Prioritizing trips is essential to my plan to travel with MS

I love to travel and have a bucket list of places I want to visit and things I want to see and do in my lifetime. For example, I want to see the pyramids in Egypt. I want to go ice fishing in Minnesota. I want to stay in an overwater bungalow on an exotic island. I want to see the Galapagos Islands. I want to experience an African safari. I want to drink wine at small family vineyards in Tuscany, Italy. I want to hike in Yellowstone National Park. I want to see the beautiful Canadian landscapes while riding on a train. Yes, my list is overflowing!

Before my multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis, I had no plan for fulfilling the items on my bucket list. I put little thought into where my next vacation would be and did not plan ahead. I would see a cheap airfare to a certain destination and book it without a second thought.

Living with MS and anticipating potential future mobility issues has changed how I think about traveling. Waiting until I retire to have these experiences may not be in my best interest, and I recognize that I need to think more strategically about the order in which I take certain trips, as some destinations and experiences demand a higher level of physical activity, while others can be enjoyed with less movement and more flexibility.

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I would love to do everything now while my MS is relatively stable, and the only symptom affecting my mobility is balance issues, but this is not practical. I work full time, so vacation days are limited. Additionally, travel is not cheap, so I need to save money to afford it.

In the last five years, I have visited Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, and Germany. These countries and their historic cities are absolutely beautiful, but were more difficult to navigate than I expected due to my physical limitations. I recently wrote about my trip to Belgium and the specific challenges I faced there due to MS.

I think starting with high-energy adventures makes sense, as does prioritizing the trips that require more physical effort, endurance, or mobility. These might include hiking in national parks, walking tours of historic cities, or destinations with rugged terrain.

Based on my bucket list and travel strategy, Yellowstone National Park, Egypt, and other parts of Africa should be my next priorities. A trip to an exotic island and seeing Canada by train should be lower on my list, as these experiences are less physically demanding. These trips are no less important to me than any others on my bucket list, but they aren’t quite as urgent.

I am trying to maximize my travels while considering my MS and current and future physical capabilities. Prioritizing vacations does not mean giving up on adventure; it means redefining it to match my evolving capabilities.

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