Taking time to see the world, traveling at your leisure, is one of the perks of reaching your retirement years. Of course, ensuring you travel safely is important, no matter your age but even more so as you grow older. Therefore, the following tips are especially applicable for you as a senior as you travel:
- Consider Insurance: When you leave the comfort of home, you also leave your insurance coverage behind, in some cases. There is nothing worse than falling, hurting yourself, or needing some sort of medical intervention when you are away from home and finding out your health insurance isn’t accepted. One way to ensure you get the care you need, though, when you are away from home or out of the country is to buy travel insurance.
- Get a Well Health Visit: Before embarking on a vacation, go see your doctor. This will ensure you are in good condition for traveling. This is especially important if you plan to travel outside of the country or to travel in the air or on a ship.
- Secure And Duplicate Travel Documents, Prescriptions: Before leaving, make sure you have copies of your driver’s licenses, passports, bank cards, emergency contacts, etc. stored online in iCloud or in a Dropbox. This will allow you to replace these items quicker if you should lose them while away. Keep a digital copy of your health record and prescriptions on your iPhone as well.
- Take Along Plenty of Medications: If you take regular medications, make sure you carry them along, in their original containers, which show the prescribing physician’s name. Make sure you bring along an amble supply of your medication to ensure you don’t run out.
- Don’t Show Off Your Resources: At this stage in life, you likely have a lot of nice possessions, including jewelry. Though it’s understandable to want to wear these items and to enjoy them when traveling, you might want to leave them behind. Wearing nice jewelry or even appearing to have money when traveling can make you a target for thieves. In the same way, revealing you’re carrying money can make you a target. It’s a better idea to abstain from carrying a large wad of cash and instead opt for using a credit card for all travel related expenses.
- Tell Trusted Individuals Your Plan & Keep Them Updated: It’s important that you let a trusted individual or few individuals know where you plan on being each day throughout your journey. Check in with them regularly, so they will know if something bad happens.
- Don’t Advertise Your Plans: While the above is true, you don’t want “everyone” to know your plans, only a trusted few individuals. For example, your Facebook friend group has no business knowing when you will be leaving and how long you will be away from home. When this information gets into the wrong hands, your home and the possessions you leave behind could be put at risk.
- Invest in a GPS Mobile Medical Alert System: Unfortunately, bad things can happen when you leave home. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live your life to its fullest and enjoy countless adventures. Instead, invest in a good GPS medical alert system to ensure you stay safe, even when away from home. Complete our form for more information on the best available medical alert systems.
Traveling is a great way to spend your retirement years. Just follow the tips listed above to make sure you stay safe in the process.
