refluxboy

Yes, my understanding is that emergency treatment is free. However, you should also consider any other costs eg repatriation back that you may have to pay. If you can find affordable insurance you should take it.

donaghadee

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandgui...able/DH_074379

Aviatrix,
I must disagree emergency treatment is not free. The Department of Health agrees with me

Wingnut

Oh no they don't:
(And presumably you're disagreeing that it is free...)

SylviaCaras

To supplement Medicare, if I am not buying full travel insurance, I use Medex TravMed Abroad 1 800 732 5309 I don't have a rate chart though the daily charges do increase with age. It comforts me to have the security; that's worth the cost. If I've prepaid for a tour or package, then I have bought trip coverage which includes medical.

I did once get dizzy and fall, in London, was carefully questioned, tested, Xrayed, fracture, sling, pain meds. The only charge was for the pain meds. I was alone, scared, and treated very nicely.

I've never filed a claim.

I thought Cape Town, South Africa was an easy city, there were relaxed day trips in small groups available.

Sylvia

Aviatrix

As Wingnut says... emergency treatment IS free. It says so in the very link that you provided! :-)

Pt4Life

The American Express Platinum Card includes medical evacuation for cardmembers and spouses, and I'm not aware of any age limitations. You do not have to charge the trip to the card to be covered.

I have the card, and I got a card for my father on my account. Extra cards are much less expensive (up to 3 card for $175 per year, I think). My father never charges anything on the card, but this way he is insured when he travels, and has lounge access any time he flies Delta, Continental, or Northwest.

Note that this is only the regular Amex Platinum card, not Optima or any of the others. If you call Amex, confirm the coverage details in case I am out of date.

Assuming cost is not a concern, I would recommend that your father and his friend travel sort of independently. Arrange for a hotel car to meet them at the airport when they arrive. I would talk to the hotel concierge about having a car and driverguide available for getting around in London. This gives them a local person who can handle the situation if anything goes awry.

Alternatively, book their trip as a private tour with a company like Abercrombie and Kent that can provide quality guides and facilitate their trip. If you do this, I don't think they need to be limited to the UK as they would have an English-speaking person taking them everywhere. They can also insure the accommodations will be adequate for your father's needs.

albie

I know this is the UK/Ireland forum, but another sadly neglected tourist destination for English speakers is Scandinavia, where everyone speaks English (although most signage is still in the Scandinavian languages). And while I agree LHR is easy, it is still enormous...CPH and ARN are fairly small, so not much time necessary in the airport. I don't know the rules about medical treatment for tourists here, but imagine it might be similar to the UK.

Another thought -- especially if the OP/her father have an AmXP -- is to book a private tour through the travel agency. Still a tour, where everything is taken care of for you, but entirely at your own pace. My first trip to Egypt was done this way -- booked thru AmX Platinum Travel, included all transportation (including domestic flights), a full day tour with a private, English-speaking guide, etc. -- and all just for me! I had choices of seeing more or less of things, stopping when I wanted, etc.

And I think if Dad wants to go...more power to him! My 95-year-old grandmother did the Orient Express from Italy to London when she was in her late 80s and loved it.

dia1

Don't know if he's interested in WWII historic sites/sights in France, but I have recently seen an article in a travel magazine (in a waiting room, so sorry but don't have access now) about a company in the US that arranges tours for WWII vets and others to France. That is necessarily a tour that primarily targets people 80+. A web search should turn it up. We (2 middle-aged adults, one with bad knees) think the countryside of France is one of the most spectacularly beautiful and user-friendly places on earth.

CEB

I agree with albie regarding the North country. I use Nordic rather than Scandinavia since it is all inclusive, but the word "Scandinavia" has more cache!!

I just returned from a week in Oulu, Finland during the summer solstice and it was between 15 and 22 C the entire week! At that latitude the sun never went down either, great for parties, but tough on getting enough rest with the business meetings all day. English is spoken everywhere, travel is simple and crowds are minimal. CPH and ARN are indeed easy airports to navigate, albeit CPH is a bit spread out. And from eitehr city one can enjoy both the cosmopolitan, including theater, or get away from the city for day trips with well organized and easily paced tour groups. In my experience, private tours are a bit more difficult to find, but someone more local could help better on this point.

Kudos along with everyone else's on your father's gumption and interest!! best of luck.^

Aviatrix

Slip of the keyboard? Why the "still"? This makes it sound as if having signage in one's native language is something that's backwards and that ought to be changed...

AFAIK the UK is very much in a minority in providing emergency medical treatment for free. Most countries require visitors to be insured. I know that to get emergency treatment in other EU countries I need to produce my European Health Insurance card.

robyng

Well thank you for all these great ideas. I had thought of some myself before - but not others (my husband and I have traveled to Europe about 15 times in the last 25 years or so).

After all the posts I've done here about *our* trips - I was amused to see that this thread showed up as one of the "threads of the week" on Talk Mail (first time I've ever had that honor ). I will print everything out for my father and see what he thinks. Note that Talk Mail got one thing wrong. My father's girlfriend *has* been to Europe before - but only with her late husband - and only on tours.

I am not against tours per se. I guess they have their place. But - when I hear stories like my brother and his family went to France on a tour a few years ago - and they thought the food in France was mediocre at best - I get the impression that a lot of tours are lacking (because I have never ever had a bad or even mediocre meal in France).

On my part - I have traveled independently since the age of 19. Took a "teen tour" when I was 15 - but on my first trip to Europe between college and law school - it was 3 months on the road with a backpack. I'm glad I can afford to stay in places other than youth hostels now - but I think that when you're used to independent travel - it's hard to travel with a group (whether you're 19 or 59 - which I am now). Of course - with independent travel - you have to be prepared to spend a lot of time making your plans (it wasn't easy to travel in Europe in the 70's without reservations - even in the depths of a recession - and I suspect it's virtually impossible now). Robyn

oldpenny16

We have an elderly family member who cannot get in and out of a bathtub. We've found that many of the Holiday Inn Express Hotels in the UK have walk-in showers in all rooms. Not for access, but as a cost saving. Works for us!

Many tour companies, Taulk included have an absolute age limit of 90 and above. No appeal. We traveled with my elderly Mother-in-law until she reached that age and had to give up Taulk Tours.

As I get older, I find travel in and around the UK to be easier than elsewhere. There are many senior discounts. I do carry supplemental health insurance. Yes, they will do emergency care for an ill or injured person in the UK, but if it goes beyond that, you have to pay. Which is fair for visitors.

Many people believe that Medicare covers medical expenses on cruise ships. It does not.

As a general rule the more expensive a hotel is, the fancier the bathing arrangements. A friend who lives in Edinburgh did some hotel assessments for us and found out about the Holiday Inn Express hotels.

donaghadee

"Treatment given only in an Accident and Emergency (A&E) department or in a NHS Walk-in Centre providing services similar to those of an A&E department (excludes emergency treatment given elsewhere in the hospital)";

My interpretation of that is they will bandage a cut in A&E but if you have to go to an operating theatre for emergency surgery and then into a ward for recupoeration then that is not free. I would not risk travelling overseas without insurance on those terms.