Travel for Health and Long Life

Updated on October 1st, 2022

Travel Rejuvenates & makes Life Exciting

Mr Parker retired from his job at the age of 60 and looked forward to a peaceful retired life. He had planned his retirement well and worked out a fixed routine starting with yoga and exercise in the morning followed by a round of Golf every alternate day, reading and occasional socializing with entertainment. He enjoyed his daily routine as it gave him adequate physical exercise, rest, recreation and mental stimulation. However after six months, the routine became monotonous and boredom had started to set in. While he was looking for some change, he noticed a very attractive tour package to Thailand. He had never been to a foreign country earlier. He grabbed the opportunity and undertook a week long package with his spouse. He not only enjoyed each moment of the trip but also made some good friends. Being first time out of the country, they as acouple took a good number of pictures with all attractions in the background.

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After return, he got back to his routine with a new energy and vigour as the monotony had been broken. The trip had rejuvenated him and  brought back excitement  in his life. His bonding with his spouse improved as the trip gave them adequate time between themselves with no responsibility of daily chores. Every now and then they recall the good times spent in Thailand and looking at the pictures always made them feel positive about life. Now Parkers undertake one such trip every six months.

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Parker’s case is not unique. We all feel energetic and rejuvenated after an exciting holiday trip. Don’t we not cherish the memories of such trips till date?  Don’t we feel positive whenever we recall the enjoyable and quality time spent during such trips? I am sure that the answer to these questions is always a big “Yes”.

 

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Importance of Travel

Travelling for recreation and change of scene has been an essential part of our today’s stressful life. Here I would like to share some quotations which highlight the relevance of travel:

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page..” -Agustine of Hippo

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” – Dalai Lama 

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have travelled.” – Mohammed

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Opportunities to Travel and Explore

While active and employed,  one gets enough opportunities to  travel and see new places, especially if one is on a transferable job or on a job that  involves touring and travelling. I myself being from such job have changed residence nearly 20 times to different towns/cities in India and  at times to remote areas and abroad as well.

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Every transfer gave me an opportunity to visit all tourist attractions within the motorable distance. In addition, I always made it a point to plan a long-distance domestic/foreign holiday with children at least once a year. As a result, I have visited nearly all the tourist attractions in my country India and many of those located in 15 different countries in the world.

 

Benefits of Travel

With my experience of travel, I can make following comments with confidence:

Travel makes Life after Retirement Exciting

After retirement, one has adequate time to plan and travel for recreation, rest and relaxation. Resources are also generally not an issue, presuming that one has planned his retirement well.  

Do not postpone your travel plans. Remember that after retirement you are ageing, and if you postpone it, you may not have the energy to undertake such trips. You don’t even have a certainty that you will live till you are old. It would be in order to plan at least one trip(domestic or foreign) once in six months.

Travel creates Lasting Memories

The experience of an eventful vacation leaves a strong imprint on you and help you create lasting memories.

Travel Breaks Monotony

Travel gives you a break from the monotony of your routine and brings in a welcome change with the new environment with an opportunity to do lots of new things.

Travel helps you Relieve Stress

Travel allows your mind to get away from the daily stresses of life and allows make your feel rested and relaxed.

Travel Refreshes your Mind

It makes us feel energetic and rejuvenated and helps us to undertake whatever we are doing better. It refreshes our mind and brings in joy and excitement.

 

Travel makes you more Creative and Productive

Travel broadens our horizons and perspective of the world. Our exposure to the new things in various places makes us more creative and productive.

Travel helps make Social connections and see New Cultures

Travel gives you an opportunity to meet new people make friends, see new cultures and experience a new way of life.

Travel invokes a spirit of Adventure

Travel invokes a spirit of adventure. Have we not undertaken some unplanned activities like para sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, trekking etc after getting  motivated by seeing others.

Travel brings Positivity in your Life

Expenditure on travel is like an investment which gives you good returns in the form of bringing excitement and positivity in your life, improving your capacity to work and creating new and lasting memories for you.

Travel makes Family Bonding Strong

Spending time on your holidays keeps your family happy and united. The time spent together for enjoyment without any distractions is never forgotten.

Travel boosts your Physical, Mental and Emotional Health

Travelling can boost both your physical, mental health and emotional health On your travel trips, your physical activity increases on amount of exercise as a result of walking on sightseeing, adventure activities, hiking etc. You exercise a lot more during your travel trips than at home. Travelling can boost your mental health in a number of ways. Change in environment makes you feel better. The general feeling of enjoyment, happiness and excitement contributes to your mental fitness.

Travel makes you Live Longer

Researchers have claimed that there is enough evidence to prove that there is a link between leisure activities like travel/adventure and overall health in later years.

Travel improves your Quality of Life as it affects your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. A Research finds that taking a vacation could help you live longer.

 

Types of Tourism

There are over 50 different types of tourism dictated by purpose for which the travel is undertaken. However, those most relevant for 50 plus are as follows:

Recreational Tourism

Recreational tourism involves the activities done for enjoyment, amusement, pleasure and fun.

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Cultural tourism

Cultural tourism is concerned with a country’s culture, the lifestyle, the history, the art, architecture, religion and the way of life of the people,

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Adventure tourism

Adventure tourism involves adventure activities like Mountaineering expeditions, trekking, bungee jumping, rafting, scuba diving and rock climbing.

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Wellness and Medical tourism

 Wellness and Medical tourism is undertaken for the purpose of promoting health and well-being through medical, physical, psychological or spiritual activities.  

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Religious tourism

Religious tourism. Rreferred to as faith tourism, is a type of tourism, where people travel individually or in groups for pilgrimage, missionary or even leisure.

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Wild life and Eco tourism

Wild life and Eco tourism involve trips to destinations with the main purpose of visit being to observe the local flora and fauna while protecting the environment.

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Sports Tourism

Sports Tourism pertain to the travel which involves either observing or participating in a sporting event.

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Packaged tours vs customized tours vs Independent Tour

Packaged Tours are all inclusive tours offered by tour operators which cater for transportation, siteseeing, hotel accommodation, performances, events, activities and food. These tours are guided tours. These tours are more expensive than the independent tours but may be cheaper than the customized tours. For Fifty plus who are physically fit with no mobility problems, these tours are ideal as they give you real value for money.

Customized tours are tour packages tailored to your requirements by the tour operators. These may be escorted or unescorted depending upon the tour package. These tours may be expensive depending upon the size of the group and your specific requirements. For Fifty Plus with mobility issues, these tours would be ideal as they can be customized to your pace.

Independent Tours are tours undertaken by individuals or small groups who travel independently and unescorted as per their individual plans. These tours turn out to be cost effective and have in built flexibility but require a good amount of planning and research. For Fifty plus, these tours may be undertaken if travelling with family and friends.

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Whether Group Tour or independent tour is better for you  would depend upon your requirements

Useful Travel tips

Seniors travelling on long distance international travel have some peculiar requirements depending upon their age and fitness levels. Safety and health are two primary concerns for seniors. 

Internet is full of blogs which give comprehensive useful travel tips. They are quite useful especially for first time travelers. These tips relate to planning, packing, budgeting and best places to visit etc. Everything included in these blogs may not be relevant to you, however, these sites give a good  insight into what all needs to be kept in mind while travelling. Instead of repeating these tips, I would recommend you to visit  the following sites which I found to be useful: 

Lonely Planet

Best Travel Tips

61 Travel Tips

My 30 Best Travel Tips

So, what are you waiting for? Get out of your comfort zone, identify new places, plan your trip and venture out to explore the world. Life is short and having retired, you have all the time for yourself. So, make the best use of this time by travelling to see the world.

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