In the news

Recently Go Astro Travel has been featured in a couple of news articles. Here they are with a little commentary on each. It's interesting being interviewed for these stories because you're never quite sure what will be published or what the slant of the story will actually be.

Insurance

This article called Why you need to buy travel insurance for your next trip, especially if you’re an older traveler quotes me emphasizing the need for travel medical insurance. There's no question that getting medical care while traveling can be very expensive and is rarely adequately covered by credit cards or medicare.

Go Astro Travel says.....:

But the article implies a few things that I want to address:

• Insurance is for seniors. While it's true insurance appeals to people more as they age (or as I say when people get wiser), it can also be more expensive. As such, younger travelers can get great value from insurance. And the reasons to cancel a trip are just as valid for younger travelers than seniors.
• Insurance is primarily for medical reasons. So yes, medical care and evacuation insurance is absolutely necessary in my opinion. But so is cancellation, trip delay and trip interruption insurance. We all know "stuff happens". In my opinion the cost of insurance is well worth the peace of mind. As a business, Go Astro Travel almost always recommends travel insurance.
• "Policies are really more similar than they are different" according to one source quoted in the article. I disagree, having sold many different policies. Key differences include if the policy is a primary or secondary policy, the amount of benefits offered, what's a covered reason, if the policy includes cancel for any reason, right to work provisions or is age based.

Finally, I want to remind readers that this is not just hyperbole. When we travel, I purchase exactly the same travel insurance policies as I sell. And I require all my clients to send me written statement if they don't wish to purchase insurance. That's how strongly I believe in the product.

Traveling as a Senior

This article called Why you're never too old to travel describes some options regarding traveling as we age. Go Astro Travel specializes in river cruises and as such I do have a lot of clients over 60. But I also have plenty of honeymooners as well as families as clients.

I get lots of comments about the picture used. It was actually taken in Vietnam as part of our March 2018 AmaWaterways Vietnam and Cambodia river cruise trip. Somehow, though seeing my own picture under the headline of "too old" is a little disconcerting. But we all have to come to terms with our age.

Ironically that particular trip's demographics were a little younger than some of the other trips we take. Many of the river cruises we take have average ages 60 and below. But we were just on an Oceania cruise to the southern Caribbean out of Miami which clearly appealed to an older crowd.

Active seniors

I remember going on my first river cruise up the Rhine River. I was in my 50's and we were hiking up a path to get to a castle. Castles tend to be built on the high ground. In the 15th century, they really didn't consider tourist access in their design. So it was a fairly arduous hike. And I vividly remember being passed by some 70 year-olds who I had previously thought as "old".

There's so many people in the 70's and 80' s and beyond that are just so much more active than the stereotype "senior citizen".

Go Astro Travel advice for seniors

My advice in general for seniors is to:

• Build in some down time in the itinerary
• Wearing the right shoes is particularly important
• Be flexible. If you get up feeling less than your usual sprite safe, you may want to change planned activities

Want to know more?

This blog has lots of information on insurance. Here's some suggestions:

• Top 8 reasons to buy travel protection?
• Should I get travel insurance part 1?
• Should I get travel insurance part 2?
• and Should I get travel insurance part 3?

And for those interested in learning about Vietnam, here's our trip blog from our Vietnam and Cambodia trip