unstructured senior travel

A few things have changed in the past 40 years. One of them is the fact that the tourist industry has exploded. Cheap flights. Internet connectivity. Gigantic "new" middle classes in many countries (eg China, India, many more), where 40 years ago the idea of European travel was something only a tiny elite could dream of, now it seems half the world is touring Italy in August. That means that there are lots and people there, competing with you for rooms. On the other hand, there are more options for places to stay - AirBnB and other short-term rentals are nearly everywhere. A lot depends on where (and when) you are going, and how much you care about details like price, amenities and locations. If you're picky about such things, it may be harder (a lot harder) that what you remember, especially in popular destinations. You will need to get online to research and book many places. If you are more flexible about those things, and you'll be staying away from the biggest mega-tourism destinations (and traveling in the off season), it will be less of a challenge. But do not underestimate how big the world travel boom has become - it's crowded (really crowded) out there in many places.

Edited to add: No smartphones? It can be done. but without some way of getting online (phone or tablet) you will be handicapped.

Also...rail passes ain't the deal they were long ago. Point-to-point tickets are often a much better deal, but...in many cases, the cheap seats must be bought in advance (like airline tickets, prices go up as you get close to the date of travel), so if you want the freedom to just jump on a train on a whim, a rail pass may still be a reasonable choice. Unfortunately, it's hard to generalize, and you will probably need to crunch the numbers to figure out what's more viable for you.

If your travel is limited to Italy, a railpass is unlikely to save you money.

You will need to see what passes are available for Italy and do a price comparison of buying walk up tickets between your various destinations, vs cost of a pass plus any additional fees you may need to pay for seat reservations to see what works best.

Another factor is we don't use smart phones.

A tablet ( e.g. ipad) or laptop should be a viable workaround

As David says, things have changed

It can be easily done. First step is to get smartphones. `The world has indeed changed.

Travel safe,

One Fast Bob

All trains higher than Regionale and Regionale Veloce in Italy require Eurailpass holders to purchase reservations (around 10€ per leg per person) which are included in normal tickets. Many combinations are as low as 19€ if bought in advance.

No internet device makes it difficult. Many people use them to track the arrival times and platforms of trains, check best routes, and buy tickets.

Everything can be done without - it will just be slower, less current and less convenient.

Many Tourist offices have closed or turned into outlets for particular owners and mostly selling tours or excursions.

David nailed it.

We traveled a lot in Europe in the 80s and then lived in Germany for four years. You could just go to the trainstation and hop on the first train to were you were going. No reservations, of course no internet then.

Now most key sites are crammed with tourists and you must book in advance. When we travel these days, I do extensive research, book lodging. We prefer B&Bs near the city center. We also, frequently book tours in advance, or at least identify tours like free walking tours.

With no planning, you will waste a lot of time and may find yourself booked out of your favorite destination. Also, you will save money booking in advance.

If you are unsure of how long you need to stay in a city, do the research on what there is to see, determine how many days you need to see those things and plan accordingly.

Plan your transport between cities and include your time needed to transit. We don't use our smart phones much either and they don't work in Europe, unless you have access to wifi.

For example, I planned every day of our 4 week drive tour of Wales and England. It was wonderful. We rented a car and each day, I planned the route from location to location. I found on the internet a route planner that was a great assist.
Loved going to the village in SW Wales where my paternal ancestor left for America in 1716.

Here is my review of our trip.

28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

Look, I’m only 68 and I don’t have the energy and stamina I used to. (I work out 3-4 times a week.) Are you sure you want to add that stress and risk of extra expense to each day? Change is hard. But you can’t stop it.

Traveling in Europe has changed in 40 years.

If you don&t use the internet, start. The days of going to the tourist information office for accomodations is on life support. Today's travelers who want to wander carefree use the internet for rooms, tickets, etc.

Smartphones today can be very cheap. You don't need anything fancy. Just something that will get you on the net. Decent budget devices can be had for about $50 and up.

