that want to travel and explore the world, but just don't because they don't think it's possible. But retirement, in my opinion, offers the perfect opportunity to explore new places, to revisit old places, old destinations, and then experience a world, especially because you don't have a work schedule. You probably don't have at this point children at home that you have to take care of. But travel in the later years does require a little bit more of thoughtful planning to make sure that it's safe, that it's comfortable, that it's enjoyable. And so that's what we're going to talk about. First, as you want to travel as you get older, um, this is something that we've gotten a lot better at helping seniors doing their bucket list items, getting them excited about a bucket list again, and then making it happen. But one is you want to pick the right destination. So make sure that wherever you're going is easily accessible. It has the medical facilities that you may need in case of an emergency, and then it's at whatever pace you want, um, whether that's relaxed or intense, because I've met some really very active and um intense, if you will, older people that maybe they don't come off that way. Maybe your dad doesn't look like somebody that would love a jungle safari in Brazil or something like that. But as you dig deeper into it, he's absolutely the person that would rather do that than go and sit my ties on a beach in Costa Rica or something. Um, so choosing the accessibility levels, the accommodations in case of emergency, and then a relaxed pace. Obviously, you don't want to go on that jungle safari in the middle of Brazil if at some point you might have some crazy thing flare up with diabetes or something where you need to be at a hospital. So be smart, of course. Um, tons of popular choices. National parks are huge. Um, they're all extremely accessible and wheelchair-friendly. Um, specifically in Utah, we have a lot of beautiful national parks. Um, Bryce Canyon is the most accessible. Um, they have viewpoints, they have shuttles, they have things that you can do. Um cruises, everybody knows that they're like very typical uh favorite of older adults. And it's because it's convenient and then they have the onboard medical care, and you can get to some really cool places using a cruise where you have good rooms, good food, medical support, and you're in the Bahamas or and you're in South America somewhere, and you're in Alaska. Um but traveling tips for seniors and specifically their families if you're gonna be traveling with your aging loved one is one book ahead with accommodations, make sure they have elevators and the accessible bathrooms and whatever it is you want to give yourself a little bit of leeway to just have a plan B and C for every little thing that you're gonna do on this trip. And then always, of course, look for senior discounts on your flights and the hotels and attractions and places you might want to go out and eat, because it adds up. The 10 to 15% that you can get at wherever you're gonna stay adds up. And then the next is the plan for your health and safety precautions. So if you if you're a loved one or you do have different health concerns, even if it's something as common as like diabetes or something, consult your doctor, um, especially for long international flights or trips. Just say, hey, I'm gonna be going on this 14-day trip to New Zealand. Um, you know, are there anything that I should be aware of? And before you go into the doctor, um, definitely go into the doctor, but a lot of this you can go through with like Chat GPT and just like give all the details of your health stuff. I'll try to keep it like hip hop or whatever. But um, and you can just say, like, I'm going here for this long, this time of year, this is the weather that's coming up. What precautions should I take? And it's a super cool trip, cool uh tool. And then carry all of your necessary medications on your person along with the prescriptions just in case there's an emergency, and then um travel insurance. I never buy it, and a lot of young people that aren't older never buy like travel insurance, but if an emergency comes up, you're gonna want it. So um and then packing smart. So bring your essentials like walking shoes, the medications, um you know, sunscreen stuff to just make sure that you're safe, and then um try to pack light, you know, you don't want to be bogged down by a bunch of stuff. And then the next thing that goes really in line with what we talked about last week, community and social and groups, is to try to find a travel companion or groups to travel with. Um, I think last week I talked about the old man, his wife passed away, and then his buddy reached out to him and was like, hey, we should go fishing. And then it all of a sudden became a thing. So you don't just have to go fishing down the road, you can go fishing in a different state or in a different, you know, fly to Alaska or fly to uh all the different cool places. And so solo travel can be fun in your older years. Um, but going with friends, family, or just other seniors, like through the helperly community to go with other seniors, it makes it more safe, of course, because you have people that are mindful of you and keeping track, and then way more enjoyable depending on the trip. Um, this last week, my wife and I we just went on a friends' trip with my best friend and their family, and we and we went to her family cabin. We love it up there, it's always fun, but it was even more fun because we had friends, and so putting in a little bit of extra legwork, especially if you're just going to send your mom on this trip or something and pay for her to go, trying to see if one of your friends have an elderly loved one or something that they can have that companionship and somebody there to you know experience it with them. As much fun as it is to have a trip on your own and all those memories in your own brain, it's way more fun to be able to get back and call up your friend and be like, remember that one time? And it's it's just better. Um and then just other little tricks, tips, and tricks is try to use technology for a smoother trip. Um, if you have an iPhone, use um Find My Friends to just make sure that they're safe if they didn't go with them. Travel apps, um, translation apps that they're going somewhere else, getting them used to if they aren't already used to using like Google Translate or Uber or whatever it is, practicing beforehand just locally um to just help them be prepared with all the tools that can be in their pocket as they travel. Um and then of course capture it like trips are so fun, but it's more fun to be able to remember it for the next three decades, you know? So take pictures, journal um thoughts, impressions, people you meet, stuff you try, food that's good or bad. Um just remember the experience. If you go with your aging loved one or if you send them, if you can help it, find somebody that can take some pictures or make it really memorable. So the big takeaways of traveling is one, if you don't think that your aging loved one wants to travel, like they lost the the interest or something, odds are they didn't. They just don't think it's possible for them. So going and trying to help them realize that it's possible, it's one of the most fun things is to just say, like, where have you always wanted to go but haven't? Or what have you always wanted to do but haven't? What is where did you used to love to go? Because it maybe it's wanting to revisit. They're not like, now that I'm retired, I want to go to Hawaii because I've never been. They might say, Um, I used to go with my family to uh Minnesota every year, and I haven't been in the last 30 years. Like, help them get there. And so more often than not, it's not that they don't have a desire, it's that they don't think it's possible. Because of community, they don't have anybody to go with. Um, health concerns, they don't think it's possible. They don't think that it's a thing that's realistic for them because of what XYZ medical concerns, or they don't have the money. And so staying socially active in retirement, staying active, doing new things, going back to these old places and traveling and experiencing life, it enhances the emotional well-being, it prevents that loneliness, and it keeps their mind engaged psychologically. Eric Erickson says that one of the four things that you can do to help older adults never swing into despair or depression is to do new experiences or to relive old experiences. And my favorite one of my favorite ways to do that is travel and not just little local things, um, but really even once a year something. Imagine if your loved one has another decade on this earth, and instead of doing one trip ever or zero trips, if you could make it happen once a year, there's 10 new memories, 10 new experiences or relived favorite places that they wouldn't have had. That's pretty cool. Um, so traveling as a senior can be incredibly fulfilling if you have the right planning, the right destination choices, and then just make sure you take the necessary health precautions. Um, because I think retirement is not about slowing down, it's about living life to the fullest, whether you're making new friends, um, doing new things locally or exploring new places nationally, going on trips or internationally, um, embracing every opportunity that you have to really enrich and make the most of your golden years. So if you found this week's and last week's episode helpful, um subscribe, leave a review, share it with a friend that you have that has an aging loved one, and maybe you and them can send your aging loved ones on a trip. So we'd love to hear from you also. So comment or email us. Um, what are your favorite ways to stay socially active or your favorite trips you've taken with an aging loved one? And thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of Senior Care Academy. Join us next time for another insightful discussion around getting older to make aging awesome. Thanks.