The Tripsters: Cruising is the best festive fun

By COLIN MOORE

Take a cruise. That is the advice of the Herald Travel Tripsters to a 68-year-old widow who asked Travel where an elderly single person should spend Christmas.

We put the question to our Tripsters and the most commonly given advice was to take a cruise, where being alone and being elderly is no barrier to having fun.

And, if you have Christmas afloat, you can rely on being pampered.

Several Tripsters recommended consulting a travel agent about coach tours that are specifically organised over the holiday period for older people.

Tripster Jill Lundmark, of Auckland, says she spent Christmas on a bus tour in Vietnam as a 62-year-old solo woman. It gave her a bus load of companions and heaps to do and see.

Jenny Crabbe, of Hawkes Bay, suggests New York where you are never alone.

"Take in a few shows, see the fabulous Christmas decorations and go shopping," she says. "What more could you want?"

Andrew Gilchrist, of Auckland, recommends something a little closer to home. He says that if our reader likes cricket she couldn't do better than to stay in a good hotel in Melbourne, have the hotel's Christmas lunch and go to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day.

There will be cricket for five days, post-Christmas sales at the Melbourne shops, outdoor eating, and good weather. "Come to think of it, even if she hates cricket, it's still not a bad place to be."

Ted Dawe, of Auckland, suggests Rarotonga "where human values come first and inclusion is the first rule."

And Miriam Dunningham, of Auckland, says that a relative, who felt the need to get away for the first Christmas after her husband died, went to the Chateau at Mt Ruapehu. It was wonderful. The goodwill even from strangers on Christmas Day was infectious.

Several Tripsters also suggested sharing some goodwill by giving assistance to a charity.

"It seems sad that she has no family because Christmas is usually family orientated," says Marnie Mihaka, of Auckland. She suggested lending a hand at the Auckland City Mission, which provides Christmas dinner for hundreds of needy families and people on their own.

"This could provide her with company and a purpose."