[quote=bearishgurl][quote=cvmom][quote=bearishgurl]
I think a simpler life is what we should all aspire to in “retirement.”[/quote]
Sounds good, except in addition, I’d really like to travel more…[/quote]
Understand completely. I’m a self-described “queen of road trips.” I just got back from one in July that was 4600 miles and have 3 more (shorter ones) to take this year. HOWEVER, I stay 75% of the time at friends’ and relatives’ homes and help with groceries to keep my expenses down.
This is why I think that even if you are “old,” you still need a vehicle (preferably an older one where the insurance premiums aren’t too high), even if you don’t use it much. It’s nice to be able to “hit the road” as long as you are still able to drive :=]
As far as flying, I usually only do so with deeply-discounted tix, complimentary tix, or tix purchased with “points.” I don’t like to fly because I like to drive my own vehicle when I get there. I don’t care as much to drive borrowed vehicles or rental cars that I’m not as familiar with or don’t feel as safe in.[/quote]
Hey BG,
Wow…that’s a long road trip! With 2 young kids we typically don’t like driving and they are VERY good on planes as they are so used to flying so we mostly fly but as they get older we’ll drive more.
I think traveling is one of the best and funnest things you can do in retirement (if it’s within your budget). Seeing new cities and new cultures for me is the best and always fascinating to me.
You’re right it can be done more affordably. Check out http://www.homeexchange.com if you can. While we would never swap with our primary residence we live in, we have all of our rental properties we own up and we get exchange requests just about every day for all over the world.
Airline tickets are still very expensive flying for 4 but at least most of the times we don’t stay in hotels anymore. Some of the places are incredible. Never had a bad experience doing a lot of screening. And in many places people have offered to let us use their car.
We don’t do the car swap just for liability reasons but the home swap is a GREAT way to travel in retirement. We are spending next summer in Paris and in the French Riviera and Rome all on home exchanges….. January in Lake Tahoe on a home exchange and February in San Francisco on a home exchange.
Check it out if you haven’t already…. the way to travel…
