Are RS Tours compatible w/ bad knees?

First of all, have you requested his free tour DVD yet? That gives you some idea what they're like. Second, I've looked at several of the tours' daily itinerary; 'strenuous' is used when you'll be on your feet for awhile - walking (AND standing) in the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, then going down the street to a church, then on to a museum. None of those things are particularly 'strenuous', but it makes for a long morning of no sitting and resting. Other times it refers to simply alot of stair-climbing - some Old Towns can't accommodate a large bus, so you have to walk several blocks With Luggage to your hotel that's up on the side of a mountain and there's A Bunch Of Stairs to climb to reach your hotel (and your room!). Depending on the day's itinerary you can skip some activities and meet up with the group later. Are there particular tours you're interested in? We can give you much better feedback if we know. Rome will be different from Paris... Again, go to the "Tours" tab at the top and order your free tour DVD if you haven't already. And start hoarding your Celebrex/painkillers ;-)

Michele, you ask a great question - but answering it requires more information. How fit are you both? Can you comfortably stand/walk for several hours, for example wandering through a museum with hard floors at a snail's pace? My husband, daughter and I did the Germany-Austria-Switz tour a few years ago; my husband not only had a bad knee but is quite sedentary. He really had a hard time with some of the days and ended up just spending a couple of hours in the hotel with his feet up on several afternoons. That is certainly one option - just skip some of the stuff, rest in your hotel or sit in a cafe and people-watch. I really enjoyed the tour - but I regularly walk 3 miles with a walking group on Sat and Sun, and even so I found some of the days were, as they say, strenuous. But the good part about all that exercise is that I could have a gelato every afternoon and not gain any weight! Good luck- and whatever you decide, have a great trip!

If you do the RS city tours then you just have to deal with one hotel or possible two(Barcelona-Madrid). The last RS trip we took village italy was tough due to moving q 2 days and having a long walk to the bus. For me it was not a problem however my wife has a medical condition which made it tough to deal with the luggage every 2 days. The next RS tour will be a city tour of Istanbul in oct 2011. In less than 3 weeks will be taking a Tauck tour of Switzerland and they do all the work getting your luggage to and from the different hotels. There are people in just about every tour I have been on with bad hips or knees and they seemed to do fine.

Michele, It's difficult to offer specific advice on whether RS tours will be a "good fit" for either of you, as it's difficult to know the extent or severity of your knee conditions. Therefore, my first suggestion would be to speak with your Physician and discuss the proposed trip with him. Perhaps some NSAID's or Cortisone would improve your comfort during the trip? The "strenuous" term usually specifies something like "2-8 miles walking throughout the day with lots of hills, stairs and uneven terrain". I would add "spending long periods standing during Museum or local tours". The tours usually follow a fairly relaxed pace with a few breaks, so they're not excessively difficult. As the others have mentioned, it's also possible to opt-out of some activities (just be sure to notify the Guide). One other thing to suggest would be to start "conditioning" for the tour about a month prior to departure. I normally increase my frequency of visits to the Gym before a trip, and find that it helps. Before making a decision one way or the other, you may find it helpful to make a phone call to the RS tour department and discuss the situation with them. If there's any possibility of taking one of the RS tours, I'm sure you'd have a wonderful time! Good luck and happy travels!

Michele, my wife and I are about the same ages as you and your husband (well...a few years older) When we went to France two years ago, I had just been diagnoised with a bad case of Plantar factiitis (sp?)and one of the biggest bone spurs (on my heel ) that my podiatraist had ever seen. On top of that, I have a bad left knee. I did fine, but I did need to rest every once in a while. The most important thing for me was good, well broken in shoes that minimized my conditions....and lots of walking prior to the trip. Ken has "hit the nail on the head". Exercise, walk, then do some more "exercise walking." If you build up those muscles, you won't have any problem. We are leaving in two weeks for Spain. I just had another knee surgery a couple of months ago,and there is not much cartiledge remaining in my left knee. But my Dr told me that the most important thing that I can do is build up my "quads". Build up the strength in those thigh muscles so that they do the work for the walking. I don't go to a gym; we just do a lot of walking to build up our muscles.

Did RS Paris tour. There was a handicapped person (used a cane...had bad hips) on our tour who did fine but she did take off before us to get situated at places like the subway station. She did fine but I don't think I would have done it as she missed a lot of stuff. Why not do your own tour? You can do the two day double decker bus tour,evening boat tour of Paris, train to Versailles and Monet's garden. I am not an 8 am person and that was kind of a bummer on the tour. I would have liked to stroll around areas more than do the forced march with the tour group. I like museums but I can assure you that marble floors and your knees will not mix! It was a great overview but I prefer my own pace. PS...I am your age and my friends with "bad knees" could never keep up the pace of the tour.

Totally depends on the severity of your knee problem and the RS tour. We did the RS week in London. Lots and lots and lots of walking, lovely little hotel had no elevator, so many stair climbs, etc. I have never found the "strenuous" days to be as exhausting as expected, but it all depends on your physical condition.

Having taken 8 RS tours so far, soon to be 9, I can attest that at "almost" 66 and not in the best of health, I find the standing more challenging than the actual walking, even up stairs. The recommendation to call the RS Travel Desk is a good one. Also, you will be required to fill out a rather extensive physical form, along with other numerous documents, before you get the final approval to go on your tour. The wording "strenuous" is relative new to their tour advertisements and I am lead to believe (in visiting their Edmonds, WA headquarters often) that it is response to having had too many folks sign up for their tours who were not prepared even for a minimum of activity. A good suggestion might be to take a city tour where the Travel Desk can give you the run down on the hotel where you will be staying to see if it has an elevator. When I first started taking RS tours ten years ago, we stayed in mostly two star places with very few elevators. The last couple of years/tours we seem to have moved up to 3 or even 4 star places almost all of whom have elevators. I have also seen the age group of the tours get a little older to where the wife and I (59 & 65) are more in the upper-middle rather than the top as was the case five years ago. What ever you choose to do, just be sure to GO! Happy travels