As an older adult, safety is paramount, especially when you are traveling to other countries. Whether you plan on ticking off multiple countries from your bucket list or relocating abroad, you must consider your safety at all times.
Traveling presents a number of potential safety issues for seniors, including getting lost, falling over and sustaining an injury, or running into the wrong sort of people. Therefore, when heading abroad, especially to unfamiliar places, you must act with extra care and caution.
To ensure maximum safety when traveling abroad, follow these helpful tips.
Arrange Travel Medical Travel Insurance
Sometimes known as travel health insurance, travel medical insurance provides all the protection you need for a safe journey abroad. It combines health insurance and travel insurance into one simple policy, making things easier for you when arranging complex travel plans.
Travel insurance for seniors protects you in the events of severe travel disruptions, such as cancelled or delayed flights. If your airline cancelled your flights unexpectedly or a natural disaster prevent you from traveling to your desired destination, your travel insurance provider will offer compensation.
This compensation will cover the costs of rearranging your travel plans, staying in temporary accommodation, or the psychological distress of being unable to travel.
Health insurance enables you to access the healthcare services in your local area when traveling abroad if you require emergency or routine treatments.
If you take daily prescription medication, you will need health insurance to access these medications when traveling to foreign countries. Without health insurance, you may be unable to access hospitals or primary healthcare facilities when traveling.
Keep Your Belongings Close by at All Times
When you’re travelling in unfamiliar territories, it’s easy to get distracted. Unfortunately, thieves often target older adults when looking to steal something, so you must be extra cautious.
You might be looking at the various attractions in your chosen travel destination or distracted by the food you’ve just ordered at a fancy restaurant. In the meantime, there might be somebody suspicious lurking nearby. They could easily snatch your bag if you’re not careful and run away with your belongings.
Keeping your belongings in eyesight and close to your side will reduce the risk of somebody successfully snatching your bag, phone, or wallet when you’re distracted.
Stay Active and Eat Healthily
As an older adult, staying physically healthy is essential for enjoyable travels. Keeping your body and mind in good condition will allow you to make the most out of your travels and avoid running into trouble.
It's recommended that the average older adult aims for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. You can split this up into any sort of combination you like, such as five sessions of 30 minutes or 20-25 minutes of exercise a day. When traveling, you can exercise in a number of ways. Walking is a great way to stay fit without overexerting yourself while still maintaining a great level of cardiovascular fitness.
Consider searching for a local gym where you can lift light weights or take a walk on the treadmill if the weather isn’t great. If you’re staying in hotels during your travels, check whether they have indoor gyms that you can use for free as a guest.
At the same time, try to eat healthily. Fuel your body with the nutrients it needs to thrive, including those found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. Of course, you can indulge in delicious foods occasionally (doing so can help curb cravings and keep you satisfied), but make sure to balance these tasty foods with nutrient-dense foods for optimal health.
Keep Stock of Your Prescription Medications
If you take regular prescription medications, it’s a good idea to stock up before you leave for your trip abroad so you don’t run out. As part of your health insurance package, you should be able to order more of your regular medications while you’re away. However, getting a decent stock together before you leave home means you don’t need to worry about running out.
Forgetting to take your medications could lead to poor health and an increased risk of withdrawal effects. It could also put your long-term health at risk if you take medications to manage chronic health issues, such as cardiovascular disease or an autoimmune disorder.
Consider getting yourself a compartmentalized box to keep your medications organized into separate days. This way, you can easily see whether you’ve taken your medications or not each day and avoid missing them or taking too many in a single day.
You could also get a travel-sized medications box to carry around with you in your backpack. This is particularly helpful if you need to take some of your medications multiple times a day.