Here's one that will do the basics. It's not fancy or powerful but for basic web stuff, downloading a few apps, it will be fine.

https://www.amazon.com/BLU-Advance-S5-HD-Smartphone/dp/B07Z45ZP1N/ref=mp_s_a_1_14?keywords=blu+phones&qid=1575983797&sr=8-14

I'm 68 and have spent the last five summers in Europe. I prefer not to pin things down in advance, but I learned very early during my first trip that arriving in town without a reservation and heading to the local tourist office was not the way to find lodgings, at least in Sicily:

• It's a time-waster during the part of the day when tourist attractions are open and you could be doing something fun.
• It means either dragging your luggage around with you or paying to store it at or near the train/bus station and then returning to retrieve it.
• It almost certainly requires extra walking to the tourist office rather than going straight to your lodgings. These days, very few tourist offices are right near train stations; they are more likely to be in the historic center of town. I speculate that this is because booking rooms is no longer a bit part of what they do.
• It consigns you to--at best--a choice from among the places no one else wanted. I say "at best" because you will be dependent upon what someone else thinks you want rather than doing your own research. Apparently I look poor, because the Sicilian tourist offices sent me to places that were clean but generally had few other positive features.
• Not all tourist offices book rooms; some (including Palermo's) will just point you to a few business cards lying on a counter--a bad situation, especially if you don't have a phone.

Because of the above, I book my rooms online a few days in advance (longer in advance for top destinations).

For cities I'm visiting for the first time, I agree that it's difficult to know how long you want to stay. I have a horror of ending up with 5 nights in a place that only needs 3, so I am usually conservative in setting the original length of stay. If I realize I need more time, I try to extend at the current hotel, which in many cases has been possible. I've occasionally extended twice. The rate may change for the better or the worse; you have to be prepared for that.

I would not be able to travel the way I do without at least internet connectivity. I travel with a tablet for that purpose; it's useful for researching attractions, hours of operations, train schedules, restaurants and lots of other things in addition to finding hotels (for which I use booking.com as a starting point). I stay in budget lodgings and am not looking for a special sort of place, but one of my absolute requirements is reliable Wi-Fi. I read the reviews on booking.com and exclude places that appear to have problematic Wi-Fi.

Before my most recent trip I changed from a pre-paid to a regularly monthly cellphone plan. I was beginning to spend more time on that phone and the 16 cents per minute was adding up, but I'm sure my annual costs are now higher. It was worth it to me because I have T-Mobile service that gives me free data connectivity in Europe--a boon on long train and bus rides--and a way to make short phone calls (such as to a hotel) at low cost if doing so via Wi-Fi isn't convenient. There are several threads on this forum about using cellphones/smartphones in Europe.

Although I much prefer paper maps for general navigation (I don't drive in Europe), I found that using Google's MyMaps to build a personalized map of each city on my desktop computer before departure was very helpful. I could then open the map (preferably when on Wi-Fi) and have a map with all my pre-planned stops marked. I could tell at a glance which places I was near as I wandered around during the day. Additionally, it was extremely helpful on occasions when I arrived in town after the tourist office closed; it made finding my hotel very easy. Data connectivity can be cheap if you get an unlocked smartphone and but a European SIM.

Slow travelers don't necessarily have to worry too much about buying train tickets way in advance to save money, because they tend to spend a lot of time on regional trains.

Unstructured travel is still very do-able, but these days, crowds of tourists means that having an internet connection makes it much, much easier (and cheaper)......even making a reservation the night before you're going somewhere will help rather than simply walking up and hoping to find a place that's reasonably safe and convenient. And, honestly, it's getting harder and harder to find paper maps for things like bus, metro, or train routes, let alone schedules......that's fine if you live there and know the buses, but it makes it very difficult for a traveller who doesn't want to waste half a day waiting.

Don't bother with a rail pass in Italy - it won't save you any time or money.

You can still do it but the how is what has changed. Train pass are more complicated and vary greatly from country to country. If you are not in a hurry the Regional trains in Italy -- slow and cheap -- will work. No reservations and the ticket price never changes. Instead of the TI for lodging we use a hotel booking app on the ipad. We will book a day or two in advance. We prefer Hotel.com and hoteltonight.com. You don't need a smart phone BUT you do need some access to the internet. For us, an ipad works fine via the hotel wifi. Or Starbucks. We are recently back from a trip that we did not have a return flight ticket until about a week before we came home, and booked our hotels one to two days ahead of time as we moved. Sometimes we did pay walk up prices for train tickets but that is the price for flexibility and other times we booked the train two or three days in advance. You can do it unstructured but the methods has changed.

