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How do you plan for summer vacations?
Many people travel or at the very least take time off during the summer months. How do you plan for periods of time when your usual (hired) caregiver(s) take time off? If you travel during the summer, do you bring your caregiver with you?
If you receive care from (unpaid) family members, how do you work together to ensure they get time off to rest & enjoy the summer?
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21 Replies
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We enjoy the outdoors and love hiking in particular. Living in northern New Mexico, that means we must train for our vacations in the gym by incorporating regular, sustained fine footwork exercises on the Bosu and with the agility ladder into our routines. We also do core body work and squats and all kinds of work that enhance our proprioception. Diet is important to us, so we stay at lodges with kitchens so we may cook our own meals.
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Sounds like you have a really great summer ahead of you, DrMoonpie! I bet northern New Mexico is a stunning place to spend time outdoors. Your training program to prepare sounds challenging and effective, too. Enjoy!
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I love to discover new places and especially new countries. Planning to visit Asia this winter
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That’s awesome, Alex. Which part of Asia will you be visiting? How long of trip is it from your home?
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First of all, I check prices for the tickets to find the best deals and ensure we stay within our budget. Next, I look into visa requirements; for example, for our upcoming trip to Canada, we needed to obtain an ETA https://etacanada.co.th/. This step is crucial to avoid any last-minute complications. Third, I research different accommodations, comparing prices, locations, and amenities to find the best place to stay. I also check prices for car rentals to ensure we have convenient transportation for exploring our destination.
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I’m from Canada, Alex! Which part of the country will you be visiting?
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My family loves to spend time outdoors, so I think we’ll spend our vacation somewhere in nature with our pets. We have two big dogs, and we can’t leave them alone, so we’ll take them with us. For this purpose, I am already preparing the necessary first aid kits for both us and the animals. For the dogs, I also collect goodies and supplies for grooming that I found here Pet Prescription Without Vet. I think it is very important to take care not only of us humans, but also of our pets.
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That sounds so fun, Mia! I love that your pets get to join in the fun, too.
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When planning summer vacations, I usually start by determining my schedule and the caregiver’s availability. If the usual caregiver is taking time off, I either arrange for a backup caregiver or coordinate with family members to ensure there’s no gap in care. When traveling, I don’t usually bring a caregiver along. Instead, I look for local services at my destination. For family caregivers, it’s essential to communicate and plan together to ensure they also get time to relax. We set up a schedule that allows everyone some downtime.
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Hi Sussan, how do you find and vet caregivers at your destination? Are there any sites or apps you use that you would recommend?
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Everyone needs a chance to relax and enjoy the summer. Where were you this summer?
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In one word: poorly. No, it’s not that bad, but I hate planning and put it off as long as possible. But PD has made some changes. We took an 800 mile (one way) road trip recently to see our son. We had a suitcase full of our various meds. We allowed three days to get there, spent the weekend with him, turned around and did the home leg in two days, though we had planned on three. It was a fatiguing journey, but we both prefer driving to flying, and if we need to stop and take a walk we can. It’s hard to walk a mile on an airplane.
The biggest roadblock to any travel is doctor appointments. Scarcely a week goes by without one of us having at least one must-do doctor appointment. We have to block out a couple of appointment free weeks to go anywhere.
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I totally understand! Planning can be overwhelming, especially when you have to consider doctor appointments and medication schedules. It’s great that you were able to make the road trip to see your son, though! The flexibility of driving must have been a big help. I hope you both got some rest and relaxation during your trip, despite the fatigue.
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The biggest issue I had with my late wife who had PD balance problems was on long driving trips of 8-9 hours covering 500 miles from MD to Ohio which required several rest stops. Since we had been on this route many times, I tried to make sure the available rest stops had family type facilities, but not all have them. And at least outside entry one in MD (interstate 70) that did was locked with no sign indicating how to access. So that is where I was concerned with her entering the rest room by herself as well as some smaller ones without family facilities.
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I understand. That was one of the things I was least prepared for when my husband and I went to a family wedding last year. We had not traveled at all since his health started failing nine years ago. I don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me that we wouldn’t know where bathrooms were or if they would even have family bathrooms. Also, I was surprised by how exhausted he would be after a few hours in the car even though he had slept for almost the entire time. It really wore him down.
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I feel like there’s a business opportunity here… an app or online guide or add-on to existing map apps that shows people where to find accessible washrooms. Seriously, it would help so many people!!
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I try to plan ahead by finding backup care when my regular caregiver takes time off. If I travel, sometimes I bring the caregiver with me. For family help, we just work together to make sure everyone gets some time to relax and enjoy the summer.
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Thanks for replying, Cary. How do you and your family like to relax and enjoy time together in the summer? Do you find the weather has any impact on the kinds of summer activities you can do together?
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For summer vacations, we’ve found sell off vacations https://selloffvacations.pissedconsumer.com/review.html to be a great resource. They help us book travel packages that include caregiver accommodations, so my father’s regular caregiver can join us. It takes the stress out of coordinating coverage during that time. My family members also coordinate time off so we can all recharge together.
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I like the name! haha…thanks for sharing, I’m going to look into it
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That’s a great tip. Thanks!
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