How do you imagine your travels once you retire? Already retired -- then how do you go about it?
I'm curious what folks are dreaming or planning in terms of travel for when they retire. Some of you are already retired and traveling. Perhaps others never plan on retiring, or perhaps you haven't even thought about retirement.
So, what does retirement and travel entail for you?
Reply to this I'm retired, and probably the biggest change for me was to be able to schedule my travel without the constraints of work obligations. Only have 10 days of vacation time left, but want to spend 12 days in a particular location? No problem! Want to travel midweek, because that's when airfare is cheaper? Not an issue!
I really value the freedom that retirement has given me. I no longer stress if my flight is cancelled and I get home a day (or two!) later, I no longer worry if it's OK to travel at a busy time of the year. I'm turning into a much nicer person. 😉
Reply to this I've been all over this world but have never been to Europe, other than some airport stopovers. Everyone gives me the "What! You've been to blah blah but you've never been to blah!??" Apparently I am not a real traveller unless I've been to Europe. Anyway, there is a method to my madness. I want to spend my retirement years traveling through Europe without much of an itinerary and embed where I see fit. In my early 20's I could have done my GAP year in Europe but chose Central America instead. There was a lot of drinking and partying but not a lot of retaining of culture and history. Plus I was broke. I am so glad I decided to do it this way. As I near my 50's I think I will be way more interested in the history and culture of each European country I visit than when I was off my tits at age 20.
Reply to this Rolling out the retirement plan--
We've purchased a beachfront condo for our retirement home. We are both drawn to water and we can live in serenity and happiness in our everyday life. We purchased a condo because we hope to travel for many years to come. We will be able to lock the door and walk away with little concern while we travel.
We are traveling to all the far, far away places now and as we grow older we can visit the places that are closer. At least that is the general plan. On occasion we go to a place nearby and that is ok too. We don't want to be too rigid in our travel plans.
Reply to this In response to: Msg #198079 myself and my husband took early retirement 10 years ago.
We live in cold rainy Britain and decided it was time to seek out some warmer weather for the winter. S. E .Asia has been our destination mostly. Any time from November to April. Usyly 3 or 4 months at a time. We turn off the gas and water and lock up the house thus saving big money in utility bills. We stay in budget accommodation ,walk whenever we can to save in transport or find the cheapest form possible. Same with food, you can live really cheaply over here if you try.
Having said all that I am now sitting in a bamboo hut on Ko Lanta with the rain pouring down, it has been for the last 18 hours!
Its January! What's going on? This is supposed to be the dry season.
Reply to this In response to: Msg #199270
Rain or dry....at least it isn't snowing. I love those long lingering rains. They are therapeutic. Curl up with a nice book.
Sounds like you devised a perfect plan.
Reply to this The weather has settled here now, still rain in the horizon a lot of the time but not bothering us too much right now
Reply to this As long term place of living I would like to chose the Cote d'Azur as I speak some French. I would also be happy to stay around 3 months in fantastic areas like Tokio, Vancouver or Prague and use them as base for trips. As long as the normal tourist visa allows. And preferebly in appartments with kitchen. One will see what I can afford and what will happen.
Reply to this i imagine traveling on a bicycle, slowly, taking my time, asking people if I can camp outside their home, not having any timeline other than visa requirements.
Reply to this I never really thought about it before, but now I'm thinking I'd probably lean more towards slow travel and stay in certain locations for many months. I figure I'd like to do a lot more adventure style travel now, because although I hope to be in great shape for retirement years if I reach them, nothing is set in stone.
Reply to this I retired in 2003. Wanted to travel but where? I started reading books, travel magazines, etc and made notations of places I would like to visit. After a while, things just started falling in place. I have traveled with four different travel companies. And numerous times on my own. When I go to a place, if I like it, I plan more travel to the same area. I now do a lot of public speaking to various groups on topics like WWII Germany, Holy Land, American Revolution, etc. I get excited about a topic and go visit! I'm loving every minute of retirement!!!
Reply to this My wife and I are retired and have purchased a very small travel trailer. One night, camping in Gunnison National Park, just outside our granddaughters town, it dawned on me that the trailer opened up relatively inexpensive travel options - especially if you want to stay in the U.S. Since I don't fly very well, that restriction wasn't real important. Looking at a map of all the parks under the National Park Service, I realized that there was an opportunity to see the country by visiting national parks and monuments. So we now have a bucket list of about 210 parks we want to visit. Over the last four years, we have seen about 80 of them and are having the time of our life. I am currently blogging about our current trip through the Southeastern U.S. They can be found under my travel name 'MisterParks'!
In response to: Msg #198079 Reply to this 
