Good suggestion. When once arranged wheelchair help for my NY Dad (when he was in his 80s, traveling alone). He was still pretty active then, maybe even still skiing at the time. But I knew he’d have trouble on the connection, especially since his hearing is not great when asking for directions. He graciously agreed, but I braced myself for complaints upon his arrival in Denver. Instead he was overjoyed with the experience. He had just 45 minutes for connection in Cincinnati, and he said he would have never made it on his own. The wheelchair helper knew the complicated route to the next gate and ran across the airport to get them there.
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Yes, the pushers have helped us make some tight connections and can breeze through TSA and customs if you have Global Entry.
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I just read that the dollar is falling, in comparison to currencies like the euro, in anticipation of big tariffs hitting the US. Glad I booked and paid for my foreign travel already. We also delayed selling our Kubota tractor, because if there are large tariffs on foreign products, we’ll get a better selling price. I was anticipating inflation on purchases in my future, but I hadn’t really considered that the dollar could crash and the cost of travel could be even more expensive.
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My son just went skiing in Canada this weekend. I’ll bet he’s glad he completed his trip yesterday.
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I don’t know where you got that from. The dollar fell because tariffs are not expected immediately:
The dollar fell broadly Monday, after The Wall Street Journal reported President-elect Donald Trump won’t impose new tariffs on his first day in office
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I think I got that reversed. Apparently the dollar did a big run up in November, in anticipation of big tariffs, and now it’s easing because they are supposedly going to be delayed. Maybe someone was finally able to get through to the new administration that trade wars don’t help anyone, and tariffs make things more expensive for the consumer. Travel has been very cheap in Europe for Americans lately, and I really hope that doesn’t change.
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We’ll see about what becomes more expensive for consumers, but a stronger dollar doesn’t just make foreign travel cheaper, it makes imports cheaper as well.
The dollar is close to its high over the last 5 years (and foreign travel was a lot less convenient in 2022), before that you have to go back to 2002 when it was so highly valued. And the US has got vastly richer compared to most other countries over those 20 years. So we are likely to continue to be in a very advantageous environment for outbound international travel from the US, particularly to Europe:
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I hope you’re right. Our last couple of trips to Europe have been very cheap, with the dollar so high.
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I just told my husband this weekend that we should plan more travel to places where the dollar is doing well. I seem to recall going to Canada when the US dollar wasn’t worth as much as the Canadian (many years ago).
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Canada was a good deal for us when we traveled to Revelstoke and Banff almost 2 years ago to ski.
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I love how you are making such great trips using your ski passes. My husband just used his Ikon pass last week in Mammoth. He has a friend who loves to go. I’ve never enjoyed skiing. I think if I had learned when I was young it might have helped.
I did book Italy tickets yesterday for May.
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We used to take the kids to ski for a couple of weeks each year at Sunshine Village and Lake Louise (both in Banff). Great trips.
We are now planning a trip to meet ShawD in Japan and Korea for a couple of weeks. I think we will try to do some cycling in Japan.
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Just a quick musing. ShawWife and I are in Sanibel Island and we just went out to dinner and all of the people looked old to us (we are 68 and 70). I think they looked much older than us. I worked all morning on a couple on a couple of my advisory engagements and then we bicycled to Captiva Island for lunch and back (not a tough cycle because it is completely flat – the highest elevation we reach is 7 ft above sea level and that is the bridge between Sanibel and Captiva). But, I wonder if we are now the old people too or just feel a lot younger than the folks in the restaurant.
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Chronological age is a funny thing. It can be much higher than “biological” age. My H had an uncle who invited us and an entire banquet room full of people to his 100th birthday. He stood up all night, unaided by a cane or any other assistive device. He had conversations, laughed, hugged, and had a wonderful evening. He died later that year. Other people I know are in their 50s or 60s and are much frailer than H’s uncle was that night (heck, even his son who is in his 70s now appears frailer). H’s uncle had been a butcher before he retired and woke early every morning to catch the bus to Chinatown to buy groceries and then caught the bus back home, where he lived alone. He was driving until he decided to donate his car to a grandson who needed one—the car was in perfect condition at the time. Was H’s uncle “old?” Undoubtedly, as he was 100. He was still very fit and interested and engaged in life.
I’m on a national org’s Board of Directors. One of our emeritus members is over 100 and still doing research and writing articles and pointing out the latest research to other scientists. He is more physically frail than he was when I met him over a decade ago, but his mind is still very sharp.
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It’s when a side-eyed glance catches a reflection in the glass of some older person that looks so familiar, and then you realize it’s you!!! OMG, I see my mother in my face so often now!
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My mother resigned from several national charity boards at age 90 because she was finding the trip from NJ to NY for the board meetings to be too taxing. She was not finding the work to be too taxing.
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What’s worse is when you see your mother from the backside. 
The diet starts tomorrow! 
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Or the side! I’m starting to get that square look!
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Nooo! Stop looking sideways in the mirror! Must be something wrong with the mirror, I think.
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I will avoid details that would make this a political post. But feeling a bit blue over concerns about being an American traveling abroad this year. Any suggestions for a good US warm weather getaway in March?
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