Another Reason for Travel

I got lost at XYZ, but I am happy to hear how things are working out for you and how your journey continues. Wishing you the very best.

My travel after the first Euro trip in 72 was due to continued curiosity.

My love of England?

Who knows? History? Parks? Theatre? Architecture? Cathedrals? Public Transport? Countryside? The Coasts? The accents? Pub culture?

All of the above. I simply feel conformable there.

Essentially travel keeps me sane.

"First, if you are in your 30’s to 40’s, travel a lot. To as many diverse places as you can manage."

For my wife and I, who both travelled a lot in our 20's, 30's and 40's travels were relatively limited, at least until later 40's.

I'm glad this was the case. We worked hard, built a young family, payed off all debt, lived pretty close to the vest. When personal finance was all pointed in the positive direction and compounding upon itself we started to travel more again. We are still young enough, and have a level of stress-free freedom that is completely worth 15-20 years spent with our heads down aggressively attacking debt and then eventually building resources. Deferring the gratification of a lot of travel in our young mid-life period has easily paid off given how much we travel now without a wiff of compromise to maximizing chances of future security.

We are a bit stoic. We don't worry about fomo, yolo, out of control unlikelihoods making skipping travel for a while not worth it (cancer, nuclear war, divorce whatever). So my best advice, is shut out the noise telling you you are missing out, and, if you are able, put your head down and grind until you are solid. Enjoy yourself along the way as much as you can, and enjoy the rewards of having delayed some gratification for the abundant harvest of great travel that will come sooner than you think,.

Hank, thank you. You are the Ying to my Yang. Both are required for health an happiness. G-d bless.

When I was in my early 30s, we lost a friend. She and her husband had been planning to start a family and to take an anniversary cruise. It was interesting how 1/2 of noted they never got to take the trip, the other 1/2 the baby. Within the next 2 years, the baby people were having babies and the trip people were traveling.

Still think and miss you,L.

Hank, thank you. You are the Ying to my Yang. Both are required for
health an happiness. G-d bless.

Right back at ya brother

Carol now retired. Thanks. But seriously, I was sitting here and .... it occured to me, so I thouĝt stating the obvious was worth the effort.

I can vouch for what was said. We never know what life will throw our way so do all you can when you are younger.
I took my teen daughters to Europe the first 2 times. I wanted to show them that the world is so much bigger and diverse then the small town where they lived. Then all hell broke loose. That curveball was a broken neck/back and a divorce at 40.

Thanks to travel and all the experiences I got I weathered it all and kept some of my sanity. Then I met my now husband. We went through the ordeals of surgeries and rehab. But we knew our travel days could be limited. So we went a lot of places both in the states and in Europe.

Now I am wheelchair bound and we have decided that we can still do it. It takes a little more money and a lot more research, but we are trying. The next trip will be 3 months traveling Europe in the winter of 2024/2025.

You never know what life will bring so enjoy the journey, make friends, and live it to the fullest.

"We are still young enough, and have a level of stress-free freedom that is completely worth 15-20 years spent with our heads down aggressively attacking debt and then eventually building resources. Deferring the gratification of a lot of travel in our young mid-life period has easily paid off given how much we travel now without a wiff of compromise to maximizing chances of future security."

While I certainly understand this sentiment, I have to go with Mr E on this one. I am one of a group of five that have been friends since grade school. We are all 63 y/o now (relatively young). Of the five of us, only myself and one other are physically able to travel. The other three all have various serious health conditions that prevent any possible travel. With those odds, I would highly recommend travelling in your 30's and 40's if you have the financial means and interest to do so. I've always tried to find a balance in all aspects of my life. Yes I could have more money and travel more luxuriously now if I had waited, but I'm glad I didn't wait and also that I brought my daughters with me on most of my adventures.

I did some travelling when younger, but not enough. Doing a good job of making up for it now though!

I am 75 and started traveling overseas in 1981 when I took a US Government job in Saudi Arabia. Later, I lived in Germany. Since then, I have visited 81 foreign countries. I still love travel and there are still places that I haven't visited that I want to see.

