Dear LPG,

I suppose that I am a bit late with these words of advice, but now that I have returned I hope that a little of what I have to offer might be helpful to some of my fellow readers.

I have now been on my holiday for this year and it was the first holiday abroad that I have had for about ten years.  I enjoyed it but found organising it all really stressful.  There seemed to be so much to remember although I was lucky enough to have my children there to help with the booking of flights and travel insurance etc.

I think that most single pensioners that go abroad tend to go on organised trips because it is really good to have someone to travel with that you know.  I have done that a few times and enjoyed the experience but the further from home you travel, the more preparation you seem to need.  It is so much easier to organise a trip a hundred or so miles up the motorway by coach than it is when planes, boats and other languages are involved and, according to friends who have been before me, I need to be including American and Australian English when talking about different languages.

Perhaps more single pensioners tend to leave the shores of England to visit relatives, but however far away travel takes them, there are some fundamentals that can get forgotten at the planning stage.  When doing my preparation, I found a few website lists of things to consider when you are packing, and also things to remember to do to protect your home if you are leaving it empty. 

I hope they will be helpful to any readers who still are in the throes of getting organised for this year.

GS, Orpington

GS offers links to some advice…

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