I'm with Barbra: some structure will make your trip much more pleasant. That doesn't mean your every moment has to be planned. When we travel on our own (i.e., not on a tour,) we book hotels or B&Bs ahead of time, but seldom schedule anything else. We do lots of advance planning - reading a range of guidebooks, watching movies set in the country we'll be visiting, etc, but not any scheduling except for housing. Spending the night on a bench in a train station is fun when you're 20; not so much when you're 70.

As far as transportation between cities goes, point to point tickets can usually be purchased on the spot, for for long distance or high-speed trains, you can save a lot of money by booking ahead.

Oh, and we've traveled the last 10 years without devices. I finally broke down this year and brought my tablet. (I had elderly parents with whom I needed to keep in touch.) I will say that having it did make some other things more convenient, but I wouldn't hesitate to travel without it.

So add a bit of structure, but keep your options open for day trips and other daily activities. You'll have a wonderful time.

Edit to add: I got the tablet to Skype with my parents, but as I said, it was convenient to have internet access at hand. On previous trips, we just occasionally used computers at the hotels, public libraries, or tourist information offices to check email. Internet cafes are few and far between anymore, and the few we had found the last few years had operating systems and browsers that were so outdated it made security - or rather, lack of it - a major issue.

If you want freedom from mobs of tourists then travel in the off season. I personally MUCH prefer the off season.

The last time I freewheeled it was in 2000 and I loved the freedom and exhilaration of traveling without a safety net. I do miss that feeling. It was still slightly before the internet reservations took off. I'd follow Acraven's system if I were you and you feel the need. I use booking.com. I don't freewheel it anymore as when I was younger because with some added age I find I really like a good mattress so I reserve one!

I think it is possible to do it without reserving ahead of time. Just be aware that without a cell phone/tablet it will be hard to access AIRBNB/VRBO type locations since most of them ask you to let them know when you will be at the location. Also, you choice of hotel rooms will probably be limited to the most expensive ones since the cheaper ones would probably have been taken. Big attractions usually sell/require advance timed tickets and sometimes are all gone days in advance (Anne Frank House, Auschwitz, Reichtag, Sagrada Familia). If that is not your main interest then there is no problem. Many times you can still see the big attractions by paying extra to join a private tour. There are many alternate attractions and cities that will make for great memories. Have fun.

I always travel with a notebook computer (small version of a laptop) and for years I resisted getting a smart phone, saying why pay all that money for something I don't really need. Last summer I decided I needed it for a 2 month visit to the US. While it hasn't changed my life, I have discovered quite a few things to use it for that are very convenient for travel besides the wifi and phone capabilities. Among them - flashlight, calculator, currency converter, compass, calendar, camera (I still use a good digital camera for serious travel photos). I can call Uber, I can download and listen to Rick's audio tours, and I read Kindle guide books on it - useful both for finding recommended restaurants and for info on specific sights. Lastly, google maps has helped me find places and not get lost (and frustrated). All this in something I can carry in a pocket.

I always book flights and hotels in advance and usually trains as well because of the considerable savings. Once in Rome, I booked a hotel for 2 separate stays, a week apart, at a hotel I'd stayed at before. I was very unhappy with the room and all the alternatives they offered me for my return visit were unacceptable. I spent most of an evening on my computer looking for and booking another hotel for my return to Rome. This was in February about 5 years ago. I don't want to waste my precious time on the ground hunting for lodgings. Since my first 2-week visit to Italy in 2008, I've been back about half a dozen times, for 3-4 week trips. I can't think of anywhere that I wish I'd spent less time and hardly anywhere that I thought I'd spent enough time, which is why I end up going back to some towns multiple times. If a pre-arranged schedule didn't force me to move on, I might never leave some places.

If you don't want to deal with smartphones, consider getting a tablet. You could then easily do what you wish to do, but with all the information you will need to easily do it at your disposal--train schedules, a booking site like Booking.com, all the information you could ever need--why resist that!?! A tablet would be easy to conceal and carry plus offer more readability than a phone (says a sight-challenged 40-something). When you get ready to move on from a place, you can make plans for the next one, easy peasy.

