Evelyn and Howard are the only ones remaining of five siblings that were raised on a family farm in Central Missouri and then moved to southern California and Oregon in the mid 1940s. It had been several years since they had spent time together.
The trip to Boise ID went very smoothly because the Travel Companion had scheduled an easy connection and had scheduled a wheel chair and pre-boarding for all the flight segments. Evelyn's Travel Companion Pam handled the baggage and arranged for transportation from Boise airport to John Day OR, about a 3 hour ride. Once checked into a hotel in John Day, Pam and Evelyn went to the ranch to join with Howard.
Ron, Brian, Gary, along with Donna had also joined in the reunion. Howard and Evelyn were very excited to see each other and they lost no time in catching up. Ron and Donna prepared dinner “Missouri” style which set the stage for endless hours of conversation about the old days.
During the next three days and nights, Evelyn and Howard talked for hours, never short of stories. They reminisced, went fishing (Evelyn caught fish for our dinner), paged at the scrap books, enjoyed Howard’s birthday celebration and just enjoyed the time all together.
Evelyn’s Travel Companion Pam, not only assisted all along the way making the trip possible, but she constantly made the extra effort insuring that Evelyn was well attended and completely cared for. Apart from the trip, Pam assisted with meals, baited hooks for fishing, reorganized family albums and helped tape pictures. She roomed with Evelyn in the lodge to make sure she was taken care of and safe and sound.
When it was time to start the flight home the flight home, Evelyn and her travel companion Pam, boarded a Southwest flight to Oakland California to connect to Burbank California. The standard wheel chairs and pre-boarding were arranged and the boarding in Boise went smoothly.
After about 40 minutes into the flight, the pilot said that there was a warning light in the cockpit and we needed to return to Boise to have it fixed. When it was discovered that the delay would be lengthly, airline agent required all of us to get off and wait for another airplane. Evelyn was helped off the plane and the circumstances explained to her. Pam, the Travel Companion continued to handle everything; explaining the situation to Evelyn, re-scheduling the flight connection to Oakland, assuring priority boarding again, and handling snacks and drinks. Thankfully the flights home were uneventful and went smoothly.
We are continually reminded how precious friends and family can be to our well being. Elders commonly let life close in on them because retaining contact with loved ones who live far away becomes too difficult. Unfortunately, travel is one of the first things that drops out of the life of an aging senior. Travel Companions are a way for seniors to keep the lifestyle they love and maintain contact with friends and family.
Evelyn and Howard had a few fabulous days together and they now have a lot more memories to last a life time. At the last dinner in Oregon, plans were already started to schedule the next family reunion.
One company specializing in Travel Companions is Care-To-Go. For information on scheduling your Travel Companion visit CareToGoTravel.com.
Author Resource:
Captain Gable is a freelance writer featuring airline articles as well as Elder Travel and Home Care Articles. For more information see http://care-to-go.com and http://caretogotravel.com
Here are a series of articles and information gathered from 35 years airline experience and over 30 years of family home care caregiver experiences.
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