My answers to your questions ... YES and NO. Yes, we need more rest as we age and I am a big fan of siestas in the afternoon. No, traveling and resting are not incompatible but traveling must be done in a new and improved way. For example, I am traveling to Norway next month (my favorite place to go) and I have built in a night at the wonderful Radison Blu right at the airport in Oslo where I will spend my first night after I land. It helps me to get over some of the jetlag before going to friends and trying to join their schedule. I do this the night before I fly home as well. This is also convenient because then I am not inconveniencing hosts (assuming one is staying with friends or family) with an early morning trip to the airport or trying to figure out how and when to get from downtown Oslo to the airport. I love staying with friends and family all over the country and it is frankly a privilege but I always build in a couple of nights at a hotel where I can be on my own schedule and be quiet and to myself!
Teresa, love this plan! Perfect! When Sam and I arrived in Tokyo (after about 24 hours of travel, or so it seemed), we booked into a nice hotel with plans to do… NOTHING for a few days. Of course we did do a few things (and met IRL with two other Substack writers!), but it took the pressure off. Makes me think there is more to say about “goals” when traveling.
My mother in law traveled the world after retiring at the young age of 59. Every year, she and her husband took a couple of overseas trips. She is now 86 and caring for her husband who has dementia. Those travels are now cherished memories of better times. So I say do it while you can... travel and see the world... meet new people and eat great food.
Debbie - you read my mind and mirrored my thoughts. Jumping on planes isn’t half as much fun as it used to be. My husband and I have booked a train journey through Switzerland and can’t wait! I hope you’re feeling better soon.
I live part-time in Switzerland. Where are you travelling to and from? I'm guessing you're doing the Alps, right? Have a wonderful time! It's very beautiful. I hope you get good weather.
Thanks, Francesca. We start off at St. Pancras, then get the Eurostar to Paris, then travel to Strasbourg. Then we stay for 5 nights in Tiefencastel then stay 1 night in Basel before heading back to London. During that time we travel on the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express. We’re going in May and I am super excited!
The Glacier Express is wonderful! I live in Switzerland and always wanted to do that trip... in the year after my mum died, my dad came over for a few weeks (my parents live in upstate NY) and the two of us rode the Glacier Express. My dad is a train guy and it was perfect. One warning: When you book the panorama option with all bells and whistles, you are fed CONSTANTLY so be careful or you will roll off the train with a stomachache. The Bernina is shorter but almost more spectacular: take time to wander around Poschiavo if you can because it is a lovely village and well worth it.
More rest definitely needed! Travel and rest are not incompatible, but one cannot continue to travel on the Sandison-4-activities-per-day plan. Travel days are now travel only. No plans to get there by noon to do a tour in the p.m. Being retired, we can get to wherever a day early to allow for any travel hiccups. And we do not necessarily feel compelled to do something on the “extra” day. Also we are building in “no plan” days, which we can fill or not as we see fit. “Fill” might mean going out for breakfast instead of having coffee & banana at the AirBnB.
In an effort to tone down the Sandison-4-activities-per-day plan, we have learned that it is perfectly permissible to go to a museum to see a single exhibit. One is not required to view each and every item in the building in one visit. (Maritime/naval museums excepted from this plan - they take hours and hours.)
I love the idea of staying at the airport the night before returning home. We ended up doing this on our last return from Australia, simply because we had to come “straight” from Perth, which involved an overnight in Sydney. We walked across the road to the hotel, and in the morning walked back across the road to check in. Really lowered the stress level. On that same trip, we used a “hotels by day” for a meal, nap and shower on a very long layover in San Francisco. So much better than hanging out at the airport and having to brush your teeth in the restroom. (There are showers to be had in some unusual places. I once took a shower in the RER station at CDG after an overnight train from Collioure, before boarding my flight back to the US. Even that made all the difference.)