Plenty of good advice upthread. I'll just add/reinforce one specific (and important) suggestion that I think will help you, given your lack of "smartphone". Unless you have eagle eyes (lucky you), I don't think a phone is right for you. Things are too tiny on a phone screen, and it can become a miserable experience trying to accomplish many tasks on that small screen. But you do need to be able to get online. And view maps. And find a place to sleep. And keep track of a million trip details. People have different tastes and preferences for their devices, but...in your case, I believe the best device for you is an iPad, specifically an iPad Mini. This is a small, thin, lightweight tablet computer device, bigger than a phone but way smaller than a laptop. I've gone through countless travel gizmos, and am 100% convinced that the ipad "Mini" is the ideal travel device. It really hits the perfect "sweet spot" for size: big enough to have a good screen thats usable for anything, but still small enough to stuff into many pockets (barely), and light enough to unburden yourself (leave the heavy printed books at home, get digital versions on your iPad). It's a nearly perfect device that does everything you need including 100 things you don't even know you're going to want to need to do.

Get one now, and start getting used to using it. They are not difficult to use, but there are some concepts that won't immediately be intuitive (eg "syncing", downloading and managing content, plus a dozen things that may seem small or completely unknown now; you want to become comfortable with this technology now, not the night before your trip or heaven help you, one your first day in Italy).

It doesn't work this way anymore. The smart phone and making reservations a day ahead on line allows you to travel the way you once did. do research ahead; have a route; identify hotels that appeal to you and have a list to call ahead.

People have already told you why leaving accommodations till you arrive in a city will result in your getting the crappiest and also most expensive places. And it could result in your not finding anything and actually having to leave that town and go somewhere else (at which point it will be even later and your choices even fewer - are you sure this is how you want to spend your vacation).

Doing the above without a smart phone makes the already lousy idea even worse.

Traveling without a smart phone if you have all your accommodations - and most of your long distance train trips - nailed down before you leave can certainly work. In some cases places that you may have reserved - especially B&B type places - may want you to contact them when you know your arrival time so they can meet you because they don't have a 24 hour reception desk, and for that you would need a phone. But if you reserve medium to large hotels that have 24 hour reception then a phone is not necessary.

But one technique that allows some flexibility in a trip is to plan "bases" and do day trips. If you can find a town within 1-2 hours or so of several other places you might be interested in, then you book lodgings in that town for a week or more and plan to do several day trips. If you find you really like the town and don't want more days there then you skips a couple of the day trips. You basically have several places on your "A" list (that you definitely want to visit), a few on the "B" list (that you are pretty sure you'd like to see), and a few more on the "C" list (places that you don't care if you didn't get to in case the places on the A and B list take all your time.

The other thing that's different now is that you can learn a whole lot more about a place before you travel there then you could 40 years ago. So if you do some research it's easier to plan in advance how many days you will probably want in each location. While guide books are essential, so is the internet. You'll find blogs, websites, etc. will enormous amounts of information and photos. And you've already found this forum (there are others as well) where you can ask advice and opinions of 'how long should I plan for ..."

You can leave your days as unstructured as you please, but I would definitely "structure" my nights - a lot more people are traveling to Europe now than 40 years ago.

Ix-Nay on the Ass-Pay, and get a smart phone now.

jc,

As the others have articulated so well, travelling the way you did 40 years ago is not going to work the same way it did 40 years ago. A few thoughts.....

• Rail Pass - A Railpass is no longer a cost effective means of getting around Italy in most cases. The rail system now includes different "classes" of trains, and some require compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time. You could certainly use the Railpass for travel on Regionale / Regionale Veloce trains, but you might find that the daily cost of the Pass is higher than if you had simply bought P-P tickets. The express trains, such as Intercity or Freccia require seat reservations which are about €10 PP per segment. If you're caught on an express train without a valid reservations, you'll be subject to hefty fines which are collected on the spot! Last time I checked, the fines were about €50 PP. The most cost effective strategy for Italy is to buy Regionale tickets on the spot, using either an automated Kiosk or from a staffed ticket office. Those must be validated prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or again, hefty fines. For travel on express trains, you can save a lot with advance purchase Super Economy or Economy tickets. However with those, you MUST commit to a specific train and departure time. The discounted Super Economy tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable once purchased, so choose carefully!

