Safe back in SF area again

 If you have been sheltering in place the last year when you travel (Thank God!) and do something different than you have been doing the last year just expect "Sensory overload". It's as if we all have been inside a John Lilly sensory deprivation tank the last year somewhat. So, when you go and do something different now it is both extremely wonderful and extremely terrible at the same time. It's sort of like when I get up in the morning now at age 73. I'm in terrible pain for the first hour or two I'm awake so I sublimate the pain of being awake until I am moving around enough for my circulation to be okay again and then I'm fine hiking with our dog in the forest or walking along the beach with her.

But, I found traveling by my 4WD Truck all the way to Portland at 73 was quite a struggle to manage all that and the same with my wife after sheltering in place the last year pretty much. It's true that we visited Santa Barbara and Mt. Shasta several times in the last year but going the 11 hours or more by truck or car to Portland was quite a stretch for my wife and I and it took a lot out of us to do this. We don't regret going but it was definitely a struggle to visit our kids in Portland.

I'm realizing I don't want to be in a plane for 11 hours anymore either in one sitting. So, if and when I want to go to Europe again I'm thinking about flying to either Washington DC or New York and staying there for a few days before flying another 6 hours and 50 minutes to London or Amsterdam in Europe (London and Amsterdam are two of the hubs in Europe sort of like Chicago and Denver are hubs in the U.S. for flights across the U.S.

Anyway, what I'm saying was that we found what we experienced as either being wonderful in an overwhelming way or terrible in an overwhelming way.

So, if you are over 50 to 65 years old be very careful not to overwhelm yourselves with travel in ways you cannot really cope with anymore. Take enough time to rest in between experiences so you can keep your equilibrium while traveling.

Good overwhelm is almost as bad as bad overwhelm by the way at a certain age while traveling. Sensory overload becomes more of a problem as you travel, especially if you are not used to traveling much.

My favorite part about traveling is being forced to adapt to new situations and new people that you meet and visit along the way but not everyone is like me in this. But, this forced adaptation also keeps your mind active and functional much longer into old age too.