My financial planner regularly reminds me that our sixties are the optimal years for travel. It’s the decade when we’re most likely to have both good health and the time, he says.

Keeping this in mind, and to assure him that I’ve been listening attentively all these years, I’ve just returned from a trip of a lifetime to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Our group of 16, many of us friends and acquaintances, cycled for 14 days from Saigon in the south northward to Hanoi.

Along the way we also travelled by overnight train, overnight boat, and coach. Otherwise we were on our bikes pedaling as a tight peloton through crowded big-city roundabouts, gasping our way up and over the Hai Van Pass, returning waves to schoolchildren in small villages, and once even wheeling along an elevated dike in a beautiful aromatic rice paddy.

We also explored jaw-dropping temples built as early as the ninth century, interacted with extremely friendly locals everywhere, swam or snorkelled daily to help manage the 35- to 40-degree heat, and spent much time bowing, bowing and bowing some more (both Vietnam and Cambodia are very formal this way).

Are you contemplating a travel adventure yourself, close to home or perhaps on the other side of the globe?

As part of your planning and preparation process, I encourage you to incorporate a regular exercise routine; Nordic walk, walk, cycle or run; stretch, lift, and push.

Even just a moderate amount of pre-holiday training will reward you with the strength and stamina to help you make the most of each precious vacation day.