Recommendations for “elderly” travelers

10 comments

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2. Keep in mind that even if they are okay with walking, moving around most any city in Japan requires significant walking. You can easily average 10k steps per day with even a light itinerary. My main advice:

   * Allow extra time for travel. Google Maps is great for catching trains but seems to assume everyone power walks between lines/platforms. Switching trains in Shinjuku can include a 20 minute walk just within the station (yes, it’s that large).
   * Get Suica or Pasmo cards for all of you. Consider paying the 500 yen to get them in your names so if you lose them, you can get new ones with the balance intact. They last ten years.
   * Consider grabbing a taxi or calling an Uber, especially for shorter trips requiring transfers. With three people, the cost may not be that different for shorter rides, especially. This can turn a 40 minute train ride with 1 mile+ of walking into an 8 minute drive.
   * Be assertive in asking people to give up their seats for your parents. While Japan trends older in age, for trains 90%+ are still 15-55 years old. The expectation is that younger folks should give up their seats but some don’t care and others are oblivious. I tend to ask teens and younger singles/couples to move. Your parents may not want to cause a scene/impose but you’ll need to help manage their energy. One fall due to fatigue could really impact the trip.
   * Kyoto can be challenging to traverse. You can also get temple fatigue pretty quickly. Do your research and check pics/reviews then map out a loose itinerary. 3-5 temples may be enough.

   Fun musings:

   * There are great manhole covers all over Tokyo/Japan. Look down often!
   * Check events in Tokyo TimeOut and of course Reddit. There’s a monthly events thread in r/Tokyo. There were a few flower-related events just last week in Tokyo.
   * There are WWII museums, cemeteries, and exhibit/events. Most are pretty balanced but don’t be surprised if you see some more skewed towards different viewpoints than you’d see in the U.S.

3. I just got back from a trip with my older parents and they did great. They did have to go back to the hotel a few times to rest in the afternoons toward the end of our trips so I’d say front load with their must-dos at the earlier days when everyone is still fresh.

   Additionally, if you’re getting rail passes and/or suica/pasmo cards, they are very easy to lose. Make sure they have them or if necessary hold them for them. Same goes for passports, which we carried everywhere for tax free and JR pass uses. The JR pass (and passports) can’t be replaced and my mom lost her pass right at then end of our trip (thankfully) along with her pasmo when she went off shopping by herself.

4. My mom is 60 and currently we are on our 5th day out of 16 days, traveling in Japan. We landed in Tokyo and traveled to Himeji, Hiroshima/Miyajima and now are in Osaka. She’s generally pretty fit but a few hours ago she’s been requesting for places to sit and more resting spots as the past few days had too much queuing to do (queuing for jr pass, waiting for shinkansen to arrive at the train tracks, queuing for miyajima ferry etc) and combined with walking, really did a number on her feet and joints.

   I chose hotels near major stations and so far, it’s been great since there’s many shops around the area. I went out earlier than my family these past few days and bought heat packs, squishy sole inserts and moisturiser for my mom and also went to the ticket machine and collected all shinkansen reserved seat tickets while mom and husband were asleep.

   And yea, i’m holding all the important docs and cards for my mother and only pass them to her when she needs it. She locked herself out of her hotel room on day 2 so i don’t trust her anymore lol.

   Also, i highly insist you guys try to consider luggage shipping. There’s just too many unavoidable stairs and every time my mom had to go over the blind marks on the ground, it took some stamina from her with her tiny bag.

   That’s all i have to share for experience, good luck and have fun with your parents! 🙂

5. My parents are the same age and similar health— no problems walking around, doing stairs, or hills. Basically they do the same stuff everyone else does, but slower and with less “packed” days.

   Sightseeing days normally start early, lunch around 11:30am, and then a short nap/rest (if possible), before going out in the afternoon to do more sightseeing. Or going until around 3pm and then back to the hotel until going back out for dinner.

   My recommendation is to be more selective about what you do— maybe only one or two major things. And try to be careful about where these things are located, you don’t want to be running all over town. Definitely take taxis when you need to. We take lots of taxis (but we also have a 4 year old with them).

6. I currently live in Japan and my parents visit me regularly for the past ten years. They were 60 and 70 years old when I moved here and trains were no problem.
   But this year, at 70 and 80 years old, we decided to do the most laid back trip ever for them especially since my mom who is the more mobile of the two, recently just had spinal surgery.

   They stayed for two weeks and we mostly just went to restaurants and malls that were in walking distance to my house, not more than 2 kilometers. And we scheduled two days of out of town trips, one day sightseeing at Kawaguchiko and one day of shopping at Gotemba. We rented a private car for those two days.

   I’d say it was a success. And they seemed to not be as stressed as they were in the past.

7. I’m leaving soon for Tokyo for a trip with my older parents and I’ve basically planned one big thing per day for the morning, with the idea we’ll most likely have to go back to the hotel to rest after lunch. If they’re feeling ok, there’s plenty of other things to do in the areas we’ll be in. They’re mobile, I’m mostly worried about their stamina. We’re definitely planning on taking advantage of luggage forwarding and taxis if need be.

8. If they’re comfortable being naked in front of others (same gender), then taking them to an onsen or sento is always a great option. If they’re not, you can still book a family bath for a private experience for less than an hour for around $20. I know my mother would have killed me for making her hike up yamadera if I didn’t have an onsen experience waiting for her right after it. Foot baths are always nice too to rest aching feet if you don’t want the full changing hassle. Arashiyama station has one too which would be nice after all that walking and there’s a foot massage place near fushimi inari with cute personal floral foot baths and massage.

9. Do they work full time on their feet or routinely walk more than 10,000 steps a day? My grandparents were active at the age, but couldn’t stay on their feet ten hours a day every day like some of their friends did.

   I think the best thing to do is to make a half day plan for each day and make a list of things they can do within ten minute’s walk from their hotel.

10. Parks! Some charge a small admission fee if they have a garden:

    * Hama-Rikyu
    * Inokashira
    * Asukayama
    * Rikugien

    I also saw ikebana class in aoyama that seems English friendly.