Kate and I have been fortunate to travel a good bit during our marriage. We have always enjoyed the new experiences we have whenever we’re away from home. Of course, we have moments when we are confused or lost, but it’s all part of the joys of travel. For a person with dementia and her caregiver, it can be especially challenging. We have had quite a number of experiences like that since Kate’s diagnosis. We’ve had a few scares, but, thankfully, we’ve never had a disaster, but I can easily understand why couples in our shoes discontinue their travel.
Most often, our problems have been simple ones and short-lived. For example, going through security at the airport is more of a challenge than before. It’s hard enough for the average person to remember the routine, but it’s worse for someone with dementia. It’s especially difficult in a foreign country where the routine can be a little different. On a trip to New Zealand in 2014, there was a sign instructing us to stop and look straight ahead before going through a scanner. This was so that security camera could take a picture. I did it first to demonstrate what Kate should do. She didn’t understand me, and I could not get back once I had passed the security gate. I had to locate someone from security to let me go back to help her.
Most other problems are rather mundane. For instance, we had lunch at the Nashville airport. Along with a sandwich, I got Kate some fries and two packets of ketchup. We don’t often eat at a fast food place, and the ketchup came in a rigid plastic package with which I wasn’t familiar. It looks very much like the old-fashion plastic container except this one had an instruction to tear off the top portion to squeeze the ketchup out of what looked similar to the top of a ketchup bottle. It works quite well. I showed it to Kate and squeezed some ketchup on a few of her fries. A moment later, she had turned it upside down and was trying to dip her fries on the bottom of the container. She was treating it just like the ones we had been used to. She thought it was a cup of ketchup. I explained how it worked and squeezed a little more on her fries. I tried multiple times, but she never got it or, maybe more precisely, could never remember how to get the ketchup out. Finally, she said, “Don’t worry. I think it’s just easier if you do it.”
It’s about time to board our flight. I don’t think we can get into any trouble at this point. We’ll just sit back and relax for a couple of hours.