As far as living cheaply in Europe, Eastern Europe is relatively inexpensive compared to the USA, but not that much. Living in the USA there are far more inexpensive places with low taxes, low cost of living than living in a major US city or expensive places like the West Coast or NE.

Further, if you pick an EU country, you can't stay more than 90 days.

If you really want inexpensive South or Central America is cheaper, but some of those countries have drug cartels to worry about.

Flying is more expensive these days, and you don't have to stay in a four or five star hotel. Find a BNB and save.

Most of Europe is expensive, especially Switzerland and Scandinavia. Even the UK, France and Italy are as well.

Geovagriffith, you have a few more years on you than I do, but I went overseas for the first time the year before you did.

As far as living cheaply in Europe, Eastern Europe is relatively
inexpensive compared to the USA, but not that much. Living in the USA
there are far more inexpensive places with low taxes, low cost of
living than living in a major US city or expensive places like the
West Coast or NE.

I lived in one of the least expensive cities in the U.S.; San Antonio, Texas. The CPI is about 198, Los Angles is about 324 and the US as a whole is about 208.

If you live where I now live and if you do it within the local economy and within local customs the cost of living is 25% to 33% less. Twenty years of visiting including a few extended stays have shown that to be true. BUT, this isn't for everyone. You have to accept a lot of tradeoffs. Most of them I enjoy, but it is "different" which is why i suggested spending a life time asking questions and trying to experience what it might be like. Jumping in cold could be a real shock.

I don’t think you will find a less expensive place in the U.S. But the CPI really addresses the costs of the things you have to buy, but does not take into account what you no longer need. My automobile payment, automobile insurance and gasoline cost was replaced by a metro pass that runs a bit less than $30 a month. Depending on how nice a car you own and how you purchased it and the insurance market you are in, this can be a very significant savings.

On the trade off I had to purchase a local medical policy. That’s a few hundred a month and the storage room for my Texas life is another $100.

Housing cost? Well, I mentioned that it might be a good idea to make some investments if you find a place you like. I purchased my flat about a dozen years ago. Short term rentals paid for it over time. It is sort of median size for the market and it cost a third that of a Texas median size home. Yes, there is a trick in that wording, it goes back to my comment of living within the customs of the culture. It will not work for everyone. My total utility bills, including cable, cost less than my cable alone in the states.

In my particular situation I have cut my cost of living by a solid third while including a lot more travel than I could have done based in the states and includes some health and fitness perks that were outside my budget in the states.

Further, if you pick an EU country, you can't stay more than 90 days.

Wait!! I can only stay 90 days?!!!! Oh, wait, I have a residency permit. And the 90 day rule is the same in most countries outside of the EU too. That goes back to my comment about asking a lot of questions over many years. That way you build up a firsthand familiarity of the obstacles you will have to face.

I have this setup in a way that if I change my mind I can be back in Texas in a few weeks. Nothing lost. I suspect 3 years is the absolute minimum I stay and if things continue to work as well as they have to date, I could be here a lot, lot, lot longer.

I ordered groceries on line yesterday. I do that when I need water so I dont have to carry 9L of water in my back pack (another trade off). Since they were delivering anyway i got a few other things. The lunch meat that I ordered turned out to be cat food. So nothing is fool proof in a situation like this. But doesn't smell that bad. I have also washed clothes in fabric softener. But thats about the worst of it.

Tradeoffs might make for a good thread too. Since most Americans only hear of what is "better" in Europe, it might provide some understanding of how they can afford those "better" things. My favorite has always been housing size. The US median is about 2400 sf. In the UK its about 800 sf. And if you look at it based on occupancy its 77 sf in the US vs 33 sf per person in the UK. Even more interesting is the average home price in the US is about the same as the average home price in the UK (for a third the home). Not bad nor good, just different.