It’s only lunchtime, and I think I need a nap before fixing dinner for my mother’s friends! Hope the stress of the travel is soon forgotten, and only the good memories remain!
ooo Nancy, I love hearing about the Sandison-4-activities-per-day plan. It always makes me giggle (also reminds me of my mom). I am SO GLAD the plan has now been modified. Sam and I have also been starting and concluding overseas trips with a night at the airport hotel. I thought it was our dirty secret… apparently not!
Traveling and resting are incompatible for me at 66. I need days of recovery. Two days. Then I'm good to go. This year I'm planning on doing nothing except slow travel. No more hopping around. If I have a choice I'll go by train or ship to avoid taking a plane. A little more expensive and time consuming but both mental and physical health won't be so compromised.
Debbie, your Japan trip looked like such a special treat! Bodies do that, though: when you come home and the travel adrenaline wears off, they put the brakes on. I hope you both and Sam are feeling better soon.
Yes, I am definitely needing more rest. Over the past decade I have realized that my body and brain need NINE hours of sleep per night to function best. It is very hard to fit into what most people consider "modern life," but my chronic conditions (IBD, spondylarthritis) stay under control that way so I gain productive time in the sum of things.
When traveling, this is of course harder to do. Time zone differences, *wanting* to experience more, and the fact that my spouse does not require as much sleep as I do have led to some unhappy adventures. From which one can learn! (Spouse being the hardest, but I have improved much in *insisting* on no more than two program points per day, scheduling rest time, and I have stopped apologizing for it!)
In general I have slowed my travel pace; as a European and a self-employed one at that, I have the luxury of taking more time. Like many hotels I have adopted a "two-night minimum stay" policy (lol) because it is less hectic and I enjoy my surroundings more. My ideal vacation has become finding a nice place to make a "base" for a few weeks and exploring from there. If I only have a week somewhere, my exploration radius is smaller. And that is fine.
Because I have family in the US, I am often back and forth and that is far more exhausting than it was 30 years ago! If I am flying in for an event, I arrive at least two days before and make no commitments in that time. The days of flying in for a weekend, getting off the plane in Zurich and going right to the office are but a distant memory; last year, we flew to Chicago for a friend's 60th birthday bash and took a week to do it, without promising to see EVERY friend and relative we have in the area.
(re: dirty secrets, the TWA hotel has made it tolerable to fly in and out of JFK)
I have already told our daughter who is in Australia for an unspecified length of time - over a year already, but ‘definitely coming home (to Ireland) this year’ - that I will not be visiting her there. I have zero appetite for 28 hours in a series of metal tubes to get there!
Yes, annoyingly, I seem to need more rest or is it that I don’t complete that list of things I had planned for the day? Also a bad night’s sleep knocks the fun out of the following day. That’s a new thing. Definitely annoying.
Agree to many of the comments, but will add that I ALWAYS stop for an overnight at an airport hotel en route, halfway where possible. (Not so easy going over the Pacific, but there is Hawaii). Going to Europe from Nevada I stop in New York most times. It makes a HUGE difference for me, and gives me a head start in adjusting to the many time zones I am traveling through.
Similar here. I travel from Houston to Zurich for work a couple of times per year. There's no direct flight. But there is one to Paris! I've started taking a direct flight to Paris, overnight-ing there (or two nights, if I have enough time away) then taking the train to Zurich rather than a second, totally crammed regional flight. I feel so much better when I do this and it feels a 'mini vacation' at the beginning of my work trip.
We were planning to travel to Norway next month and it has been moved to next February. I was feeling so relieved as it has been a very busy six months and I just didn't feel we were up to the travel, so I can relate. I will use Teresa's suggestion below when we do go, and also some of the other suggestions in the comments. It's likely all about how we set things up.
Sue, the planning of logistics and an itinerary for Japan made me absurdly anxious. But I’m glad I put in the time and thought (along with my son). The trip worked beautifully. I’m even learning not to book a train until midday, at the earliest. So you can get yourself to the station more leisurely.
Ah but just think of those memories!! What a precious time.
So glad I’m reading the comments above - I’ve just had a wonderful Borneo trip confirmed. It will be exhausting!! I’ve already scheduled in an extra day to sleep on the way over. I’ll see what options I have for the way back to ensure I’m not too zonked out once home.
