Advice on holiday
- Thread starter sunlover
- Start date
How lovely for you to holiday there with friends. We went to France last year in august. It was a last minute 4 days to stay with son and his wife and 2 grand children. It was not very successful. He wasn't happy. Didn't like the queues at airport and became agitated. Was 10 times worse coming home and refused to get on train to go to the passport control. Refused to stand in queue again but it was worse than going out. On the beach he started pacing and wouldn't sit down. Wouldn't go in the sea. Once upon a time you could not have kept him out of the water. However he is at home, you must realise that he will be the same when you go away. That is the best advice I can offer. Sorry I'm not more helpful.Good luck.xx
Hello sunlover, we have gone to Tenerife for the last 30yrs, for winter sunshine, oh how l miss it now, we have not been for the last 2yrs. Last time we went Gatwick airport my husband would not take his jacket, belt, watch,ect., off to be scanned. He thought they would be stolen, when we got to the boarding gate, he thought we had just got off the plane in Tenerife, he was a nightmare on the plane, the whole month away was awful, that was the last time l took him away. Maybe your husband is not so bad as my husband was. I don't envy you!!!
Impossible question to answer without knowing him is my thinking.
He may be fine, it all goes well and you have a great time, but on the other hand it could all go completely wrong and be your worse nightmare.
I wouldn't take my wife for move than a few hours trip out and even then I would have someone else with me, but that's me not you.
So many things about a trip like that just make me wonder; what if you get a 12 hour delay at the airport, is he likely to "upset" other passengers on the plane, will he be able to cope with airport security searching him, can you get health insurance, can he use a toilet possibly alone in a strange airport, is the healthcare in Antigua any good with his condition if anything happened...I could go on.
All we know is he "has gone downhill since last year" that's very little information as we don't know what he was like last year! So it's impossible to say without knowing what that means.
My concerns are that should anything happen, despite his condition you might find airports and on board a plane a bad place to be if he did decide to "play up".
K
He may be fine, it all goes well and you have a great time, but on the other hand it could all go completely wrong and be your worse nightmare.
I wouldn't take my wife for move than a few hours trip out and even then I would have someone else with me, but that's me not you.
So many things about a trip like that just make me wonder; what if you get a 12 hour delay at the airport, is he likely to "upset" other passengers on the plane, will he be able to cope with airport security searching him, can you get health insurance, can he use a toilet possibly alone in a strange airport, is the healthcare in Antigua any good with his condition if anything happened...I could go on.
All we know is he "has gone downhill since last year" that's very little information as we don't know what he was like last year! So it's impossible to say without knowing what that means.
My concerns are that should anything happen, despite his condition you might find airports and on board a plane a bad place to be if he did decide to "play up".
K
This is interesting
http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/up...ecome-worlds-first-dementia-friendly-airport/
might be worth asking them how they will help you
http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/up...ecome-worlds-first-dementia-friendly-airport/
might be worth asking them how they will help you
As has already been said. A lot depends on how far down the road Hubby is with dementia. I am still able to take my OH on planes although haven't tried such a long flight as Antigua for some time. You do have to be very alert, especially when they want to use the men's room in the airport and I recommend you stand right outside and wait not pop into the ladies at the same time as I did once and had to run after him as he wandered off looking for me. Very frightening in a busy airport.
Had to make up Excuses as to why I was coming too and not staying saving our seats.
I also made an excuse that I was stretching my legs so that I stood up in the gangway when he went on the plane so he could find his seat when he came back. I hope you have a lovely holiday and as you are spending time with friends that must know the situation you should be able to have a bit of a well deserved rest yourself.
I was wondering if there is a system at airports to fast track PWD to avoid stress at security etc. I would love to go away again but O.H got very agitated the last time. He pushed passed queues
and got quite angry. Don,t think I am brave enough to go through it again on my own . He keeps saying when are we going away and I just make excuses for now.
and got quite angry. Don,t think I am brave enough to go through it again on my own . He keeps saying when are we going away and I just make excuses for now.
Would your husband use a wheelchair?
I used to take my husband through the airports in a wheelchair. I booked assistance with the airport ahead of time and it was always excellent. I would get him to the check in desk in the wheelchair and the staff took over from then. Before we had our own wheelchair we got one as soon as we arrived at the airport. There is usually an area where people who need assistance sit to wait for their escort. We were taken all the way through security and that made a massive difference. One through security I used to ask them to lave me with him so we could go into the shops or cafes. I then made my way to the gate with him and met the assistance again there. They then made sure we got on the plane.
Gatwick airport was fantastic! Thy gave me a pager so that when we wandered around the shops etc they would buzz us when it was time to back to the assistance area. We were taken from there.
The airline always made sure that there was assistance available at the airport at the other end too.
I can't praise it highly enough! The problem is if the person with dementia isn't keen to sit in a wheelchair. Good luck.
What a great idea!!
I too had a very stressful time with the whole airport experience and now can only go on a flight holiday if one of our children will come with us ..... fortunately our daughter is happy to do so ( well it is a free holiday for her ) ... Have you considered going as a 3 or 4 instead of a 2??? this dreadful desease changes our lives, but it doesn't mean we can't find ways to enjoy doing the things we like!!
Travelling with a parent with dementia
Mum mother was given mixed dementia diagnoses just under two years ago. She lost her husband (my father) 8 years ago. My mother has a mobility problems and cannot cope with the long walks on hard surfaces that many airports expect you to do these days. My advice is tell the air line you require help. They are required to support you these days. We are meet at the check in desk (some times after a short wait) and given assistance all the way through. If noise and bussel are a problem investigate airline lounges they can offer a little peace and quite but they do cost, but do ask if the lounge allows cares in for free. Also you could request an early or late boarding. Sitting still with people steaming passed is confusing enough for the inexperienced traveller, so a dementia sufferer could soon be upset. On the plane do tell the stewards of the situation, some times we had stewardess be alocated to looking after mum so she sees less new faces. I did read one post suggesting taking a family memeber along, my suggestion here is to have a chat with the about what you expect and give the a task like looking after the medication, it is simple and takes a task off you. Seem to have rambled on a bit, sorry if I have spelling errors but I am dyxlecsic so can always see my mistakes
Mum mother was given mixed dementia diagnoses just under two years ago. She lost her husband (my father) 8 years ago. My mother has a mobility problems and cannot cope with the long walks on hard surfaces that many airports expect you to do these days. My advice is tell the air line you require help. They are required to support you these days. We are meet at the check in desk (some times after a short wait) and given assistance all the way through. If noise and bussel are a problem investigate airline lounges they can offer a little peace and quite but they do cost, but do ask if the lounge allows cares in for free. Also you could request an early or late boarding. Sitting still with people steaming passed is confusing enough for the inexperienced traveller, so a dementia sufferer could soon be upset. On the plane do tell the stewards of the situation, some times we had stewardess be alocated to looking after mum so she sees less new faces. I did read one post suggesting taking a family memeber along, my suggestion here is to have a chat with the about what you expect and give the a task like looking after the medication, it is simple and takes a task off you. Seem to have rambled on a bit, sorry if I have spelling errors but I am dyxlecsic so can always see my mistakes
