@grandmar I travel almost as much as I like. There are a few things I have missed because I just could not get everything worked out or did not have a companion to go with me. Sometimes I cannot do something because there are just too many things too close together. Some of the things I feel I need include: a companion, well-coordinated flights and rides, easily available healthy food, short travel times with recovery times built in, and information on medical services available.

For an example I will use the month of May. I need to return to Mayo, Rochester, MN (a 10 hour trip) for follow-up on my kidney status. The testing is arduous for me so I request to have my lab tests drawn the day before my physician appointments. I like to schedule my trip so that we can drive down in two 5 hour segments, stopping midway to visit with our oldest. Then I can sometimes get a day of rest, get labs and other testing done on Tuesday and meet with physicians on Wednesday. If there are any additional tests or consultations they want to add on we still have a couple days left in the week.

There is a crafting weekend on the outskirts of Minneapolis, MN the weekend of May 19th which I have opted out of because the following weekend, May 26-27, we are going to a wedding in New York. We will fly out on the 24th, I will have a day to rest and a day to putter around a bit followed by the day of the wedding and finishing up with a BBQ reception the day after the wedding. We will fly home the 29th and I will be wiped out and happy.

Even though I would dearly like to go to the craft weekend and reconnect with friends, I know that I do not have the stamina to do that and get to the wedding activities the following weekend.

Just know yourself and you an get things worked out. We may dare another trip to Hawaii or Brazil in a few years if I continue to improve. Time will tell. Maybe I will be the "old one" that everybody has to come visit. lol

I make sure I pack 2 filled weekly medication planners for trips expected to last up to 7 days. If the trip is planned for 10-14 days I will take 3 filled weekly planners. I have been lucky up to now with being able to get refills I need if I run out, but that is getting harder and harder with all the prescription abuse that is going on now. I have never allowed travelling to become an issue because I have always prepared for every probability. At this stage of my life I love my home and enjoy spending time in the comfort, beauty and functionality we have worked so hard to put together. Every day I can look out my huge picture windows and see the changing seasons, plants and birds that flock to our feeder.

I do not feel cheated that i have not traveled more or that it is difficult now. I have always looked forward to the next thing that will come into my life. I am one of the rare people that completed my lifetime goals before the age of 40, so everything now is coasting downhill.