Tips for old-fogie travelers from another old-fogie who has just returned from his first trip abroad after a thirteen years abstinence!
(1)Window seats on airplanes are wonderful but perhaps not the best for old- fogies whose legs and prostrates are not what they were 30- 40-,50 years ago .The WC is easily available for those on the aisle ..só are healthy walk abouts.
(2)A small laptop computer in your baggage and a cellphone/iPhone which works far from home are essential today! No excuses including overweight baggage.
And if there is no cybercafé nearby, pack in even a small printer.
Other abilities required today are those this observer lacks: reading maps, GPS, and exact planning of what one will do on one´s visit to wherever.
When I—Rip Van Winkle(?) former globetrotter– last travelled abroad, booking flights, reserving theater or concert seats, reserving a restaurant were either done in person with experts or with a telephone call. For better or worse today, everything is done online and if the old-fogie traveler lacks computer or cellphone skills, mistakes can be made.
(This traveler mistakenly booked online two reservations for the same day at one hotel. Fortunately, the hotel was kind enough to correct the mistake).
(3) Airbnb may be cheaper in the long run for staying away from home by booking an apartment, but who will help the non-expert with online necessities?ALso heat in apartments are not guaranteed!
The concierge at our modest hotel re-confirmed our airline and seat booking, even printing out the results, called our taxis (when Uber didn’t seem to work) and even indicated the tourist bureau where it turned out seats at the opera—previously unavailable on our computer search—were miraculously found for us (best seats in the house)
This patient assistance occurred in old Vienna …would the same attention be possible in Paris or New York City?
As they say in Brazil, ”Barato sai caro,” or “Cheap is dear.”
(4) Study the language of where you are about to visit.
Obvious?
My poor German— “learned” fifty years ago when I was a music student in Germany– was indeed rusty and I guess I didn´t study the language of Goethe, Mozart, JStrauus and Beethoven during the long pandemic because I never believed I would be really travelling to a German-speaking nation.
The cellphone ´s Google translator helps but …study the language of where you are going!
(5) Don’t book online everything in advance but perhaps an event or two should be reserved.
Planning is indeed important but this former globetrotter prefers the old-fashioned way of German philosopher Walter Benjamin.
“Benjamin belonged to a time when there was no GPS and perhaps not even tourist maps. Still less were the contemporary obsessions with knowing everything and always being prepared: the best times to visit this or that museum, whether or not it will rain in the summer, or if there´s Uber in a given city and so on,
Instead, Benjamin believed in vagrancy(“flaneur”) and spontaneity, He trusted in surprise and he that frequently, knowledge and experience arise with the unexpected.” (Google:Faenaaleph)
(6) The most famous restaurants are not always the best. I booked in advanced to eat at the restaurant where Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert one dined. It was fantastic to be greeted at the entrance by my first name with a table reserved in a claustrophobic area (I asked to change). But the food tasted as if it was made in the last century or two …awful!
(7) Prepare for your trip prior with yoga, Tai chi, Pilates and/or acupuncture
The knees and ankles of this former globetrotter are not what they were 30-40-50 years ago …. I found particularly useful yoga and Pilates to prepare me for walking the streets of Vienna, climbing four steep flights of stairs to Beethoven´s house, walking (or even running) the seemingly endless walkways to catch my plane (airlines change the entry places for takeoffs at the last minute) or getting my baggage.
Be prepared: being a world traveler today or even tourist is not for beginners!
Bon voyage –it is worth getting out even for a short while out of one´s daily routine!