retirement trip of a lifetime whilst there's still some life left :)

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For years we have been saving up for our retirement trip. You know, that holiday old people take when life is drawing to a close, something sedate and decorous. In fact something that was light years away for a ‘young couple’ like us.
So how come overnight we've turned into two nearly sixty year olds both going grey, one going bald, lots of wobbly bits, a tendency to say ‘pardon?’ a lot.......and suddenly no longer working ie RETIRED!!
I wouldn’t say we had nothing to do as we’re both really busy but we no longer have set timetables or working hours to stick to which means that we have been able to think about THE TRIP!!
Holidays for the past 20 years have been family based, beach or theme park focussed – so we’ve been to many holiday spots in Spain, Greece, Turkey, France.......and a few visits to Florida. Now the kids are independent and we can plan a bit selfishly. What would we REALLY like to do?
So this is the plan.
We are very different but both love music and as children of the ‘50’s we can remember the early days of rock & roll. We love blues, soul, jazz and country so really there was no arguing – we just had to visit the USA and explore the roots of the music we grew up listening to and which in many ways defines our lives even though I grew up in the UK and John was born in the Australian bush! Music truly does link our lives. We often hear a song from the ‘60’s and remember what we were each doing on opposite sides of the world.
So....we plan to fly to Nashville in September, travel via Memphis and the Delta down to New Orleans, then train back to Memphis, pick up a car and spend 10 days or so in the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains before driving back to Nashville and then home.
This blog has been set up so we can record our travels for our family to see. I know it’s very early, still months to wait but we have a few weekends away in the UK planned before we go off on the ‘big one’ so I hope to practice blogging on here.
I can’t think of a clever title at the moment so will leave it as ‘Retirement trip of a lifetime whilst there’s still some life left!’ Not clever or funny but will have to do!

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Photos

Here we are at Heathrow airport
One child returns from exciting times in Japan - we stayed home!

Here we are again at Heathrow airport.
Another child leaves on exciting travels to New Zealand and Australia - we stayed home!

Left behind in the cold!
But not for long!!

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Greetings Alison
Alison, I stumbled onto your blog today and got excited hearing about your trip. I hope you will blog frequently. You will find that there are many of us who will read and follow along on your trip. You have a wonderful adventure mapped out. Too bad you won't be able to stay longer. I am happy to see you going to some of our best music cities. So many people come to America to see LA and NYC and leave thinking they have seen America. We live in the States so let us know if you have any questions Happy planning and happy travels, Merry Jo

[Alison52]

Thank you so much for your warm comments!!! Only just found your message as bit unfamiliar with finding my way around here........ But feel very inspired to add more posts now as we carry on planning our trip (whilst not wishing our life away!!!!) Best wishes Alison