When my partner and I flew from the west coast to Rome we arrived at 9am, booked immediately into a hotel and slept til the next morning. Made all the difference in the world.
I hope you're feeling stronger day by day, bit by bit. And yes, to the question of needing more rest as I get older, after things that never in a million years I thought I would need rest from! Some days I fully embrace it, and other days I think maybe it's a phase, but I definitely see a rearranging of my expectations on what I can do and how I might feel afterwards.
My appetite for travel has been waning for some time now. I’m tired of crowded airports, uncomfortable airplane seats and unpredictable delays. I would rather stay in my comfortable home than than in hotels or rentals that suit my budget. Trips that involve many stops have become a real pain. I’d rather see one or two places than put up with the annoyance of schlepping from here to there.
Rona, I absolutely agree! Along with our son, I spent many hours planning the logistics and itinerary for our trip to Japan. My rule is fewer destinations, and preferably three nights in each place. Luckily train travel is the norm (and highly efficient) in Japan. We even took the subway! Our son approached the ticket machines without hesitation, punching in four adults and two children—although none of us can speak or read any Japanese. That was part of the appeal of the trip!
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My answers to your questions ... YES and NO. Yes, we need more rest as we age and I am a big fan of siestas in the afternoon. No, traveling and resting are not incompatible but traveling must be done in a new and improved way. For example, I am traveling to Norway next month (my favorite place to go) and I have built in a night at the wonderful Radison Blu right at the airport in Oslo where I will spend my first night after I land. It helps me to get over some of the jetlag before going to friends and trying to join their schedule. I do this the night before I fly home as well. This is also convenient because then I am not inconveniencing hosts (assuming one is staying with friends or family) with an early morning trip to the airport or trying to figure out how and when to get from downtown Oslo to the airport. I love staying with friends and family all over the country and it is frankly a privilege but I always build in a couple of nights at a hotel where I can be on my own schedule and be quiet and to myself!
Teresa, love this plan! Perfect! When Sam and I arrived in Tokyo (after about 24 hours of travel, or so it seemed), we booked into a nice hotel with plans to do… NOTHING for a few days. Of course we did do a few things (and met IRL with two other Substack writers!), but it took the pressure off. Makes me think there is more to say about “goals” when traveling.
I'm so happy to have read this. We will be traveling to Norway next February. I will use your suggestions. Thank you.
My mother in law traveled the world after retiring at the young age of 59. Every year, she and her husband took a couple of overseas trips. She is now 86 and caring for her husband who has dementia. Those travels are now cherished memories of better times. So I say do it while you can... travel and see the world... meet new people and eat great food.
Traci, what a great story!
She even traveled to your little seaside village in Maine.
Debbie - you read my mind and mirrored my thoughts. Jumping on planes isn’t half as much fun as it used to be. My husband and I have booked a train journey through Switzerland and can’t wait! I hope you’re feeling better soon.
Thank you Rosy!
I live part-time in Switzerland. Where are you travelling to and from? I'm guessing you're doing the Alps, right? Have a wonderful time! It's very beautiful. I hope you get good weather.
Thanks, Francesca. We start off at St. Pancras, then get the Eurostar to Paris, then travel to Strasbourg. Then we stay for 5 nights in Tiefencastel then stay 1 night in Basel before heading back to London. During that time we travel on the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express. We’re going in May and I am super excited!
It will be wonderful. Would you believe I’ve always lived in Switzerland yet I’ve never done that trip!!!
The Glacier Express is wonderful! I live in Switzerland and always wanted to do that trip... in the year after my mum died, my dad came over for a few weeks (my parents live in upstate NY) and the two of us rode the Glacier Express. My dad is a train guy and it was perfect. One warning: When you book the panorama option with all bells and whistles, you are fed CONSTANTLY so be careful or you will roll off the train with a stomachache. The Bernina is shorter but almost more spectacular: take time to wander around Poschiavo if you can because it is a lovely village and well worth it.
Aww. You should do it!
