Anyone else finding travel harder the older you get?

Retirement age for people my age is 67 or 68, noy 60.

Also because many countries got richer in the last decade or so and can now afford to travel.

I’m 55 and just about to go in my 8th foreign trip this year, I absolutely love travelling.

I've always found travel hard. It's tiring and stressful. It's harder for those of us who can't just sleep anywhere at any time or who can't sleep on our backs. As we get older having the right kind of mattress becomes important, we get tired more easily and are less flexible and not everyone has more money when they're older to get better quality transport and accommodation options.
I think what you're feeling is quite normal.

For us, it's the sheer busy-ness, crowdedness, etc., i.e. too many people, that gets us. Right from leaving home, roads are congested, the transfer bus from the car park to the terminal is full and standing, huge queues and baggage drop, huge queues in the security hall, queues for shops, drinks and food, crowded departure lounge areas, queues for boarding, queues for the toilets, when you get there, queues for immigration/passport control, congestion in the baggage reclaim, queues at the car hire desks. It's such a relief to actually get to your accommodation, as long as there isn't a queue at reception. Then queues and congestion at breakfast the next morning. Not enough sun loungers round the pool. Day out to the water park and there's a sodding queue for the plastic doughnuts (not enough of them), then you're queueing for every ride. It just goes on and on.

It's awful really. Everything is cramped and crowded, too many people, never enough staff, nothing is big enough for the number of people they're crowding in.

Never used to be so bad. We started going abroad in the 1980s and it was sheer bliss. Airports were far more pleasant places - never as many people, barely any queues, shopping, eating & drinking were a pleasure - not having to muscle and nudge your way through hoards of people. More leg room on planes meaning fewer people. Hotels had more staff, hardly ever queues, dining rooms of a sensible size in proportion to hotel size, plenty of sun beds, etc.

It's definitely a "people" problem, ie the number of passengers/holiday makers has increased massively, mostly due to population increase, but roads, airport facilities, hotels, etc., havn't grown in proportion and most have now adopted the "pile em in" mentality. It's just not pleasurable anymore. Too many people everywhere.

It isn’t. I’m 60 and this year I did several trips - long distance train, plane, mini bus. None of it exhausted me.

OP yes menopause can bring on aches but not often to the point you seem to be suffering.

'I think it's the sheer size of some airports that I find exhausting. Heathrow is colossal. Obviously it's fine if you are young and fit, and it's fine if you get assistance, but what about all the other people, that are somewhere in between? The amount of walking was insane!'

This comment in particular has me concerned fit your overall health. Heathrow is not 'colossal' abs ffs walking is not 'insane'. If you think it is then this sounds like you do very little movement in your day to day life. Regular exercise whilst not always easy will make a difference to your menopause pain. You may have to work around certain areas when they are especially bad but at 55 you should not be finding Heathrow colossal or require insane levels of walking. Might you consider your lack of fitness is the major problem here?

At one time Schiphol was referred to as London's 3rd airport for long haul!

We did that kind of trip a few times when still at the chalkface, I recall a delayed return flight which meant that I phoned a colleague who picked me up from the railway station nearest to school travelling from the airport and I went straight into a training day! I think I spent a lot of time snoozing on the back row. The 'secret' maybe is that we were a bit younger, 50s probably.

Yes I do, more the being cooped up, too hot, waiting around as I'm a fidget!

My Dad well into his 70s had no issue with a backpack, sleeping in airports, buses etc.

What planes/wheelie are you using? I've never seen a wheelie bag fit under a seat 🫤

We were still making long haul, fairly active trips prior to my OH's death at the start of Lockdown 1, no Covid connection, and we were in our 70s. We simplified the trip a lot by flying via Schiphol from our little local airport, much less walking around and we could be from wheels down to home in less than an hour! Factoring in driving down to Heathrow or Gatwick, possibly an overnight hotel, parking costs etc it worked out far cheaper and less time, the US staff used to find it a bit odd, especially when we said that we flew over our house to Amsterdam then came back.

Ah, I think that's the difference maybe. I am very much looking forward to being able to travel when I'm no longer working full time and am not already knackered before I've even got to the airport.

I hadn't travelled by plane for about a decade. Bloody hell, things have changed. What I found difficult were the sheer volume of people and the number of queues. When I went, there were queues for queues! Honestly, it was jammed packed, we actually got stuck on one side of the hall (before security) to get to the other side because there was a huge bottleneck of people queuing to get to the security queue.

I just remember thinking that if the fire alarm goes off, there's going to be pandemonium.

60’s Go Go Go
70’s Slow Slow Slow
80’s No No No

I’m 65 but a bit disabled. I always book assistance at airports. I’m obsessed with luggage and constantly on the search for the best travel options.

@CurlyhairedAssassin It's called being retired!

Same question to you - are you using all your annual leave up to do that or are you teachers?

How come you have that much annual leave? If you work in a school and did that in school summer holidays, you need to tell me your secret because that kind of trip without any rest during the summer holidays would just about finish me off. 😩

The tour details usually tell you if there’s a lot of walking involved and whether it’s suitable for people with mobility issues.

Not harder, but more bothersome.
Gives me very little, so I do it very little.

I can use a rollator to get off the ship in ports. I book a wheelchair to actually board and disembark. I can usually manage 'easy' tours. My dh shoves my backside up on to the coaches and I use a stick to stagger around.

I'm mid 50's and I get sweaty (thyroid) and out of breath (asthma) walking up the hill from the airport car park to the departure hall dragging a suitcase in the summer but no aching, and I walk fast.

However it does take me maybe 3 days to recover from the journey and a couple of hours time difference.

I figure when I retire I will be able to take my time more and don't have to squeeze holidays into one or two weeks and rush back to work.

I do book extra leg room though as I need it and take creature comforts with me, flight socks, hand cream, noise cancelling headphones, neck pillow if it's an airline without an adjustable head rest. And I travel light, usually a medium case and small handbag, or a cabin case and a backpack

I'd check into HRT and take up yoga or pilates to keep your joints flexible.

I was always quite good at packing light but now I'm 55 I pack as little as possible, and wear layers. If I need to I'll buy something while I'm out there or wash my stuff, but mostly I find I don't need to. I'd still check in a bag rather than haul a big carryon around the airport. I'm also much keener on going by train (obviously not long haul). If I'm flying I'll spend money on things like a parking space near departures. I feel like travelling costs a fortune anyway so if I can afford that I'll make it easier on myself.

Do you do weights training at all, or at least body circuit stuff like bridging and planking? Makes a huge difference.

Are you generally very unfit? I am only a couple of years younger than you and I have very recently done massive long haul flights and then a very active holiday and was absolutely fine.

And I agree, why the airports so bloody big. It feels like you are walking for absolute miles from one end to the other.

Geometry.

It’s down to the number of aircraft that need accommodating at one time (potentially close to 100 plus at some really big airports) and then the fact you need maybe a minimum 75-100 metres between the centre line of each gate - it adds up to big distances.

Best you can do from a passenger POV is subdivide into multiple terminals and then hopefully put in lots of moving walkways or similar to reduce the effort needed to move around.