Traveling with your parents can be a wonderful experience if you plan well ahead. Here are five things you must do to ensure that you and your parents will have a great vacation.
1. Ensure that the itinerary is not too fast paced.
Older folks tend to get tired easily and thus it is not advisable to include activities that are too strenuous. Additionally it is not best to pack a lot of tasks in the itinerary such that your parents as well as you must run from one point to another.
2. Ensure that everyone has ample sleep
Plan to have at least six to eight hours of sleep for you and your parents for each day of your vacation. Try to avoid having any more activities after 11 p.m. Prepare some hot water for your parents to soak their legs before bed time if there is a fair amount of walking in the day.
3. Have plentiful supply of the medication.
In case your parents are affected by hypertension, diabetes,high cholesterol, asthma, or another sickness, be sure to get plentiful supply of drugs from their physicians to continue for the entire excursion. To ensure that you remember to bring the medication, create a checklist of things to bring and put their medication among the top five items on that list. As a safety precaution, ask them to carry a medical record of their illness and contact details in case you are not around when they need medical attention.
4. Healthy diet
Most older people do not take heavy meals and thus you need to plan for multiple light and healthy meals that are low on salts, oil and sugars but high in fiber. Always have a sandwich or high fiber biscuits in your bag in case they get hungry and there isn't a snack bar in the vicinity. Also make sure that you and your parents drink a lot of water to prevent dehydration.
5. Bring along a first aid travel pack.
Medicine should be contained by your first aid travel pack for diarrhea and fever, cold symptoms and giddiness. It should also include a thermometer, tweezers, sharp scissors, safety pins, adhesive bandages, sterile gauze, adhesive tape and antiseptic wipes. The stocks in the travel pack needs to be sufficient to focus on the majority of states that need general first aid support while this list isn't exhaustive. Do check the expiry date for those medications that you bring along to ensure that they are safe for consumption.
Traveling with your parents need not be a hassle as long as you plan ahead and take care of their needs. Involve them in all the activities along the way and remember to have fun!
