Holiday for elderly M

[GlobalTravellerbutespeciallyBognor]

I’m looking for advice and ideas regarding taking an elderly parent away on a week’s holiday.

My M is nearly 90, has travelled extensively throughout her life but now, realistically, is restricted to Europe. She likes holidays with something stimulating to do eg historical trips but she can’t walk miles and miles each day or do a huge amount uphill.

Multi centre would be good but not changing location every single night.

Ideally the trip would involve groups with others to talk to at dinner as conversation between us would dry up otherwise.

Budget is flexible. Happy to fly or take trains.

Many thanks for any thoughts.

Might she like a cruise?

Cruises are set up for this, saga specifically have itineraries which are suitable for those in just your mum’s position and provide pick ups from your house too

River cruises , my parents did 2 river cruises. The average age was 75, so they are aimed at that age group.
Think they did the Rhine and Danube

Came on to say river cruise - they’re the opposite of ocean cruises, you moor up (usually in/near town centre) in the daytime, stay put overnight, move on the next day so you’re enjoying the scenery. There’s the Rhine/danube, Porto, Avignon/lyon… lots to choose from. Loads of history.

Another recommendation for Saga cruises. My mum was exactly the same and for her last few years. No fly.door to door transport.

Thank you for the various suggestions which are all very good ones. Unfortunately, the reason I’m stuck is that my M and F went on many many cruises together, including some of the ones mentioned. My M is not keen on Saga as it’s for old people. Hence the problem.

Have a look at Railbookers.

Great Rail Journeys?
Riviera do a great river cruise on the Rhone.

I know that as we age, we still feel we're "young", but at 90 does your DM really feel she's not one of those "old people"?

What's her suggestions as to what sorts of trip she'd like to take and is physically able to participate in?

A cruise would be perfect. Be careful of river cruises as a friend told me that they had to climb over another boat to get off as they were moored next to each other.

I did a few holidays with my mother when she was late 80s/early 90s. Most successful was one with Newmarket Holidays to Tuscany, staying in Montecatini Terme - if we didn’t want to do a tour we could always go the the various spas etc. A Saga one to Prague, Budapest and Vienna wasn’t as good, but I think some of that was down to a poor tour guide. Titan Travel do various tours which state activity level - two centre Tuscany one here Titan.

We also went racing at Chantilly - I’m not into racing but the town etc is breathtakingly beautiful and we travelled by train from the North West which I found easier than airports as she got older.

My mother did have excellent mobility and would never say when something was too much - sadly a fall at 96 (she didn’t feel well and thought a walk to the bakers to buy a croissant would make her feel better) put paid to holidays, so enjoy them whilst you can.

I’m afraid so and, while quite funny, it is also dangerous as this attitude means she takes on things she absolutely shouldn’t.
As for what she wants to do, she doesn’t want to suggest things as she knows the toll being away takes on my family life. We are more than happy to do it though. A lot of second guessing as you can see.

There are some great ideas here which I will follow up, thank you.
I’m sorry to hear about your mother’s fall at 96. What an absolute shame as she sounds a wonderful character.

Thinking about it, the latest Saga brochure does state it’s for ‘fifties plus’ so while shocking to me 😂 that might make those holidays more palatable to my M.

Thank you all so far and any more ideas gratefully received. X

Good point! At nearly 90 there'll be people her age whose grandchildren qualify for Saga, so it's really quite an age range.

Otherwise, what about Palma? The flight is short and the city itself is quite flat. Plenty to see there but wouldn't have to be a massive schlep about every day, and you could mix things up by having a day trip on the vintage train to Soller then doing the various boat trips and cultural tours of the rest of the island. Mallorca itself isn't that big so maybe not multi centre, but there's ferries there so you could tag a couple of days in Ciutadella on at the end. Loads of history and beauty there.

Did she ever do Norway cruises with Hurtigruten?

Steve Marsh on YouTube has recently posted doing Hurtigruten so you can have a good look at that if your DM hasn’t done that route before.

MIL used to take bus tours to Europe with a friend.

Yes even grandchildren - maybe we should all buy shares in Saga.

Thank you re Palma - she’s been but I haven’t actually.

No but I will look them up. The Nordic region would also be good for various reasons.

I will investigate, thank you.
Most of my M’s friends either don’t have the mobility or are not available for holidays as they have commitments visiting husbands in care homes.