Retirement and travel

[Anonymous]

We are in the late 50s and planning to retire soon in couple of years and do more travel while we are still healthy. I know this is what many retirees say and plan for, but how many are able to actually do it? We will financially be comfortable, and kids are taken care of. Any words of wisdom?

[Anonymous]

I am not yet retired, but I am close to that age. Plus looking at my parents and their friends.

Excepting the travel between seasonal homes (Maine and Florida for example), travel for new experiences seems to be 2 to 5 times a year. Sometimes longer trips that are more involved, 1 or 2 trips to China or India or some other place that requires long travel.

My folks, for example, did 2 long trips per year (China and Russia for example) and 2 shorter trips (like Danube river cruises, Paris and the South of France, Canadian rail tours, things like that). As they got older they changed the longer trips for shorter ones that were logistically less complicated and to places that they had some familiarity. That progression seems to be common among their friends. It is also the pattern that I am seeing among my colleagues who have retired.

[Anonymous]

If there are rigorous trips on your Bucket list (Amazon Rainforest, whitewater rafting, alpine hiking), of course start with those.

And when I am older, I expect to do group travel.

For now (late sixties), I am taking a 2-3 week trip 1-2 times a year, often to parts of Europe that I have not seen yet. (The longer flights seem more daunting to me now.) My pace (like distance walking ) is a little slower, and accommodations nicer than when I was young.

I might combine this with a hobby trip closer to home (like birding in Maine).

As a single person, I can still enjoy going alone but wish I had more people to travel with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not yet retired, but I am close to that age. Plus looking at my parents and their friends.

Excepting the travel between seasonal homes (Maine and Florida for example), travel for new experiences seems to be 2 to 5 times a year. Sometimes longer trips that are more involved, 1 or 2 trips to China or India or some other place that requires long travel.

My folks, for example, did 2 long trips per year (China and Russia for example) and 2 shorter trips (like Danube river cruises, Paris and the South of France, Canadian rail tours, things like that). As they got older they changed the longer trips for shorter ones that were logistically less complicated and to places that they had some familiarity. That progression seems to be common among their friends. It is also the pattern that I am seeing among my colleagues who have retired.

NP. How old are your parents?

My parents' last big trip was when they were 80. But my mom had significant health issues by then, and the trip was really hard on her physically, and my dad for all the work he did to help her while on the trip. Walking, stairs, etc.

[Anonymous]

I love to travel but had to give much of it up when the kids came, and I didn't do that much of it before they came. So, I'm going to go all out. When we went overseas we usually went for 3 weeks.

I'll be retiring at 56 🤞 and want to do the big travels while I'm still fairly healthy - New Zealand, Australia, Latin America, then when I "slow" down do easier travels around Europe and Asia. We'll probably go for 4 to 6 weeks for the overseas trips (especially New Zealand and Australia), and do smaller trips in the US, except I'm thinking of a road trip across the country then up and down the west coast (have family/friends there). That will be more like 4 weeks.

I cannot wait. Youngest goes off to college this year.

[Anonymous]

I retired at 58 and so far, in a year and a half of retirement, have done two trips to Europe, a couple of road trips, and spent most of the last two winters in the Caribbean (where I have family, so it’s not a big expense for me). It’s been great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not yet retired, but I am close to that age. Plus looking at my parents and their friends.

Excepting the travel between seasonal homes (Maine and Florida for example), travel for new experiences seems to be 2 to 5 times a year. Sometimes longer trips that are more involved, 1 or 2 trips to China or India or some other place that requires long travel.

My folks, for example, did 2 long trips per year (China and Russia for example) and 2 shorter trips (like Danube river cruises, Paris and the South of France, Canadian rail tours, things like that). As they got older they changed the longer trips for shorter ones that were logistically less complicated and to places that they had some familiarity. That progression seems to be common among their friends. It is also the pattern that I am seeing among my colleagues who have retired.

NP. How old are your parents?

My parents' last big trip was when they were 80. But my mom had significant health issues by then, and the trip was really hard on her physically, and my dad for all the work he did to help her while on the trip. Walking, stairs, etc.

My dad died at 82. His last big trip was at 81. But that was a slower, luxury cruise (Queen Mary 2) and then an English Political History tour. My mom is currently alive, but is going blind and no longer enjoys travel. But they kept up their schedule from their early 60s.

[Anonymous]

I did go on an A&K 2 week Kenya/Tanzania. It was September so no kids/families. 8 of the 14 were over 80. The oldest couple being 91 and 92.

The rocked!

[Anonymous]

I don't have friends or relatives who are willing to travel due to financial or other reasons. How do you find travel groups/circle? Facebook? I am averse to social media and have not used any other than whatsapp for communications.

[Anonymous]

I plan to live abroad!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have friends or relatives who are willing to travel due to financial or other reasons. How do you find travel groups/circle? Facebook? I am averse to social media and have not used any other than whatsapp for communications.

I’m lucky to have a lot of friends who like to travel. But I have single friends who’ve traveled with meetup groups and tour groups. The meetup groups usually do local activities so that people get to know each other before trips. And there are quite a few tour groups marketed to women solo travelers. You can google reviews and recommendations for the various companies.

[Anonymous]

My parents have been traveling a ton the past 5 years. In the winter they do at least one all-inclusive island trip and 1 cruise (usually with friends). They plan at least 1-2 Europe trips a year, 1 long driving US trip, and lots of long weekends. They go on trips with family and friends when invited. It works out to be at least 1 trip per month- with some being shorter than others. For them, they feel like 20+ days is too long, so they need shorter options. They also made a priority list to work off of. In between trips they make sure to visit all the grandkids, but they do miss a lot being unavailable so much. It is a trade off. Most of the time they are happy with the choice, but sometimes they get sad that they missed something important. It can be frustrating as their kid, as I cant always keep up with where they are and when they will be able to chat. they figure they have a few more years of this before they will have to pull back a bit. Mainly the driving trips seem to be the hardest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have friends or relatives who are willing to travel due to financial or other reasons. How do you find travel groups/circle? Facebook? I am averse to social media and have not used any other than whatsapp for communications.

I’m lucky to have a lot of friends who like to travel. But I have single friends who’ve traveled with meetup groups and tour groups. The meetup groups usually do local activities so that people get to know each other before trips. And there are quite a few tour groups marketed to women solo travelers. You can google reviews and recommendations for the various companies.

This is how I will travel have to travel as my spouse is older and doesn't share my energy or interests. Glad to here their are good meetup and tour groups. I need to find them. I plan to start traveling extensively as soon as my youngest leaves for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have friends or relatives who are willing to travel due to financial or other reasons. How do you find travel groups/circle? Facebook? I am averse to social media and have not used any other than whatsapp for communications.

I’m lucky to have a lot of friends who like to travel. But I have single friends who’ve traveled with meetup groups and tour groups. The meetup groups usually do local activities so that people get to know each other before trips. And there are quite a few tour groups marketed to women solo travelers. You can google reviews and recommendations for the various companies.

This is how I will travel have to travel as my spouse is older and doesn't share my energy or interests. Glad to here their are good meetup and tour groups. I need to find them. I plan to start traveling extensively as soon as my youngest leaves for college.

* hear there

[Anonymous]

We are retiring in the next couple years (its up in the air depending on how work goes) and trying to do more travel now. I hardly ever used vacation time over my working career, so we're trying to schedule several 1-week trips a year now to get in the groove. We have a bigger trip planned for next year to Asia. I'm giving work notice and we'll see how they adjust. They don't expect me to retire anytime soon, so if they have issues I will retire sooner than otherwise.