I agree with the sentiment that you can't know what will happen, so you have to live your life when you can. But I also see people who use this attitude as an excuse to not plan and not established financial security in favor of burning all of their candles right away. I have a buddy who been a lot of money on things like travel, got into debt, lost a job, wife dumped him, declared bankruptcy. Now he's straight up screwed - 53 years old with the financial security of a 19 year old. Big hole and small shovel for digging out of it.

I'm a bit on the Dave Ramsey track. I'm not at all his acolyte, particularly politically. Rather I independently chose pathways similar to what he prescribes around attacking debt and saving for retirement. Maybe I missed some Europe vacations in my 30's; now I travel to Europe every year with zero significant impact on the big picture. I bring my daughter's friends and tell their debt-strapped parents no worries, it's all on me. I like being able to be generous.

Didn't hate my 30's and first half of 40's - much surfing, cycling, many friend and community events, camping trips, etc etc. Just didn't spend large chunks of money on big trips, paid down debt and maxed out retirement and other investments instead.

No regrets at all about conservative choices to delay gratification!

It's actually nice to see that many who say do big trips often in your 30's and 40's also have no regrets. Regardless of my own conservative attitudes about the merits of delaying gratification, it's nice to see people live life their way and end up happy, safe and satisfied.

I wasn't advocating being stupid, LOL. It really does come down to interests and priorities. Getting out and seeing how the rest of tge world lives will serve you well in both the short term and throughout life. But you would need to travel with that mindset and skip a few cathedrals on your trips. On the other hand $6000 in tattoos has limited worth in the long term .... but each to their own. G-d knows I had a lot of waste un my life too. So I can't begin to judge.

You are just a couple of blocks from Andrássy úte, Budapest's premier shopping street. The neighborhood wine bar is just down at the corner, and the supermarket across the street from that. A wonderful (inexpensive) bakery is around the corner. And you're a short walk from Zingburger--as good as a hamburger as what you can get in the states. https://www.zingburger.hu/en/

Budapest is an absolutely beautiful city, and with over 200 museums you'll never run out of things to see. And you're a budget European airline ride away from the best cities in all of Europe.

I'd say you've got it made living there. Now if the Hungarian language wasn't so doggone hard to speak and understand. But there again, the beautiful young Hungarians just about all speak very good English and language isn't a great burden.

I'm just glad you're enjoying life.

Thank you David.

I was up all night learning to make sausage. Never too young to learn.

I really love this thread and especially your post above James where you explain what you gain by living now in Budapest.

The sausage-making — is that a metaphor ??

No, got invited home to help make sausage. I cleaned the casings, then watched LOL.

But do know that moves like these come with a lot of tradeoffs. Takes years to understand, if even then.

Wow that is so cool ! Good for you.

And agree 1000% with your last statement.

This wasn't really supposed to be about me. Just an understanding that in travel, like most of life, if you are aware of the possibilities no matter how unlikely they may be, and if you keep an open and curious mind life can offer many potential paths.

To travel the World is to have seen a thing. You get to see an other place. That place is full of people doing things: Every day. They are doing that right now, all the time, all over the world. So every place you have ever visited is there, and doing that right now. The more places you see, expands your head, of this continuum of human consciousnesses.

Francis, cheers!!!

Generally and conceptually, the reasons of self-education, culture, history, language , eg, using the opportunity to acquire, enhance, maximize my language ability in French and German, putting into practice that cliche "Practice makes perfect" were/are paramount among the travel reasons. Get down the language you get down the history and get down the culture

Obviously, a few of the reasons now are not exactly like those when I was in my 20s and 30s....the key word is "exactly" I took my first trip in the summer of 1971, going solo as a college senior on a 12 week charter flight as that was known then. It was a voluntary conscious decision on my part, no one persuaded me, I didn't need any convincing, etc. heard also a little discouragement...(so ?)

None of the friends I asked for a variety of reasons could go with me (mostly monetary). So, I flew off from OAK solo. When I came back in Sept, I was glad I had ended up going alone.

Mr E what a lovely post and things to think about. I keep these notions in the back of my head as I travel. You put it into words very well. Always enjoy your weighing in on this forum.