More rest definitely needed! Travel and rest are not incompatible, but one cannot continue to travel on the Sandison-4-activities-per-day plan. Travel days are now travel only. No plans to get there by noon to do a tour in the p.m. Being retired, we can get to wherever a day early to allow for any travel hiccups. And we do not necessarily feel compelled to do something on the “extra” day. Also we are building in “no plan” days, which we can fill or not as we see fit. “Fill” might mean going out for breakfast instead of having coffee & banana at the AirBnB.
In an effort to tone down the Sandison-4-activities-per-day plan, we have learned that it is perfectly permissible to go to a museum to see a single exhibit. One is not required to view each and every item in the building in one visit. (Maritime/naval museums excepted from this plan - they take hours and hours.)
I love the idea of staying at the airport the night before returning home. We ended up doing this on our last return from Australia, simply because we had to come “straight” from Perth, which involved an overnight in Sydney. We walked across the road to the hotel, and in the morning walked back across the road to check in. Really lowered the stress level. On that same trip, we used a “hotels by day” for a meal, nap and shower on a very long layover in San Francisco. So much better than hanging out at the airport and having to brush your teeth in the restroom. (There are showers to be had in some unusual places. I once took a shower in the RER station at CDG after an overnight train from Collioure, before boarding my flight back to the US. Even that made all the difference.)
It’s only lunchtime, and I think I need a nap before fixing dinner for my mother’s friends! Hope the stress of the travel is soon forgotten, and only the good memories remain!
ooo Nancy, I love hearing about the Sandison-4-activities-per-day plan. It always makes me giggle (also reminds me of my mom). I am SO GLAD the plan has now been modified. Sam and I have also been starting and concluding overseas trips with a night at the airport hotel. I thought it was our dirty secret… apparently not!
Traveling and resting are incompatible for me at 66. I need days of recovery. Two days. Then I'm good to go. This year I'm planning on doing nothing except slow travel. No more hopping around. If I have a choice I'll go by train or ship to avoid taking a plane. A little more expensive and time consuming but both mental and physical health won't be so compromised.
Patti, “slow travel” - yes. Along with “slower” living!
Haha, i can't quite bring myself to try slow living quite yet, but getting there.
Debbie, your Japan trip looked like such a special treat! Bodies do that, though: when you come home and the travel adrenaline wears off, they put the brakes on. I hope you both and Sam are feeling better soon.
Yes, I am definitely needing more rest. Over the past decade I have realized that my body and brain need NINE hours of sleep per night to function best. It is very hard to fit into what most people consider "modern life," but my chronic conditions (IBD, spondylarthritis) stay under control that way so I gain productive time in the sum of things.
When traveling, this is of course harder to do. Time zone differences, *wanting* to experience more, and the fact that my spouse does not require as much sleep as I do have led to some unhappy adventures. From which one can learn! (Spouse being the hardest, but I have improved much in *insisting* on no more than two program points per day, scheduling rest time, and I have stopped apologizing for it!)
In general I have slowed my travel pace; as a European and a self-employed one at that, I have the luxury of taking more time. Like many hotels I have adopted a "two-night minimum stay" policy (lol) because it is less hectic and I enjoy my surroundings more. My ideal vacation has become finding a nice place to make a "base" for a few weeks and exploring from there. If I only have a week somewhere, my exploration radius is smaller. And that is fine.
Because I have family in the US, I am often back and forth and that is far more exhausting than it was 30 years ago! If I am flying in for an event, I arrive at least two days before and make no commitments in that time. The days of flying in for a weekend, getting off the plane in Zurich and going right to the office are but a distant memory; last year, we flew to Chicago for a friend's 60th birthday bash and took a week to do it, without promising to see EVERY friend and relative we have in the area.
(re: dirty secrets, the TWA hotel has made it tolerable to fly in and out of JFK)
Hi Debbie, so sorry to hear about the flu! Not that it helps, but there are record numbers of cases here at the moment.
It was great to meet you here, and I send you my best wishes for a quick(er) recovery.
I also find long-haul travel very tiring these days!
Feel better, Debbie. My least favorite part of being sick is the attendant malaise.
