Elderly Travellers

When I'm 82, I hope that I can be like Doris!  (As I'm already not like Doris, there's not much chance!!)  We had a long talk to her in the pool yesterday.  She has been coming here for 14 years, taking the same cabin.  She and her older, frailer husband, take the Indian Pacific from Adelaide to Broken Hill, then a smaller train to Sydney, where they stay overnight at the same hotel before catching the train to Moree.  While she is here, Doris walks daily and exercises in the pool, all the time talking to old and new friends.

This year, the travel plans were disrupted.  At the last moment, the train from Broken Hill was replaced by a bus.   As her husband had a fall at one station, the idea of being confined in a bus didn't please them.  The bus staff were very solicitous and did everything they could to help, which included ringing the Sydney hotel to ask that a key be left out for them.  This hotel closes up at 9pm and the bus wasn't due in until 2am. 
For the first time in 14 years, the hotel had messed up their booking and there was no room for them.  The bus staff took over the problem.   A new hotel booking was made at another place, courtesy of the bus/train company and all meals and afternoon and morning teas were paid for.    A wheelchair was provided for her husband and there was no baggage to handle.  The new hotel was vastly superior to the old one, so they plan to use that in future.  So they finally arrived in Moree, after 3100 kms and 39 hours of train and bus travel.    Pretty good for a couple in their 80s. 

Doris is a cheerful, optimistic lady, not given to complaining so it makes me feel good to  know that a travel service can take the initiative and look out for the elderly.

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