Too old to travel?

I fear that this article is actually opening a can of worms in that some people say they are fit who manifestly are not.

But first things first – how big was the survey, and how was this 3% distributed across the areas raised? As in 2.5% was walking tours …..

It is a fact that the elderly walk slower and slower as they age. Somewhere or other I have the figures which were prominent when BJ wanted to reduce the panda crossing times allowed for, in London.

Incidentally I am not quite sure why Sixt should not choose their own terms of rental in the UK. They may have found the accident rate excessive particularly as the areas where they hire cars may be tourist and traffic dense. There are plenty of other car rental companies available.

I have been on guided tours where people selfishly or deludely do not recognise that they seriously impinge on the value of the tour for others as the speed drops to their pace.

Does the tour guide care. Not a lot. Could tour companies do more to stream the walking abilities of the people on the tour? Or do they just avoid the work involved.

On a tour to Petra with around three hundred people the coaches were loaded in random factor and the tour guides therefore had a mix of mobility and fitness in each group. Suffice to say that many of the promised sights were not reached.

The mix of people who had flown from the UK the day before and people who had been in the tropics for 6 weeks and the physical fitness aspect was compounded in the 30C+ temperatures. Four members of our coach were in such distress that our coach had to go to collect them. Others were assisted up the hill to our coach. Believe me it takes a lot of shine off your visit if you have tour members looking as if they are about to expire.

The cruise line/tour company with the tiniest bit of forethought could have improved the experience by not mixing those with one days acclimatisation to temperatures 10-15C above their norm with those who had weeks of experience of 30c+ temperatures.

Arranging the guides at the viewing spots would mean people could get to them at their own pace. With nine guides not a problem. As it was the time allowed for the time in Petra was inadequate and the advertising blurb for the £150 badly misleading. I am going to pursue this via arbitration/courts.

Incidentally lovely as Petra is when our distressed ladies were paying $60US for a 0.8 kilometre horse and cart ride back to the exit – each – you will appreciate that the image of the Bedouin tribes making money from passing caravans is not entirely historical.

As an air traveller I would much rather have younger folk in the exit row seats than elderly. As for the CAA ruling I believe that the airlines should see that you are fit and able which I am not sure can occur as you book over the net. Using age as a proxy seems sensible. Of course if we put enough heat into this campaign perhaps the airlines will roll-over and allow anyone to book the seats to the detriment of safety.

Grumpy old man 60+

I’m with you on this one Diesel. There does come a point when people are not fit enough for some of the more ambitious excursions, especially if the climatic conditions are becoming intolerable. As for the exit row seats on aeroplanes, they don’t give you much more space and since you have to put all your hand luggage up in the lockers during take-off and landing – and be ready to open the exit hatch in an emergency – I don’t think they are worth the extra expense. I tend to agree there would be some sense in airlines ensuring the people in those seats are fully capable. Having said this, though, there are plenty of good and suitable holidays available that older people should be able to enjoy without being prohibited, penalised or surcharged and I support any moves to do away with such inappropriate discrimination. One of my uncles was fully compos mentis, fit and active right up to the age of 99 and enjoyed lots of foreign travel in his later years. It was a bee sting in his own back garden that led to his ultimate demise.

“Three in 10 Which? members aged 65 or older told us they’d been excluded from a holiday or travel activity because of their age.”

So can we have examples of what restrictions are being applied from age 65? Or is 65+ just the final age band used for your survey?

And if it’s bungee jumping I won’t be able to do when I reach 65, I can’t say I’m too bothered!

Having done plenty of group walking holidays I havenot found that the older walkers are the ones having problems. It is nearly always those who think that the ocaasional flat walk to the shops and gym session is all that is required to make them able to walk 8/10 miles on 5 successive days on rough paths with some hill work !
The older members may not have the sprint ability but they know their own capabilities and dont take walkng holidays beyond them.

However I agree with bechet that I ( in my 60’s) would not choose a activity holiday aimed at “fit” 20-40 year olds.

Please don’t have a campaign that frightens airlines into letting just anybody sit in the exit rows in case of appearing ageist. Regardless of who books those rows online, if the person turns up and is not fit and able they should be moved to another seat. I have already travelled on a flight where an old lady who had to use a stick was in the exit row – scary and the flight attendants did nothing about it.