The advisability of an older person traveling alone

I, for one, am hoping that you are feeling better now. And I am sure that we all do.
Would you like to post for the rest of us what you thought that your "blunders" were?
I think that your suggestion of a special show is a good one. Maybe one of Rick's staff who follows our forum will pass it along.
But, actually, anyone can get sick while traveling. One friend of mine recently returned to California from NYC with pneumonia! Another friend slipped and broke her leg on a RS tour (and managed to catch up to the tour and complete it, altho' most of her days were spent on the bus rather than seeing the sights with the rest of the group.) Life happens wherever we are. So the show might be useful to a lot of us, whatever our age.
So I hope that you keep on traveling!

I've been traveling alone for a long time. As an older person I am more careful about curbs and crossing streets. I make sure I get plenty of rest when traveling.

I got upper-respiratory ailments almost every time I traveled to Europe up until about 10 years ago. It would come on suddenly and last for a week or ten days. Not fun.

I tripped and fell on curbs 3 or 4 times. Awful. Once my knee was injured but I was able to "carry on." There was always someone nearby concerned and helpful. (This is where that gray hair comes in handy).

I make a point of beginning a trip rested and healthy. I buy insurance for medical and emergency evacuation now and hope I never have to use it.

To save my knees, I avoid steps when possible. If I am hauling my luggage, I will usually take a taxi. It's worth the extra cost to arrive where I'm going without fatigue or strain. I look for the nearest taxi stand when I check into my hotel, or I have my hotel call a taxi for me (especially if it's early morning). I avoid hotels without elevators. I usually favor public buses over the Metro because of stairs in the Metro
stations.

Good nutrition. The older body is not so forgiving of a crappy diet. I get some veggies and fruits when possible and add cheese for protein to those all-carb breakfasts. I take all my vitamins and supplements from home and keep up my daily doses. Water and fluids need to be maintained, too. I avoid evening meals after about 4 pm. My older digestive system is happier that way.

The pharmacy has all sorts of items which you may find useful---braces for ankles, lemon drinks for colds, Fisherman's Friend lozenges for throat issues, etc. Pharmacists will help you with what you need. Health food stores have alternative-type medicines, vitamins, organic foods, etc.

I am sorry your trip was affected. I also travel solo most of the time, and once I got pneumonia on a trip, 30 years ago. Fortunately the hotel referred me to a doctor who spoke English and gave me antibiotics, so I was able to continue after a few days but the next two weeks were a bit blurry.

This is such an interesting question to me since my husband and I are in your age range. While we're not traveling alone, we've both been sick many times during our travels and he has actually been hospitalized in Southern France. It's just so difficult to be sick in a foreign country (and, much more so when you're alone), but I agree with the others that trying to keep rested is so important. At this age, we don't have the reserves we used to take for granted. We work hard well before our trip to step up our walking so that we can easily do five miles at a time. I think that the better shape we're in, the healthier we are. If I had to make a decision about future trips while I was sick overseas, I'd probably decide against it. Luckily, by the time I'm at home and well, I realize that I managed okay and that I wouldn't want to give up traveling out of worry about what might happen. Mostly, I try to remember how very lucky I am to be able to travel.

There are some advantages to traveling with a group (tour) in that you have a guide for support. And, the RS guides are very good at this! The disadvantage of being with a group when you're sick is that there's a schedule to adhere to and you might rather stay in bed than get on the bus to your next destination. Of, course, your guide can also arrange for you to stay put and rejoin the group later. So, there's a lot of security with group travel.

If you'd be willing to post your "blunders," I think we'd all appreciate learning from your experiences.

FWIW, my health insurance includes coverage in many other countries if I go to a hospital that is part of some International Blue group. In the planning stages I check the website to make sure there is good coverage that will take my insurance. In most first world countries that is not a problem. But, other countries may not have a hospital and/or a good network for coverage. Then I purchase the optional medical insurance from a travel insurance agent. However, In 10+ years of travel I have only had to buy the extra medical insurance 3 times, IIRC. But then I don't travel to the uncivilized wilderness of Outer Pottsilvania very often.

I also carry emergency evacuation insurance in the event I get seriously ill and need to be taken home in a special aircraft with a nurse, etc. I purchase it by the year not by the trip. The cost of a medical evacuation trip is very high and I like to ensure against the big expenses that will hurt me for a long time.

"I think it would be a good idea to do a program on the older traveler."
Rick's getting more and more qualified for that task.

Some thoughts on a couple of your very good questions...

"What are the kinds of things to watch out for?"
You can't avoid some of the stress your body must endure - crossing time zones is a big factor - but you can do something about the flight routine. Non-stop transatlantic flights help IME. And don't force yourself to move on from your arrival destination immediately; stay where you land, check in somewhere, relax, and wash up - you've just had an intimate encounter with the germs of maybe 200 strangers in a tin tube for six to ten hours. And from then on, do what you can to avoid germs. You aren't riding, sleeping or dining in the environments your body has adjusted to at home and you're exposed to more germy surfaces than usual - hand rails, metro seats, etc. - all of which make a street-food lunch a sort of risky business. Hand sanitizer helps. And avoid booking places with church bells or street noise - a good sleep really matters.

"What is the best kind of travel plan."
One that lets you rest when you need to. There's a travel provider called Untours that serves a mostly elderly clientele; you stay in an apartment in one place for a week or two. If you adopt this strategy, then if you have sleep problems like a lot of oldsters do, your body has time to adjust to the new sleep environment. And there's much less lugging around of luggage this way, less checking in and out, less perpetual motion, which is mentally and physically stressful. A travel base means you can make decisions about day trips as you go based on your energy level.

Russ has an excellent point about picking favorable flight plans. We no longer take early morning flights . . . period. Given the time to get to the airport, plus lengthy check-in/security times, an early flight results in less sleep and more exhaustion. We can easily get afternoon flights from the West coast going to Europe, but coming home is a different matter. We usually take an afternoon flight out of our final destination to a major airport like CDG that has good connections for us. We spend the night in an airport hotel and, then, we're already at the airport for an easy mid-morning flight. This is not something we would have done in our younger years, but it works well for us now. And, like Russ, we plan to arrive a day or two before starting on any serious touring.

We are also sad to hear your holiday was spoiled by sickness. Despite being meticulous about planning our trips we have experienced illness on our many trips. We also had interesting times in the hospital in Dubrovnic and in Florence. If I had to choose between the two, Florence would win hands down!
So I guess that there will always be the chance of illness or accidents occurring, whether you're at home or away but I hope that won't stop you travelling.
Most of our trips to Europe are more than six weeks and we too ensure we don't have to fly or take a train at "stupid o'clock" . Add a few days on to a trip rather than do an early start or late finish. There is little need for us to rush back home, unless missing the grandies becomes too much.
We are all of so different, but I too support some specialised literature from Rick for the olds.

Oh, I'm so sorry it did not go as planned. But, hey, that's life. Don't be too hard on yourself. Your age may have had nothing to do with it. We've been on tours where many far younger than my husband and I all got sick...flu, respiratory viruses. Not us oldies. Then there was a Scandinavian tour in '10 where a single traveler in her early 60s fell and broke her hip the first hour of the first full day in Stockholm. Thank goodness she was on a RS tour! The tour guide's help was invaluable. So, I do think being part of a group, where you'll be missed if sick in bed and the guide knows the territory, is helpful particularly as we grow older and feel more vulnerable. This trip to Germany didn't turn out as you expected but you've recovered physically. Right? Your spirit to travel might be dampened, but the best thing to revive that is just to jump right back in and sign-up for a RS tour. :)