I love to travel, but it isn’t easy anymore…

When I was a corporate jock, travelling never used to be an issue for me. I would jump on a plane, and go to San Francisco, New York, Miami, Chicago, or wherever my boss told me I needed to go. 

I’d pack my sales kits, suits and high heels, and off I’d go to do my corporate dance. Making my travel plans included making hotel and plane reservations. Planning events for clients, and corporate entertainment were all part of my regimen. I was bionic. What happened?

Now I’m afraid to even go in the kitchen for fear of something horrible going wrong. Will I trip on the rug? Bang into the wall? Or even worse, wonder why I needed to go in there in the first place?

Where did my confidence go?

I think many of us can identify with having travel fears, so many things can go wrong. Here are a few of them.

Doctors

I love my doctors down here in Florida. Because Florida is geared toward seniors, the state makes it easy for us when it comes to our health. When I go to the doctor, I don’t have to deal with large parking structures, curbs, or remembering where I parked the car. I can just park in front of the doctor’s office and simply walk inside. Being a senior in Florida is a breeze. 

But what if something happens when I’m travelling? And it’s not like it hasn’t before! I broke my knee in Switzerland, that was fun. I got very sick in Mexico, oh, joy. My partner had vertigo for three days in a strange hotel. A stingray bit me in Bora Bora.

In thinking about travelling now, I get worried that something major might happen to me while I’m in the middle of nowhere. Will they have to do some sort of voodoo ritual on me to ensure that I come back to life? Will the doctor have archaic medical instruments from 1962 which aren’t sterilized? Will I be able to converse in English with the hospital about what is wrong with me? These things never phased me when I was younger.

Medications

Planning a trip always involves lots of different medications-sometimes my pills take up more room than my clothes. Now when I’m planning a trip, I use an army of post-it notes for reminders which I plaster around my luggage before I travel. I check and double-check, but…is that white pill for my allergies or my stomach? What about that yellow one? Is it aspirin or for heartburn? Medication planning is essential to travelling safely.

Bedding

I’ve gotten spoiled with my bedding at home. They don’t always describe the mattresses in a travel brochure so you just have to wing it and hope that it meets your standards. I can’t take my mattress on a plane, so therefore, I anticipate having back, neck and knee issues until I come home.

As for pillows? I’m not about to pack my pillow because my medications take up too much room in the suitcase. So I hope for the best.

Insects

Bedbugs are bad enough, but mosquitoes and spiders? They all love me. So that demands taking insect repellant on the plane. I only hope that they don’t confiscate it at the airport because then I’d be a target for anything that crawls or flies until I can buy some more.

Getting Lost

What if my partner and I get lost? Will the boat or bus wait for us? Will the locals be able to steer us in the right direction? My partner loves to wander off when we are travelling. I’m always afraid this is going to happen and we’re going to get stuck in some nameless town.

Eyeglasses

What if I lose my glasses? I have to wear glasses more frequently now because I have astigmatism and I need glasses for reading. Should I bring two or three or four extra pairs of glasses in case my luggage gets lost? It’s hard enough reading those foreign signs with my glasses. I don’t know how I would do it without them.

These are some of the things that have plagued me as we make our travel plans. We were supposed to go on a cruise in early January, but thankfully it was cancelled for Covid-19 reasons. So I’m off the hook. 

Now all I have to worry about is getting from one room to the other while safely staying at home.