I have already told our daughter who is in Australia for an unspecified length of time - over a year already, but ‘definitely coming home (to Ireland) this year’ - that I will not be visiting her there. I have zero appetite for 28 hours in a series of metal tubes to get there!
Yes, annoyingly, I seem to need more rest or is it that I don’t complete that list of things I had planned for the day? Also a bad night’s sleep knocks the fun out of the following day. That’s a new thing. Definitely annoying.
Agree to many of the comments, but will add that I ALWAYS stop for an overnight at an airport hotel en route, halfway where possible. (Not so easy going over the Pacific, but there is Hawaii). Going to Europe from Nevada I stop in New York most times. It makes a HUGE difference for me, and gives me a head start in adjusting to the many time zones I am traveling through.
Diana, love that we’re all doing this… !
Similar here. I travel from Houston to Zurich for work a couple of times per year. There's no direct flight. But there is one to Paris! I've started taking a direct flight to Paris, overnight-ing there (or two nights, if I have enough time away) then taking the train to Zurich rather than a second, totally crammed regional flight. I feel so much better when I do this and it feels a 'mini vacation' at the beginning of my work trip.
We were planning to travel to Norway next month and it has been moved to next February. I was feeling so relieved as it has been a very busy six months and I just didn't feel we were up to the travel, so I can relate. I will use Teresa's suggestion below when we do go, and also some of the other suggestions in the comments. It's likely all about how we set things up.
Sue, the planning of logistics and an itinerary for Japan made me absurdly anxious. But I’m glad I put in the time and thought (along with my son). The trip worked beautifully. I’m even learning not to book a train until midday, at the earliest. So you can get yourself to the station more leisurely.
Ah but just think of those memories!! What a precious time.
So glad I’m reading the comments above - I’ve just had a wonderful Borneo trip confirmed. It will be exhausting!! I’ve already scheduled in an extra day to sleep on the way over. I’ll see what options I have for the way back to ensure I’m not too zonked out once home.
Hugs my dear. Nasty bugs do NOT help. Sigh.
Beth, the memories of Japan (and traveling with our son and his family) ARE so special!
I feel like I’m coming in for a landing on my age. I have realized:
It’s okay that I can’t smash tennis balls like I used to.
It’s okay that I can’t jump on a plane and travel to Mongolia to drink a glass of yak milk
It’s okay for me to enjoy an afternoon of rest
It’s okay to roll over and go back to sleep.
Yes, these are the signs of aging. But since I let go of “must dos” I have discovered a beautiful world around me, right out my front door.
Is this called Peace…at last?
Cooky, you are the best! This is so eloquent. About that yak milk, can you tell us more?!
When my partner and I flew from the west coast to Rome we arrived at 9am, booked immediately into a hotel and slept til the next morning. Made all the difference in the world.
Nancy, perfect plan! And worth paying for the “extra” night at the hotel!
I hope you're feeling stronger day by day, bit by bit. And yes, to the question of needing more rest as I get older, after things that never in a million years I thought I would need rest from! Some days I fully embrace it, and other days I think maybe it's a phase, but I definitely see a rearranging of my expectations on what I can do and how I might feel afterwards.
Mary, so interesting… is it a phase… or a re-arranging?
Rearranging I'm sure. It's okay with me, and challenging, too. How can I outfox this fox? 🦊
My appetite for travel has been waning for some time now. I’m tired of crowded airports, uncomfortable airplane seats and unpredictable delays. I would rather stay in my comfortable home than than in hotels or rentals that suit my budget. Trips that involve many stops have become a real pain. I’d rather see one or two places than put up with the annoyance of schlepping from here to there.
Rona, I absolutely agree! Along with our son, I spent many hours planning the logistics and itinerary for our trip to Japan. My rule is fewer destinations, and preferably three nights in each place. Luckily train travel is the norm (and highly efficient) in Japan. We even took the subway! Our son approached the ticket machines without hesitation, punching in four adults and two children—although none of us can speak or read any Japanese. That was part of the appeal of the trip!