On a trip to Australia, Boomer- and senior-lifestyle expert Adriane Berg met a woman who had early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The woman was making the trip while she was still able to, before the disease progressed further. That inspired Berg to create the www.AgelessTraveler.com website for, as the website's tagline says, "Lifelong travel made easy."
Travel for older adults can be fraught with difficulties, as Berg discovered when she took her 89-year-old mother on a trip to Utah. "We discovered that the airports were nerve-wracking for her, even though she was very competent," Berg tells Selling to Seniors. "We could have prepared her better to get around, to use a wheelchair, which she didn't want to do, and to understand how to get through security, which she had never done before."
Facilitating Lifelong Travel
The mission of AgelessTraveler.com is to facilitate lifelong travel through understanding, education, advocacy, access and social interactions. The site helps consumers explore all types of travel, from travel with family and friends to second honeymoons to educational travel to "voluntourism" in life-enriching venues. Berg, who has done extensive travel writing and is passionate about travel herself, works with her business partners to research and reveal where there are pitfalls to safe and accessible travel, where the best in easy adventure is available and where large travel venues like airports and stadiums pose challenges that travelers can overcome.
In terms of advocacy, Berg and her team work with the hospitality and transportation industries to improve accessibility at major travel destinations. The site also offers online and telephone coaching to help travelers physically prepare for trips. And finally, as a part of www.LongevityClubOnLine.com, the site has a social page and a call-in Internet radio show so that travelers can meet one another and exchange travel ideas. AgelessTraveler.com's own social page and a "blogtalk" radio show are slated to begin in the summer of 2010.
Travel-Companion and Medical-Alert Services
Berg is working with home-healthcare providers to develop an AgelessTraveler.com travel-companion service. "These travel partners all go through Ritz-Carlton's customer service training. They are trained not only as healthcare providers, but they also have top-of-the-line hospitality training, helping to create a wonderful travel experience."
The travel companions provide health support and care for all medical needs, help with morning and/or evening routines, carry luggage, work with hospitality people, transport the consumer around town and provide good company for activities.
Berg also has made an arrangement with a group called Wellness Partners. "For $125 a year, you can get all of your medical alerts available anywhere in the world," Berg says. "You can get jetted away to a healthcare facility of your choice in the event that you get sick while you're abroad."