• Smartphone - I most definitely agree with the others on travel with a smartphone. As I often travel solo, I've found from hard experience that it's an essential item and I won't travel without it. A tablet would also work but I find a phone much more practical due to the smaller size (each to their own). Using a phone/tablet is going to come with a learning curve, and I'll use the phone as an example. You'll first have to decide on a phone, either Apple or Android, then a cell network and finally which type of monthly plan will work best. I wouldn't suggest using a "Pay-As-You-Go" plan as the terms for travel are more restrictive. For travel you'll also have to determine international roaming costs. Your profile doesn't indicate where you're located but T-Mobile seems to be a popular choice for U.S. phone users. You can use Wi-Fi where service is available (in hotels, etc.), but using public Wi-Fi can be risky as these are more easily hacked. With a phone/tablet you'll also have to become familiar with different "Apps" that might be useful during travel. If yo decide to buy a phone, don't do it just before the trip, as you'll need some time for the learning curve.

• Booking hotels at the T.I. office - that practice no longer seems to be common. As others have mentioned, some T.I. offices have been bought by commercial interests, and they "push" visitors to their facilities only. Again as mentioned previously, Europe is much busier these days even in the shoulder seasons with people from many countries, so there's lots of competition for hotels, hostels, etc. I prefer to pre-book hotels as that gives me a choice of comfort level, facilities and which part of the city I want to stay in. At my age I prefer to know where I'm going to be sleeping when I arrive in a new city, rather than wandering about with luggage trying to find something as that's a waste of valuable holiday time. I've found that even Hostels have to be pre-booked these days, and those who show up at hotels without a reservation often pay a "walk-up" rate, which is considerably higher (I know that from experience!).

I'd recommend having a look at the Rick Steves guidebooks for the places you want to visit and also Europe Through The Back Door, as you'll find lots of very useful information that will help you put together a wonderful trip. You should be able to find those at your local Library.

Happy travels!

In the meantime, it's obvious that you have some way of getting online or you wouldn't have found your way here to ask a question.

That should mean that you can do a lot of research right here on this Rick Steves website and using the links people may provide for you.

As for your specific train question, the responses here are spot on. For even more details and advice go to the Italy section of the Man in Seat 61's very thorough website.

Assuming that this is your first trip back to Europe, the Travel Tips on this RS website provide much of the nuts and bolts needed for European travel now as opposed to 40 years ago. You may be very surprised at some of them.

This website also has a great section on Italy. It might help you prioritize what you want to see and do.

You don't say when you're wanting to go to Italy and for how long. That can affect much of what you may be able to do. But one thing that is radically different from 40 years ago is that there are now limits on how long you can spend in Italy. It is one of the Schengen countries and the limit is 90 days. That includes the day you arrive and the day you leave.

I agree with David. I had an iPad mini for five years before I finally (earlier this year) got an iPhone. I still love the mini! (Age 74)

I think the iPad Mini has a 7.9" (diagonal) screen. That seems like a good size, but I don't have a problem with the 1/2-inch larger Samsung tablet I use. Isn't there quite a price premium for Apple products? If so, I don't see any particular reason for a non-Macintosh-computer user to favor an iPad Mini over an Android tablet from a reliable manufacturer. I figure it's a matter of getting used to what you have.

Those interested in using their electronic device to take photos would be well-advised to examine the relevant camera specifications. At the time I purchased my hardware (2015), camera specs for all or nearly all Android smartphones were better than specs for most Android tablets. (I think a fair number of people didn't know that, because I figure most of the people awkwardly using tablets to take pictures probably also had smartphones they could have been using instead.) I have no idea whether phone cameras are still superior today, for Android or for Apple hardware. Certainly the new camera in phones are improved over what was available in 2015, including the presence (on some phones) of optical zoom. But it is possible to pay an incredible amount of money for a smartphone these days, which for many people would be overkill.