'Travel Is Only Thing You Buy That Makes You Richer'

To see the happiness on their faces that only a travel experience can bring is priceless.

One of the greatest joys is to be able to accompany elderly parents with limited mobility to touristy places.

To board flights and ferries with them...

To see museums and parks...

To sit at beaches and drive around new places...

To marvel at historical sites...

To eat at local restaurants...

To see the happiness on their faces that only a travel experience can bring is priceless.

It is not unusual that some of our best memories as families are drawn from journeys we have taken to unknown places.

Long train rides, jumping into buses, steamers, taxis that took us to cities and towns that leapt out of the atlas and came alive from being just spots on the map.

The holidays would be planned by our parents during school holidays.

Suitcases would be packed, aloo sabzi and poori would be packed along with water bottles and a small glass -- travel was like a mini adventure.

Our parents would take turns carrying us around when our legs ached, or made us sleep on their laps on a bus seat.

They would rush to buy a comic book from the A H Wheeler at the train platform and made us sit by the prized window seat.

Now, the tables have turned.

We plan the holidays for our parents around the number of days we can take off from work.

We push them gently, slowly in a wheelchair.

We look for ramps and places that are kind to the elderly.

The pace of travel is much slower, the destinations need a careful think-through -- it takes some planning, but is not difficult to accomplish.

In doing so, we do a fraction of what they did for us, but they make such a big deal of it like only parents can do.

As parents age, walking some measure of a distance poses the biggest challenge.

My parents who walked from sunrise to sunset during their travels are no longer able to do so, but the love for travel still burns bright.

'Travel (noun), the only thing you buy that makes you richer' -- reads a plaque that sits on a mantle in our family home.

Old age does not mean you just stay at home believes my father whose spirit for travel far exceeds the strength in his lungs.

'Travel as much as you can, as long as you can. Spend money on travel, not on shopping,' is his advice.

Armed with that rocking thought, we have travelled with my parents who are in their 80s to several places -- and added to the family box of memories.

Here are some points that I have accumulated from such travels that may be useful for others in similar situations.

1. Book a flight with 100% wheelchair assistance. Sometimes, flights do not give you the option if there are already several wheelchair passengers booked. Do not book unless the wheelchair sign appears on the ticket during booking.
2. If unsure, call the airline and check. It is difficult to get wheelchairs at the airport if it does not say so on the boarding card.
   

   Paid wheelchairs are available at bigger airports, but are expensive. Airlines do not charge for wheelchairs.

3. It takes time to get wheelchairs at the entrance of the terminal. It is available at the check in counter, but if you want it from outside, go to the airline counter and show them the ticket. It will take some more time and needs some persuasion, but you will get it -- have patience.
4. Always arrive earlier than you would if you were travelling alone.
5. Select seats towards the front so that they don't have to walk much.
6. Prep them that they may be last to deplane after all passengers have disembarked.
7. It always helps to take the elderly to places that you have travelled to and are familiar with. It is useful in identifying places that are wheelchair friendly.
8. If you are not carrying your own wheelchair, book in hotels that keep wheelchairs for guest usage on the premises.
9. Ask for rooms on the ground floor or near the lift.
10. Request for interconnected rooms, elders love that because it feels like a cozy space of their own --and you are just a 'bete' call away.
11. Request for a plastic stool so that they can sit and shower.
12. E-mail the hotel or phone them before you arrive so that they know the urgency of your request.
13. Ask them if you can keep the wheelchair inside the room so that you don't have to phone for it each time you step out.
14. If the hotel is kind enough to allow you to take the wheelchair outside the premises, bless them and look after it well. It comes as a boon.
15. If not, hire a wheelchair. It comes with a daily rate.
16. Book a car with a large boot to carry the wheelchair when you go sightseeing. A willing and helpful driver comes as blessing. Tip him well.
17. Choose tourist sites that have wheelchairs and ramps, but remember there will always be some steps to manouever.
18. Don't hesitate to ask for plastic chairs and stools that are used by security staff at entry gates. Most staff and people in India are generally very helpful if you ask politely.
19. Outdoor sights like ghats, beaches are more difficult to access, but try and go till the point you can.
20. Select places that are not very crowded. Sound and light shows are good options.
21. Give elderly time to nap and try not to keep late nights -- and yes, take lots of pictures of them.

Travel is, after all, about memories.

Photographs curated by Rajesh Karkera, Anant Salvi/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff