At a meeting held yesterday, I sat around the table next to Ms."I," 82 years old lady (her late husband was a former professor of university.) In order to listen operas, she has been traveling around Europe and U.S.A. not only on group tours but alone. She planned her trips and made their arrangements by herself without having any help from other people.
When you arrive at the Narita International Airport from overseas trip, every passenger is required to pick up his/her own luggages from belt conveyors and take them to customs counters by himself/herself to get clearance and to come out through the exit gates. No helper for aged people is posted (there used to be staffs from airlines and helped the aged to pick up luggage from conveyors and put them on cart. But due to the rationalization of airport business no one is stationed now. At the overseas airports, porters are arranged to take care of these processes and carry luggages to taxi stations ) When you take a business class trip, your luggage weighs about 30 kg. Still you have to do it yourself. She said she could do it herself. I lost my muscular strength to zero due to illness and recovered it to be able to carry a golf bag a short distance. But it is not enough for making overseas trip. This is one of reasons why I cannot make any overseas trip yet. But this old lady is in excellent health and is able to do all these things herself. She said the most of her co-travelers on group tours take many kinds of tablets after every meal. She does not take them at all (in order to adjust for time difference, she takes sleeping tablets sometimes.)
She listened to Richart Wagner's "Tannhauser" at Bayreuth Festival Theater and also heard modern operas such as wrote by Mr. Toru Takemitsu. She likes musicals and saw "Cats"and "My Fair Lady"in London, the birthplace of them.
I keenly realized that the good health makes your aged life enjoyable.