Can anyone help me, help my Dad ?

pennylane99

also he should let his credit card issuer know when/where he is travelling, so they dont think his card has been stolen or cloned, and they put a block on it...

duchy

Hiya Murph
Maybe the fact that your own recent tour was very much an adventure is daunting him a bit. Speaking as an ex travel agent who booked loads of people on these type of tours-he has nothing to worry about. Titan take good care of their travellers and will spell out endlessly the do's and don't of places and most people who choose to go on tours will be like him-on a first or second trip (otherwise they'd be going it alone anyway) and people who book tours are pretty social anyway. If he wants company it'll be there but usually if people want "me time" too it's respected.
Good point about the card-I travel enough that I don't usually bother telling the bank anymore-but my last trip-they blocked it !

SugarSpun

pennylane99 wrote: »

also he should let his credit card issuer know when/where he is travelling, so they dont think his card has been stolen or cloned, and they put a block on it...

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago - I turned up in Copenhagen at midnight and couldn't pay for my hostel!

eileenfromplaistow

As a 50 something who has only been taking short breaks abroad with my sister for the last couple of years, I can sort of see where your dad is coming from. We book separates, and I worry for weeks beforehand about the little things - how much money to take, where are we going to park, how to get from the airport, where to eat........ So, my advice would be (in addition to the wisdom of those before me)
1 Don't keep asking him what he wants to do about money etc...Sort out some cash to get him started and a credit card,
2 Find the best deal for travel insurance for him
3 Make sure he has a book to read / puzzle book&pen/guide book, for those quiet times when he needs to amuse himself
4 Photocopy his passport/ insurance documents/ travel schedule... and put them in a wallet in his main bag. I always keep the originals on my person.
5 Write some sticky labels out with the addresses of people he can send postcards to

Once he is in the thick of it, he will be fine, and there will be no stopping him

Murphy_The_Cat

Tojo_Ralph wrote: »

....
A major factor in me being totally comfortable when I am travelling is my travel bag and assuming your Dad will have a similar bag on the coach with him, you might want to consider getting your Dad to familiarise himself with it and its contents as much as possible so that he knows exactly where everything is, i.e. passport, paperwork, pills n potions, juice, sunblock, phone, camera, etc, etc ..... so that he gets used to the fact that whilst he may well be outwith his comfort zone, all he really needs on a day to day basis is close to hand.

Thank you very, very much, all of the people who have helped me and my Dad. I'll go through them post by post and say how I've got on.

We've sorted out his carryon bag and his document wallet. But we've still go to show him around the digital camera and spare batteries.

Murphy_The_Cat

mumofjusttwo wrote: »

Hopwe that your Dad has a great time.

i s it worth your dad using his credit card over here a couple of tie just so that hew can get used to it (although I don't think that they have chip & pin in America)

Maybe also let him have a play with your camera (if he hasn't already)so it will be one less thing for him to worry about.

He has used the card over here twice, but we've been telling him taht he'll need to carry ID with him in some US States for each time he uses his CC. He's taking his picture driving license, so that he doesn't need to carry his passport at all times - and we've told him about chip & pin.

Murphy_The_Cat

pennylane99 wrote: »

also he should let his credit card issuer know when/where he is travelling, so they dont think his card has been stolen or cloned, and they put a block on it...

He's done that one himself, via his bank branch :beer::j

Murphy_The_Cat

duchy wrote: »

Hiya Murph
Maybe the fact that your own recent tour was very much an adventure is daunting him a bit. Speaking as an ex travel agent who booked loads of people on these type of tours-he has nothing to worry about. Titan take good care of their travellers and will spell out endlessly the do's and don't of places and most people who choose to go on tours will be like him-on a first or second trip (otherwise they'd be going it alone anyway) and people who book tours are pretty social anyway. If he wants company it'll be there but usually if people want "me time" too it's respected.
Good point about the card-I travel enough that I don't usually bother telling the bank anymore-but my last trip-they blocked it !

Thanks for that duchy, it seemed to take a huge weight off his shoulders when I told him what you said. Also, he's come across another couple of people who have used Titan and they've told him just how good Titan are. Which is EXACTLY what he needed to hear.

Murphy_The_Cat

eileenfromplaistow wrote: »

As a 50 something who has only been taking short breaks abroad with my sister for the last couple of years, I can sort of see where your dad is coming from. We book separates, and I worry for weeks beforehand about the little things - how much money to take, where are we going to park, how to get from the airport, where to eat........ So, my advice would be (in addition to the wisdom of those before me)
1 Don't keep asking him what he wants to do about money etc...Sort out some cash to get him started and a credit card, I've advised him on how much cash money it is useful to have and made sure that he has a credit card AND advised them of USA use.
2 Find the best deal for travel insurance for him Done & booked (& surprisingly good value, especially with my Dad being over 70)
3 Make sure he has a book to read / puzzle book&pen/guide book, for those quiet times when he needs to amuse himself. The transfer to/from Heathrow is 6 hours so I've suggested that he takes a couple of books (in case he starts one and doesn't like that) for the journey. He says that in the airport won't be a problem as he'll be so excited watching the planes taking off and landing. Bless. He's travelling BA, so inflight entertainment is covered.
4 Photocopy his passport/ insurance documents/ travel schedule... and put them in a wallet in his main bag. I always keep the originals on my person. Done. Plus we've taken a copy of everything, including his itinerary and we're keeping it here.
5 Write some sticky labels out with the addresses of people he can send postcards to. Done. Plus we're doing a hotel check list for checking his hotel room before check out and doing a phone home list (although he doesn't think that he will be doing

Once he is in the thick of it, he will be fine, and there will be no stopping him. I really, really hope so. He was so excited tonight when we were going through stuff with him

cheers for all the suggestions so far.:j

If anyone has any others, please feel free to pitch in :beer:

Alikay

It's always pot-luck what your travelling companions are going to be like on these sort of holidays, but often, what brings out the worst in people is frustration at poorly-planned itineraries, guides who aren't too knowledgeable and low quality hotels and transport - and none of these should be an issue with Titan. When I was a travel agent they were always my first choice for customers like your dad - there are cheaper options, but Titan have been doing it for a long time and doing it very well IMO.

Just make sure that if he needs a bit of time alone, he knows it's not compulsory to socialise and it's OK to retreat to his room for an evening with a book and the TV. The only complaints I've heard is that the constant company sometimes gets exhausting...but that mainly tends to come from people who live alone.

I'm sure he'll have a fantastic time, and hopefully your mum might want to join him for his next trip!